SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



127 



the present number, which, opens the 

 forty-eighth volume of the magazine, 

 of the long-promised and anticipated 

 series of articles by Hon. David A. 

 Wells, on the most important subject 

 of taxation. 



For the execution of the task 

 which Mr. Wells has assigned to him- 

 self, it is acknowledged that he has 

 enjoyed extraordinary advantages ; 

 as Chairman of the United States 

 Revenue Commission, 1865-'66 (an 

 instrumentality devised by President 

 Lincoln in anticipation of the close 

 of the war) ; United States Special 

 Commissioner of Revenue, 1866-*70 

 (an office specially created by Con- 

 gress) ; chairman of a commission for 

 the revision of the tax laws of the 

 State of New York (specially created 

 by its Legislature, 1870-72, with a 

 view of obtaining Mr. Wells's serv- 

 ices) ; and subsequent membership of 

 important railroad receiverships ; of 

 the Arbitration Board of the associ- 

 ated railways of the United States, 

 1879-'81, and of the Board of Direc- 

 tion of some of the largest manu- 

 facturing and insurance companies 

 in the country. The assertion is 

 therefore warranted that to prob- 

 ably no one person, in either the 



United States or Europe, has greater 

 opportunities been afforded for study 

 of taxation from the basis of practi- 

 cal experience and administration; 

 and while the prediction may not be 

 warranted, that Mr. Wells's conclu- 

 sions will be accepted finally as solv- 

 ing the vexed and intricate problems 

 involved in the subject, it is certain 

 that the results of his investigations 

 will prove most valuable and intense- 

 ly interesting contributions to gen- 

 eral economic science, and greatly 

 assist in formulating better systems 

 and rules for taxation, especially in 

 the United States, than are now gen- 

 erally accepted. 



The editor also feels warranted in 

 saying that the course pursued by 

 Mr. Wells which made his book on 

 Economic Changes one of the most 

 popular and instructive of recent 

 economical publications, will also 

 characterize the new field of inquiry 

 on which he now enters namely, to 

 marshal in a clear manner and proper 

 order all the facts that seem capable 

 of explaining the situation of vexed 

 and disputed questions, and of thus 

 indicating where and how the truth 

 should be sought for, with the great- 

 est chances of finding it. 



gtitntifit 



SPECIAL BOOKS. 



How many evil doers have escaped the just penalties for their acts and 

 what great sums of money have been lost or expended in litigation for lack 

 of an unfailing means of proving personal identity ! If the police know 

 that A. B. committed a certain crime and catch a man who they believe is 

 A. B., but who stoutly denies it, they must establish his identity beyond a 

 reasonable doubt in order to secure a conviction. The testimony of acquaint- 

 ances and even the photographs in the Rogues' Gallery frequently fail to 

 give certainty on this point. There is, however, a set of marks which, in 

 the words of Pudd'nhead Wilson, " every one carries with him from the 

 cradle to the grave " that seem to afford an infallible test. These are the 

 patterns formed by the little ridges on the tips of the fingers. Mr. Francis 



