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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



state of our finances is notoriously un. 

 satisfactory, and that which Mr. Lowe 

 is pleased to call the " great work " of 

 political economy, the establishment of 

 free-trade principles, with us remains 

 undone. Is it not time seriously to 

 consider what can be done to make the 

 readjustment of the social elements a 

 favorable one for us one more ade- 

 quate to the exigencies of the time ? 



Prolonged immunity from wars, the 

 sway of sound commercial doctrines, 

 the absence of the element of uncer- 

 tainty in her finances, has enabled Eng- 

 land to absorb a great part of the ex- 

 change business of the world. Conti- 

 nental disturbances made her oppor- 

 tunity, and she was ready to improve 

 it. London is a vast clearing-house, 

 while the United States do not act as 

 middle-man between any two nations. 



It is almost universally admitted that 

 there can be no peaceful settlement of 

 the Eastern question which can be last- 

 ing. Sooner or later it must be sub- 

 mitted to the arbitrament of war, and 

 when that comes England cannot stand 

 aloof. Engaged in such a struggle, she 

 can no longer offer so secure a refuge 

 as formerly to capital seeking a place 

 of safety and stability. She must re- 

 linquish, in part at least, this function, 

 and there is nothing mercenary in the 

 suggestion that that would be our op- 

 portunity. But, however favorable for 

 our aggrandizement foreign complica- 

 tions might become, they would now 

 find us unprepared to take our rightful 

 place in the world's commerce unable 

 to arrest the hour. Economical reform 

 is an essential preliminary to success 

 in such an endeavor. Our distance 

 from Old-World centres finds compensa- 

 tion in our freedom from European en- 

 tanglements ; but the obstacles present- 

 ed by a cumbrous and oppressive tariff, 

 and a depreciated, fluctuating currency 

 compared with which three thousand 

 miles of ocean are as nothing would 

 be simply insurmountable. And what 

 is the prospect of their removal'? 



The answer which must be given is 

 not satisfactory. 



There is reason to believe that the 

 vagaries of inflationists are giving place 

 to sounder financial views. There is 

 warrant for the hope that the friends 

 of free trade are increasing in numbers, 

 and that its principles are slowly gain- 

 ing ground, but no demonstration of 

 this by legislation has yet appeared 

 nor are there any signs of it. Neither 

 set of politicians seems to consider 

 them worthy of consideration. Mean- 

 time the forces of protection are in 

 close order, well appointed and alert 

 they will make a stout fight, and that 

 there should, at this critical period, be 

 a disaffection anywhere in the ranks of 

 sound political economy, must be re- 

 garded as a matter of the gravest con- 

 cern. 



PROFESSOR MARTIN OX SCIENTIFIC 

 EDUCATION. 



Lady Buedett Coutts, who, having 

 much money to give away, patronizes 

 numerous charities and receives great 

 applause, has come to be a kind of au- 

 thority in the sphere of philanthropy, 

 duty, ethics, etc. Hearing much said 

 against science, on account of the ex- 

 perimental study of animals, she sought 

 Prof. Tyndall, to inform him that sci- 

 ence was growing immoral, because it 

 did not formerly do such dreadful things 

 as it is in the habit of doing now. Prof. 

 Tyndall replied that it was rather grow- 

 ing biological, or passing into a new 

 sphere to explore the laws of life, to 

 which experimental investigations on 

 organisms in life are indispensable. 



This comparatively new subject, bi- 

 ology, which, after three centuries of 

 preparation in physics and chemistry, 

 lias only been fully reached by the sci- 

 entific mind of the world during the 

 last fifty years, is now beginning to be 

 recognized in its full import in our sys- 

 tem of higher education. Biological 

 chairs have been founded, and labora- 

 tories and schools of biological research 



