148 MASOX — RIPEXiNG OF THOUGHTS IN COMMO.V. [April 9, 



6. That porcelain vessels are preferable to those of gold, silver 

 or platinum for the ignition of ammonium paratungstate and tung- 

 stic acid. 



7. That the oxidation of metal (method 2) leads to reliable 

 atomic numbers when the material is pure. 



8. That tungsten hexachloride can be completely transposed 

 into pure oxide with water and a little nitric acid. 



The John Hcwrison Laboratory of Chemistry, University oj Penna. 



THE RIPENING OF THOUGHTS IN COMMON. 



*' Commcn Sense is Thoughts in Common." 



BY OTIS T. MASON. 



{Fuad Aiyril 9, 1904.) 



Those who are entangled in official or commercial life, and, 

 indeed, observant persons generally, will recall many instances in 

 their daily experiences when they have mentioned a name only to 

 see its owner appear. Or they have a friend, say, in the Straits 

 Settlements. After a long silence they begin to worry about him 

 and sit down to write to him. While they are thus engaged the 

 postman hands in an epistle from Singapore signed with his name. 



There is, of course, an element of chance in such coincidences. 

 A vast number spring out of deep-seated, normal biological condi- 

 tions. It is not here denied that many, associated with abnormal 

 or hypersensitive conditions, are so startling in time and detail as 

 to give rise to beliefs in telepathy. 



Leaving out the causes just mentioned, this paper will be confined 

 to those artificialities of life called culture, though the natural 

 causes mix freely with these. 



The purposeful actions of all humanity have become so artificial- 

 ized as to make the natural, physical man subservient to the new 

 man, the Homo sapieiis. Racial activities and community experi- 

 ences have entirely changed, so that coincidences in speech, man- 

 ners, customs, and arts, however surprising they may be, are also 

 due to the maturing of thoughts, desires and purposes held in 



