292 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXI. No. 538 



issued. This aroused the ire of Professor Thompson, who, not 

 being able to find any fault with Mr. Mottelay, wrote a number 

 of rather bitter letters to the various technical papers, in which 

 he spoke very disparagingly of Messrs. Wiley & Sons, and their 

 conduct in publishing a book he had intended to publish himself. 

 He was so evidently in the wrong, however, that most of the 

 papers refused to allow him space on the subject, and united in 

 defence of the publishers of the book, and Professor Thompson 

 himself has probably by this time seen his mistake. 



Of the book itself there is nothing but praise to be said. Mr. 

 Mottelay is a worker of no mean reputation in this line of work, 

 and his notes are always interesting and instructive. The trans- 

 lation seems to have been well done, so far as can be judged by 

 comparing a few passages of the original which have appeared 

 with the book. Mr. Mottelay's acquaintance with the vocabulary 

 of the Schoolmen is of great use to him in the work, not that Gil- 

 bert was a schoolman, very far from it, but the language of 

 philosophy had only begun to get rid of their marks (if indeed it 

 is entirely free to this day). 



On reading the book, we are struck with the sturdy self-confi- 

 dence of the man, Gilbert of Colchester. He was right, and he 

 knew it. A little bit of this is due possibly to the age he wrote 

 in, but even more, it seems, to the man. Fearless he is in draw- 

 ing conclusions, and he does not hesitate to dispute the evidence of 

 others when it does not agree with his theory. Yet in one instance 

 only does he appear to have been mistaken, i.e., in his proposed 

 method of finding longitude by the inclination of the compass, 

 which he proposed under the idea that the inclination was con- 

 stant. 



A few extracts from the work will give a good idea of the man 

 and his work. 



Before doing so, we may mention the fact that Lord Bacon 

 thought that Gilbert had carried his theory a little too far, and 

 had said that Gilbert had "endeavored to build a ship out of ma- 

 terials not sufficient to form the rowing-pins of a boat." 



Page 3. " But lest the story of the loadstone should be jejune, 

 and too brief, to this one sole property then known were ap- 

 pended certain figments and falsehoods, which in early times no 

 less than nowadays were by precocious sciolists and copyists 

 dealt out to mankind to be swallowed. For example, they as- 

 serted that a loadstone rubbed with garlick does not attract iron 

 nor when it is in presence of a diamond. The like of this is found 

 in Pliny and in Ptolemy's "Quadripartitum," and errors have 

 steadily been spread abroad and been accepted — even as evil and 

 noxious plants ever have the most noxious growth — down to our 

 day, being propagated in the writings of many authors, who. to 

 the end that their volumes might grow to the desired bulk, do 

 write and copy all sorts about ever so many things about which 

 they know naught in the light of experience. Such fables about 

 the loadstone even Georgius Agricola, a man that has deserved 

 well indeed of letters, has inserted as truthful history in his books, 

 'De Natura Fossilium,' putting his trust in others' writings.'" 



Page 102. "In Baptista Porta's opinion there seems to be a 

 mixture of stone and iron, i.e., ferruginous stone, or stony iron. 

 'The stone,' he says, 'is not changed into iron so as to lose its 

 own nature, nor is the iron merged in the stone, but that it re- 

 tains its own essence; and while each strives to overcome each, 

 from the struggle results the attraction of the iron. In the mass 

 of the loadstone there is more stone than iron; therefore the iron, 

 lest it should be dependent on (subdued by) the stone, craves the 

 strength and company of iron, to the end that what it cannot 

 procure of itself it may obtain by the help of the other. The 

 loadstone does not attract stones, because it has no need of them ; 

 and if one loadstone attracts another, it is not for the sake of the 

 stone, but of the iron shut up in the stone.' As though the iron 

 in a loadstone were a distinct body, and not blended with one 

 another like all other metals in their ores. And it is a height of 

 absurdity to speak of these substances thus confounded together 

 as warring with each other, and quarreling, and calling out from 

 the battle for forces to come to their aid. Now iron itself when 



CALENDAR OF SOCIETIES. 

 Agassiz Scientific Society, Corvallis, Ore. 



May 10. — Professor Dumont Lotz, Food 

 Adulterants. 



Biological Society, Washington. 



May 20.— V. A. Moore, the Distribution 

 of Pathogenic Bacteria in the Upper Air 

 Passages of Domesticated Animals; C. V. 

 Riley, Some Further Notes on Yucca Pol- 

 lination ; B. W. Evermann, Thelchthyologic 

 Features of the Black Hills; W. H. Dall, 

 New Forms of Fossils from the Old Miocene 

 of the Gulf States; C. Hart Merriam, Biol- 

 ogy in our Colleges; C. Hart Merriam, Facts 

 of General Biological Interest Resulting 

 from a Study of the Kangaroo Rats. 



Geological Society, Washington. 



May 24. — Whitman Cross, On the Occur- 

 rence and Characteristics of Laccolitic 

 Rocks ; Walter H. Weed. The Northern 

 Peaks of the Crazy Mountains, Montana. 



INDEX 



TO VOLUME XVIII OF 



SCIENCE 



is in preparation, and will be 

 issued at an early date. 



THE AMERICAN RACE. 



By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. 



"The book is one of unusual interest and value."— 

 Inter Ocean. 



" Dr. Dani*^l G. Brinton writes as the acknowledged 

 authority of the subject."— P/ri/adeifp/iza Press. 



*' The work will be of genuine value to all who 

 wish to know the substance of what has been found 

 out about the indigenous Americans " — Natiire. 



"A masterly discussion, and an example of the 

 successful education of the powers of observation." 

 — Philadelphia Ledger. 



Price, postpaid, ^'2. 



N. D. C. HODGEST^ Broadway, N. Y. 



Reading Matter Notices. 



Ripans Tabules cure hives. 

 Ripans Tabules cure dyspepsia. 



ACK NUMBERS and complete sets of leading Mag- 

 azines. Rates low. AM. MAG. EXCHANGE, 

 Schoharie, N. Y. 



RESTORE YOUR EYESIGHT 



Cataracts, scars or films can be absorbed and 

 paralyzed nerves restored, ^vithout the knife 

 or risk. Diseased eyes or lids can be cured by 

 our home treatment. "We prove it." Hun- 

 dreds convinced. Our illustrated pamphlet, 

 'Home Treatment for Eyes," free. Don't miss it. 

 Everybody wants it. " Tee Eye," Glens Falls. N.Y, 



"BUSY FOLKS' QYMNASfUn." 



A few minutes' daily exercise 



on our fascinating apparatus 

 ( clears the brain, tones up the 



body, develops weak parts. Our 



cabinet contains chest- weights, 



rowing-weights, lifting-weights, 



clubs and dumb bells, adjust- 

 able for old and young. It is 



the only complete exercising outfit 



in the world suitable for use in 

 '\ living rooms. All prices. You 



can order on approval. Chest 



I — * I.- ,. <tt, J Shoulders and Upper Back, 



-7_ raachme separate, $4.50 and up. good for Round shoulders. 

 Educated agents wanted. Physi- 

 cal Culture Chart, with illustrated directions for de- 

 veloping every part of the body healthfully, 50 cts. Sent for half price to those 

 naming this paper. 



WHITNEY HOME GYMNASIUM CO., Box D., Rochester, N. Y. 



