SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVI. No. 387 



It is not a little remarkable that tLe earlier views all as- 

 cribed tornadic action to electricity, and it would seem as 

 though the time were not far distant when we would be 

 forced to return to this agent for exj)laining the phenomena. 

 What are needed are careful experiments in this most en- 

 chanting field of research. An attempt has been already 

 made to test the question of the transmittal of moisture 

 through the air by electric action. A Holtz machine 

 ■was run for fifteen minutes in a rather large room ; and 

 most careful measurements of the amount of moisture 

 at the machine and at a point twenty feet away, before 

 and after the machine was in action, showed an increase 

 at the machine. When we consider that it was impossible 

 to measure the moisture contents just at the plate of the ma- 

 chine, and also what an extremely slight charge could by 

 any possibility enter the air from the machine, we can but 

 be surprised that any effect at all was observed. With im- 

 proved methods of observation by which the exact hygro- 

 metric state of the air can be easily and accurately deter- 

 mined, and with very accurate tables of reduction which we 

 now havCj all that is required is an observer for investigat- 

 ing these phenomena. The expense for apparatus need not 

 be great. H. A. Hazen. 



CUSTOMS OF COURTESY.^ 

 Few ceremonial customs have originated in recent times. 

 Their forms, whether now trivial or still important in sociology, 

 are vestiges of the past, and only by anthropologic studies are 

 traceable to their genesis and early form. All authorities, un- 

 swayed by a religious or theorizing bias, agree that in the origin 

 of these ceremonies there was nothing designed or intentional; 

 'that is, they were not directly invented with defiuite purposes. A 

 thing is not now and never has been customarily done because it 

 is intrinsically right, but is considered to be right after and be- 

 cause it has been habitually done, whatever its origin or the cir- 

 cumstances in which it prevailed. 



The rules of courteous behavior as they now exist are not the 

 immediate effect of deliberate conventions, but are the natural 

 and slow product of the forces gradually developing social life, 

 and they exhibit the laws of evolution with as great distinctness 

 as is demonstrated in the physical realm. Men have not fabri- 

 cated though they have framed rules for themselves. They have 

 fallen into the customs from which rules were framed, and then 

 by unintended modifications have deviated into novelty and new 

 rules. 



To the query ' -Why do nations and peoples do any thing as a 

 custom?" the optimist answers, "Because it is right;" which as- 

 sumption yet further confuses the vexed question whether, in the 

 nature of things, there is an absolute right and an absolute wrong; 

 for customs vary even unto opposition in different parts of the 

 world, and not only in different, but in the same, periods of his- 

 tory; so that they cannot all be absolutely right. In matters 

 iarge and small, vital and trivial, what is esteemed as virtue and 

 merit at one place and time, is condemneJ at others as vice and 

 <;rime. Explanation has been attempted on the theory, that, 

 there being distinct races of men, each of them has its idiosyn- 

 crasy; indeed, that by primordial decree each of them had the 

 mission to do certain things, and no others. By such theory, fa- 

 talism is omnipotent, and all men are marionettes. But this ex- 

 planation depends upon a conceded classification of men into 

 races, which has failed. A few years ago, school-boys glibly re- 

 cited the titles of the races of men, with their characteristics; but 

 now students who have devoted long lives to the subject find such 

 classification to be so difficul' that no two writers agree. This 

 does not indicate the proposition that there are no distinct races 

 of men; indeed, it is possible that once there were many more 



1 Abstract of the leading article in the American Anthropologist for July, 

 1890, by Garriek Mallery. 



races than have ever been recognized, the present condition be- 

 ing one of amalgamation. But the plot of the marionette show 

 becomes confused when there is no agreement about its person- 

 ages. 



The chief justice of a high court lately declared that no race of 

 men was good for any thing which had not believed in only one 

 God, and allowed only one wife. As all the races of men have at 

 some time believed in many gods, and have allowed a plurality of 

 wives, this dictum would conden nail; but it is an example of hys- 

 teron proteron, or "the cart before the horse " If the statement 

 had been that polytheism and polygamy were outgrown before 

 the attainment of high culture, it would have been historically 

 true ; but as made, it is as inaccurate as to assert that no race is 

 good for any thing in which the men have not always worn trou- 

 sers, — a useful but recent invention of civilization. Instead of 

 seeking an explanation of customs in race, it is more practical, as 

 well as more scientific, to look for it in habitat and history; i.e., 

 in environment. 



An apparent exception occurs in the arbitrary edicts of fashion, 

 styled very properly by Borachio as "a deformed thief;" but a 

 distinction may readily be made between custom and fashion. 

 Fashion is imitation and transitory. It is most commonly noticed 

 in details of dress or ornament designed by some influential per- 

 son to conceal a defect or display a beauty; sometimes, however, 

 in latter days, by a conspiracy of manufacturers, tailors, or milli- 

 ners. With the cessation of the special influence, the imitation 

 gradually declines, unless, indeed, genuine merits are discerned 

 in the invention, in which case it is assimilated through the vital 

 catalysine faculty. The method of human progress is empirical. 

 The good and useful, when ascertained by experiment, are re- 

 tained for further improvement throughout the ages, while the 

 nocuous or useless are sooner or later rejected. 



The views submitted dissent, though meekly, from some details 

 in the work of that great writer and thinker, Herbert Spencer. 

 No one can deny his comprehensive grasp of intellect, his bril- 

 liance of style, and his wealth of illustration, but more especially 

 the wonderful and far reaching suggestiveness by which he has 

 awakened and guided modern thought. Yet he is more benefi- 

 cent as an educator of the mind than as an instructor in facts. 

 In particular, his most admiring student must lament the Zoroas; 

 trian phantasy or dual antagonism of good and evil that mystiries 

 his principles of sociology. To him militancy is Ahriman, and 

 industrialism is Ormuzd, and their conflict is forced to explain 

 all the myriad problems of human life. But the known causes 

 and effects are too numerous and diverse to be disposed of by one 

 universal solvent. The complex knots must be patiently 

 untied, and cannot be severed by the rusty sword of a vamped 

 and varnished Parsee dualism. Nor does history confirm this 

 proso|3opoeia of good and evil. Industrialism began very early, 

 and among the most cultured nations is now in a high state of 

 development; yet it exhibits within itself strife and turmoil, self- 

 ishness and cruelty, equal to all the similar crimes ever charged 

 against militancy. The latter has by no means passed awsiy, 

 though the human race has surely advanced. In fact, an evolu- 

 tionary advance is manifest in militancy itself parallel with that 

 seen in other lines of thought and action. Militancy, therefore, is 

 not the cacodemon by whose overthrow alone the world has 

 grown better. 



The verbal forms of salutation may be divided into (1) those of 

 a purely religious character, (3) those equivalent to a prayer for 

 the health and temporal good of the person saluted, (3) those sim- 

 ply wishing health and prosperity without direct invocation of a 

 deity, and (4) those expressing personal or official affection or re- 

 spect. 



1. The Israelites, botli in meeting and parting, used a word 

 meaning "blessing," and the person addressed was thereby com- 

 mended to God. The expressions "Blessed be thou of the Lord!" 

 and "The Lord be with thee!" are traditional. 



The Arabian often says, "God grant thee his favors!" also 

 "Thank God! how are you?" and the Turk, "My prayers are for 

 thee," or "Forget me not in thy prayers." In Poland a visitor to 

 a house will cry out, "The Lord be praisedl" to which the hostess 

 will answer, "World without end, amen!" The "sweet girl 



