EDITOR'S TABLE. 



491 



had acquired the habit of living within her 

 means ; but neither explanation would suit 

 Mr. Bunce, who says it was solely due to 

 the manner in which her savings had been 

 held ^they had been kept in old stockings, 

 and, when unearthed, enabled the state to pay 

 the German exactions. The admission that 

 " saving " of any kind produced riches that 

 were available under such an unusual strain 

 is fatal to his position ; but, passing this, 

 nothing could be more incorrect than the 

 assumption that the enormous levy was 

 paid out of stocking-hoards. Less than ten 

 per cent, of the sum was paid in coin from 

 any source. The indemnity fund was drawn 

 from three sources : 1. The exchanges of 

 foreign trade (i. e., proceeds 0^ current pro- 

 duction) ; 2. By selling foreign bonds and 

 stocks held in France (i. e., by converting 

 the accumulated results o^ past joroduction) ; 

 3. By money borrowed from foreign coun- 

 tries (i. e., by discounting the proceeds of 

 future production). This done, and realiz- 

 ing that, though the levy was arranged, it 

 was not made good, she has gone on pro- 

 ducing with unparalleled vigor. 



On the other hand, Germany, upon the 

 strength of her acquired millions, proceeded 

 to make serious drafts on her available in- 



dustry : 1. By the maintenance of a large 

 standing army ; 2. By the employment of 

 vast amounts of labor in constructing forti- 

 fications, iron-clads, and munitions of war ; 

 3. By unproductive private enterprises, un- 

 duly stimulated by speculation. Of course, 

 productive industry must be restricted ; 

 commodities have been made costly in price 

 and poor in quality to such a degree that 

 Prince Bismarck declines to allow Germany 

 to compete in the Paris Exposition of 18*78, 

 because of the mortification which would 

 result from a comparison of her products 

 with those of other nations. Here, wages 

 have been paid, and wages have been re- 

 ceived ; that which Mr. Bunce calls " diffu- 

 sion " has gone on, and, according to his 

 theory of over-production, Germany should 

 have been spared the commercial evils that 

 have been felt in other countries. The 

 fact is, she is worse off to-day than any na- 

 tion that has a sound currency, and one of 

 her economic writers suggests with some 

 bitterness that the way out of her troubles 

 is to engage in one more wai', as the result 

 of which she should have to pay five mill- 

 iards of francs. 



E. R. Lkland. 

 New Toek, June 28, 187T. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



CLARENCE KING ON CATASTROPmSil. 



MOST of our readers have probably 

 read the brilliant address of Mr. 

 Clarence King on Catastrophism in Ge- 

 ology, recently delivered at the Yale 

 Scientific School, and published in the 

 newspapers. The speaker was fortu- 

 nate in his topic, which is not only of 

 wide scientific and popular interest, but 

 one to which he has given special study 

 from the American point of view. 



When men first began to observe 

 geological phenomena, they were pro- 

 foundly impressed with the grandeur of 

 their display of power. Rocky masses, 

 miles in thickness, showed that stupen- 

 dous forces had been at work upon 

 them, upheaving, folding, distorting, 

 and dislocating the mass of strata as 

 if they had been sported with by 

 preternatural powers. Firmly believ- 

 ing that Nature is only about 6,000 

 years old, all this conjuring with the 

 earth's crust was supposed to have 



taken place within that time. It was 

 a necessary inference that the forces 

 which had been at work, and the ef- 

 fects produced, were on a scale of mag- 

 nitude of which people know nothing 

 nowadays. That the world had been 

 drowned in a deluge was deemed cer- 

 tain ; and that the whole march of ge- 

 ological transformation had been cat- 

 aclysmal and convulsive was a natural 

 conclusion. Early geology, therefore, 

 explained things by catastrophes. 



But, with the progress of observa- 

 tion and the sobering of the imagina- 

 tion, geologists began to suspect that 

 the notion of catastrophes had been 

 drawn upon a little too freely, and the 

 question arose as to how far causes such 

 as are now in operation can be in- 

 voked to explain geological effects. It 

 was recognized as safest to reason from 

 the known to the unknown, and, as the 

 Mosaic barrier gave way, there seemed 

 endless time for the play of geological 



