igS 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 319 



SCIENCE 



time ; but every mechanical detail of the " Princeton " and of the 

 " Monitor " received some improvement at his hands. 



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John Ericsson was a man with the best of brain-power, with 

 confidence in himself, who lived at a lime when the world was ripe 

 for what he could best do. He was essentially a great mechanical 

 engineer. And not only was he fortunate in the age in which he 

 lived, but he was wise in his choice of a place of residence. The 

 fate of mechanical inventions is like that of the seed in the parable : 

 the invention must fall on a proper soil, and be nurtured by favor- 

 able circumstances of time and place, in order to bloom into suc- 

 cess. Thus Ericsson was early led from his home in Sweden to 

 England, where he found a congenial environment till the conser- 

 vatism of the English Admiralty drove him to this country. He 

 was a man accustomed to carry through to useful perfection any 

 scheme which commended itself to his mind ; and, having confi- 

 dence in himself, he found criticism difficult to endure. He knew 

 he was right in his propeller for steam-vessels, and quickly left the 

 country which refused to adopt it for America, where within two 

 years the new device was in use on forty-two vessels. He knew he 

 was right in his " Monitor," and was mortified and indignant at 

 the hesitation of the American naval board in giving him a 

 contract for building the first of this class of war-vessels. His 

 work in each of these cases was not simply the devising of a form 

 of propelling apparatus which would be better than the old side- 

 wheel, or of a form of ironclad which was the best there was at the 



Such was the man, and such was his work. He had the perse- 

 verance, the capacity to appreciate the importance of details, and 

 the confidence in himself, which lead to success. And what was 

 his reward ? Doubtless he received considerable payments for 

 much of what he did ; but in the case of the " Princeton" it is said 

 the government is still his debtor, and in that of the " Monitor" he 

 received only the amount due him on his contract. As an inventor 

 who supplied the government with an all-important engine of war, 

 he received not a cent. Nor would he listen to the suggestion fre- 

 quently urged on him by congressmen and others, that Congress 

 should be asked to recognize his claim, and to provide for it. The 

 Legislature of New York passed a resolution, thanking him for his 

 services to the country, which he insisted on freely giving ; and 

 these resolutions he highly prized. Ericsson is said not to have 

 cared for money, and this would certainly seem to be true. 



The respect shown at his funeral was such as is seldom seen at 

 that of any private citizen. The streets in the neighborhood of his 

 late residence were crowded from the early morning hours with 

 thousands, who for four hours passed through the house to pay 

 homage to the departed genius. New York is a place full of hu- 

 man beings, — so full that each pays little or no heed to his neigh- 

 bor ; yet the great respect for this man of science and of action 

 was shown in the number and character of those who followed his 

 remains to their resting-place, in the uncovered heads as they were 

 borne along the busy streets, and in the impossibility of admitting 

 to Trinity all that wished. Ericsson was a man who could have 

 endeared many to him, but he had a strong sense of duty to his 

 work, which induced him to make few friends. This final homage 

 of the unmindful crowds of the great city was to his genius well, 

 applied. 



PUBLIC HEALTH A PUBLIC DUTY. 



The address of President Charles N. Hewitt, at the sixteenth 

 annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, was 

 full of suggestion, and contained many valuable propositions. It 

 was entitled " Public Health a Public Duty," and dealt with the 

 organization, powers, and relations of local. State, and National 

 boards of health. In reviewing the work of the association, and 

 the progress made in sanitary science during recent years, he 

 said : — 



" As secretary of one of the oldest of the State boards [Minne- 

 sota], I had the honor of an eleetion as an original member of this 

 body, and have known its history since. In my own State, beside, 

 I have been missionary at large, and served as the organizer 

 and counsellor of many a local board, and as sanitary inspector 

 and health-officer as well. I have seen our organizations grow 

 from two feeble boards with ill-defined powers, in 1S72, to over 

 fourteen hundred, united under a common code of law, with largely 

 increased powers, duties, and funds. There is not to-day in Min- 

 nesota a community, however small, without such a board in direct 

 communication with the State board. 



" The State boards of health have increased from three in 1873, 

 to thirty-one in 1888. Largely through their efforts, popular 

 knowledge and confidence have grown from the tentative methods 

 of the past to the demand for, and more liberal support of, sanitary 

 organization and positive work. More and better legislation, great 

 sanitary engineering works, and a bountiful crop of private enter- 

 prises in the same direction, are among the evidences that our field 

 is widening and our responsibilities increasing. We have seen the 

 early examples of efficient State executive organization become a 

 living force in many more of the States and Canada. Various 

 departments of modern science are our willing helpers. Micro- 

 biology has opened up great stores of discovery, and awakened 

 great hopes, which we trust may not fail. We have seen the be- 



