970 
paper in the land has yielded. To this has 
been added the newspaper ‘syndicate,’ by 
which men who know really nothing of sci- 
ence are employed to furnish sensational ar- 
ticles on scientific discovery, illustrated by 
sensational pictures, all of which is the more 
injurious because often founded upon a 
Un- 
fortunately, some men who may be said to 
slender, microscopic tissue of fact. 
inhabit the fringe of genuine scientific ac- 
tivity lend themselves to this sort of thing 
and are made much of accordingly. Whole 
pages of this modern journalism are filled 
with accounts of discoveries that are going 
to be made, for writers of this class are 
shrewd in taking advantage of the fact that 
human interest and human memory are now 
practically restricted to about twenty-four 
hours in time. The publication of a broad- 
side describing an alleged improvement of 
the telescope or microscope, in which there 
is absolutely nothing new that is true or 
true that is new, adorned with a series of 
cuts largely imaginary and many of which 
have no relation to the subject-matter, has 
served the purpose intended when its author 
has received his pay from the ‘syndicate’ 
and when the syndicate has scored a tri- 
umph in what in these days is called ‘ enter- 
prise.’ Even the most conservative among 
men of science are made to appear as will- 
ing purveyors of sensationalism by what 
ought to be looked upon as an unwarranted 
and illegitimate use of the results of care- 
fully conducted investigations, often before 
such results have received final considera- 
tion and approval at their own hands. 
If all impressions made by this false popu- 
larization of science were to disappear in 
SCIENCE. 
(N.S. Vou. VI. No. 157. 
tweuty-four hours the evil would be greatly 
lessened, but unfortunately there are many 
very intelligent and thoughtful people, 
who ought to constitute the best sup- 
port of scientific work, upon whom they are 
more lasting. To such the line separating 
the genuine accomplishments of honest 
scholarship from the output of sensational- 
ism, which ought to be clear and sharp, is 
becoming very nebulous, and there is im- 
minent danger of a revolt against the whole 
thing. The extent to which credulity has 
been carried was beautifully illustrated not 
long ago when a widely known scientific man. 
amused himself and many friends by cari- 
caturing, in the columns of one of our stand- 
ard scientific journals, some of the phases 
of modern psycho-physics. So perfectly did 
the burlesque reflect the form and substance 
of some recent contributions to that science 
that it was immediately accepted as serious 
by the large majority of readers. 
‘This suggestion leads us by easy descent, 
or ascent, to that large and growing region 
of pseudo-science, the cultivators of which 
are, for the most part, themselves honest. 
For the most part, I say, for it is diffi- 
cult to believe that all of the persistent ad- 
vocates of unadulterated nonsense are seri- 
ously in earnest. Honest or dishonest, they 
usually come upon us in much the same 
way and nearly always find converts in 
sufficient numbers to enable them to press 
their fallacious theories upon the public at- 
tention. Their appearance is generally 
sudden and unexpected, and although they 
have never been heard of in scientific circles 
before; although they have never done even 
a small bit of work which might entitle 
