December 14, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



291 



ing the same purpose. Edison, for his fundamental and valualile 

 patents in electric-lighting, has received less share in the stock of 

 the Edison Company than have the patentees of some small improve- 

 ment in an electric gas-lighting or fire-alarm device in the com- 

 panies that have been formed to promote them. It is too oflen the 

 ■case that the small cash capital subscribed is used to make a good 

 showing for the company until the promoters have sold their stock, 

 when the company is very liable to suspend. All this very seri- 

 ously retards the progress of electrical industry. Neither those 

 who lose in companies like the above, nor their friends, are very 

 likely to invest again ; and the result is, that the companies that 

 •can do legitimate and remunerative work have trouble in getting 

 the capital necessary to develop their business as fast as they 

 ■would otherwise be able. That there is an immense field for work, 

 and remunerative work, is shown' by the wonderful growth of such 

 companies as the Edison, Brush, Thomson-Houston, Westinghouse, 

 Sprague, and others. But we would advise all investors in elec- 

 trical companies to first find whether they are legitimate business 

 ■enterprises, with a fair amount of capital allowed for patents, sup- 

 posing they work under patents, and then to Iry and find out whether 

 there is any merit in the plan that is to be introduced. The pro- 

 moters of the company are not the best persons from whom to 

 take evidence as to its value. As for investments in local lighting 

 companies, if there is an efficient management, and if a proper 

 local franchise can be obtained, then, unless a very uneconomical 

 system is chosen, and the local conditions are unusually unfavor- 

 able, it is the experience of the last few years that the company 

 ■should pay good dividends. While we believe, then, that electricity 

 ■offers an e.xcellent field for investment, and that well-managed 

 ■companies will pay, yet we cannot too strongly urge investors not 

 to rush blindly into investments on the strength of the representa- 

 tion of interested parties. The adi-antages of electricity for light- 

 ing must lead to its almost universal adoption in the near future, 

 while its adaptability to the distribution of energy opens an almost 

 •limitless field for motor-work. The one thing that could most 

 xetard its progress would be a condition of public distrust caused 

 by unwise investors, who will equally injure electrical interests and 

 themselves. 



The thirteenth annual report, which President Gilman 

 has just presented to the board of trustees of Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity, is very interesting reading. It incorporates reports, drawn 

 with some attention to detail, by the various heads of departments, 

 •dealing with the specific work accomplished under their respective 

 supervision. This is a feature of considerable value to those who 

 are following closely the development of university work in the United 

 States, and is not unfamiliar, as President Barnard has printed such 

 appendices to his annual report to the trustees of Columbia College 

 for several years past. Mr. Gilman characterizes the academic year 

 1887-88 as one of steady advance. " The number of students has 

 increased, the standard of scholarship has been maintained, the 

 publications have been as many as ever, the fidelity and enthu- 

 siasm of the principal teachers cannot be too strongly commended." 

 Reference to the financial condition of the institution is made in 

 these words : " Our only cause for an.xiety is one of which you are 

 ■fully aware, — the loss of income from the stocks which were given 

 to the university by its founder. Your wisdom, gentlemen of the 

 board of trustees, will no doubt devise some efficient relief. I be- 

 lieve It to be a reasonable expectation that the efforts which you have 

 ^ut forth, and which you have encouraged others to put forth, for 

 the establishment of a university, will receive financial support when 

 you are ready to ask for it." The academic staff included, during 

 the year, fifty-seven teachers. The number of students enrolled 

 <luring the year was four hundred and twenty, of whom one hun- 

 dred and ninety were residents of Maryland, one hundred and 

 ninety-six of other States, and twenty-five of foreign countries. Of 

 this number, two hundred and thirty were already graduates of 



other institutions. The degree of IJ.A. was conferred on thirty- 

 four candidates, and that of Ph.D. upon twenty-seven, during the 

 year. 



The guiding principle upon which Mr. Gilman has developed the 

 university is eminently sound. In view of the numerous newspaper 

 reports and articles concerning Columbia College and its develop- 

 ment, the perusal of the following passage from the report before 

 us is recommended to the trustees and faculties of the latter Insti- 

 tution. " We continue to adhere," says Mr. Gilman, " to a definition 

 which is hallowed by age and confirmed by experience, that a uni- 

 versity is a body of teachers and scholars, — universitas mai^is- 

 trorum et discipulorwn, — a corporation maintained for the con- 

 servation and advancement of knowledge, in which those who have 

 been thoroughly prepared for higher studies are encouraged to con- 

 tinue, under competent professors, their intellectual advancement 

 'n many branches of science and literature. In this society we 

 recognize two important grades : (a) the collegiate students, who 

 are aspirants for the diploma of bachelor of arts, to which they look 

 forward as a certificate that they have completed a liberal course of 

 preliminary study ; and {b) the university students, including the 

 few who may be candidates for a higher diploma, that of doctor or 

 master (a certificate that they have made special attainments in 

 certain branches of knowledge) ; and a larger number who, without 

 any reference to a degree, are simply continuing their studies for 

 varying periods. Corresponding to the wants of these two classes 

 of students, we have two methods of instruction. — the rule of the 

 college, which provides discipline, drill, training, in appointed tasks, 

 for definite periods; and the rule of the university, the note of 

 which is opportunity, freedom, encouragement, and guidance in 

 more difficult studies, inquiries, and pursuits." 



THE CLAIM.S OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TO 

 UNIVERSALITY.' 



All efforts to create a new language for international use are 

 really unnecessary, because we already possess a vehicle of com- 

 munication, in our native tongue, which, if not perfect, is sufficiently 

 so, and is at least as good as any that has been proposed. What- 

 ever imperfections may be discerned in English, their removal, if 

 thought necessary, can be easily accomplished in books for foreign 

 learners. But, taking our language as it is, and comparing it with 

 other languages, I think I may claim assent to a few fundamental 

 propositions. 



The first proposition is, English is as Tea.dily unders/ood by foreign 

 learners as a foreign language is by English learners. This state- 

 ment might be strengthened ; for the inflection of words in other 

 languages requires much preliminary study to enable a learner to 

 translate ; whereas the student of English has only to deal with 

 words which are, for the most part, unchanging, and the full mean- 

 ing of which, consequently, he learns at once. English is there- 

 fore, in reality, mor<: readily understood by a foreign learner than a 

 foreign language is by an English learner. 



The second proposition is, English is as readily pronounced 

 with intelligibility by foreign learners as a foreign language is by 

 English learners. Accuracy of pronunciation, according to native 

 standards, is by no means essential to intelligibility. This is espe- 

 cially true of English. We hear speakers mispronounce every ele- 

 ment in a sentence, yet they are understood ; and the substitution 

 of one sound for another is a ver)- common habit : as in forming th 

 instead of s, and " lisping all the hissing sounds : " or " croaking 

 the sound of r far back in the rasping throat;" or "protruding 

 the sound through the narrow, rounded aperture of the approxi- 

 mated lips ; " or in substituting / for k. as when little Missie " calls 

 her liny kitten to come, that she may catch it." We understand 

 the lisper, the burrer. the infant prattler, and the foreign stumbler 



■ Address dclirered by Dr. A. Melrillc Bell before the Nineteenth Ccniuiy Club, 

 New York, Dec. u, 1888. 



