298 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 254 



■millions annually in New York City. We cannot understand on 

 what he bases that assertion. Take the two cities separately. The 

 Illinois counties of Cook and Lake, that in which Chicago is sit- 

 uated and its neighbor on the north, lost 11,433 inhabitants by 

 ■death in 1880. Of these, 6,230 were infants under five. If, of the 

 remaining 5,203, 5,000 had died with average estates of $5,000, 

 175 with $100,000, and 28 with $1,000,000, — a most preposterous 

 assumption, — then in those two counties Mr. Jacobson's tax would 

 liave netted $3,075,000. But the conditions are impossible. It is 

 the same with New York. In 1880, New York and six adjoining, 

 ■counties had 25,239 deaths of persons over five years of age. Mak- 

 'ing an assumption regarding their estates as preposterous as that 

 ■made in the case of Chicago, the return from Mr. Jacobson's tax 

 -would have been less than $7,000,000. 



Two things are very evident, — first, that Mr. Jacobson made no 

 ■estimate of what his plan would cost ; second, that he very much 

 overestimates the number of fortunes of $20,000,000 and over, in 

 this country. His tax is 50 per cent on fortunes of $5,000,000 and 

 over, to be sure ; and, if a few persons possessing that sum were to 

 die at once, the return would be far greaterthan we have estimated. 

 But such persons do not all die at once, and moreover, in the long- 

 run, our overestimate of the number of millionnaires would suffice 

 to make up the sum their deaths would contribute. It might even 

 happen that Mr. Jacobson's estimate of the number of immense 

 fortunes is approximately true : the amount raised by the tax would 

 still be far short of the necessary expenditure. The plan is a bril- 

 liant one. It has many excellent points. We admire its author's 

 enthusiasm for the manual-training school. His suggestion as to 

 a graduated tax on estates commends itself to our judgment. But 

 as a plan to solve the labor problem, it will not work. This is 

 partly because the income under the plan would not pay the expen- 

 diture, and partly because the labor problem is, in many respects, 

 the problem of human nature. In Mr. Jacobson's sense of the word 

 ■'solution,' it cannot be solved. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The annual meeting of the Association of the Colleges of 

 'Ohio will be held at Athens, Dec. 26, 27, and 28, 1887. The fol- 

 lowing is a list of the papers expected : Monday, Dec. 26, opening 

 address, by Pres. Eli T. Tappan, commissioner of common schools. 

 Tuesday, Dec. 27, ' The Aim of the College,' by Prof. C. L. Ehren- 

 feld, Wittenberg College : ' Rhetorical Studies and Literary Work 

 in College,' by Prof. W. B. Chamberlain, Oberlin College ; ' The 

 Claims of Classical Archeology on Classical Teachers,' by Prof. B. 

 Perrin, Adelbert College ; ' Geology and Mineralogy in our Col- 

 leges,' by Prof. J. F. James, Miami University; Symposium, ' The 

 Elective System with Us, What we Do and What we Think,' by 

 the presidents or other representatives of all the institutions in the 

 association. Wednesday, Dec. 28, ' Preparation for College in 

 Ohio,' by Prof. Charles Chandler, Denison University. Meetings 

 of the association will be held in the chapel of the Ohio University ; 

 ■entertainment at the Central Hotel, at $1.50 per day, and at the 

 Warren House at $2 or less, according to the number stopping 

 there. Trains leave Columbus for Athens at 7.45 a.m., 3.10 p.m., 

 and 6.10 P.M., standard time. 



— A literary and musical entertainment was given at the resi- 

 dence of Mr. and Mrs. H. Herrman in New York on Wednesday 

 evening, Dec. 7, in aid of the Erminnie A. Smith memorial prize 

 fund at Vassar College. The evening was a very enjoyable one, 

 there being two hundred and fifty persons present, and a fine colla- 

 tion being furnished by Mrs. Herrman. 



— The five lessons on problems in physical geography delivered 

 by Prof. W. M. Davis, under the auspices of the Teachers' School 

 of Science of the Boston Society of Natural History, during the 

 winter of 1886-87, were so novel and useful to teachers, that he has 

 been invited to give a course during the coming winter upon the 

 physical geography of the United States. This course will be in 

 part a continuation of last year's lessons ; but the addition of new 

 matter, new models, more extended illustrations, and the special 

 attention given to our own country, will make the lectures prac- 

 itically distinct from those given last winter. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



",* Correspondctits are requested to be as brief as possible. The ivriier's name is 

 in nil cases required as proof of good faith. 



Twenty copies of the number containing his communication will be furnished 

 free to any correspondent on request. 



The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of 

 the journal. 



Conspiracy of Silence. 



The discussion published in a recent number of your journal 

 {Science, x. No. 252), relative to the faith of scientists, is the revival 

 of a topic which seems to have been long since definitely settled. 

 If history can be credited, scientific men in every age have fought 

 vigorously against progress. An interesting example is furnished 

 by a brilliant French novelist, Mr. Paul Feval, and probably few 

 will fail to recognize the truth of the following quotation : — 



" II fallut cependant des annees encore pour que ce savant et 

 illustre corps, le marine de I'Etat, voulijt bien prendre en considera- 

 tion cette force qui fait reculer le vent et se rit de la violence meme 

 des courants. II est vrai que I'Academie professait, vers le meme 

 temps, cette opinion : qu'une Vitesse de dix lieues i I'heure, sur un 

 chemin de fer, supprimerait la respiration chez I'homme et tuerait 

 tons les malheureux assez fous pour se livrer a ces folles experiences. 

 II serait pueril d'accuser notre marine ou nos academies. Le 

 monde est ainsi fait. Tout progres gene quelque inter^t ou froisse 

 quelque orgueil. 



" Dans le doute, abstiens-toi, disait la sagesse antique ; lasagesse 

 moderne r6pond : Si tune sais pas, enipeche I Fera-t-on jamais 

 le compte des hommes et des idees mis a mort au nom de ce fan- 

 tome idiot que les sages nomment l' invraisemblance ? " 



The naive confession of Mr. Bonney practically concedes the 

 whole case. Here are two theories of the formation of coral reefs, 

 each dependent upon a certain set of facts, accessible to all investi- 

 gators. Mr. Bonney says that the scientific method is to wait, and 

 not to investigate. He is not able, he says, to make up his mind 

 which theory is correct. Is this really a scientific method ? 



The ideal scientist, it will readily be admitted, is a person whose 

 sole aim is to discover the truth of any matter under investigation, 

 regardless of all personal or partisan feelings. The actual man of 

 science, for the reason that he is a man, is influenced, unconsciously 

 it may be, by his human characteristics, and frequently allows preju- 

 dice to overcome reason. In the particular case already considered 

 in your columns, it appears that Mr. Murray discovered some facts 

 which were unknown to Darwin, and that, these facts admitted, 

 Darwin's theory must necessarily be modified. This is the precise 

 point which Mr. Bonney adroitly evades : does he believe the facts 

 stated by Mr. Murray ; and, if so, can he reasonably continue to 

 accept Darwin's theory ? What excuse is there for waiting, unless, 

 indeed, Darwin is an idol whose sayings, because they were made 

 by him, must be received with reverence by all his followers? 



This theory of Darwin's is only one of a number of beliefs which 

 scientists uphold with obstinacy, in the face of contrary evidence ; 

 but, as is well said by the writer already quoted, — 



" Mais, en tout siecle, les sages eurent beau se coucher au travers 

 de la grande route vii marche I'humanite, I'humanite passa. L'in- 

 vraisemblance, grotesque 6pouvantail, recule ses brouillards devant 

 la lumifere. Des miracles, declares impossibles, se promenent 

 paisiblement dans nos rues. Et tout va vite : voyez I il y a de cela 

 quarante ans k peine ; en cherchant bien, vous trouverez certes en- 

 core, vivant et grignotant sa bribe du budget, quelqu'un de ces 

 Spartiates dont la main tremblotante essaya d'arreter la vapeur ! " 



It may be of interest to glance briefly at another celebrated 

 theory, which has been treated by scientists in a manner very simi- 

 lar to that pursued in the case of coral formations. About the year 

 1844, Messrs. Favre and Silbermann experimented on the heat 

 evolved by the combustion of certain elementary and a few com- 

 pound combustibles. Their experiments, far surpassing in accura- 

 cy all those hitherto made, were accepted by scientific men gener- 

 ally, and their results are given in most text-books and treatises 

 on heat. These distinguisfied experimenters did not think it neces- 

 sary to test the heating-power of the familiar compound, coal, but 

 considered that it could be calculated with sufficient accuracy by 

 analyzing the coal, and assuming that the heating-power was the 

 same as the sum of the heating-powers determined for the various 

 combustible elements, less the unavailable heat of so much of the 



