42 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 311 



SCIENCE 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



PUBLISHED BY 



N. D. C. HODGES, 



47 Lafayette Place, New York. 



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Vol. XIII. 



NEW YORK, Jan. i8, iS 



No. 311. 



The White Elevated Electric 



Railroad 33 



CONTENTS: 



Mental Science. 

 Negative Suggestic 



Electrical News. 



Light without Heat 34 



New Secondary Batteries 35 



Is a Vacuum an Electric Conduc- 

 tor? 35 



Electric Light in the Patent Office 35 



The Observatory Hill Railway 

 OF Allegheny City, Penn 35 



Sciektipic News in Washington. 



The Archaeology of the District of 



Columbia 38 



Our Future Empire 38 



Science and Psychos 38 



Census c 



£ Defective Classes. 38 



Fatigue of Sight 41 



Sense of Taste 41 



Acrophobia 41 



Color-Blindness 41 



Notes . 



iNe 



Editorial 42 



The Death of Mr. Z. L. White. — 

 Political Influence in New York 

 Schools. 



Africa, its Past A^ 



) Future, 



r G. Hubbard 



Book-Reviews. 



Hypnotism or Mesmerism 50 



Science records with regret the death by consumption of 

 Mr. Z. L. White, who for some months has served as its Washing- 

 ton correspondent. It occurred in Nassau, N.P., to which balmy 

 island Mr. White fled a month ago for his health. He was one of 

 the best-equipped and best-known of Washington correspondents. 

 For years he had charge of the Tribune bureau, and later repre- 

 sented the interests of the Philadelphia Press. He became much 

 talked about in connection with the publishing of the treaty of 

 Washington before it was officially given out, and was imprisoned 

 by the Senate for refusing to betray the gentleman from whom he 

 obtained it. In addition to the meed of praise which the press of 

 the country will accord to Mr. White for unusual enterprise and in- 

 telligent industry, we gladly bear witness that he was a careful ob- 

 server and an accurate compiler of scientific news. E. J. Gibson, 

 the Philadelphia representative of the Press in Washington, said to 

 our correspondent, "I first became acquainted with Mr. White 

 while he was the Washington correspondent of the Tribune, eleven 

 years ago. I was then employed in the editorial rooms of the paper 

 in New York, and during the time Mr. White remained connected 

 with it I had opportunity to become well acquainted with him, and 



always found him a most agreeable associate and a man of the 

 highest honor. He worked his way up in the Tribune office in a 

 comparatively short time, promotion coming as a result of his 

 energy and ability, and in that respect he was often referred to in- 

 the office as an example for new-comers. His acquaintance with 

 public men gave him a great advantage in the collection of news, 

 and at a convention he was able to get at the bottom facts in a very 

 short time. His newspaper work was so well known, both on the 

 Tribune and the Philadelphia Press, that there is no need to speak 

 of it. He was a studious, unassuming man, and a gentleman in 

 every sense of the word. Few newspaper men had the confidence 

 of so many public men, and he was never accused of betraying a 

 confidence. His kindly manner made him friends wherever he went,, 

 and he was always cheerful and hopeful." 



We have frequently had occasion to comment upon the 

 condition of the New York City schools during the past year. This 

 condition, and the influences that are at work in them, have far 

 more than local interest. At the organization of the Board of 

 Education for 18S9, which took place last week, the controlling in- 

 fluence of the political machines was again made manifest, and 

 those who had hoped for some improvement in this respect were 

 bitterly disappointed. Two members of the board, who had ex- 

 pressed themselves publicly as in favor of a change, deserted their 

 colleagues at the critical moment. The most contemptible and 

 discreditable political methods had been used to bring this result 

 about, and it again places in the president's chair the man whose 

 previous course we so thoroughly disapproved of in our comments 

 at the time of the contest of last spring. It is a serious matter, also, 

 that the great city newspapers either keep their readers in ignorance 

 of what is going on, or else endeavor to have them sympathize with 

 it. It is the simple fact that the New York City schools to-day are 

 in the hands of the political spoilsmen, and they use them to pro- 

 vide places for themselves and their friends, and to perpetuate 

 abuses from which they derive personal benefit. From the presi- 

 dent of the Board of Education and the superintendent of schools, 

 down to the very janitors, there is a mass of intrigue and chicanery 

 which is a disgrace not only to the city of New York, but to the 

 country. 



AFRICA, ITS PAST AND FUTURE.' 



Africa, the oldest of the continents, containing the earliest re- 

 mains of man, and the birthplace of European civilization, is the 

 last to be explored. Long before the temples of India or the 

 palaces of Nineveh were built, before the hanging garden of Baby- 

 lon was planted, the pyramids of Cheops and Cephren had been 

 constructed, the temples of Palmyra and Thebes filled with wor- 

 shippers. 



Greece owes its civilization to Egypt : its beautiful orders of 

 architecture came from the land of the Nile. The civilization of 

 Egypt had grown old, and was in its decay, when Rome was born. 

 Think what a vast abyss of time separates us from the days of 

 Romulus and Remus ! And yet the pyramids of Egypt were then 

 older by a thousand years than all the centuries that have passed 

 since then. 



For ages upon ages, Africa has refused to reveal its secrets to 

 civilized man, and, though explorers have penetrated it from every 

 side, it remains to-day the dark continent. This isolation of Africa 

 is due to its position and formation. It is avast, ill-formed triangle, 

 with few good harbors, without navigable rivers for ocean-ves- 

 sels, lying mainly in the torrid zone. A fringe of low scorched land, 

 reeking with malaria, extends in unbroken monotony all along the 

 coast, threatening death to the adventurous explorer. We wonder 

 that we knov/ so much, rather than so little, of Africa. Our igno- 

 rance of Africa is not in consequence of its situation under the equa- 



1 Annual address of Hon. Gardiner G. Hubbard, president of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society, at its meeting, December, i88S. 



