July ]8, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



character represented by the absence of all 

 factors. But in avoiding this anomaly, cal- 

 culation is made more difficult and the only 

 object gained is to lend an unwarranted ap- 

 pearance of reality to what is merely a con- 

 venient formula for expressing the observed 

 relations. 



G. N. Collins 

 Washington, D. C, 

 June 30, 1913 



SWEDENBORG 



. To THE Editor of Science: At the top of 

 the second column of page 100 of Science for 

 January 17, 1913, I note the following state- 

 ment by one of your correspondents : " But 

 Swedenborg would be laughed out of a modern 

 court of science." 



I find in a brief Life of Swedenborg, by 

 J. Stuart Bogg (Frederick Warne & Co., Lon- 

 don and New York, 1911), that Swedenborg 

 was a wide traveler, a friend of learned men, 

 a student of astronomy, metallurgy and anat- 

 omy, an inventor, a practical-minded, useful 

 member of the Swedish House of Nobles, 

 assessor in the Royal College of Mines and an 

 author of numerous scientific works. Among 

 his inventions were a plan for a submarine 

 boat and a plan for a flying machine based on 

 the now known principles of heavier-than-air 

 machines. He declared that a very slight 

 force would be sufficient to keep such ma- 

 chines up, but he knew nothing, of course, of 

 gasoline motors. In the domain of astronomy 

 he originated a method for finding terrestrial 

 longitude by means of the moon. In the 

 House of Nobles he took an active interest in 

 such matters as the finances of the country, 

 the liquor traffic and the mines. Among his 

 scientific publications were works on chem- 

 istry, metallurgy, astronomical methods, ob- 

 servations connected with the physical sci- 

 ences, and the economy of the animal king- 

 dom. Until he was fifty-five years of age he 

 was wholly occupied in these scientific and 

 . practical pursuits and was respected by schol- 

 ars and patrons of learning at home and 

 abroad. 



In a prospectus which lies before me of a 

 new edition of Emanuel Swedenborg's Sci- 



entific Works, I see that " Swedenborg's dis- 

 coveries and theories in various departments 

 of science have awakened an increasing in- 

 terest among specialists during the past cen- 

 tury," that they led the Royal Swedish Acad- 

 emy of Sciences to appoint a Swedenborg 

 committee in 1902, and that this academy had 

 in 1907 already published Vol. I. of the new 

 edition in the original Latin and Swedish. 



In view of these facts it seems strange to 

 me that any one should affirm that " Sweden- 

 borg would be laughed out of a modern court 

 of science." Is it possible that those who 

 would laugh him out have never read his 

 scientific works at all? If so, perhaps they 

 could profitably refiect on the following quota- 

 tion from Herbert Spencer : 



There is a principle which is a bar against all 

 information, which is proof against all argument, 

 and which can not fail to keep a man in ever- 

 lasting ignorance; this principle is contempt prior 

 to examination. 



Andrew H. Ward 



a new variety of juglans californica watson 



There recently appeared in these columns 

 a brief note by N. B. Pierce entitled " A New 

 Walnut." It included a very brief general 

 description which coiild not be accepted as a 

 diagnosis in the usual meaning of that term. 

 Yet Dr. Pierce stated that he thought it de- 

 sirable to give the new form a name at that 

 time and that he intended to publish a full 

 description later. But Dr. Pierce did not see 

 fit to cite the diagnostic description of this 

 form which was published (but without refer- 

 ence to a scientific name) in Jepson's " Silva 

 of California." ' Had he done so the name he 

 proposed would stand, even though unsatis- 

 factory to one who has studied the form care- 

 fully. 



However, I take it that Juglans quercifolia 

 Pierce is a nomen nudum and that it still 

 remains to publish a scientific name and diag- 

 nosis together. Therefore, I take pleasure in 

 recording the same as follows: 



New Variety: Juglans calif ornica var. 

 quercina. Diagnosis by the undersigned in 



' Jepson, W. L., ' ' Silva of California, ' ' Univ. 

 Calif. Memoirs, Vol. II., 1910, p. 54. 



