April 1, 1887.J 



SCIENCE. 



309 



hundred and eighty-eight analyses, of which 

 sixty-one were of milk, twenty-two of whisky, 

 nine of gin, sixteen of mustard, twenty- seven of 

 drugs, ten of disinfectants, six of water, four of 

 butter and butterine, and the remainder of mis- 

 cellaneous articles. The discrepancies of opinion 

 between analysts resulting from the employment 

 of separate methods, and the unsatisfactory char- 

 acter of some of the laws relating to food supply, 

 ai'e given as reasons which have prevented the 

 work of the department from impressing itself 

 more firmly upon the community. The water 

 supply of the city has maintained its high charac- 

 ter during the year, the same freedom from or- 

 ganic impurity noted in previous reports having 

 still existed. 



In a presidential address — now published 

 as a magazine article — before the Society for the 

 study of comparative psychology. Dr. T. Wesley 

 Mills of McGill university said a great many in- 

 teresting things about the objects and problems 

 of that department of science which the society 

 was founded to advance. Animals, he said, are 

 the ' poor relations ' of man : the latter is one of 

 them not only in body but in mind. But poor 

 relations though they are, yet " in not a few re- 

 spects they are not only equal, but superior to 

 man." Dr. Mills grants that it is not inconceiv- 

 able that special faculties, not existent in the 

 lower animals (we presume he uses the adjective 

 ' lower ' merely in deference to a custom of some 

 antiquity) have been implanted in man, but the 

 trend of investigation, he asserts, is to establish the 

 fact that at least the germ of every human faculty 

 does exist in some species of animal. Brutes 

 reason, says the writer. They can and do form 

 abstract conceptions. They have, furthermore, a 

 moral nature, and are capable of forming a con- 

 ception of right and wrong. Man has only de- 

 veloped a superiority to the brute because" of " his 

 social tendencies, resulting in the division of 

 labor, with its consequent development of special 

 aptitudes, and its outcome in the enormous amount 

 of force which he can, on occasion, bring to bear 

 against the various tendencies making for his 

 destruction." 



fancy, meet the argument of Prof. C. Lloyd 

 Morgan on the subject of the study of animal in- 

 telligence. That he has not faced this argument is 

 evidenced by his naive and apparently conclusive 

 question, " Since from experiments on the brains 

 of the lower animals we argue as to the nature of 

 the brain of man, why may we not pursue the 

 comparative method for the soul ? " Perhaps we 

 may ; but it must be done under such limitations, 

 and in the light of such considerations, as Pro- 

 fessor Morgan has indicated. The first and most 

 fundamental of these is, that, while we are justi- 

 fied in believing in the existence of intelligence or 

 mind in animals, it must be steadily borne in 

 mind that this has to be interpreted not only by 

 human consciousness, but in terms of it. Again, 

 in all the stories related of the intelligence, moral- 

 ity, and so forth, of animals, there are two dis- 

 tinct elements, — first, certain actions performed 

 under certain external circumstances, which may 

 be called facts ; and, secondly, certain inferences 

 which are drawn from the facts. These inferences 

 must be rigidly excluded from the class of facts ; 

 and, when so excluded, that portion of them 

 which is ejective must be treated as such, and not 

 as objective. These limitations and considerations 

 carry with them many consequences, but we can 

 find in Dr. Mill's address no evidence that he has 

 ever given them any consideration. 



Now, before Dr. Mills puts forward any such 

 conclusions as these, or goes to work with the 

 method and premises he has assumed, he must 

 first establish the legitimacy of that method and 

 those premises. And to do this he must, we 



The best methods for the disposal of garbage 

 must necessarily differ according to circum- 

 stances. For some communities its utilization in 

 the feeding of swine is a practical solution of the 

 problem ; while for others no better way seems to 

 have been devised than to deposit it at sea, so far 

 from land as to preclude the possibility of its re- 

 turn by wind or tide. Still another plan is that 

 of its destruction by fire or cremation, — a plan 

 which theoretically is perhaps the most satisfac- 

 tory from a sanitary stand-point, but one in regard 

 to which practically there seem to be so many 

 difficulties as thus far to have prevented its adop- 

 tion in the largest cities of the United States. 

 This problem is now being discussed at Milwaukee, 

 "Wis. One proposition is to take the garbage to 

 the country and then feed it to animals, another 

 is to deposit it in the waters of the lake, and a 

 third to consume it by fire. A company proposes 

 to erect two cremators, at an expense of ten thou- 

 sand dollars, for this pvirpose, claiming that the 

 running expenses will not exceed $15.50 per diem 



