EDITOR'S TABLE. 



i6-j 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



" TEE LESSON OF WIGGINS. 



DO not let us put Wiggins away un- 

 til we have learned all he has to 

 teach us. He may not know much of 

 meteorology or astronomy ; he may he 

 ignorant of the very elements of those 

 sciences and of all science ; but, it does 

 not follow that he is not a great teacher 

 in his way. The fact is, that the value 

 of Wiggins consists precisely in his igno- 

 rance and general lack of sense ; seeing 

 that it is owing to these qualities, com- 

 bined with a large dose of the most 

 shameless assurance, that he is able to 

 preach to us so eloquently regarding 

 the condition of mind of a considerable 

 portion of the community. There is no 

 doubt that the Northern "Professor" 

 has been taken seriously by thousands 

 of honest people. The interest felt in 

 his predictions was measured and re- 

 flected by the publicity given to them 

 in the newspaper press. They pene- 

 trated into every town and hamlet in 

 the country ; and it was no doubt a 

 true remark that somebody made the 

 other day, that for one person who knew 

 the name of the real astronomer, Proc- 

 tor, ten knew that of the sham astron- 

 omer, "Wiggins. If simple notoriety was 

 the man's object, he has gained it to an 

 extent which must have exceeded his 

 fondest expectations. The only draw- 

 back to his fame is, that it is not so 

 great by any means among his Cana- 

 dian countrymen as it is with us. Like 

 so many other prophets, his greatest 

 honor has been achieved abroad. 



A most remarkable fact in connec- 

 tion with the case is, that the credit of 

 Mr. Wiggins should have survived the 

 most signal and crushing falsification 

 of his former efforts in the prophetic 

 line. It will be within the recollection 

 of some of our readers that he was to 



have brought on a storm and tidal wave 

 of altogether unparalleled violence and 

 extent some time in the month of March, 

 1884. He formally notified President Ar- 

 thur of the impending calamity, which 

 was chiefly to affect the North Atlantic 

 coast of this continent; though there 

 was also to be a tidal wave of unpre- 

 cedented destructiveness in the Bay of 

 Bengal. The men of real science were 

 prompt in their repudiation of his pre- 

 dictions ; they showed that his pro- 

 posed storm was scheduled to take a 

 course that no storm had ever taken 

 before, and that, in the nature of things, 

 no storm could take ; but the fishermen 

 of Maine and Massachusetts thought 

 more of Wiggins than they did of the 

 real representatives of science, and the 

 consequence was that the fishing indus- 

 try that year suffered not a little. All 

 that came of these dire vaticinations 

 was an ordinary equinoctial gale and a 

 high tide (provided for in the almanac), 

 that did a little harm here and there, 

 but nothing of any account. The tidal 

 wave ordered for the Bay of Bengal re- 

 fused to put in even the most perfunc- 

 tory appearance. 



Yet, in spite of this, and of the most 

 glaring demonstrations, at the time, of 

 his ignorance, " Professor " Wiggins, 

 who, as we understand, holds some mi- 

 nor clerkship in the Treasury Depart- 

 ment at Ottawa, is able to come forward 

 again this year, smiling and confident, 

 with a brand-new set of predictions of 

 the most sensational and preposterous 

 kind. And people hear him — multi- 

 tudes, at least — gladly. They like to 

 think that the recognized authorities 

 in science have not got thiugs entirely 

 their own way, and that their cautious 

 and exact methods are not the only ones 

 available for arriving at results. They 



