SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



209 



treating of calorimetry will be placed in this 

 compartment ; but, if you were here to put a 

 stop to the sub-division you would have a still very 

 confused library under these four figures. The 

 specific heats, the latent heats, the combustion 

 heats, the instruments of all sorts, scientific or 

 belonging to industry, being closely or widely con- 

 nected with calorimetry, all group themselves 

 under this title ; which is still very general. We 

 will therefore place the instruments in group 61, 

 the determinations of specific heats under No. 62, 

 and so on. We do not here exhaust our ten 

 figures in order to preserve the nearly logical 

 co-ordination of the different subjects. In short, 

 as the methods of determinating the specific heats 

 considerably differ, according to the state of 

 aggregation of the bodies on which you operate, 

 there is every reason to create further distinct 

 sections, in which to place, in the following order, 

 the measures of the specific heats for solids, liquids, 

 and gases. Let us recapitulate : we receive a 

 Memoir entitled " Determination of the Specific 

 Heat of Sundry Ordinary Metals." We look over 

 the successive divisions, classes, groups, and 

 sections, which bring us to its exact compartment, 

 proceeding as follows : 



Sciences 



- 



5 



Physics 



- 



53 



Heat 



- 



- 536 



Calorimetry 



- 



- 536,6 



Specific heat 



- 



- 536,62 



Specific heat 



of solids 



536,621 



Assuredly you could still sub-divide in such 

 manner that you should by seeing the figure know 

 to which metal the work refers, on which basis 

 of temperature the measurements have been 

 effected, etc. But in wishing to do too well you 

 would infallibly introduce into your classification 

 a very great amount of complication. 



It is preferable if you wish absolutely to fix the 

 idea, to take the title of the memoir by another 

 aspect and find out another grouping which is 

 connected with the point left uncertain by our 

 first classification, and which in our second will 

 attain the required end. You wish, for instance, 

 to expose the nature of the bodies on which the 

 determination bears. You will then have recourse 

 to Class 54, Chemistry, to Group 546, Inorganic 

 Chemistry, where you will find metals in their 

 proper order. 



You will often need to have recourse to two 

 groupings, either to perfectly describe the object 

 of the memoir, or to indicate the different questions 

 which are treated therein. For instance, a work 

 on optical illusion can include independent re- 

 searches on the organism of the eye, on the 

 chemistry of vision, on judgment and its errors, 

 and on many other subjects, without saying in the 



least that the memoir is in any way whatsoever 

 written without mfethod. In this case you will 

 have to deal with as many classifications as the 

 memoir treats of distinct subjects. 



It is difficult to foresee what will be the result 

 of Mr. Dewey's classification. It is just now 

 occupying many who show plenty of goodwill 

 towards it ; some reviews have frankly adopted 

 his system, and now start every article with its 

 proper figure. It is certainly the best to adopt 

 this course, in order to see whether the system 

 has any life in it. To sulk against the method 

 because it has a few imperfections would be 

 quite as unreasonable as to admit it without 

 restrictions ; or without admitting certain modifi- 

 cations that experience will not fail to suggest. 

 The best plan is to give it a thorough trial, free 

 from prejudice, with the determined idea that some 

 new classification is essential, and that the fact of 

 Mr. Dewey's method, though it be partly artificial, 

 must not for that reason estrange from him the 

 sympathies of those who seek progress. We know 

 what has become of all the natural classifications, 

 though they emanated from first-class minds. 

 Perfection is possible for a very short period only — 

 while one only imperfectly sees but part of a ques- 

 tion. In a more advanced stage of its study it 

 branches out and penetrates into other depart- 

 ments. The relationships which were hidden at 

 first become more evident ; some phenomenon 

 which was diminutive in the beginning becomes 

 predominant in a group which binds the same 

 subjects, and leaves the place it occupied in a 

 natural classification. But if you deliberately 

 abandon pure logic, the classification has more 

 chances for a longer existence to attain its 

 end. The idea transforms itself, but the label 

 remains. 



Dissecting Extraordinary. — The " Revue 

 Scientifique " contains a curious instance of the 

 heterogeneous contents of the stomach of an ostrich 

 A bird belonging to a menagerie travelling in 

 America was dissected after its death, and the 

 following were found in the stomach : the end of 

 an umbrella (ferrule with a piece of wood), two 

 keys (one of which was five inches long), a lady's 

 comb, two pieces of coal, a silk handkerchief, three 

 pebbles, two pieces of a beer-bottle, and a mouth- 

 organ. In addition to this, cabbage, grass, lettuce, 

 celery and earth. The bird succumbed from 

 tuberculosis, not from indigestion as might have 

 been surmised. 



The capacity of the crop of the woodpigeon 

 (Columba paluvibus) is notable. One recently came 

 to our notice that we venture to think is a record. 

 It contained 197 maize and 163 grains of wheat — 

 a total of 300 separate items. 



