December 30, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



903 



Strange as it may seem, the influence of 

 science upon the chapters relating to 

 finance has been marked and positive. 

 Professor Charles E. Munroe, of George 

 Washington University, has recently 

 pointed out how technical chemistry in- 

 vades the domains of economics, politics, 

 and diplomacy, and he cites as a striking 

 example of its effects in economics the set- 

 tlement of the silver question. The far- 

 reaching influence of chemistry in this 

 particular line is easily understood when 

 we consider the relations of the metals, and 

 hoAv these relations have been changed by 

 the application of the principles of chem- 

 istry. 



A further economic influence is to be 

 found, as Dr. Munroe states, in the refer- 

 ence of a multitude of railroad administra- 

 tive problems to the chemist, in the steady 

 increase of his force of skilled assistant, 

 and in the fact that his position in the 

 organization has become second to none in 

 importance. This is seen in the use of 

 lamps, beacons, colors, and all the para- 

 phernalia necessary for the conduct of 

 great railway lines. 



Economists have not yet adequately 

 dealt with the great projections of modern 

 times in relation to their influence iipon 

 economic development and the conditions 

 of the people at large. Science will com- 

 pel this treatment, and when our able and 

 astute Avriters take it up we shall find 

 illuminating chapters in the works on the 

 ever attractive department of political 

 economy. The great engineering enter- 

 prises, relating not only to transportation, 

 but to various other channels of industrial 

 activity, must result in such treatment ; but 

 in transportation alone engineering science 

 has revolutionized many economic condi- 

 tions. Standing on the highest point of 

 the BrookljTQ bridge there are only three 

 things to be seen— the sky above, the water 

 below, and the vast creations of man filling 



the field of vision everywhere else. It is the 

 application in every direction of the laws of 

 nature, utilized by the power of science, 

 that presents this scene to the human eye. 



The constant effort of science to overcome 

 natural laws as well as to apply them must 

 be recognized. A few years ago, at a meet- 

 ing in New York, a gentleman was deplor- 

 ing the fact that we did not allow Nature's 

 law to have full play; that we were con- 

 stantly antagonizing Nature at the ex- 

 pense of the welfare of the Iranian race. 

 Mr. Abram Hewitt answered this perni- 

 cious doctrine by saying that if nature had 

 been allowed to take its course grass would 

 still be growing in Broadway. 



The sociological results of this conflict 

 are too vast for present treatment; they 

 can only be suggested. Congested cities 

 are being relieved of their congestion, and 

 the great suburban population, the finest 

 in the world, is recruited from the con- 

 gested districts and from the country. 

 Through sanitary discoveries, and through 

 many other elements which are the direct 

 result of scientific processes, we are re- 

 ducing the power of disease and delaying- 

 the time when one ceases to exist. Rapid 

 transportation and the great lines of trans- 

 portation are facilitating the accomplish- 

 ment of these wonderful and desirable re- 

 sults. They are reducing the possibilities 

 of war by increasing its severity; they are 

 making the products of one clime familiar 

 to all climes ; they are diffusing intelligence 

 and making all people acquainted. Polit- 

 ical economy has a vaster field in massing 

 the facts which pertain to this broad branch 

 of its grand science than it has as yet oc- 

 cupied. 



Growing out of this will come a saner 

 and more rational treatment of the power 

 of machinery in its efi:ect upon the employ- 

 ment of the people. The facts already 

 show that in this country particularly the 

 percentage of the whole population em- 



