July 8, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



15 



Prof. Henry C. Adams writes that in Michigan the tendency 

 is in harmony with that obser\'ed by Dr. Shaw in Minnesota. 



President Piclcard of Iowa State University finds the most strik- 

 ing feature in the recent legislation of Iowa to be the number of 

 legalizing acts passed. He says that twenty-five per cent of all 

 acts passed were designed to correct carelessness or ignorance of 

 officers and municipal corporations ; but Prof. Jesse Macy of Iowa 

 College says that Iowa is side by side with Minnesota, and cites in 

 evidence a number of acts passed at the last session of the Legis- 

 lature. The Legislature passed laws strengthening the prohibitorj' 

 liquor legislation, it made elaborate statutes regulating the practice 

 of pharmacy and medicine, it looked after the miners' interests 

 through a commission, it provided an arbitration board for the 

 settlement of labor-difficulties, it laid new duties on the board of 

 'health concerning canned goods and inflammable oils, and passed 

 a large number of laws of the same general tenor. 



Ex.-Pres. A. L. Chapin of Beloit College, Wisconsin, thinks that 

 State interference has not gone so far in that State as in Minnesota, 

 though it is plainly seen in numerous enactments. 



Mr. Frank R. Morrissey of the Omaha Herald represents Ne- 

 braska in our correspondence, and finds a marked tendency to 

 sumptuary legislation in his State. 



From the Pacific coast we hear of this tendency, though in Cali- 

 fornia the new State constitution seems to have repressed it to a 

 great extent. Mr. A. H. Agard of Oakland writes that proposed 

 legislation in California manifests the tendency in question ; but 

 little progress is made, because the Legislature is restrained by the 

 provisions of the State constitution, which forbids the enactment of 

 laws termed ' special.' The effort on the part of the Legislature is 

 to frame laws of such a character that they will operate restrictively, 

 and yet not be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. It 

 might be termed ' forbidden legislation by adroit evasion.' The 

 particular manifestations of interference just now are against the 

 Chinese, against ' monopolies,' hydraulic mining, and the retail 

 liquor-trade. 



It will thus be seen, from this brief summary of the evidence we 

 have gathered, that State interference has a tendency in general 

 throughout the United States. It is more extreme in some States 

 than others ; and our analysis of the laws of Massachusetts, New 

 Jersey, and Illinois, shows it to be particularly progressive in those 

 States. It remains to present the various opinions entertained 

 toward State interference by our representative correspondents. 



\To he continued^ 



THE NEW ROUTE FROM ENGLAND TO EASTERN 

 ASIA, AND THE HUDSON BAY ROUTE. 



A FEW weeks ago the first steamer coming from Yokohama 

 arrived at Vancouver. Thus the new line from England to eastern 

 Asia by way of the Canadian Pacific Railroad has been opened. 

 In order to show the merits of this route as compared to the Ameri- 

 can Pacific railroads, we have drawn up the accompanying sketch- 

 map. We have chosen the gnomonic projection, as it is the best 

 means to show the shortest route between two points. The earth's 

 surface is projected from the centre of the globe upon a tangential 

 plain touching it in latitude 60° north and longitude 120° west. In 

 this projection all great circles, i.e., the shortest lines between two 

 points, are represented by straight lines. The map extends from 

 England in the east to Yokohama in the west. It makes it clear 

 why the North-west and North-east Passages were so eagerly sought 

 for. They are the nearest to the great circle between England and 

 China, which runs right through the Polar Basin. The nearer a 

 route approaches this great circle, the shorter it is. Therefore it 

 will be seen that the distance from London to Yokohama, via the 

 Canadian Pacific Railroad, would be by far the shortest. There 

 are several facts, however, which detract from the value of this 

 route. We have drawn out the great circle between London and 

 New York. It will be seen that it crosses Newfoundland. Yet ships 

 do not keep close to the southern point of that island, on account 

 of the numerous dangers obstructing their passage, but prefer to 

 go a round-about way, keeping far south. The same difficulty is 

 ■encountered in approaching Halifax ; and therefore the longer route 

 to New York is by far to be preferred to the shorter one to Nova 



Scotia, particularly in the latter part of the winter and in spring, 

 when ice is met with in the Atlantic Ocean. The Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence is not navigable during part of the year on account of 

 the heavy masses of ice. Thus the shortness of the route from 

 England to Nova Scotia is more than counterbalanced by the dan- 

 gers of navigation. 



But even from New York the Canada route to Japan is far shorter 

 than that by way of San Francisco. The difference in length be- 

 tween the great circle San Francisco-Yokohama and Vancouver- 

 Yokohama may be seen on the sketch-map. It must be considered, 

 however, that the latter cannot be made use of, as it crosses Alaska 

 and the Aleutian Islands. Steamers must keep farther south, and 

 must strike the San Francisco route near the longitude of the west 

 point of Alaska Peninsula. This makes the distance from Vancou- 

 ver to Yokohama somewhat longer than it would be without this 

 chain of islands intervening. The distance from New York to 

 Puget Sound by way of the Northern Pacific Railroad is longer 

 than by the Canadian Road, as Lake Michigan extends so far 

 south ; but when the road from Umatilla Junction to Tacoma is 

 finished, the difference in the two distances will not be very great. 

 The sea-route" from Tacoma to Yokohama is of course essentially 

 the same as that from Vancouver. The great circle between these 

 places and the ports of China runs nearly through the Tsugaru 

 Strait, passing Hakodadi. 



When the work on the Canadian Road is completed, it will 

 probably be not more frequently obstructed by snow-drifts than the 

 Northern Pacific, but the difference in distance between these two 

 lines is not so great as to exclude a successful competition. 



The harbor of Vancouver is Burrard Inlet. It is sheltered from 

 the sea, but the entrance is somewhat difficult, being very narrow 

 and occupied by tide-races. The shortest route from the port 

 would lead through the narrow channels between Vancouver Island 

 and the mainland, in which navigation is difficult on account of the 

 strong tides and numerous rocks. 



The shortest route from the ports of the Atlantic coast to Japan 

 and China would lie even farther north than the Canadian Pacific 

 Railroad ; and if the Saskatchewan branch should be built, and 

 continued to the northern part of the coast of British Columbia, the 

 distance would be still more diminished. We do not believe that 

 the climate would offer insurmountable difficulties, but the settle- 

 ment of these countries will not be so rapid as to justify the con- 

 struction of a new Pacific railroad. 



The railroad question is of the greatest importance for the de- 

 velopment of the North-west Territories, — Athabasca, Alberta, 

 Saskatchewan, Assiniboia, and Manitoba. The distance to the 

 nearest ports is so long that export is very difficult : therefore en- 

 deavors have been made to open a new route by making use of 

 Hudson Bay. It will be seen on our map that the proposed Hud- 

 son Bay route from Liverpool to Port Nelson is very short and 

 straight, and that it would offer a splendid opportunity for the 

 export of the North-west Territories. We belie\-e, however, that 

 the character of the seas will prevent the plan being carried out. 

 The railroad-route from Winnipeg to Port Nelson has been sur- 

 veyed, and no serious obstacles are said to exist ; but the railroad 

 must be continued farther north to Fort Churchill, as Port Nelson 

 is not a safe harbor. The navigation of the west coast of Hudson 

 Bay, particularly for large vessels, is very difficult on account of its 

 shallowness, and the construction of piers in Fort Churchill will be 

 expensive and difficult on account of the ice. 



The principal difficulty is the navigation of Hudson Strait. Its 

 eastern entrance is blocked by pack-ice until the middle of July. 

 A passage may sometimes be forced early in June by a ship well 

 strengthened against the pressure of the ice, but navigation cannot 

 be opened until about the loth of July. About this time, ice is 

 still whirling around in Ungava Bay, patches are found near Charles 

 Island, and Fox Basin is filled with very hea\y and dangerous 

 masses of ice. We believe that these form the principal obstacles 

 to navigation. The light ice of Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait 

 will not form serious obstacles late in the season ; but a spell of 

 northerly winds will invariably drive the heavy masses of Fox 

 Basin into the Strait, and a ship caught in this ice will be in an ex- 

 tremely dangerous position. The floes are small, and attain a 

 thickness of from twenty to thirty feet. This ice frequently blocks 



