SCIENTIFIC PHILANTHROPY. 481 



" No I didn't either," Uz replied quickly. " Don't set me down 

 for such a fool as that. I knew well enough the turtle wouldn't wan- 

 der far, so I kept him in mind, and the next April I went out in proper 

 trim and hunted him up. I found him after two days' huntin', when 

 I got a dozen big ones besides, but he was the king of the lot. lie 

 couldn't turn 'round in a wash-tub, and weighed somethin' over seven- 

 ty pounds. I looked all over him for some sign of my shirt, but there 

 wasn't a thread left." 



"How old do you suppose he was?" I asked, when Uz had con- 

 cluded his story. 



"I'm not sure I can say, but he was no chicken, that's certain." 



" According to Professor Agassiz, a turtle a foot long is close to 

 fifty years old," I replied. 



" Fifty years old ! Then my big snapper came out of the ark, I 

 guess," remarked Uz. 



-♦-•-♦- 



SCIENTIFIC PHILANTHROPY. 



By lee J. VANCE, B. S. 



THE nature and purpose of our modern philanthropy — indeed, the 

 inquiry whether or not utilitarian or altruistic considerations 

 should inspire and control our actions — constitute an important and 

 most instructive study in sociology. In the article on " Scientific 

 Philanthropy," translated from the " Revue des Deux Mondes," and 

 published in the "Monthly," 1883, this view of the question in its 

 ethical aspect was almost entirely overlooked. The writer, M. Fouillee, 

 has, with much ability, controverted the arguments early advanced 

 by Malthus, but latterly by Darwin, Spencer, and others, who have 

 approached the problem from a purely scientific stand-point. The 

 author invites criticism by stating some conclusions, the validity of 

 which sociologists high in repute are quick to question. And treating 

 of Philanthropy as scientific, he has proposed a subject world-wide in 

 its application and interest ; and it is proper that the incorrectness of 

 his conclusions be pointed out in the same Monthly that published 

 them for American readers. 



Philanthropy is founded in sentiment, and in the desire on the part 

 of the strong, the favored, and the fortunate, to assure the comfort of 

 the weak, unfavored, and unfortunate. It becomes scientific when 

 those severe and exact logical methods of procedure — the indispensa- 

 ble prerequisites to a thorough knowledge of the preparatory studies 

 of biology and psychology — are used in determining the effects of the 

 laws of physical and moral heredity with natural selection on the 

 increase and movement of population. First, we have to deal with 

 those moral foundations which, as M. Fouillee declares, are of such 



VOL. XXV. — 31 



