EDITOR'S TABLE. 



489 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



SOUNDIN^G A NEWSPAPER FOG. 



THE readers of the Monthly will 

 find elsewhere in our pages an ar- 

 ticle which appeared several weeks ago 

 in the Nation, containing an attack upon 

 Prof. Tyndall, which, from the character 

 of its charges, and the bitterness of its 

 tone, excited the surprise and regret of 

 many. It was replied to by Prof. Tyn- 

 dall, whose letter we also republish. 

 It will be seen that the assault is direct- 

 ly met, and, in his rejoinder to Prof. 

 Tyndall's letter, the writer in the Na- 

 tion admits that he was in error, while 

 his admission covers the main and most 

 offensive imputations. But, as his fur- 

 ther comments are calculated to con- 

 tinue a false impression, and as base 

 charges always go faster and farther 

 than their retractions, especially when 

 considerable time elapses before they 

 can be authoritatively contradicted, it 

 is desirable that we should here briefly 

 review the leading features of the case. 

 The charge against Prof. Tyndall, 

 as the reader will see, is generally, that, 

 in the third and recently -published 

 edition of his work on "Sound," he 

 has not done justice to the contribu- 

 tions of American science toward the 

 elucidation of the subject of fog-signals. 

 More specifically it is that, when in this 

 country, he got information upon the 

 subject from a paper read by Prof. 

 Henry, went home and entered upon 

 the investigation himself, published in 

 his book the results of his own inqui- 

 ries, and, while acknowledging that he 

 knew generally of what had been done 

 in America, and that it was not with- 

 out influence on his conduct, yet that 

 he ignored or " suppressed " from his 

 summary of existing knowledge upon 

 the subject any recognition of what 

 had been accomplished by the United 



States Lighthouse Board under the di- 

 rection of Prof. Henry. 



Now, let us see what Prof. Tyndall's 

 position was as avowed by himself in a 

 statement widely published in this coun- 

 try months before the attack in the 

 Nation was made. The August num- 

 ber of The Popular Science Monthly 

 contains, in full, the preface to the 

 third edition of "Sound," in which 

 the American relations of the matter 

 are considered. A summary is there 

 given of the experiments of Prof. Henry 

 in regard to the penetration of fog by 

 sound, and the performance of various 

 instruments of American construction 

 designed to be used as coast-signals; 

 and the remark is added that " it is 

 quite evident from the foregoing that, 

 in regard to the question of fog-signal- 

 ing, the Lighthouse Board of Washing- 

 ton have not been idle." Prof. Tyndall 

 states, furthermore, that he had recom- 

 mended American instruments for fog- 

 signaling to the British authorities as 

 superior to the English instruments, 

 and that they had been adopted on his 

 recommendation. Every fair-minded 

 reader, upon perusal of that paper, will 

 agree, we think, that Prof. Tyndall 

 wrote truthfully when he said : " In 

 presence of these facts it will hardly be 

 assumed that I wish to withhold from 

 the Lighthouse Board of Washington 

 any credit which they may fairly claim." 

 But, having thus testified to the 

 character, extent, and importance of 

 American work upon this subject. Prof. 

 Tyndall proceeds to state what in his 

 opinion the Lighthouse Board has failed 

 to do. He says : " My desire is to be 

 strictly just ; and this desire compels 

 me to express the opinion that their 

 report fails to establish the inordinate 

 claim made in its first paragraph. It 



