SCIENCE 



Editorial Committee : S. Newcomb, Matbematics ; E. S. Woodwaed, Mechanics ; E. C. Pickering, 



Astronomy; T. C. Mkndenhall, Physics; E. H. Thurston, Engineering; Ira Remsen, Chemistry; 



J. Le Conte, Geology; "W. M. Davis, Physiography; O. C. Marsh, Paleontology; W. K. Brooks, 



C. Hart Merriam, Zoology; S. H. Scudder, Entomology; C. E. Bessey, N. L. Britton, 



Botany; Henry F. Osborn, General Biology; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology; 



H. P. BowDiTCH, Physiology; J. S. Billings, Hygiene; J. McKeen Cattell, 



Psychology; Daniel G. Brinton, J. W. Powell, Anthropology. 



Friday, January 27, 1899. 



CONTENTS: 



Truth and Error : — 



Professor W. K. Brooks 121 



Professor Lester F. Ward 126 



Inconsiderate Legislation on Birds 137 



Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of 

 America (II.): Professor J. F. Kemp 138 



Tlie Winter Meeting of the Antliropological Section 

 of the Amenrican Association : A. L. Kroeber.... 145 



Scientific Books :^ 



Dana's Text-Boole of Geology: Professor W. 

 B. Clark. Mivart on the Groundwork of Science : 

 Profkssor J. E. Creighton. Jones on Freez- 

 ing-point, Boiling-point and Conductivity Meth- 

 ods: J. E. G. Thorp's Outlines of Industrial 

 Chemistry: PROFESSOR W. A. NOYES. Du- 

 rand's AperQus de taxonomie generate: F. A. 

 Lucas. Books Received 147 



Scientific Journals and Articles 151 



Societies and Academies : — 



Geological Society of Washington : Dr. W. F. 



Morsell 152 



Discussioyi and Correspondence : — 



Matter, Energy, Force and Work : PROFESSOR 

 Silas W. Holman. Zoological Bibliography : 

 F. A. Bather 154 



Notes on Inorganic Chemistry : J. L. H 155 



Zoological Notes 156 



Current Notes on Anthropology : — 

 Another Mexican Codex; The Progressive Wo- 

 man; The Seat of the Soul : Peofessok D. G. 

 Brinton 156 



Collections of the Provincial Museum of Victoria, 

 British Columbia: Dr. Harlan I. Smith 156 



Scientific Notes and Neics 157 



land Educational News 100 



M9S. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 

 for review stiould be sent to the responsible editor. Profes- 

 sor J. JrlcKeen Cattell. Garrison-on-Hudson N. Y. 



TRUTH AND ERROR* 



"If to do were as easy as to know what 

 were good to do, chapels had been churches, 

 and poor men's cottages princes' palaces. 

 It is a good divine that follows his own in- 

 struction. I can easier teach twenty what 

 were good to be done than be one of the 

 twenty to, follow mine own teaching." 



"Science," says Powell, "deals with re- 

 alities. These are bodies and their proper- 

 ties. Known realities are those about which 

 mankind have knowledge ; scientific re- 

 search is the endeavor to increase knowl- 

 edge, and its methods are experience, ob- 

 servation and verification." 



While most men of science admit all this 

 as good precept, history warns them that 

 thej' must be on their guard, lest they fall 

 unknowingly into the dream-land of the 

 ' philosophers ; ' for our author tells us that 

 " The dream of intellectual intoxication 

 seems to some to be more real and more 

 worthy of the human mind than the simple 

 truths discovered by science." 



While rebuking the metaphysicians, our 

 author does not spare those men of science 

 who assert that while science deals with 

 the properties of matter the real nature of 

 matter — what it is in itself — is quite un- 

 known : ''As though its properties did not 

 constitute its essential nature." 



" Would a sane person," he asks, " speak 



*■ By J. W. Powell. Chicago, The Open Court Pub- 

 lishing Co., 1898. 



