April 14, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



553 



definitely the vibrations of a piano-string by 

 impulses from an electromagnet supplied with 

 an intermittent current of proper frequency, 

 and to produce ' electrical music ' by the simul- 

 taneous action upon a loud-speakiug telephone 

 of several currents of proper pitch and wave- 

 form synthesized in the line- wire. If these last 

 two inventions shall enjoy any considerable 

 popularity they will inevitably influence, to a 

 marked degree, musical ideas and philosophy. 

 E. D. Peeston, 



Secretary. 



PHYSICS CLUB OF NEW YORK. 



The teachers of physics in secondary schools 

 of New York City have formed an organization 

 to promote efBciency in the teaching of physics. 

 The more specific objects of the club will be to 

 cultivate a personal acquaintance and inter- 

 change of thought among laboratory men; to 

 secure the cooperation of the departments of 

 phj'sics in the colleges; to discuss matters of in- 

 terest concerning laboratory methods, appara- 

 tus, new books and kindred matters. 



The oflScers for the present year are : Presi- 

 dent, Frank Rollins ; Vice President, Albert C. 

 Hale ; Secretary, A. T. Seymour ; Treasurer, 

 S. A. Lottridge. The Executive Committee 

 consists of the officers and Messrs. R. H. Cor- 

 nish, B. M. Jaqviish, G. C. Sonn. The member- 

 ship is limited to 30. There are at present 29 

 members. The next meeting wUl be held at the 

 Teachers' College, April 22, 1899. 



A. T. Seymour, 



Secretary. 



SUB-SECTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND PSY- 

 CHOLOGY OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY 

 OF SCIENCES. 



The annual meeting of the Sub-section was 

 held on Monday, March 27th. Dr. Franz 

 Boas was elected Chairman and Dr. Chas. H. 

 Judd Secretary for the ensuing year. The 

 following papers were presented : ' Notes on 

 Chilcotin Mythology,' by Dr. Livingston Far- 

 rand ; ' Zapotecan Antiquities,' by M. H. 

 Saville and A. Hrdlicka ; ' Recent Suggestions 

 for a new Psychology,' by Dr. Charles B. Bliss. 

 Chas. H. Judd, 



Secretary. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



' THE EVOLUTION OF MODESTY.' 



To THE Editor of Science : Mr. Havelock 

 Ellis, in his interesting study, ' The Evolution 

 of Modesty,' in the current Psychological Review, 

 regards sexual modesty, concealment physio- 

 logical and anatomical, to be mainly founded in 

 the fear of disgusting others. But wherein, we 

 must ask, does such fear merit the term modesty? 

 Does this kind of fear have any distinct quality ? 

 Is it a real species ? And in any case is modesty 

 a kind of fear ? It appears to me that the fear 

 of exciting disgust in others toward ourselves is, 

 like fear of exciting anger, hatred or any other 

 injurious emotion, not a distinct genus of emo- 

 tion, nor even a species of fear. We have here 

 a more subtle and complex fear than in dodging 

 a stone, but social fears of others' mental atti- 

 tudes toward ourselves, while they form perhaps 

 a species of fear, yet the particular fear of 

 disgust can hardly be considered as having any 

 peculiar quality over against fear of hatred, and 

 other such emotions. In tracing the history of 

 modesty-actions, Mr. Ellis is tracing not the de- 

 velopment of a new psychosis, but merely the 

 development of social fear with reference to a 

 new object, the producing disgust by exposure 

 of the body. Excretory acts in general come to 

 be regarded as disgusting, but if I refrain from 

 spitting in public for fear of disgusting others 

 this can hardly be termed modesty on my part. 



Modesty as a really new and significant psy- 

 chosis is not to be sought in mere objective 

 modesty-actions of the sort which Mr. Ellis con- 

 siders. We see this mere objective modesty in 

 contrast with true subjective modesty in an in- 

 cident which Miss Hapgood relate^ in ' Russian 

 Rambles.' While staying at a country house 

 she was invited by the ladies to go to the ladies' 

 bathing pool, where the Russian ladies went in 

 without costume, and she, to her reluctance, 

 felt obliged to imitate them, since she saw that 

 they plainly thought that the use of clothing at 

 such a time could be only for the hiding of de- 

 fects. The Russsan ladies had no real delicacy 

 or modesty, and had no conception of it, though 

 they had a fear of disgusting. Real modesty as 

 a distinct psychosis, as a regard for one's own 

 feeling rather than for the feelings of others, 

 resenting intrusion, calling for privacy, is a late 



