EDITORS TABLE. 



699 



many collections have been sent." We 

 should also like to know how many of these 

 collectors " have been made members of many 

 scientific societies," how many have " been 

 decorated with ribbons," and the color, 

 style, and significance of these same rib- 

 bons. But especially would it delight the 

 archaeological world to be favored with a 

 list of the Sir Knights who have received 

 the accolade as a reward of their great pow- 

 ers and magnificent achievements on the 

 hard-fought field of American archaeology, 

 and who are now Sir Somebody Something 

 and Sir Something Somebody among their 

 untitled scientific brethren of this demo- 

 cratic land. We are free to confess that in 

 our seclusion in " Ohio " we had not heard 

 of these decorations, and did not know that 

 the palaeolithic heretics had amassed so much 

 evidence in favor of their great archetype in 

 America, or that they had been so highly and 

 so widely honored for their discoveries. We 

 must infer, though we had not heard of the 

 fact, that our palaeolithic acquaintance, Dr. 

 Abbott, is now Sir C. C. Abbott, of Trenton, 

 X. J., and Bristol, Pa. We congratulate 

 him. Others will no doubt be heard from 

 in due time. 



We sincerely trust that the Director of 

 the United States Geological Survey has not 

 been in this instance also drawing on his 

 imagination and clothing the creations of his 

 fancy with "local habitations and names." 

 But if not, we must express the fear that he 

 has been looking at the palaeoliths and their 

 finders through his most powerful multiply- 

 ing glass. 



We write the above criticisms not with- 

 out regret. Major Powell's services to geol- 

 ogy as the head of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey have been great. Not even 

 himself will claim that they have been fault- 

 less. But in entering the controversial field 

 it is needful first to make quite sure of the 

 facts and then to reason logically from them. 

 In the former respect some of Major Powell's 

 paragraphs are " based on error," as we have 

 shown, and his deductions from them are 

 consequently mere fallacies. If no stronger 

 argument can be found, the case for which he 

 has pleaded may almost as well be abandoned. 



In the midst of so much that is open to 

 criticism it is refreshing and pleasing to find 

 Major Powell expressing a sentiment with 

 which all geologists and other scientists 

 should agree and with which we ourselves 

 are in full accord. We thank him for so 

 well wording what must be the rule of all 

 concerned who appreciate the present posi- 

 tion of the palaeolithic discussion in this 

 country. He writes : 



" We will all withhold final judgment un- 

 til the evidence is in, being perfectly will- 

 ing to believe in Glacial man or Tertiary man 

 or Cretaceous man if the evidence demands 

 it, and being just as willing too to believe 

 that man was introduced on this continent 

 within the last two thousand years if the 

 evidence demands it. What care we what 

 the truth is if it is the truth ? " 



Grant this, and courtesy in debate, and 

 the present controversy will not have been 

 useless. E. W. CLATPOLE. 



AKRON, OHIO, June 29, 1893. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



CIVIC DUTY. 



AMONG the hopeful signs of the 

 times we may reckon the in- 

 creased attention that is being given in 

 our higher schools to the study of 

 "civics," a term which includes the 

 general principles of government, the 

 Constitution of our own country in par- 

 ticular, and the duties of citizenship. 

 It is somewhat extraordinary that the 

 importance of instructing our youth in 

 these subjects was not earlier recog- 

 nized; but we may hope that, now that 

 they have been introduced pretty gen- 

 erally into our educational courses, they 

 will assume the prominence to which 

 they are entitled. If the State under- 



takes to educate, it should be mainly 

 and primarily with a view to producing 

 good citizens : and the instruction which 

 specially pertains to this object should 

 in all public schools have an honored, if 

 not indeed the foremost, place. 



What is government ? is a question 

 which must spontaneously occur to the 

 mind of every young person, and the 

 teacher is fortunate who has a subject 

 to deal with in regard to which his or 

 her pupils are already prepared to ask 

 questions. Government, it can be ex- 

 plained, in the first place is control. 

 Control may be exercised either for 

 good or for evil either in excess of 

 requirements, or in due proportion to 



