290 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 306 



SCIENCE 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



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NEW YORK, Dec. 14. 18S8. 



No. 306. 



CONTENTS: 



Electric Propul^ 

 Electrical Powe 



LHEATRES, etc 



i Manganese Steel. 



Musical Box 



Mental Science. 

 The Illusions of Dr; 



Painting 



The Homing Instinct.. 



Electrical News. 



A Novel Telephone 



Faure'fe New Secondary Battery, . 



An Italian Commission on Elec 



trie Traction 



Notes , 



)Ne 



The Work of the Hydrographic 

 Office. — Electrical Investments 

 — President Oilman's Report. 



The Pollu 



■ THE English Lan- 



A . Melville Bell 29 

 I of Water-Suppl 



293 



ndOe 



Book- Reviews, 

 The Young Idea 

 Hand- Book of Hi 



graphical Phthisiology 294 



The Story of Holland 295 



The Economic Interpretation of 



Histor^^ 295 



Patriotic Reader 29s 



Among the Publishers 296 



Letters to the Editor. 



The Moon's Light for Geodetic 

 Signals Edward Good/ellovJ 299 



The United States Hydrographic Office has so largely 

 increased its field of work and usefulness within the last few years, 

 that the hydrographer's report to the chief of Bureau of Navigation 

 will receive attention not only from the naval service and the mari- 

 time community, but from a large portion of the scientific world, 

 and the public generally. In fact, there can be no more praise- 

 worthy object kept in view by officers of both the army and the 

 navy than the maintenance and encouragement of public interest in, 

 and acquaintance with, the organization, management, and general 

 conduct of at least such of their offices and bureaus as appeal in 

 any special way to popular interest. There is undoubtedly no 

 branch of the Navy Department to which this consideration is so 

 applicable as to the Hydrographic Office, in view of the recent ex- 

 tension of its field of work by means of the branch offices estab- 

 lished already in six of our principal seaports ( Boston, New York, 

 Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, and San Francisco), and 

 authorized in two more (Norfolk, Va., and Portland, Ore.). The im- 

 portance of this step, carried into effect by the recent hydrographer, 

 Commander J. R. Bartlett. with the support of the chief of Bureau 

 of Navigation, Commodore John G. Walker, is so great, in its rela- 

 tion to the navy, the maritime community, and the shipping interests 



of the whole country, that a brief review of the working of these 

 branch offices may well be given in this connection. Complete 

 sets of charts, sailing-directions, light-lists, and other nautical pub- 

 lications, are kept at hand, together with standard barometers and 

 thermometers ; and masters of vessels can obtain the latest and 

 most reliable information regarding every subject connected with 

 navigation. These facilities have been so generally taken advan- 

 tage of, that chambers of commerce, maritime exchanges, marine 

 insurance companies, and other commercial bodies, are enthusiastic 

 in their approval. Advantage has been taken of the cordial rela- 

 tions thus established with shipping men to collect a large amount 

 of data relative to hydrography and marine meteorology, much of 

 it of a high order of scientific as well as practical value ; and every 

 effort is made to publish the results, in order that they may be 

 known and utilized. Thus the publication of the ' Monthly Pilot 

 Chart ' was a very happy thought, and it has become of recognized 

 value and authority, and a most important adjunct in the work of 

 the office. The tabulated statements accompanying the hydrog- 

 rapher's report, giving in detail the work of each branch office 

 during the year, illustrate what an important part these offices play 

 in the collection and dissemination of nautical information. It is 

 highly gratifying to learn from the report of the present hydrog- 

 rapher, Lieut. G. L. Dyer, U.S.N., that the standard of efficiency 

 already attained is likely to be maintained, and even increased, and 

 that, while the relations of the office to the navy are of course re- 

 garded as of paramount importance, its raison d'etre being to sup- 

 ply our vessels of war with reliable charts and nautical information 

 of every kind, its relations to the commercial marine are given their 

 proper share of attention also, and a broad view is taken of the 

 part that the office has taken, and should continue to take, in facil- 

 itating the scientific study of every problem relating to the ocean. 

 In this connection too much praise cannot be given to the cordial 

 co-operation between this office and the Signal Service, in collect- 

 ing and utilizing, without either duplication of work or friction of 

 any kind, meteorological data relative to the ocean and the land. 



In looking over the columns of the technical journals devoted 

 to electrical industries, one is struck with the rapidity with which 

 the applications of electricity are being extended. Dozens of new 

 electric-lighting stations are commenced each week, while the ap- 

 plications of electric motors to street-car and stationary work 

 occupy a considerable space in these journals. This is very en- 

 couraging, and shows that electric-lighting and the distribution of 

 power have taken a permanent place, and are, under certain cir- 

 cumstances, paying investments^ But, at the same time that we 

 read of this rapid growth, we note an extension in another and less 

 promising direction. New companies are being constantly incor- 

 porated for the manufacture of electrical apparatus, — lighting and 

 motor systems, storage and primary batteries, fire-alarm and gas- 

 lighting systems, — few of them with a capital of less than a hun- 

 dred thousand dollars, the majority with a capital varying from that 

 figure to one or two millions. If we will investigate these corpora- 

 tions, we will find that in many of them a large amount of the 

 stock is reserved for the patent rights and for the promoters, and 

 the amount left to supply the working capital is a comparatively 

 small proportion of the whole. The investors find themselves in 

 the position of subscribing the total working capital to a company, 

 paying from the profits liberal salaries to the officers of the com- 

 pany, who are usually the incorporators and the owners of the 

 patents, and who, controlling the majority of the stock, can fix 

 their own compensation ; and finally they receive only a small pro- 

 portion of the earnings, — in many companies from one-half to 

 one-tenth, — if there happens to be any. It should be remembered 

 by investors that patents, unless they are fundamental in their char- 

 acter, are not of very great value. A larger part of the new cor- 

 porations that have been recently formed operate under patents 

 that are little better than a number of other devices for accomplish- 



