852 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 182. 



advance will in the future be at a continu- 

 ally accelerated pace. 



This reasoning is closely akin to that of 

 Lewis H. Morgan in the chapter on the 

 rate of human progress in his ' Ancient So- 

 cietj' ' (New York, 1878). He there argues 

 that culture-progress proceeds by geomet- 

 rical, not arithmetical ratios ; which is sub- 

 stantially Mr. lies' position. 



It should be borne in mind, however, 

 that true culture cannot be measured by 

 criteria drawn solely from the utilitarian 

 arts. Civilization has been nicely defined 

 by a French writer as a 'state of mind,' 

 rather than a schedule of possessions; and 

 this is signally true. 



THE ITALIAN' AKTHEOPOLOGICAL IK'STITUTE. 



Under the title ' Istituto Antropo- 

 logico Italiano,' Dr. Giuseppe Marina has 

 opened at Leghorn au establishment which 

 has for its aim the popularizing of an- 

 thropologic work, and also the collection of 

 material for scientific purposes. It em- 

 braces psychological, antropometrical, pa- 

 thological and ethnographic investigations. 

 Persons can apply and for a moderate fee 

 have themselves examined by the most 

 approved modern methods in all these 

 directions. A careful record is kept, and 

 the same individual may return from time 

 to time to have the examination repeated — 

 a procedure in which he has a personal in- 

 terest, while the comparative results thus 

 obtained will prove of value to science. In 

 addition to this feature, lectures, publica- 

 tions, open discussions and other plans for 

 attracting and educating the public in an- 

 thropologic matters will be cultivated. 

 The history of culture, demography, soci- 

 ology and hygiene will be brought forward 

 with especial prominence. 



Dr. Marina deserves great credit for this 

 excellent and original scheme of bringing 

 home to the general public the practical 

 value of anthropology. A descriptive cir- 



cular may be obtained by addressing him 

 (Livorno, Italy). 



' ORGANIC ' SOCIOLOGY. 



There was a time when it was quite use- 

 ful to speak of language as an ' organism ' 

 and human society as an ' organism.' The 

 word brought the inter-relation of parts 

 clearly to the mind. That there was any 

 actual identity, either of parts or of func- 

 tions, or of laws of growth, with anatomical 

 organisms was not intended. Of late, how- 

 ever, a class of writers have insisted on 

 such identity, and have carried it out in 

 quite ridiculous parallels, such as that the 

 railroads are arteries, the frontiers are the 

 epidermis, etc. (Lilienfeld, Worms). 



Nothing is gained by these similes, which 

 are, in fact, empty literary formulas ; and 

 it is gratifying to see that such solid writers 

 as Lester F. Ward, in this country, in the 

 Journal of Sociology, and Dr. S. R. Steinmetz, 

 in the Zeitschrift fib- Soeialwissenschaft, have 

 condemned them as unscientific, and barren 

 of profitable results. As much may be said 

 of the term ' super-organism,' proposed by 

 Mr. Herbert Spencer, though that writer 

 defines it in such a manner as to divest it 

 of most of its erroneous suggestiveness. 

 Professor Giddings adopts ' physio-psychic 

 organism ' as the correct term for the social 

 gi'oup ; but this is just as applicable to the 

 living individual, and, applied to a societj', 

 may be as misleading. 



D. Gr. Beinton. 



Univeksity of Pennsylvania. 



MOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 

 Fuller particulars regarding the lique- 

 faction of hydrogen and helium bj' Professor 

 Dewar have come to hand in his paper in 

 the Froceedings of the Chemical Society. As 

 early as 1895 Dewar had constructed an ap- 

 paratus by which he could produce a jet of 

 hj'drogen containing liquid. It was then 

 shown that such a jet could be used to cool 

 substances below the temperature which 



