FEfiRUART 25, 1887.1 



SCIENCE, 



197 



excitement. In the first instance every move- 

 ment is carried out, and every duty is performed, 

 with relation to a common purpose, — the most 

 complete welfare of ship and crew ; but no one 

 can doubt that the individual motive of each sailor 

 is to thereby bring the greatest benefit to himself. 

 In the unusual occurrence of threatened ship- 

 wreck, however, this co-ordination is lost, because 

 the selfishness of each individual in seeking his 

 own safety causes him to disregard the duty he 

 owes his companions, and the result ant is fatal in- 

 co-ordination. 



If what we have said be true, the premise as- 

 sumed by Metchnikoff is fundamentally wrong. 

 The doctrine of evolution applied to the living 

 organism teaches, not that there is final antagonism 

 between struggle and co-operation, but that co-or- 

 dination and the well-being of the whole is the 

 natural outcome of struggle for existence among 

 the individual particles of the body ; and, presum- 

 ing capability of variation, there must, through 

 ' survival of the fittest,' couie to be increase of 

 specialization and perfection of performance in 

 every function. Fatal or merely injurious path- 

 ological processes, when traced to their source, 

 are found to be due to accidents which do not 

 come under the head of uniform law. Suppos- 

 ing such an accident to occur so frequently as 

 to become a normal event : the vital elasticity of 

 the organism re-adjusts itself to these new condi- 

 tions involved, so that they (as in the case of the 

 bone-fracture) are hardly distinguishable from 

 ordinary physiological processes. 



Henry Sev^^all. 



THE BRITISH COMMISSION ON THE 

 DEPRESSION OF TRADE. 



In response to a general feeling of anxiety, 

 some of it expressed openly and some not, a royal 

 commission was appointed some months since by 

 the British government to take into consideration 

 the depression of trade and industry in Great 

 Britain, and to report by what means, if any, the 

 depression could be remedied. The final report of 

 the commission has recently been published, and 

 it bristles with points of both theoretical and prac- 

 tical interest. The report is by no means unani- 

 mous. A majority report is signed by the late 

 Earl of Iddesleigh, the able president of the com- 

 mission, and eighteen of his fellows. Eleven of 

 these, however, sign under certain restrictions and 

 reservations, which they append over their re- 

 spective signatures. The minority report, which 

 represents the views of the so-called fair-trade 

 party, is signed by Lord Dunraven and three 



others. A third report is submitted by Mr. Arthur 

 O'Connor, and signed only by himself. 



The majority report begins by mentioning the 

 general points of agreement among all the wit- 

 nesses examined. These are said to be, 1°, that 

 the trade and industry of the country are in a 

 condition which may fairly be described as de- 

 pressed ; 2°, that this depression takes the form of 

 a diminution, and in some cases an absence, of 

 profit, with a corresponding diminution of em- 

 ployment for the laboring classes ; 3", that neither 

 the volume of trade, nor the amount of capital 

 invested therein, has materially fallen off, though 

 the latter has in many cases depreciated in value ; 

 and, 4°, that this depression dates from about the 

 year 1875, and that, with the exception of a short 

 period of prosperity enjoyed by certain branches 

 of trade in the years 1880 to 1883, it has proceeded 

 with tolerable uniformity, and has affected the 

 trade and industry of the country generally , but 

 more especially those branches which are con- 

 nected with agriculture. 



This unanimity did not extend, however, to the 

 causes which brought the depression about. But 

 those causes to which any great importance was 

 attached were, P, over-production ; 2°, a contin- 

 uous fall of prices, caused by an appreciation of 

 the standard of value ; S"", the effect of foreign 

 tariffs and bounties, and the restrictive commer- 

 cial policy of foreign countries in limiting English 

 markets ; 4:°, foreign competition ; 5°, an increase 

 in local taxation ; 6°, cheaper rates of transporta- 

 tion enjoyed by foreign competitors ; 7°, legisla- 

 tion affecting the employment of labor in indus- 

 trial undertakings ; 8", superior technical educa- 

 tion of foreign workmen. 



It is pointed out that it is from the employers 

 of labor and producers that most complaints of 

 trade-depression have come ; but the report adds, 

 that its signers are satisfied that in recent years, 

 and particularly in the years during which the de- 

 pression has jjrevailed, the production of com- 

 modities generally, and the accumulation of capi- 

 tal in the country, have been proceeding at a rate 

 more rapid than the increase of population ; and 

 in support of this the statistics as to pauperism, 

 education, crime, and savings banks, are cited. 

 The statistics of foreign trade show an apparent 

 falling-off in some respects ; but this is attributed 

 almost entirely to the continuous fall in prices, 

 especially those of raw materials, since 1873. After 

 making allowance for this fall in prices and for 

 the fall in the price of raw materials, it is held 

 that the actual products of British labor and capi- 

 tal have largely increased. It is pointed out, for 

 example, that, if valued at the prices current in 

 1873, the aggregate of the foreign trade of Great 



