572 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of the greatest talent stated some time ago that in our day the reign 

 of theoretic science had rightly yielded place to that of applied science. 

 Nothing, I venture to say, could be more dangerous, even to practical 

 hfe, than the consequences which might flow from these words. They 

 show the imperious necessity of a reform in our higher education. 

 There exists no category of sciences to which the name of applied 

 science could be given. We have science and the aj^plications of 

 science which are united as tree and fruit." 



A final reflection is here suggested. We have among us a small 

 cohort of social regenerators — men of high thoughts and aspirations — 

 who would place the operations of the scientific mind under the control 

 of a hierarchy which should dictate to the man of science the course 

 that he ought to pursue. How this hierarchy is to get its wisdom they 

 do not explain. They decry and denounce scientific theories ; they 

 scorn all reference to ether, and atoms, and molecules, as subjects 

 lying far apart from the world's needs ; and yet such ultra-sensible con- 

 cejDtions are often the spur to the greatest discoveries. The source, in 

 fact, from which the true natural philosopher derives inspiration and 

 unifying power is essentiallj' ideal. Faraday lived in this ideal world. 

 Nearly half a century ago, when he first obtained a spark from a mag- 

 net, an Oxford don expressed regret that such a discovery should have 

 been made, as it placed a new and facile implement in the hands of the 

 incendiary. To regret, a Comtist hierarchy would have probably added 

 repression, sending Faraday back to his bookbinder's bench as a more 

 dignified and practical sphere of action than piddling with a magnet- 

 And yet it is Faraday's spark which now shines upon our coasts, and 

 promises to illuminate our streets, halls, quays, squares, warehouses, 

 and, perhaps at no distant day, our homes. 



THE AARD-YAEK OE EARTH-HOG.' 



By E. OUSTALET. 



IN the class Mammalia the order Edentata is one which ofi"ers a very 

 great diversity. To judge from their name, the Edentates should all 

 be animals without teeth ; yet, though some of them, as the ant-eater and 

 pangolin, offer this pecuKarity, others, on the contrary, as the sloth, the 

 armadillo, and the orycteropus or earth-hog, have the jaws provided with 

 organs of mastication, except the portion where the incisors should be. 

 Again, the nails which terminate the digits of the Edentata are some- 

 times sharp and hooked, so that the animal may climb easily and sus- 

 pend itself from the branches of trees ; again, they are spade-shaped, 

 so that the animal may excavate the ground. Finally, while in some 

 ' Translated from " La Nature," by J. Fitzgerald, A. M. 



