122 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXII. No. 552 



coldest of northern regions life is never totally absent, and 

 may be found when carefully searched for. But, it must 

 be conceded, life becomes "living," so to say, only during 

 a very short period, a rapid summer, during vs^hich the 

 temperature rises above zero. The study of marine cold- 

 blooded organisms, in the northern climes, furnishes, I 

 think, the extreme limit of cold under vrhich organisms 

 can live and reproduce themselves. Pr. Kjellmann, dur- 

 ing his wintering in Mosseibay (Sjjitzbergen) some twenty 

 years ago, observed a number of algae at the coldest 

 period of the year, and was satisfied, by direct observa- 

 tion, that they did most decidedly give issue to the sex- 

 ual elements, and that the process of reproduction was in 

 full activity while the temperature of the water was pier- 

 manently below zero, between -1° and -3° (salt water 

 having a lower freezing point than fresh, about 3^). I 

 do not know of instances of organisms thriving individ- 

 ually and specifically at lower temperatures, of organisms 

 doing the same, while their internal temperature cannot 

 be above that of the environment. Lichens must certainly 

 be considered as living at much lower temperatures, since 

 they perform the breathing function at -10°, -20° and at 

 much lower aerial temperatures, but do they reproduce 

 themselves under such conditions ? Experiments are 

 wanting, and till they have been performed, we may con- 

 sider that the lowest internal temparatures at which organ- 

 isms may thrive and reproduce, is -2° or -3°, and that 

 some algse do live under these conditions in the north- 

 ern seas amidst the blocks of ice (Kjellmann: Vege- 

 tation hivernale du Algues a Mosseibay, Spitzherg, apres les 

 observations faites pendant I'expedition polaire suedoise en 

 1872-1873: Gonvptes Bendus de I'Academie des Sciences, 

 1875). 



As to extreme heat, I find no instance more satisfactory 

 than that of Van Tieghem. In a paper, Sur des bacteri- 

 anes vivant a la tempierature de 7 If Gentigrades (published 

 in the Bulletin de la Societe Botanique de France, 1881, Vol. 

 28), he has given the results of his exjjeriments on 

 certain bacteria, and has found that one species is able to 

 thrive and to reproduce itself at 74°, while at 77° it dies. 

 Many other micro-organisms can bear for some time 60° or 

 70° C., but I know of no other able to live permanently 

 at 74° and to give posterity under such conditions. No 

 doubt a large number of observers, of whom I have 

 given some names, with the results they have obtained, in 

 a paper: Les temperatures extremes compatibles avec la vie, 

 {Bevue Scientifique, 27 May, 1893), have given instances of 

 plants and animals living in hot springs, and, if some were 

 to be believed, animals and plants would have been found 

 in boiling water. I do not say the thing is impossible, 

 but great care must be taken when ascertaining the tem- 

 perature of thermal waters. Hoffe Seyler has shown that 

 under the uppermost layer of water, which may be very 

 warm, colder layers are to be found, and animals may 

 seem to live in heated water, when in fact they live in 

 normal conditions. Unless special care is taken to ob- - 

 serve the temp)erature at the very level where living or- 

 ganisms are found, we can take no serious account of the 

 numerous and startling observations made by a number 

 of travellers, and abstracted by Goeffert, formerly, and 

 recently by H. Weed {9th Ann. Bep. of U. S. Geol. Survey 

 by Powell, p. 619). There is no reason to suppose that no 

 organisms can live and reproduce themselves at an in- 

 ternal temj^erature of more than 74°. Such organisms do 

 doubtless exist, but we cannot feel assured of the fact 

 yet. Persons who investigate thermal springs should be 

 very careful in their measurements; correct observations 

 can be of great use for the present question, although, in 

 point of fact, I much prefer a good exjjeriment, such as 

 that of Van Tieghem's But nothing prevents the com- 

 pletion of the observation by experiment. 



BOOK-EEVIEWS. 



Abnormal Man : Being Essays on Education and Crime 

 and Related Subjects. By Akthub MacDonald. Wash- 

 ington: Government. 



This is a goodly pamphlet of more than four hundred 

 pages issued by the Bureau of Education, of which the 

 author is an officer. It is of a somewhat desultory char- 

 acter, consisting mainly, as the author says in his preface, 

 "of essays and of digests of foreign literature which have 

 already appeared in different periodicals." These various 

 articles, however, have been changed, more or less, and 

 much new matter has been added. The object of the 

 book is to inquire into the causes of crime with a view to 

 their removal, and especially to consider the influence 

 of education in repiressing crime. It opens with a brief 

 notice of the various classes of abnormal men, whom 

 the author divides into four classes: the dependent class, 

 including the inmates of almshouses, hosjoitals, orphan 

 asylums, etc.; the delinquent class, or criminals; the de- 

 fective class, such as the insane, imbecile, deaf and dumb 

 and others; and finally, men of genius or great talent. 

 The ranking of men of genius with the other classes men- 

 tioned is itself a rather abnormal proceeding, and the 

 chapter in which the author endeavors to show that gen- 

 ius is nearly allied to insanity is likely to meet with little 

 favor. His remarks on that subject, however, are aside 

 from the main purpose of the book, which is to treat of 

 the criminal class and the methods of eliminating or re- 

 pressing it. 



At the outset Mr. MacDonald raises the question 

 whether and in what way the elementary education that 

 has now become so general throughout the civilized world 

 affects the increase or decrease of crime; and after pre- 

 senting many tables of statistics on the subject, comes to 

 the conclusion, which the reader is likely to share, that 

 "the exact relation between education and crime is im- 

 known." He remarks, however, that "it would be difficult 

 to find a criminal who in a single instance could attribute 

 the cause of his crime to education;" and adds that "per- 

 haps as good a test as any is for one to ask himself if the 

 teaching of ordinary branches in his school days gave rise 

 to immoral or criminal desires." But if school education 

 does not increase crime, there is not much evidence that 

 it tends to diminish crime; and thus we are brought to 

 the subject of moral education as distinguished from the 

 intellectual sort, which is the chief product of the schools. 

 Mr. MacDonald justly remarks that "while the moral and 

 intellectual sides of education necessarily exist together, 

 yet society is most solicitous about the former; for an in- 

 dividual may be a good citizen with little instruction if 

 he has sound morality, but the reverse is not true." This, 

 however, immediately raises the perplexing question, 

 which is as old as Socrates, and which moralists of all 

 ages have tried to answer, whether virtue can be taught, 

 and, if so, by what means; but though our author realizes 

 the importance of the problem, we cannot see that he con- 

 tributes anything new to the solution of it. 



The relation of education to crime, however, is only one 

 of the topics discussed in this book, which deals with the 

 whole subject of criminology with special attention to the 

 question of preventing crime. In j)ursuing this theme 

 the author says little directly about remedies, but con- 

 fines himself mainly to the study of causes, on the ground 

 that "all the conditions, occasions and causes of crime must 

 be investigated first, if the treatment is to be a rational 

 one." ' After pointing out the special topics for inquiry 

 in criminologj', he proceeds to set forth the views that 

 have been advanced by leading writers on the subject in 

 recent years, with special reference to the theories of the 

 Italian school, which inclines to rega\-d crime as a mental 



