400 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 793 



the church. Examples — the Agnus Dei and medal 

 of St. Benedict for divers bodily ills and storms. 

 (6) Unauthorized, but popularly endowed with 

 specific virtues. Examples — the medal of the 

 Three Magi, " witch money," the medal of St. 

 Anthony, Hermit, for animal protection, St. 

 Joseph's carpenter's rule for child protection, the 

 pig of St. Anthony for luck, the medal of St. 

 Andrea Abellino for apoplexy, the coin and the 

 key of the Holy Spirit for infantile convulsions. 



Votives. Examples — primitive Etruscan fig- 

 urines of bronze, 800 B.C., ancient Roman bead 

 incised HER, terra cotta heads. 



In the discussion following the reading of the 

 paper Dr. J. W. Fewkes dwelt on the amulets 

 used by the Indians, while Dr. B. L. Morgan 

 referred to those worn by the negroes of Wash- 

 ington, such as dog's teeth, etc. 



Mr. George R. Stetson followed with a paper 

 on " Some Social Fallacies." 



It was universally accepted that in the millen- 

 nium of perfect literacy crime would cease. But 

 as mental culture, which by no means includes 

 moral education, increases our sensibility and 

 self-esteem, it also increases our ability to accu- 

 mulate wealth, to acquire social position, and 

 thus to escape the consequences of our criminal 

 acts. The fallacies in the practise and adminis- 

 tration of the law are made apparent in its dis- 

 crepancies and defects. Decisions should be made 

 and punishments administered without sentiment 

 and be reformatory in character and purpose, 

 taking into consideration the apparent motive, 

 the circumstances of the deed and the culture of 

 the perpetrator. A censure was also expressed 

 against such attorneys who maintain their clients' 

 cause per fas et nefas, so that many criminals are 

 shielded from the penalty of their crimes and 

 society is thus rendered defenceless, as is proved 

 by statistics. Indiscriminate mercy as well as 

 indiscriminate punishment is criminal. The power 

 of pardon which is so frequently abused, should 

 under our form of government be permissible only 

 to the sovereign people in their houses of as- 

 sembly. The fallacy of absolute human equality. 

 Organic equality is nowhere found, nor does equal- 

 ity of opportunity produce equality in results. 

 Hence there is also no economic equality. Abso- 

 lute political, social and economic equality would 

 not only check our progress in civilization, but 

 also destroy what we have attained. The fallacy 

 of excessive specialization and division of labor 

 which results in mental and physical deteriora- 

 tion, in unrest and discontent. Fallacies in his- 



tory and literature were illustrated by numerous 

 examples. The fallacies of polities, statistics and 

 legislation likewise came in for their share, con- 

 eluding with a discussion of the fallacies of the 

 missionary and civilizing enterprises. 



Remarks on the paper were made by Drs. Folk- 

 mar, Casanowicz and Lamb and by Mrs. Sarah 

 S. James. I. M. Casanowicz, 



Secretary 



THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



At a meeting of the society on February 18, 

 a paper entitled " The Tunnel Construction- of 

 the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Company" 

 was read by J. Vipond Davies, chief engineer. 



The population of New York and its suburbs in 

 New York and New Jersey has grown to a total 

 of 6,527,000 persons, of which some 1,691,000 

 reside in the district in New Jersey. The traffic 

 across the ferries of the Hudson River before the 

 tunnels were opened to business was 125,000,000 

 persons per annum. No other excuse or explana- 

 tion is needed for the construction of the Hudson 

 River tunnels. 



This work involved every type of tunnel con- 

 struction developed by modern machinery and 

 methods, but more particularly the so-called 

 " shield " method, under which there are provided, 

 (1) for supporting soil, eliminating water and 

 making a safe place for workmen, the use of air 

 pressure; (2) for supporting soil and partially 

 removing same, for making a safe place for men, 

 the use of a hydraulic shield; (3) for a perma- 

 nent lining the use of metal plates; (4) for put- 

 ting in place the lining the use of an erector; 

 and (5) for waterproofing and protection the use 

 01 cement grout. All tnese methods were fully 

 described in detail. 



THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 

 NEW YOEK SECTION 



The fifth regular meeting of the session of 1909- 

 10 was held at the Chemists' Club on February 11. 



The following papers were presented: 



" Nucleic Acids," P. A. Levene. 



" Determination of Sodium Chloride in Milk," 

 Paul Poetschke. 



" Some Colloid-chemical Aspects of Digestion, 

 with Ultra-microscopic Observations," Jerome 

 Alexander. 



" The Fate of Amino Acids in the Organism," 

 Graham Lusk. C. M. Joyce, 



