Jasvary 1. 189.">.] 



SCIENCE. 



15 



of tliosc, but is tlu^ resistance of a solid 

 metallic conductor. 



The ampere, wliile defined primarily in 

 terms of the C. G. S. system, and scconthirily 

 in reference to the silver voltameter, is in 

 practice determined by the dynamic action 

 of one current uiK)n another. In the same 

 way, the volt is not in practice referred to 

 the C. G. S. system of units, nor is it deter- 

 mined by comijarison with the Clark cell, 

 but by the measurement of the rotation 

 effect upon a part of a certain instru- 

 ment when the electro-motive force is aj)- 

 plied between certain points in that instru- 

 ment. 



One cannot refrain from the opinion that. 

 fi-om an absolutely metrological standpoint, 

 the regulations of the • Order in Council " 

 should be condemned rather than approved ; 

 however, personal conference with the re- 

 presentatives of the English Board of Trade 

 and Standardizing Laboratory i-eveals the 

 fact that the material representations of 

 electrical units, thus provided, are to be 

 considered as i)ut tentative in character, 

 adopted on account of greater convenience 

 in actual practice, and to be continually re- 

 vised and corrected by reference to tlie fun- 

 damental definitions, which are essentially 

 the same as those approved by the re])re- 

 sentatives of Great Britain at the Chicago 

 Congre.ss, and where they do differ from 

 those are, it will be generally admitted, I 

 think, on the whole, more sound. 



It is very important for the I'nited States 

 that, when the time shall come, as it must 

 before long, for the preparation of material 

 representations of as many of the electrical 

 units that have been legalized as can conve- 

 niently be represented, the gi-eatest ettbrt 

 shall be made to see that there be no hasty 

 action, and that, as far as possible, already 

 well established principles of metrology 

 shall be strictly applied. 



T. C. Mkxdkmiai.i.. 



WoRCKSTKU I'OI.VTIXIIXIC TXSTITITK. 



Tin: UVMASiriKS. 



TuK study of the history of mankind is 

 logically developed into five great branches, 

 viz.: industries, pleasures, languages, insti- 

 tutions and opinions. These are the Hinnani- 

 tien. Into all of these realms modern scienti- 

 fic research penetrates and seeks to discover 

 their origin and development from the be- 

 ginning of primeval human life to the pres- 

 ent time. In following the c(mrse of hu- 

 manity from the earliest savagery to the 

 highest enlightenment it is found that man 

 has traveled by five parallel roads from the 

 starting place of ignorance toward the goal 

 of wisdom. Xow he travels on one road, 

 now on another, parceling out his activities 

 and dividing his time between all. On 

 wings of thought he pa.sses from way to 

 way. When he travels by one road he 

 seems to have one end m view, by another 

 road another end in view, and yet as often 

 as he may change his goal and the road by 

 which lie travels he is pursuing the route 

 to wisdom. He may travel by false charts, 

 or he may lose his way, and yet the end in 

 view may remain the same. He engages in 

 the arts of industry and the purpose is wel- 

 fare ; he engages in the arts of pleasure and 

 the purpose is happiness ; he engages in the 

 arts of speech and the purpose is expres- 

 sion ; he engages in institutional arts and 

 the purpose is justice ; he engages in the arts 

 of learning and the purpose is knowledge. 

 In the way by labor, the way by plea.sure, 

 the way by speech, the way by institutions 

 and the way l)y learning — in all waj-s — he 

 runs to the goal of wisdom. 



In all the research prosecuted during the 

 present century, and especially during the 

 later decades, one great generalization is 

 reached fi-om the multitudinous facts gath- 

 ered from the world; this is the intellectual 

 unity of the human race. The history of 

 the lower animals, from primeval geologic 

 time to the present, exhibits a constant dif- 

 ferentiation of species, genera, orders and 



