258 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 189 



find the speed of the ship at any time, it is only 

 necessary to count the number of ticks to the half- 

 minute, as measured by the sand-glass, and read off 

 from a converting table the number of knots and 

 fractions corresponding to that number. 



Sam Hubbard. 



Science for a livelihood. 



I am interested in the communication from C. B., 

 Brooklyn, N.Y., under the above caption in the issue 

 of Science for Sept. 10. Like C. B., I graduated 

 with a good scientific education, had done some prac- 

 tical work, and possessed a greater desire to labor in 

 scientific fields than to do any thing else. 



Instead of making application to only four schools, 

 however, I applied to over sixty, and received a 

 negative answer from all of them, and at the end of 

 it was told by an eminent professor in Harvard uni- 

 versity that there were at least fifteen applicants for 

 every vacant place of the kind in the United States. 



That was nine years ago, and my experience since 

 confirms me in the belief, that if the student is with- 

 out wealth, and has no friends who will forward him 

 in his chosen field, he will do wisest, and be most in- 

 dependent, if he turns his attention to agricultural, 

 mechanical, or any other honest occupation by which 

 he can make some money ; and then, after his money 

 is his own, he can put as much of it as he sees fit into 

 his scientific work. Such a course may be galling to 

 pride, and a disappointment to friends, but, in all 

 probability, there are few positions in this country 

 where a student of small means can find sufficient 

 work in the natural or experimental sciences to earn 

 bread enough to keep the wolf from the door. 



W. F. Flint. 

 Winchester, N.H., Sept. 13. 



Sea-water in the ears. 



Science for Sept. 10 has a paragraph on this sub- 

 ject, but omits to mention that the momentum of 

 tidal waves as they break upon the beach in this local- 

 ity is sufficient to drive the water through the bath- 

 er's nostrils, and up along the eustachian tube to the 

 ears. In no other way is greater damage done to 

 the ear in sea-bathing than this, since one cannot 

 voluntarily close both mouth and nose, like marine 

 animals, while bathing. I once saw a person go 

 into the water with his nose embraced by a clothes- 

 pin, and the greater number of bathers now protect 

 the ears with wool. As I very well know from per- 

 sonal experience, it is not always easy to keep water 

 out of the ears in surf-bathing, but I believe acci- 

 dents from this cause are less frequent than formerly. 



Samuel Sexton. 

 New York, Sept. 11. 



An easy method of measuring the time of men- 

 tal processes. 



Mr. Jastrow's method of measuring ' simple reac- 

 tion time ' by means of a circle of people, as described 

 in Science of Sept. 10, was first used, as far as I 

 know, by Dr. Holmes, who, as he said, "experi- 

 mented with an apparatus more expensive than had 

 ever before beefl used, and yet within the reach and 

 means of everybody." The result obtained from 

 this experiment depends largely on the experience of 

 the operators, and it can easily be reduced to y^ of 

 a second. 



If Mr. Jastrow will consult the American journal 

 of science for September, 1871, he will find an ac- 

 count of some experiments on reaction and distinc- 

 tion time made by the writer, in which, in addition 

 to color and form, the exercise of distinguishing 

 tones of different pitch was introduced. The ' dis- 

 tinction times ' given in that article are considerably 

 greater than those obtained by Mr. Jastrow. The 

 time of a single reaction only was measured, and I 

 strongly suspect that in all cases the time obtained 

 from measuring the duration of a series of reactions 

 rapidly succeeding each other will be found to be 

 shorter than that deduced from single measurements. 

 The reason for this is obvious. 



T. C. Mendenhall. 

 Washington, D.C., Sept. 13. 



The sea-serpent. 



With this please find an extract from an official 

 report by Capt. Robert Piatt, assistant coast and 

 geodetic survey, with accompanying sketch of a ' sea- 

 monster ' seen by him near Cape Cod in October, 

 1878. Captain Piatt is a trained observer, whose 

 daily occupation at that time was to record just what 

 he saw, and nothing more or less. I know Captain 

 Piatt so well that I have never doubted the exist- 

 ence of such a monster from the time his report was 

 made known to me ; and, if others have been scepti- 

 cal, I hope that recent events have proven the matter 

 beyond question. 

 [Extract from a report by Capt. Robert Piatt, U. S. coast 



and geodetic survey, to the superintendent ; written on 



board the U. S. coast-surrey schooner Drift, Oct. 25, 



1878.] 



"I would also beg leave to state that Aug. 39, 

 while becalmed off Race Point, Cape Cod, about four 

 hundred yards from the vessel, we saw a sea-monster, 

 or what I suppose has been called a sea-serpent. Its 

 first appearance was that of a very large round spar 

 two or three feet in diameter, from twelve to fifteen 

 feet high, standing upright in the sea, but in a few 

 minutes it made a curve and went down. It was 

 visible about three minutes ; the second appearance, 



about half an hour after the first, the monster came 

 out of ttie water about twenty-five feet, then extended 

 to about thirty-five or forty feet, and about three feet 

 in diameter ; when out about forty feet, it curved 

 and went down, and as it did so a sharp dorsal fin of 

 about fifteen feet in length came up. This fin was 

 connected to this monster, for the whole animal 

 moved off with the same velocity. I looked at it with 

 a good pair of glasses. I could not tell whether it 

 had a mouth or eyes ; it was of a brownish color. I 

 enclose to you a rough sketch made by me, and sub- 

 mitted to all on board who saw the animal, and they 

 all agree that it is a fair representation of the animal 

 as it appeared." B. A. Colonna. 



U. S. coast survey, Sept. 4. 



