SCIENCE 



FRIDAY, JULY 8, H 



In the leading civilized countries in which a decimal system 

 of weights and measures is not in vogue, there are considerable 

 bodies of men urging the adoption of at least a decimal coinage. 

 From time to time attacks are made on the time-honored and in- 

 convenient pounds-shillings-and-pence system in which English 

 trade is carried on, but thus far conservatism has proven too mighty 

 even for convenience. It is nevertheless true, that, each time the 

 agitation for a decimal system is begun in Great Britain, it obtains 

 larger support than before, though the opposition to it loses nothing 

 in vehemence. Within a few weeks an influential deputation has 

 waited on the chancellor of the exchequer to urge his advocacy of a 

 decimal coinage. The deputation represented sixty-eight provincial 

 chambers of commerce, all of which, out of a total of sixty-nine, 

 have passed resolutions in favor of a change to a decimal system. 

 The deputation urged the change on five grounds : first, because 

 every foreign country in the world possessed a decimal currency, 

 and some of the British possessions (Canada, Ceylon, and Mauri- 

 tius) ; second, because no country which had once adopted the 

 decimal system of currency had retraced its step ; third, be- 

 cause the mathematical education in the schools would be simpli- 

 fied by the use of the decimal system for measuring values, and 

 consequently the period necessary for education in the elementar)' 

 schools would be shortened ; fourth, because experience proved 

 that in business-houses in decimal-using countries considerable 

 time was saved in calculations both for home and foreign business, 

 while transactions between countries using the decimal system were 

 rendered uniform, and an economy of labor therefore resulted ; and, 

 fifth, because the British currency might be placed upon a decimal 

 basis with a minimum of change by decimalizing the pound sterling. 

 It is proposed to decimalize the pound sterling by making it 

 equal to i,ooo mills, the mill to be the unit of the system. Then 

 the half-sovereign would equal 500 mills ; the crown, 350 mills ; the 

 double florin, 200 mills; the half-crown, 125 mills; the florin, 100 

 mills ; the shilling, 50 mills ; and the sixpence, 25 mills. Three 

 new coins would be necessary, — a dime, equal to ten mills ; a half- 

 dime ; and a new farthing, equal to one mill. Various speakers en- 

 larged on these arguments. Mr. Goschen, in reply, acknowledged 

 the importance of the subject and the authority of the delegation, 

 but he could give no promise of government action, because a reform 

 of so far-reaching a nature depends for its success on a practical 

 unanimity of popular sentiment ; and that, Mr. Goschen thought, is 

 far from having been reached at present. He closed by encour- 

 aging the deputation to go on with their propaganda, and endeavor to 

 unite public sentiment in favor of the change. If that were done, 

 he felt sure the necessary legislation would follow. 



alarming symptom of this change is the increasing frequency of 

 mental 'breakdown,' caused by a failure to adapt one's self to the 

 changed environment. For the use of the mental powers, we now 

 substitute their abuse. The business-man is worried into insanity, 

 the student hurried into unhealthy precocity, and the woman forced 

 into an imprudent competition with man. One of the earliest cries 

 of warning to the most restless of all nations, the Americans, was 

 raised by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, in a paper entitled ' Wear and Tear,' 

 which has just reached a fifth edition as a separate publication. In 

 the period since its first appearance, this sermon has been preached 

 by educators, political economists, and psychologists, as well as by 

 the family physician, and to some extent has been listened to. 

 Practical men are so apt to think that the studies of the theoreti- 

 cal scientists are more or less the pursuit of useless hobbies, that 

 the opportunity of so glaringly showing the essential importance to 

 them of theoretical science should not be neglected. To be able to 

 express physiologically and psychologically such doctrines as are sug- 

 gested by the practical experience of thoughtful men, endows these 

 principles with the authority of natural laws, and sanctions their 

 introduction into the elementary education of the next generation. 

 It makes science out of opinion. The cause which Dr. Mitchell 

 pleads under the above terse heading is well known to-day. It is 

 simply the problem of obtaining a maximum of work with a mini- 

 mum of overwork ; a brisk and healthy wear without a rushing and 

 wasteful tear. And it is because this problem is so largely the 

 problem of a rational education founded upon a scientific psychol- 

 ogy, that it merits notice in this column. With the successful solu- 

 tion of this problem, — and all this applies with increased force to our 

 country, — the new education, the new political economy, the new 

 psychology, and the new biology will all have succeeded together. 



It is the privilege of the philosopher, at least of such a one 

 as bases his right to that title on the practical comprehensiveness of 

 the study of his choice, to have an important word on those general 

 problems of civilization most intimately connected with human de- 

 velopment. And it is the privilege of our age to emphasize the 

 truth that every intellectual worker is to a greater or less extent a 

 philosopher in his own domain. It is not a coincidence, but a 

 deeply significant fact, that the ' new education,' the ' new political 

 ■economy,' the ' new psychology,' the ' new biology,' and the rest, are 

 all claiming attention at the same time. It is the expression of the 

 consciousness of the changed conditions of modern life. A most 



THE INCREASE OF STATE INTERFERENCE IN THE 

 - UNITED STATES. — II. 

 As to the States of Rhode Island and Connecticut, our informa- 

 tion is fairly full and accurate, though showing a curiously divergent 

 condition of things in two adjoining States. The secretary of state 

 for Rhode Island finds, as the result of neariy twenty years' ex- 

 perience in connection with the legislation of the State, the ten- 

 dency has rather been away from than toward interference with 

 personal concerns. Numerous matters of that nature which for- 

 merly occupied the attention of the Assembly have now ceased to 

 have attention, the jurisdiction of the courts having been enlarged 

 so as to cover such matters. The Legislature has further estab- 

 lished a joint rule to the effect that " neither House shall entertain 

 any petition the subject of which is within the jurisdiction of any 

 court in the State." Rhode Island, owing to a peculiar constitu- 

 tional provision, has no general act of incorporation, and every 

 charter is a special act of the Legislature. In granting these char- 

 ters, much of the time of the Assembly is occupied. 



From Connecticut Professors Hadley and Farnam nf^ Yale agree 

 in pointing out the Sunday traffic (railroad) law, t'.ie law limiting 

 the hours of employment for women in stores and factories, the law 

 prohibiting child-labor under thirteen years of age, the law making 

 weekly payments compulsory, and the laws providing for the in- 

 spection of certain classes of business, as the latest particulars in 

 which State interference is being manifested. Mr. A. Hills of 

 Bridgeport finds that Connecticut legislation is showing " an in- 

 creasing tendency to interfere between employers and employed, 

 and generally to regulate matters which individuals ought to be 

 left to arrange between themselves." Mr. Morris F. Tyler is of 

 similar opinion. He writes, " It may be said that legislation in 

 Connecticut shows that in almost all the relations of life the meddle- 



