SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVI. No. 387 



ceded that of "sieur;" and undoubtedly the term of respect in- 

 volving the concept of "elder" and "father" long preceded the 

 ownership of land. Terms of rank and gradation founded on 

 seniority and paternity are fundamental in the sociology of the 

 North American Indians, prevailed among the founders of Rome, 

 and, as terms of respectful address, are still common in Asia and 

 eastern Europe. Therefore, when you address a man as "sir," 

 you etymologically imply that he is your father. 



The subject of titles in the United States presents some amus- 

 ing features. The Constitution prohibits titles of nobility; and 

 of course the people insist upon all other kinds of titles, thereby 

 proving the accuracy of the Roman poet's oft-quoted lines about 

 the futility of casting out nature with a pitch- fork. Not only 

 does a day's possession of any ofHce baptize the possessor with a 

 title for the remainder of his life, but often otScial or professional 

 titles are bestowed in taste or discretion; so that "colonel," 

 "judge," and "doctor" only imply some peculiarity in form, 

 manner, or clothing. In this multiplicity and plethora it is 

 strange that some men confer titles upon themselves without 

 authority, as il is far more dignified and distinguished not to bear 

 or allow any. This is not on the principle, often too broadly 

 asserted, that "the post of honor is the private station," but be- 

 cause all titles of honor and distinction are degraded by misuse; 

 e.g , that of "professor," now the perquisite of balloonists and 

 jugglers. But there can be no argument with a superstition. 

 The best treatment of the folly would be that advocated to settle 

 the liquor question,— by high license and strict inspection. Let 

 every man take what title he may choose, but pay for the privi- 

 lege. The result would be that either the craving would diminish 

 or the revenue increase from the taxation of a useless luxury, 

 either of which is a desideratum. 



All relations to addresses, titles, and ceremonial vi-its involve 

 the assertion of, contention for, and regulation of, precedence. 

 These are of immemorial antiquity, being traceable to the prin- 

 ciple of the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest, and 

 have diminished with the decreased operation of that principle 

 among men, not with the discontinuance of militancy. The ex- 

 tent of the surviving attention to precedence in England, as gath- 

 ered from the mere literature on the subject, would be mislead- 

 ing. In the heraldic catalogues there are eighty-nine distinct 

 sets of men above the rank of a burgess, who have their specified 

 places in processions and even at ceremonious dinner-parties, but 

 every-day life is little affected thereby; always, however, remem- 

 bering Thackeray's dictum, that an "Englishman does love a 

 lord." As regards ceremonies at dinner-parties, the compliment 

 of being served first has its disadvantages. Unless the guest thus 

 distinguished exhibits greediness, 'he food placed before him will 

 become either too cold or too warm before the others of the 

 company can be ready. This is another case where the mean is 

 golden. 



The most illustrative notes on precedence appear in diplomatic 

 history. Once at the court of France the envoys of Genoa and 

 Brandenburg, being unable to agree as to which should present 

 himself first to the king, stipulated that whichever first reached 

 the palace on the day appointed should have the precedence. 

 The prudent Prussian sought to make himself sife by sitting 

 down on a bench in the hall of the palace all the night before; 

 but the treacherous Italian, arriving near the proper hour, and 

 seeing his adversary half asleep on the bench, slipped by into the 

 royal bedroom. Precedence must be maintained for mere dig- 

 nity, without any direct object: so two ambassadors who met 

 face to face on the bridge at Prague were obliged to stop there 

 for the entire day because neither of them would disgrace his 

 country by letting the other pass. 



In cases of milder action it was usual to stipulate, by previous 

 arrangement, for absolute and exact equality in every detail. 

 This was the plan pursued when Mazarin and Don Louis de Haro 

 met to settle the conditions of the marriage between Louis XIV. 

 and Maria Theresa. The two ministers stepped together, with 

 the right foot, side by side, into a council-chamber hung in cor- 

 responding halves with their respective colors, and sat down at 

 the same instant precisely opposite each other at a critically 

 square table on two mathematically equivalent arm-chairs. 



The last connected chapter of Macaulay's "History" shows 

 amusingly the waste of time and energy in which Kaunitz and 

 Harlay watched one another's legs at the Congress of Ryswick, 

 lest a priority in muscular action should jeopardize, as it did 

 delay, the peace of two continents. One of the most stupidly 

 arrogant assertions of precedence was made by Napoleon in 1808. 

 The Almanach de Gotha had just been printed for that year with 

 the regular alphabetical arrangement of the reigning houses, be- 

 ginning with the Anhalt duchies; but the parvenu emperor sup- 

 pressed the edition, and required the whole to be printed with his 

 name in the first page. 



"Giving" or "taking the wall" in passing, so frequently alluded 

 to in Shakspeare and other authors of his time as an indication 

 of rank, had tangible loss or advantage; as in the narrow and 

 crowded street, destitute of sidewalks, proximity to the wall was 

 safer and more convenient. But the same precedence on entering 

 or leaving a room or passing through a doorway was contended 

 for in vanity and pretension. A happy example of the modern 

 politeness in which, both in form and fact, egotism has yielded 

 to altruism, is in the rivalry, now so frequently shown, when two 

 men accidentally meet at a door or other passage, by which each 

 presses the other to advance, thus showing a survival in reverse 

 of the old contention for precedence. 



Upon a general summary of the whole subject of salutation, it 

 is obvious that it was once a serious tax upon time. Both in the 

 Old and New Testament injunction was given, whenever expedi- 

 tion was required, "to salute no man by the way.'' The minute, 

 tedious, and verbose politeness of the East was an insuperable 

 impediment to rapid travel; and this is still the case among such 

 people as the Araucanians, whose formalities of meeting and 

 greeting occupy at least a quarter of an hour. 



The greatest abbreviation of such forms appears among the 

 most cultured of modern peoples, and is directly in the evolu- 

 tionary line of utility through saving of time; but it has still fur- 

 ther significance. The forms of ancient peoples and of existing 

 savages and barbarians show intention to accomplish soipething 

 definite by the special act of salutation. They are generally lim- 

 ited to classes and individuals, are sometimes with petition for or 

 in declaration of peace, are made in personal placation, or are the 

 exchange of supplications to whatever deities or demons may be 

 credited with power. Cultured people do not now regard these 

 objects to be appropriately connected with salutations of courtesy. 

 They now use a brief, nearly meaningless formula almost indis- 

 criminately, so that it has no special relation to the persons salut- 

 ing and saluted or to their respective status. It is the recognition 

 by one human being of another, and is the best mark of real cul- 

 ture, its absence characterizing the savage or the boor. Its spirit 

 is found in Talfourd's lines: — 



" It is a little thing to speak a phrase 

 Of common comfort, which by daily use 

 Has almost lost its sense; yet . . . 'twill fall 

 Like choicest music ... 

 To him who else were lonely, that another 

 Of the great f ainily is near and feels . " 



But it is not a little thing that a simple, kind recognition from 

 man to man, even if often perfunctory, should replace the terms 

 of elaborate egoism and stupid superstition. It is a sign of the 

 evolution in which 



" Love took up the harp of Life, and . . . 

 Smote the chord of Self, that, trembling, passed in music 

 out of sight." 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



In January of the present year two samples of compressed or 

 tablet tea were presented to the Museum of the Royal Gardens, 

 Kew, by Col. Alexander Moncriefif. In the new number of the 

 Kew Bulletin the letter with which these samples were accompa- 

 nied is printed, and much interesting information as to the mak- 

 ing of compressed tea is brought together. Repeated attempts 

 have been made to introduce compressed tea into this country, 

 but never with complete success. "A few years ago," says the 



