Vol. XXII. No. 11.] 



POPULAE SCTEITCE NEWS. 



167 



Clje f>opuIar M>tiemt 0e\S)^, 



Those wishing to subscribe for other periodi- 

 cals in connection ivith the 1'opulau Sciknce 

 News are recommended to examine the " Club- 

 bing List for 1889," which loill be found in the 

 advertising columns. Several changes in the 

 prices since the last season should be especially 

 noted. 



In the sad death of Professor Proctor, the 

 well-known astronomer and lecturer, the scien- 

 tific world has met with a serious loss. He 

 was a prolific writer on astronomical subjects, 

 as well as in other departments of science, and 

 attained his widespread reputation more from 

 his power of popularizing scientific principles 

 and theories than from any great superiorit}' 

 of knowledge or skill in his profession. 

 While he was not, strictly speaking, a great 

 astronomer, he was a scientist of unusual at- 

 tainments, and did valuable work in render- 

 ing the public familiar wiih the results of the 

 researches of others. He was foimerly a 

 member of the Roman-Catholic Church, but 

 in 1875 severed his connection, believing that 

 his scientific views were incompatible with 

 loyalty to that faith. 



The criticisms bj' certain papers of the poor 

 judgment shown b}- the New York Board of 

 Health in removing Professor Proctor to a 

 hospital at the crisis of his disease, and 

 during a heavy rain-storm, maj' not have 

 been justified by the fiicts in the case, but it 

 serves w call to mind the blighting iufluence 

 which " practical politics " exert, even upon 

 those branches of science which meet with 

 the recognition of the government. This is 

 especially evident in certain of our exchanges 

 which purport to be devoted to sanitary 

 matters, but are really principally concerned 

 with the politics of innumerable " Boards," 

 " Bureaus," and " Associations." The State 

 has hitherto signally failed in its numerous 

 attempts to make men " wealthy- and wise " 

 by legislation, and we do not believe that the 

 influence exerted by the average politician can 

 be " healthy " in any sense. It is to the in- 

 dependent original investigators that our 

 advances in sanitary science are due, and not 

 to official "inspectors" or organizations of 

 " licensed " plumbers. 



The almost universal acceptance of the 

 doctrine of evolution b}- the scientists vsho 

 took part in the meeting of the American 

 Association at Cleveland was a matter of 

 considerable comment among those who were 

 unaware of the recent i)rogiess of scientific 

 thought. The lime has passed vvlien the Dar- 

 winian theory was supposed to im[)ly that men 

 were descended from monkeys, — an idea 

 never held by Darwin or any other naturalist, 



— and the great principle that existing forms 

 of life have arisen b3' variation and develop- 

 ment from simpler forms of organized beings 

 previously existing, is coming more and more 

 into favor, and, in fact, now forms the foun- 

 dation-stone of all biological investigations. 

 A complete and satisfactory sj'stem of evo- 

 lutionary philosophy is yet to be formulated, 

 and the different theories advanced must 

 themselves be subject to natural selection and 

 the law of the survival of the fittest ; but the 

 fundamental ideas first advanced by Darwin, 

 Wallace, and Lamarck were never more gen- 

 erally accepted by naturalists than at the 



present time. 



— • — 



The tendency towards specialism and sub- 

 division in the different branches of science is 

 also noticeable. Scientific investigators seem 

 to be inclined to limit their field of research. 

 The archaeologist hesitates to enter upon the 

 field of the geologist, and the line between 

 phj-sics and chemistr}' is constantl}- becoming 

 more sharplj' defined. It is a question whether 

 this tendency is a beneficial one. It gives 

 better opportunitj* for thorough work in a 

 limited field, but the advantages of a broad, 

 comprehensive view of the subject are entirely 

 lost. The most important scientific dis- 

 coveries have heretofore been made by those 

 having a general scientific habit of thought 

 rather than bj* those devoting their entire 

 energies to the elucidation of a single disputed 

 point. In any ease, the cultivation of special- 

 tics is certainly on the increase, and time will 

 show whether the eflTect will be advantageous 



or not. 



« 



The universal language, Volapiik, is slowly- 

 coming into use, -but so slowly that some 

 doubt remains whether it will ever be univer- 

 sall3' adopted. It has certainly mot with 

 more favor than any similar scheme heretofore 

 proposed, and seems to be, on the whole, well 

 adapted to its purpose. The study of such 

 an artificial language is, in any case, an excel- 

 lent mental discipline, and will undoubtedly 

 be of more or less practical value to those 

 who have made themselves familiar with it. 

 As we go to press, the death of its inventor, 

 Johann Martin Schlej'cr, is announced. 



The Philadelphia Medical and Surgical 

 Reporter has recently- commenced a good work 

 in entering upon a crusade against those re- 

 ligious newspapers who admit to their columns 

 the advertisements of quack doctors and 

 quack medicines. The evil is a widespread 

 one, and we know of but one religious paper 

 in this city which refuses such advertisements. 

 As has often been stated in the Science News, 

 the innumerable cure-all nostrums so exten- 

 sively advertised are either entirelj' worthless 

 or actually injurious, while eyer3- doctor who 

 advertises his practice or his cures ma3' safely 

 be sot down as an unmitigated quack, unworthy 

 of the slightest confidence. An enormous 

 amount of harm, both physical and moral, is 



accomplished bj' the numerous scoundrelly 

 ignoramuses advertising themselves as phy- 

 sicians, and it is highl3- inconsistent with the 

 principles of a religious journal to aid in bring- 

 ing such persons or pretended medicines into 

 public notice. We hope our contemporary 

 will persevere in its good work, but fear it has 

 an almost hopeless task before it. 



We have received from a German manu- 

 facturing firm a catalogue of the oils and 

 essences prepared b3' them for the purpose of 

 making artificiall3- all kinds of liquors and 

 cordials, without the intervention of the fer- 

 menting tub or the still. Nearly two hundred 

 recipes are given for compounding different 

 liquors and "mixed drinks" from alcohol 

 and these essential oils. The manufacturers 

 naively remark in their circular, that "the 

 method of manufacturing brand3^ and liquors 

 by mixing carefully prepared essential oils 

 and essences with spirit and the other funda- 

 mental ingredients, instead of resorting to the 

 antiquated process of direct distillation, is now 

 generally admitted to be most advantageous." 

 We thiuk, however, that if an3- " advantage" 

 is to be obtained from spirituous liquors, it 

 will certainly not arise from the use of these 

 villanous mixtures, and should prefer the 

 "antiquated process of direct distil ation." 

 To make their circular complete, the manu- 

 facturers should have added a prescription 

 for the cure of delirium tremens. ■ 



ORGAXIC CHEMISTRY. 



Chemistry is divided into two great depart- 

 ments, — the organic and the inorganic. The 

 organic substances were formerl3' but little 

 studied, and the best work of the earlier chem- 

 ists was devoted to investigations upon the 

 metals, metalloids, and other elements and 

 com'pounds which were not dependent for their 

 existence upon the action of living organisms, 

 as was formerly supposed. 



In 1828, however, Wohler succeeded in form- 

 ing the well-known excretory product of the 

 animal organism, urea, from iso-cyanate of 

 ammonia, a strictly inorganic salt. This bril- 

 liant result called the attention of chemists to 

 this class of substances ; and at the present 

 day, organic chemistry, or the chemistry of 

 the compounds of carbon, receives a large 

 share of the attention of investigators, some- 

 what to the neglect of the equally interesting 

 and important inorganic compounds. A reac- 

 tion seems to be taking place of late years, 

 however, as is shown by the extended inves- 

 tigations of Dr. Gibbs upon complex inor- 

 ganic molecules, of Dr. Crookos upon the 

 nature of the elements, and of Professor 

 Cooke and many other chemists upon the 

 atomic weights. 



Organic compounds are those made up of a 

 skeleton of carbon atoms to which are joined 

 atoms of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and, 

 more rarely, other elements. For a familiar 

 example, we may take common alcohol, the 

 symbol of which is C^IIjO. Extending this 



