14 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



each profession, and taking the general aver- 

 age of each country observed, the author has 

 found that the same professions give nearly 

 the same results in the three countries. When, 

 however, we compare these results with the 

 tables of morbidity or liability to disease by 

 professions, drawn up by M. Bodio, from 

 the observations of the Italian societies of 

 mutual aid, we find them at times apparent- 

 ly contradictory. L This confirms the prin- 

 ciple that in the existing condition of things 

 a table of morbidity is not of as much value 

 as a table of mortality as a means of deter- 

 mining the sanitary condition of a popula- 

 tion. This arises from the fact that it is a 

 very delicate matter to distinguish a disease 

 from a simple indisposition, as well as to 

 distinguish an acute from a chronic disease, 

 and the latter, again, from an infirmity. 



Meteoric Iron. Native meteoric nickel 

 iron, according to Prof. Ledebur, of Frei- 

 berg, is too costly to be available for prac- 

 tical use. The market prices are about 6c?. 

 per gramme for ordinary qualities, and from 

 Is. 6c?. to 2s. 6c?. per gramme for the rarer 

 qualities, and from 17s. to 26s. per gramme 

 for iron the fall of which has been observed. 

 Still it is not extremely rare, at least not in 

 museums. The museum at Vienna has 1,033 

 kilogrammes of it, of specimens that were 

 found in 145 different places ; the collection of 

 the University of Berlin is rich in specimens ; 

 the Natural History Museum at Paris has a 

 considerable quantity of it ; and the British 

 Museum has 3,600 kilogrammes in a single 

 block. The largest piece in any collection is 

 one weighing 5,000 kilogrammes, from Bem- 

 dego, Bahia, in the museum at Rio de Ja- 

 neiro. It is believed to be a fragment of a 

 meteor of 9,000 kilogrammes which was dis- 

 covered in 1784. A mass described by Hum- 

 boldt was estimated to weigh from 15,000 to 

 20,000 kilogrammes. Evidence is adduced 

 by Herr Otto Vogel, of Dusseldorf, to show 

 that meteoric or nickel iron is found over 

 most of the world, and has been worked to 

 the most recent times ; and that it was also 

 worked and used in the middle ages and in 

 a remote antiquity. The negroes on the 

 Senegal River were found working it by 

 Buchner ; the Namaquas of South Africa 

 made weapons from it ; and the Indians of 

 Islahuaca manufactured agricultural imple- 



ments and other tools from it as early as 

 1784. Captain Ross, in 1819, found the 

 Eskimos of Greenland using meteoric iron 

 in making lines and other tools ; and there 

 is a knife-blade of this iron in the Natural 

 History Museum at Vienna, where is also 

 preserved an arrow-head of it from Mada- 

 gascar. The author suggests that it may 

 easily be assumed that the first iron that 

 was ever wrought was cosmic iron that is 

 to say, an iron derived from another world. 

 " On such foundlings," says Mehrtens, " the 

 uncultured inhabitants of our earth may 

 first have tried their skill out of curiosity, 

 and perhaps by chance have discovered the 

 properties of iron." 



The Power of Assertion. A political 

 article in a recent number of The Spectator 

 is prefaced by some general remarks on the 

 power that mere assertion exerts. The ma- 

 jority of persons, whether of high or low 

 degree, have little inclination or opportunity 

 for verifying statements. Hence an asser- 

 tion that is made strongly and circumstan- 

 tially enough passes with these persons for 

 solid fact. The task of exposing and rebut- 

 ting a misstatement is almost a waste of 

 labor. In political affairs, especially, there 

 is very little to lose and a great deal to gain 

 in making reckless statements. Even if clear- 

 ly disproved, no damaging blame attaches 

 to the politician who makes them. He, if 

 adroit (and the politician who is not has 

 missed his calling), will not be found to 

 have perpetrated an absolute falsehood. 

 There are always plenty of political rumors 

 afloat, and one of these can be easily dressed 

 up and given out as " a matter of common 

 knowledge," or "what everybody is saying, 

 you know." The success of such devices 

 shows that mankind has not yet outgrown 

 its pristine credulity. 



Instinctive Criminality. In a paper on 

 instinctive criminality, Dr. S. A. K. Strahan 

 holds that the criminal belongs to a decaying 

 race, and is only found in families whose 

 other members show signs of degradation ; 

 in fact, it is only one of the many signs of 

 family decay. Besides being hereditary, 

 criminality is interchangeable with other 

 degenerate conditions, such as idiocy, epi- 

 lepsy, suicide, insanity, scrofula, etc. ; and it 



