September ii, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



145 



\iclual. Theory has here been closely followed by its practical 

 application in prevention and treatment of disease, whilst the 

 study of bacteriology, w hich is of such remarkable pre-eminence 

 at the present time, is opening out sources from which may flow 

 results of incalculable importance in their bearing oa life and 

 health. That the conclusions arrived at are always to be depended 

 on I doubt, and it seems that scientific zeal may perhaps some- 

 times outrun discretion. That it might be wiser to postpone gen- 

 eralization has, I think, been more than once apparent, whilst the 

 expediency of further investigation before arriving at conclusions 

 which may subsequently prove to be erroneous should not be lost 

 sight of ; but it has probably ever been so in the course of scientific 

 progress, that in the enthusiasm of research, which is rewarded by 

 such brilliant results, early generalization has too often been fol- 

 lowed by disappointment, and it may be by temporary discourage- 

 ment of hopes which seemed so promising. 



It would be well to bear in mind a caution recently given by 

 the Duke of Argyll, ' ' that we should be awake to the retarding 

 effect of a superstitious dependence on the authority of great men, 

 and to the constant liability of even the greatest observers to 

 found fallacious generalizations on a few selected facts " {Nine- 

 teenth Century, April, 1891). StiU, it is in the region of scientific 

 research by experiment that we look for real progress, and we 

 can only deplore the mistaken sentiment, the false estimate, and 

 the misconstruction of its aspirations and purposes, which have 

 placed an embargo on experiment on living animals, rendering 

 the pursuit of knowledge in this direction well-nigh impossible, if 

 not criminal; whilst for any other purpose, whether of food, cloth- 

 ing, ornament, or spw't, a thousandfold the pain may be inflicted 

 without question. The inconsistency of the sentiment which finds 

 unwarrantable suffering in an operation performed on a rabbit, 

 when the object is to preserve human or animal life or prevent 

 suffering, but which raises no objection to the same animal be- 

 ing slowly tortured to death in a trap, or hunted or worried by 

 a dog, needs no comment; whilst the spirit which withholds 

 from the man of science what it readily concedes to the himter 

 is, to say the least, as much to be regretted as it is to be depre- 

 cated. 



It must be remembered that, important as are the researches 

 into microbiology, there are other factors to reckon with before 

 we can hope to gain a knowledge of the ultimate causation of dis- 

 ease, It is not by any one path, however closely or carefully it 

 may be followed, that we shall arrive at a full comprehension of 

 all that is concerned in its etiology and jsrevention, for there are 

 many conditions, dynamical and material, around and within us 

 which have to be considered in their mutual relations and bearings 

 before we can hope to do so; still, I believe we may feel satisfied 

 that the causes of disease are now being more thoroughly sought 

 out than they ever have been, — all honor to those who are prose- 

 cuting the research so vigorously, — and that though individual 

 predilection may seem sometimes to dwell too exclusively on spe- 

 cific objects, yet the tendency is to investigate everything that 

 bears upon the subject, and to emphasize all that is implied in the 

 aphorism, Salus populi, supreina lex. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



At the meeting of the committee on organization of the 

 National Association of Government Geologists, Aug. 29, the sec- 

 retary, Mr. Artbm' Winslow, was instructed ta draft a constitu- 

 tion and by-laws to be submitted to the committee at a meeting 

 to he called in connection with the annual meeting of the Geolog- 

 ical Society in December next. The secretary was further re- 

 quested to notify aU State geologists of this movement towards 

 organization, and to invite them to be present at the next meet- 

 ing. 



— At the monthly meeting of the Field Naturalists' Club of 

 Victoria, held on July 13 last, as we learn from Nature, Messrs. 

 Luehman and French read a note and exhibited the skin of a tree- 

 climbing kangaroo from northern Queensland, new to science, to 

 which they gave the name of Dendrolagus nmelleri. This re- 

 markable marsupial has a body about two feet in length, with a 



tail somewhat exceeding two feet. The disproportion between the 

 fore-legs and the hind-legs is not nearly so great as that of the 

 ordinary kangaroo and wallaby; the toes are strong and curved, 

 to enable it to climb tall and straight trees, on the leaves of which 

 it exists. This tree kangaroo is more nearly allied to the aijecies 

 which was discovered a few years ago in Queensland than to the 

 two species from New Guinea. The specimen described was got 

 from a straight tree, about ninety feet above the ground. 



— M. Imfeld, the Swiss engineer, who has been engaged to ex- 

 amine the nature of the summit of Mont Bl^nc for the construc- 

 tion there of M. Janssen's proposed observatory, recounts in a 

 Ziirich journal the difficulties he is experiencing in his prelimi- 

 nary survey. Nature states that M. Imfeld is staying with eight 

 workmen and two doctors at M. Vallot's observatory, which has 

 an altitude of 4,400 metres, and thence they proceed daily to the 

 summit, where they work for several hours a day in the endeavor 

 to ascertain the depth of the snow for the purpose of getting the 

 necessary foundation for the building. M. Eiffel has expressed 

 the opinion that the construction of an observatory will only be 

 possible if the snow does not exceed a depth of twelve metres. M. 

 Imfeld states that they have encountered traces of a ridge of rock 

 eighteen to twenty metres below the summit, and covered with 

 about one metre of snow. They have therefore commenced to 

 make a series of lateral tunnels on three sides, at a distance equal 

 to twelve metres below the summit, to ascertain if the ridge ex- 

 tends to that height. Progress is necessarily slow. Most of the 

 men are suffering from mal de montagne. Some, however, who 

 are engaged at M. Valiot's cabin, are able to work almost as long 

 as in the valley, and they also eat and sleep well. In spite of two 

 coke stoves, the thermometer of the cabin never rises above zero; 

 even ink freezes, and water boils at 83'^, and they cannot properly 

 cook meat. For a day or two they were disturbed by violent 

 storms. 



— In a bulletin recently published by the Pennsylvania Experi- 

 ment Station (State College, Centre County), Professor William 

 A. Buckhout gives some valuable information relative to the cul- 

 ture of the chestnut. The chestnut cannot be grown successfully 

 on heavy clays, wet soils, or limestone land. It prefers loose, 

 sandy soils, or such as has been derived from the decomposition 

 of slates and shales. In Ohio it is found native on the sand ridges 

 which border on the lake shore, and on the shaly hillsides of some 

 of the hill counties in the southern portion of the State, but never 

 on the limestones which cover the western and south-western por- 

 tions of the State, nor can it be cultivated in this region with any 

 prospect of success. The chestnut grows readily from the seed, 

 but the greatest care must be exercised not to permit the nuts to 

 become dry. To accomplish this they must be planted as soon as 

 gathered, or else must be kept in moist sand until ready to plant. 

 If possible the nuts should be planted where the tree is to stand, 

 as the chestnut has a long tap root which renders transplanting 

 difficult. Our native chestnut is practically of but one variety; 

 the European chestnut is not only much larger and finer than the 

 American, but has produced, under cultivation, a number of va- 

 rieties, some of which are highly esteemed for the superior quality 

 of their fruit. The trees do not grow so large as the American, 

 and come into bearing more quickly ; the latter does not usually 

 fruit until ten or twelve years old. Within the past few years 

 species from Japan have been introduced into the United States. 

 Unfortunately they do not appear to be entirely hardy, except in 

 the South and some favored localities in the Middle States. They 

 are quite dwarf in habit, produce nuts larger even than the Euro- 

 pean, and begin to fruit when they are but four or five years old. 

 These two characters, small size and early fi-uitfulness, give them 

 special value, and if they can be worked upon stocks of the Amer- 

 ican species we can secure trees which will bear earlier and pro- 

 duce larger nuts than our native species. The supply of chest- 

 nuts never equals the demand in this country, and many districts 

 in which the trees are abundant derive a very respectable income 

 from the sale of the nuts. It is therefore obvious that this is an 

 industry which can be made far more productive and profitable 

 than it now is, since very little effort has been made towards cul- 

 tivation. 



