9 6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



their struggles and mental agony that a slight degree of physical pain 

 would be unnoticed. 



4. Swimmers, and persons who do not lose their wits, become so 

 exhausted and chilled that, when the final act comes, their powers 

 make but a feeble resistance. And, in both cases, the passage of water 

 into the lungs tends to bring on insensibility by obstructing the circu- 

 lation, before it is time for the agony of asphyxia to be felt. 



So that, in drowning, we have reason to believe, contrary to Tay- 

 lor's opinion, that pure, uncomplicated asphyxia never occurs. 



If death by drowning be inevitable, as in a shipwreck, the easiest 

 way to die would be to suck water into the lungs by a powerful inspi- 

 ration, as soon as one went beneath the surface. A person who had 

 the courage to do this would probably become almost immediately un- 

 conscious, and never rise to the surface. As soon as the fluid filled his 

 lungs, all feelings of chilliness and pain would cease, the indescribable 

 semi-delirium that accompanies anaesthesia would come on, with ring- 

 ing in the ears and delightful visions of color and light, while he would 

 seem to himself to be gently sinking to rest on the softest of beds and 

 with the most delightful of dreams. 



SCIENCE AND MENTAL IMPROVEMENT. 1 



Br Professor JOSEPH LE CONTE. 



THIS club, as I take it, was formed for mutual improvement. The 

 narrowing and ever-increasingly narrowing tendency of profes- 

 sional pursuits, in these modern times of division of intellectual labor 

 and eager struggle for life, renders the formation of such associations 

 very necessary. The ideal of a life-culture, as I conceive it, i. e., of a 

 culture which, commencing with youth, shall terminate only with death, 

 is briefly epitomized as follows : First, a general culture of all the fac- 

 ulties a preparation for general efficiency without reference to any 

 special pursuit to the period of full maturity ; then a concentration 

 of the thus strengthened and disciplined powers upon special profes- 

 sional studies, but still in connection with a scheme of liberal culture 

 or university, by which the professional culture shall be impregnated 

 with the lofty spirit of liberal learning ; and, lastly, when active pro- 

 fessional life commences with its necessary narrowing effects, the for- 

 mation of associations like this, by which we are brought into contact 

 with the best thought in every department. 



If culture be the object of your association, then ought it not to be 

 merely an association of kindred sjririts, as many think. On the con- 

 trary, it should consist of persons of the most diverse pursuits theolo- 

 gians, lawj'ers, physicians, engineers, merchants, and of all modes of 



1 An address before the Chit-Chat Club in San Francisco. 



