December 17, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



555 



impulse, should be permanently incarcerated for 

 the security of society. This implies a distinc- 

 tion between the incorrigible and the corrigible ; 

 and the possibility of reformation and establish- 

 ment of reformatory discipline in prisons follow- 

 as matters of course. In Mr. Wines's own lan- 

 guage, " Life sentences for recidivists, indeter- 

 minate sentences for first offenders, the mark sys- 

 tem, the progressive classification of prisoners, 

 conditional liberation, improved facilities for edu- 

 cation in prison, the reformation of our system of 

 prison labor, — all of these are parts of the sift- 

 ing process by which we seek in the end to elim- 

 inate from the community the dangerous elements 

 in society." This is an inspiring programme, and, 

 when the reformers convince our legislatures of 

 its practicability, undoubtedly much will be 

 gained. But we do not hesitate to say, that, as a 

 rule, we find, in the opinions of prison -reformers, 

 too much theory and too little practicality. They 

 are on the right road, but their progress is slower 

 than it need be, on this very account. 



The debt which the sciences of ethnology and 

 linguistics owe to missionary labors has never 

 been adequately acknowledged. The latest rec- 

 ognition of its value, thougli well meant and in- 

 structive, is still imperfect. Dr. R. N. Gust's 

 monograph, ' Language as illustrated by Bible 

 translations ' (London, Triibner, 1886), displays the 

 scholarship and research which would be expected 

 from the author. He gives a classified list of ver- 

 sions, arranged according to the various families 

 of languages, from which it appears, that since 

 the establishment of the British and foreign Bible 

 society, in 1803, the missionaries of that society 

 and of similar associations in Great Britain, the 

 United States, and other Protestant countries, 

 have translated the Bible or portions of it into no 

 less than two hundred and ninety languages and 

 dialects. Of these, forty-nine belong to Europe, 

 one hundred and one to Asia, sixty to Africa, 

 thirty-eight to America, and forty-one to Oceania. 

 Adding the older versions (some of which have 

 been republished under missionary revision), we 

 have a total of three hundred and twenty-four 

 translations in the catalogue of Dr. Gust. This, 

 however, by no means exhausts the list. His 

 plan excludes reference to the Roman-Gatholic 

 versions, which are numerous — if not of the whole 

 Bible, at least of portions of it. Eliot's Indian 

 Bible, though mentioned (not quite accurately) in 



the text of the monograph, does not appear in the 

 list. Nor is any thing said of the vast mimber of 

 grammars, dictionaries, and vocabularies, or the 

 versions of catechisms and similar works, — in 

 many more languages than are included in his 

 list, — which we owe to these zealous laborers, 

 of almost every Christian denomination. In spite 

 of these limitations, however. Dr. Gust's memoir 

 will be a most useful manual of reference for 

 philologists. It is to be hoped that he will sup- 

 plement it, as he is probably better able to do than 

 any one else, by an additional list, comprising 

 these other missionary publications, which will 

 be helpful to students. Prof. Max Muller has 

 shown that the foundation of the science of com- 

 parative philology was laid in the great work of 

 the Jesuit missionary Hervas, — his ' Catalogue of 

 languages,' in six volumes, published in Spanish in. 

 the year 1800, and derived mainly from the re- 

 sults of missionary researches. The distinguished 

 professor himself, and the other eminent philolo- 

 gists of our day, — a list which includes such 

 names as F. Muller, Gerland, Latham, Farrar, 

 Sayce, Hovelacque, Gharencey, Whitney, Brinton, 

 Trumbull, and many hardly less noted, — who 

 have reared upon this basis such a noble super- 

 structure, will be the first to admit that their work 

 owes its extent and value chiefiy to the materials 

 supplied by the later efforts of these enlightened 

 and indefatigable toilers. 



A STRIKING PROOF of the growth of scientific 

 studies at Harvard is given in the recent report of 

 the Museum of comparative zoology. Although 

 it is within three years that the latest^addition to 

 its building has been occupied, it has already be- 

 come too crowded for the needs of the university. 

 This addition completed the first wing of the 

 great structure originally contemplated by Agas- 

 siz, and gave a massive building nearly three 

 hundred feet long and five stories high, with 

 about a hundred thousand square feet of flooring, 

 or the equivalent of seventy rooms, thirty by 

 forty-five feet in dimensions. The new portion, 

 nearly a third of the whole, is entirely devoted to 

 offices, library, and purposes of instruction ; and 

 yet the curator, Mr. Agassiz, in his recent report 

 to the president and fellows, reports that " the 

 unexpected demand for instruction is in excess of 

 our accommodation. ... It will be absolutely 

 essential, in order to maintain the unity of organi- 

 zation on which so much care and money have 



