DECEJvrBEE 6, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



771 



of Prof. N. M. Butler, of Columbia College, on 

 jSTovember 29th and SOth. 



The Brown University Lecture Association 

 has announced the following courses of free 

 public lectures for the coming season : ' The 

 Religions of China,' by Rev. F. Huberty James, 

 formerly of China ; ' Lectures on the History 

 of Song,' by Louis C. Elson, of the Boston Daily 

 Advertise!-; 'Studies in Social Economics,' by 

 Hon. Carrol D. Wright, Esq. , of Washington ; 

 ' The Divina Commedia, its Predecessors and 

 Successors,' by Prof. Courtney Langdon, of 

 Brown University. Prof. Charles S. Hastings, 

 Ph.D., of Yale University, will give three lec- 

 tures upon a subject in physical science to be 

 announced later. 



The calender of the Imperial University of 

 Japan for 1894-95 shows that it ranks among 

 the great universities of the world. All the 

 schools are represented; there are laboratories, 

 hospitals and museums, an astronomical obser- 

 vatory, a seismological observatory, botanic 

 gardens, a marine biological station, etc. The 

 number of students is as follows : 



University Hall 94 



College of Law 432 



College of Medicine 175 



College of Engineering 229 



College of Literature 179 



College of Science 98 



College of Agriculture 261 



Total 1468 



There are fourteen full professors in the col- 

 lege of science, and a majority of those regis- 

 tered in University Hall are engaged in scien- 

 tific research. A large part of the work accom- 

 plished is pubUshed in the Journal of the College 

 of Science, which maintains a high scientific 

 standard. 



Dr. Steahl, of Marburg, has been appointed 

 to the chair of anatomy in the University of 

 Giessen, in succession to Professor Bonnet, and 

 Dr. Charles B. Ball has been appointed regius 

 professor of surgery in the place of the late Sir 

 George Porter in Dublin University. 



On November 1st a laboratory for study and 

 research was opened in connection with the 

 school of physicial and industrial chemistry at 42 



Rue Lhormond, Paris. By paying a fi^sed sum 

 monthly to the city anyone desiring to work in 

 this laboratory will have all its facilities at his 

 disposal. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 

 TESTIMONY VERSUS EVIDENCE. 



"It is, we are told, the special peculiarity of the 

 devil that he was a liar from the beginning. If we 

 set out in life with pretending to know that which 

 we do not know; with professing to accept for 

 proof evidence which we are well aware is inadequate 

 -x. * ^ we are assuredly doing our best to deserve the 

 same character. " — Huxley. Essays V., 54. 



Some weeks ago (Science, Oct. 4, 1895, p. 

 435) I quoted from recent numbers of the 

 journal extracts to the effect that the phenom- 

 ena of vitality are not ' explicable ' in terms of 

 physical matter and mechanical energy, and 

 that some of them, those of consciousness and 

 volition, are ' agencies ' and causes of structure. 



Since many thoughtful students believe that 

 the facts warrant nothing more than a humble 

 confession of ignorance of these matters, I 

 called upon the learned bodies which have en- 

 dorsed the utterances which I quoted to publish 

 the evidence that proves them ; and I ventured 

 the prediction that the publication of this evi- 

 dence would render the said learned bodies 

 memorable for all time. 



So far as I am informed this proof has not 

 yet been published ; but a number of correspon- 

 dents have used the pages of Science to discuss 

 my article, which contained the following pas- 

 sage (p. 439): " What can fundamental disagree- 

 ment among those who speak with authority 

 lead to except disaster? Are we not bound 

 to find first principles which will command the 

 assent of all thinking men '? ' ' 



Since this correspondence furnishes new evi- 

 dence of the imperative need for this agreement 

 regarding the foundations of biology I venture 

 to discuss it. 



I some time ago (Science, April 5, 1895, .p. 384) 

 expressed my conviction that it is better to be 

 called a vitalist or any other hard name by zeal- 

 ous monists than to be convicted of teaching as 

 proven what we know is not proved ; and, so 

 far as I am personally concerned, the only 

 answer I care to give these correspondents is 

 that it is better to be called a ' materialist ' or a 



