74 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 263. 



sec. The exact point at which the reversing 

 action begins can be easily determined by the 

 revolving disc, and will be investigated shortly 

 by one of our students. 



E. W. Wood. 



SCIENCE IN THE DAILY PRESS. 



To THE Editor of Science : In view of the 

 appearance of several articles in the daily press 

 relating to the case of the rapid calculator, 

 Arthur Griffith, and purporting to be written 

 by us, we beg to say that we have written no 

 such article and have seen neither copy nor 

 proof of any such article. We have given to 

 reporters, when asked to do so, the principal 

 facts reported before the Psychological Associa- 

 tion. The published accounts have varying 

 degrees of accuracy, a few of them being sub- 

 stantially correct. We are impelled to make 

 this disavowal, for the reason that in some 

 instances we are represented as making claims 

 in regard to the case which we have never 

 made. Persons interested are referred to the 

 Proceedings of the Psychological Association 

 and to the fuller statement of results presently 

 to appear. 



E. H. Lindley, 

 Wm. L. Bryan. 

 University of Indiana, Jan. 4, 1900. 



'newspaper science.' 



To THE Editor of Science : Some weeks ago 

 in Science, and more recently in The Psycho- 

 logical Review, Professor J. H. Hyslop con- 

 demned in rather sweeping terms what he 

 called 'newspaper science.' He was incited to 

 do so by the publication of an erroneous and 

 annoying report about himself. But while his 

 irritation was certainly justified, his utterances 

 were a trifle indiscriminate. And it is due both 

 to the daily press, which he thus censures, and 

 to the readers of your pages that attention be 

 called to this fact. 



It is true that certain papers indulge in un- 

 truthful and sensational stories about scientific 

 men and scientific discoveries. But there are 

 others that do not. To classify these two kinds 

 of newspapers together betrays a lack of careful 

 observation, or a wrong use of the logical fac- 

 ulty ; perhaps both. Such a proceeding is 



hardly worthy of a man who pretends to a 

 strictly scientific method in his ordinary work. 

 The fact is that, though they are only too 

 scarce, one can easily find both newspapers and 

 newspaper men who possess as keen a percep- 

 tion of the eternal beauty of truth, and are ani- 

 mated by as lively a sense of responsibility to 

 the public, as the average professional scientist. 

 A wider recognition of this fact is needed, not 

 merely in the interests of justice, but in those 

 of science also. 



Now the number of persons who read tech- 

 nical reports and periodicals— astronomical, 

 electrical, engineering, medical, psychological, 

 and so on — is only about one-hundredth, or 

 only a thousandth, as great as those who see 

 only the daily papers. The vast majority of 

 people could not understand this literature, 

 anyhow. It needs interpretation and adapta- 

 tion to popular comprehension. The daily paper, 

 therefore, forms a highly important medium of 

 communication between the original investigator 

 and the general public ; and, for better or for 

 worse, it will always perform that function. If, 

 then, men who are themselves engaged in scien- 

 tific researches of value to mankind, or are 

 identified with institutions devoted to the de- 

 posit of scientific collections, would abstain 

 from aiding papers that are notoriously reckless, 

 and encourage by word and definite favors those 

 which treat scientific matters intelligently, con- 

 scientiously and accurately, they would promote 

 the diflfnsion of knowledge to a far greater de- 

 gree than is now possible, and check the very 

 abuses of which Professor Hyslop complains. 

 Not merely in their comments, but also in their 

 active policy, professional scientists can do 

 much to reform 'newspaper science' if they will. 

 Amateur. 

 New York, January 5, 1900. 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 



A NEW SOUTHERN FLORA. 



Professor Tracy has prepared a little book 

 under the title of ' Flora of the Southern United 

 States' for use with Bergen's 'Elements of 

 Botany ' (Ginn & Company), which is intended 

 to be used as an elementary manual for field 

 work in systematic botany in the public schools. 



