Makch 4, 1887.] 



SCIENCE, 



219 



thirty-five cents per capita. In New York the 

 taxes are as follows : — 



United States tax $ 5 50 



City tax (including state tax) 19.92 



Total 25.43 



The citizen of New York pays nearly two and 

 one half times as much as does the citizen of 

 Berlin. 



Mr. Atkinson estimates the per capita product 

 of the United States at $200, and that of Germany 

 at $100 ; thui3, although no estimate on a question 

 of this kind can make any pretensions to accuracy, 

 on the basis adopted bj Mr. A.tkinson, not only a 

 larger amount per capita but a larger percentage 

 of the product is absorbed by taxation in New 

 York than in Berlin. The reason is that in Ger- 

 many the city and state together derive more than 

 half of their revenue from the profits of produc- 

 tive undertakings, and by superior methods of 

 administration have greatly reduced the cost of 

 government. 



In Berlin, out of a total revenue of $13,754,593, 

 only $7,042,014 comes from ordinary taxes. The 

 profit on public works, particularly the gas and 

 water works, amounts to $1,325,419 in excess of 

 payments made for the amortization of and in- 

 terest on the first capital. Payments of a per- 

 centage of gross receipts by such private monop- 

 olies as street-railways and gas-companies are 

 other sources of revenue, as is also a charge of 

 $28.80 for scholars in the higher schools. Pay- 

 ments by monopolies and scholars are taxes, yet 

 they do not bear upon the citizens in general in 

 any thing like the same proportion as do ordinary 

 taxes, and, in a question of the burden of taxa- 

 tion, distribution is a very important factor. The 

 neglect of the local element must also cause us to 

 question Mr. Atkinson's conclusions in regard to 

 the comparative amounts of debt. For instance, 

 he places the per capita debt in the United States, 

 including state debts, at $37, and in Germany, in- 

 cluding kingdoms and duchies, at $39 : but the 

 debt of New York on Dec. 31, 1884, was $126,871,- 

 138, or $94 per capita, while that of Berlin is 

 $36,965,767, or $28 per capita ; and in addition to 

 this it must be remembered that in Germany both 

 states and cities own large amounts of productive 

 property, the value of such property, in the case 

 of Prussia at least, being more than equal to the 

 state debt. 



While it would not be fair to argue from the 

 comparative condition of New York and Berlin to 

 the comparative condition of the United States and 

 Germany as a whole, still the city, as a centre of 

 production, is an element of great and growing 

 importance, and in estimating the comparative 

 burdens upon producers in this and other coun- 



tries more valuable results will be obtained by 

 considering those who work, as near as may be, 

 under the same conditions in the various countries, 

 than by taking the average for whole populations. 



The figures for other countries than Germany 

 are not at hand, but the same considerations 

 would modify Mr. Atkinson's results in all cases, 

 though probably to a less degree than in Ger- 

 many. 



The neglect of these three points — local taxa- 

 tion, profits from public undertakings as a source 

 of revenue, and administrative methods as an 

 element in the cost of government — has in large 

 measure destroyed the value of Mr. Atkinson's 

 work as a comparative study. 



Henry B. Gardner. 



A DISCUSSION ON ARSENIC POISONING. 

 A VERY interesting and instructive discussion 

 took place at a recent meeting of the Suffolk dis- 

 trict medical society on the subject of poisonous 

 arsenical wall-papers. Dr. J. E. Chadwick de- 

 scribed an experience which he had in his own 

 family, in which his two daughters suffered from 

 dyspepsia, colicky pains, and headaches, which 

 disappeared when they left the house for the sum- 

 mer, and re-appeared on their return. He found 

 that the wall-paper in the nursery was very arsen- 

 ical, although, having previously suffered from 

 this same cause, he had made special effort to ob- 

 tain paper free from arsenic, and had been assured 

 by the dealer that a chemist had analyzed it and 

 pronounced it free from arsenic. During the dis- 

 cussion which followed, many cases of sickness 

 were reported as having been caused by arsenic in 

 wall-paper. Professor Hill of Harvard university 

 said that he was the examiner for two of the most 

 prominent paper-houses in the state of Massachu- 

 setts. During the period from 1879 to 1883 the 

 percentage of arsenical papers was from fifty-four 

 to sixty-five of all papers examined. In 1884 it 

 had fallen to forty-seven per cent, and in 1886 to 

 thirty-three per cent. Only thirteen per cent 

 contained any thing more than a trace of arsenic. 

 In reference to the law which had failed of pas- 

 sage in the legislature, limiting the amount of 

 arsenic to one-fifth of a grain in the square yard, 

 he thought our knowledge of the limit which it is 

 safe to establish was too indefinite. A law to pre- 

 vent the sale of ' rough on rats' would save more 

 lives than a law to prohibit the sale of wall-papers 

 containing a trace of arsenic. Professor Wood of 

 Harvard university thought the chief danger was 

 from the dust which is constantly being given off 

 from the paper, and which is contained in the air of 

 the room, by which it comes in contact with the 



