SCIENCK 



[Vol. XIV. No. 347 



while standing on a curbstone, was struck a light tap by a coil of 

 dead wire which a lineman dropped from a telegraph-pole. After 

 considering the subject for some minutes, he concluded he had re- 

 ceived a dangerous electric shock, and communicated the fact to 

 the lineman and various passers by. A medical examination 

 showed no injuries from electricity. 



With regard to these accidents, which as a rule receive sensa- 

 tional and exaggerated notice in the daily papers, it should not be 

 forgotten that two connections with the body are always necessary 

 for an electric shock ; the " deadly wire " being of course one, while 

 the other is the damp surface of the sidewalk, ground, a wet tele- 

 graph-pole, or other conductor. A person touching a live wire 

 with no other electrical connection would feel nothing ; neither 

 would there be any perceptible shock should he stand upon dry 

 boards or other insulated or insulating material. 



Another thing to be borne in- mind is that writers of sensational 

 articles regarding electrical accidents, like all reporters, make up 

 two or three columns of such matter more with regard to interest 

 than accuracy, for the reason that the managing editor of the paper 

 in which they appear will receive them, and the writers will be re- 

 warded at the rate of from four to eight dollars per column for 

 their work. 



According to one of these articles in a New York daily, Mayor 

 Grant is said to believe that the only way wholly to prevent acci- 

 dents of this kind is by burying the wires, and that, when this shall 

 be done, " there will be no more deaths resulting from people com- 

 ing accidentally in contact with electric currents of sufficient force 

 to render medical assistance useless." No doubt, many of the 

 accidents already reported would never have occurred had the 

 •wires been under ground ; but, as ex- Mayor Hewitt said before the 

 National Electric Light Association in lS88, "Gentlemen, when 

 you once have your wires under ground, the next thing is to get 

 them out for use." •> 



Arc-lighting has evidently come to stay, and wherever the arc- 

 light is, there its connections must be more or less exposed. The 

 ■experiments of the ignorant, and the, carlessness of reckless line- 

 men, will continue to result in casualties as long as arc-lights are 

 used, whether the wires are buried or not. 



Future Rapid -Transit for Mail and Express Mat- 

 ter. — There are at present two systems before the public for the 

 rapid transit of mail and other light matter, either or both of which 

 will no doubt prove successful in the near future. The Weems 

 system, an experimental track for which has been built at Laurel, 

 Md., has been illustrated and described at length in Science ; and 

 the results from the small experimental section already equipped 

 have seemed to justify the construction of a five-mile track, which 

 will soon be completed. This system employs actual electric 

 motors in connection with a light elevated structure, the weight of 

 the car with the motors being something like three tons. Whether 

 such a mass, with its complicated and delicate electrical machinery, 

 will come finally into commercial use, remains to be seen. The 

 other system referred to is known as the Portelectric system, and 

 the motto of the inventor is, "To dispense with mass and machine- 

 ry." In this system a number of helices are used, taking their 

 current from a metallic circuit on an elevated structure. The car 

 itself is nothing more than a magnetized steel cylinder, pointed at 

 both ends, running on a single track. The mail or other matter is 

 placed in this receptacle, and the successive attractions of the dif- 

 ferent helices through which it passes augment its speed to a velo- 

 city the limit of which is so far unknown. A small section has 

 been on exhibition for some time past in the Old South Church, 

 Boston, and thousands of visitors have witnessed the phenomenal 

 speed of the light steel cylinder, even in the narrow confines of the 

 church. The New England Portelectric Company is now building 

 a demonstrative section on a similar principle in Dorchester dis- 

 trict, Boston, Mass., and the results will be looked forward to with 

 interest. The electrical pressure used will be somewhere between 

 two hundr-ed and one thousand volts. The track will be elliptical, 

 and the curves laid at an angle which will justify a speed of at least 

 three miles per minute. The material is now on the ground, and 

 the work is to be pushed rapidly forward. The inventor, Mr. John 

 T. Williams of New York, is considering the extension of this 

 (principle to the projection of dynamite cartridges. 



The Eiffel Tower and Lightning. — It has been claimed 

 from the first that the conductivity of the Eiffel Tower is sufficient 

 not only to protect it against lightning, but to protect a large area 

 contiguous to it. It is now claimed that the tower and some of its 

 occupants have recently suffered from a stroke of. lightning, and 

 various accounts of " blue flames playing about the structure " have 

 been current in the public press. These reports would be almost 

 incredible, were it not for the fact that the directors have taken 

 cognizance of the matter, and are seriously considering whether 

 the conductivity of the tower is sufficient as it now stands. The 

 safety of the structure is of considerable moment, not only to visi- 

 tors, but from a financial point of view, when it is considered that 

 a recent week's receipts, exclusive of rentals and privileges, have 

 amounted to the round sum of sixty-seven thousand dollars. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



Insiiitites of Economics. By E. BENJAMIN Andrews. Boston, 

 Silver, Burdett, & Co. 12°. 



This book has been written because the author thinks that the 

 existing manuals on the subject involve two serious faults of 

 method. One is that they explain every thing too fully, thus leav- 

 ing too little for teacher and student to do ; and the other is that 

 they do not mark by difference of type the distinction between the 

 principles of the science and the examples used to illustrate them. 

 Accordingly, his own presentation of the subject is very succinct, 

 so much so as to deprive his book of all literary form ; and his 

 illustrations and much other matter are given in the form of notes. 

 We are strongly of opinion that in both respects he has made a 

 mistake. Economics is too difficult a subject to be adequately taught 

 in so succinct a form as that of this treatise ; and the separation of 

 principle and illustration, besides being a literary fault, increases 

 the difficulty of understanding the science. However, nothing but 

 actual use can determine the merits of Mr. Andrews's method, and 

 his work certainly contains a large amount of matter, and shows a 

 thorough mastery of the best works on the subject. His views are 

 substantially those of the English writers, with some modifications 

 due to German thought. The concise character of the work ren- 

 ders some of its expositions obscure, and insufficient for a proper 

 understanding of the subject, this being particularly the case with 

 the account of supply and demand, which is only presented in a 

 note, and very insufficiently there. The author's views are in the 

 main sound, but his theory of " ideal money " can hardly be called 

 so. He would have the State issue all money, both coin and paper ; 

 and, when there occurred a general fall or rise of prices, the govern- 

 ment should " correct the same by expanding or contracting the 

 circulation." Let us hope that " ideal money " will never come 

 into use. 



Handbook of Psychology. Se?ises and Intellect. By James Mark 

 Baldwin. New York, Holt. 8°. 



This volume is the first part of a general treatise on psychology, 

 the second volume being designed to treat of the emotions and the 

 will. It is both descriptive and theoretical, and is intended to pre- 

 sent the latest views on the science, so far as these are accepted by 

 the author. The style is plain and easily understood, except in a 

 few places where the writer does not seem to have a perfect mas- 

 tery of the thought he wishes to convey. Professor Baldwin con- 

 siders the introspective method as the main instrument of psycho- 

 logical study, though he recognizes the value of the experimental 

 method,, so far as its reach extends. He rejects the theory of un- 

 conscious intelligence, and gives good reasons for doing so. His 

 discussion of consciousness and of the nature and methods of 

 psychology are among the best portions of the work. His views 

 are to a certain extent eclectic, and reflect the present unsettled 

 state of both psychology and philosophy. He tells us that he 

 studied philosophy under one of the leaders of the Scottish school, 

 and his work reflects in many respects the influence of that school. 

 His classification is similar to theirs, and in particular he follows 

 them in his treatment of reason as the " regulative faculty," the 

 faculty of intuitions. In other parts his work shows the influence 

 of Kant, while that of the empirical school and the physiologists is 

 also apparent. Take, for example, his theory of the perception of 



