S6 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XI. No. 263 



— one cent each, or two cents postpaid — at which these leaflets 

 are issued put them within the reach of all who care to keep post- 

 ■ed as to educational progress in any part of the world. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



••,* Co'-res/'ondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The writer's name is 

 in alt cases required as proof of good faith. 



Twenty copies of the mtmber containing his communication will be furnished 

 _/ree to any correspondent on reqjtest. 



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

 the journal. 



The Scientific Swindler Again. 



A YOUNG man of gentlemanly bearing, who calls himself Dr. S. 

 M. Gutmann, and claims membership in the American Chemical 

 Society, has been lately imposing on various members of the scien- 

 tific fraternity in New York and vicinity. He claims to be a pupil 

 and son-in-law of Professor Hofmann of Berlin, and shows letters 

 purporting to come from some well-known persons, who recom- 

 mend him as an e.xpert in the manufacture and analysis of coal-gas. 

 He is familiar with the names of chemists 'and physicists in this 

 ■country, and uses them with freedom by way of introduction to 

 strangers. He represents himself to be in pecuniary straits, as the 

 result of long and fruitless efforts to obtain employment since his 

 .arrival in this country. 



Since there are many readers of Science whom he will attempt 

 to victimize, it may be well to warn them against this plausible and 

 mendacious vagabond. W. LeConte STEVENS. 



Brooklyn, Feb. lo. 



Psychics, or the ' New Psychology.' 



The ' new psychology ' is a term I have noticed cropping up of 

 late, used as the expression, the ' new chemistry,' or any similar 

 phrase, might be to indicate a late and advanced state of a science, 

 such as may properly bear out the word ' new ' in comparison with 

 an old or former less-advanced stage of evolution of a given sub- 

 ject. Referring to several dictionaries at my elbow, I find the word 

 "•psychics' defined as 'the same as psychology,' and marked 

 ' [Rare.] ' in one of them. 



In this connection, I beg leave to quote a sentence from a little 

 treatise on psychics entitled ' Can Matter Think ? ' published in 

 1886, where I say (p. 29), " I have said what I think the excellent 

 -word ' physiology ' should really mean. But I wish that the sadly 

 abused term ' psychology' could be rooted out of the dictionary, or 

 consigned to the same limbo where ' theology ' has already been 

 put by sound science and wise philosophy. ' Psychology ' means 

 any thing, from the vagaries of superstitious spiritualism to a sys- 

 tem of mental philosophy or a code of metaphysics. As we have 

 the good word ' physics ' for all the physical or rupic sciences, I 

 should like to see 'psychics ' replace psychology, with the distinct 

 understanding," etc. 



What I mean by this word is precisely what seems to be implied 

 by the expression ' the new psychology;' and many may be in- 

 clined to agree with me, that ' psychics ' is a short, handy name 

 which commends itself, or, so to speak, carries its own creden- 

 tials. 



A propos of words, did not Science (or was it Lite)-ary World 

 of Boston }) discuss lately the propriety of the adjective ' sciential ' 

 as a desirable new coinage to characterize any thing pertaining to 

 science ? If so, it may not be generally known that ' sciential ' is 

 Miltonian, as in the lines, — 



" But first, low reverence done, as to the power 

 That dwelt within, whose presence had infused 

 Into the plant sciential S3.^.*^ 



Paradise Lost, ix. 837. 



— where the meaning is ' science-making ' or ' productive of knowl- 

 ■edge,' — exactly what ' scientific ' literally means, though such Hteral 

 sense is not implied in the ordinary usage of the word, which 

 ■■ sciential ' was proposed to replace. Elliott Coues. 



Washington, D.C., Feb. 13. 



The Expansion of Pine Wood through Absorption of Water. 



During the summer of 1886, while seeking for a method for 

 securing a measure of the soil moisture, I conducted an experi- 

 ment to discover the amount and rate of the expansion in a section 

 of white pine wood in passing from a state of complete saturation 

 to one of complete dryness. While looking over my notes, I find 

 the data, and, as the experiment was carefully performed, have 

 thought that possibly the results may be worth putting on record. 

 The results secured were as follows : — 



Date. 



Weight of Sec- 



Per Cent of Water, 



calculated 



on Dry Weight. 



Length. 



PerCcnt of Expan- 

 sion, calculated 

 on Dry Length. 



(.1886.) 



(Grams.) 



(Inches.) 



Aug. 22 



50S.0 



22.76 



1. 



12 



;.3o 



'' 23 



475-4 



17.91 



■■ 



12 



5-30 



" 24 



S4-4 



12.70 



■■ 



,0 



5.11 





440-5 



9.25 



" 



08 



4-92 



" 26 



428.5 



6.27 



" 



02 



4-37 



" 27 



423-7 



S-08 



'■ 



02 



4-37 



" 28 



412.7 



2-35 



10 



84 



2.46 



" 29 



407-9 



1.16 



10 



68 



1.14 



" 3° 



407.9 



1. 16 



10 



68 



1. 14 



Sept. I 



103.2 



- 



10 



56 



- 



" = 



403.2 



- 



10 



56 



- 



A section two inches in length was sawed off from the end of a 

 sound, unchecked, white pine board, one and one-eighth inches thick, 

 and of such a width that the section when completely dry was 

 10.56 inches long. The section was then immersed for thirteen 

 days in a tank containing spring water, of which the temperature 

 was about 60" F., to secure saturation. It was then exposed to 

 the air of a dry room, and its weight and length noted daily until it 

 ceased to lose weight, after which it was placed in a drying-oven 

 and completely dried. E. S. GOFF. 



N.Y. Agric. Exper. Station, Geneva, Feb. 9. 



Queries. 



28. Floating Drops versus Floating Needles. — In order 

 that drops of water may float on the general surface, there must be 

 entire absence of any thing which might diminish surface-tension. 

 But the text-books, even the last edition of Ganot's ' Traite de 

 Physique,' direct us to slightly grease needles before dropping them 

 upon the water. Stanley, on p. 49 of his book on fluids, asserts that 

 a polished steel wire one inch long and five-hundredths of an inch 

 in diameter just floats if thoroughly cleaned with caustic potash 

 and wiped dry to prevent oxidation. He says, " If there was the 

 smallest particle of grease upon the wire, a much less diameter only 

 would be supported." And in the same book are experiments to 

 prove that a wire should be wetted in order to fioat. It may be 

 that slightly greasing a needle does more good by smoothing over 

 an imperfectly polished surface, than harm by diminishing surface- 

 tension ; but the phenomenon of floating drops appears to me to 

 confirm the statement in quotation-marks above. Will some one 

 kindly inform me where I can find a discussion of the statements 

 of Stanley on this subject? F. C. Van Dyck. 



New Brunswick, N.J., Feb. ti. 



Answers. 



20. St,a.r of Bethlehem. — Three distinct objects have been 

 confounded in the public mind ; viz., the planet Venus, Tycho's new 

 star of 1572, and the apparition called the Star of Bethlehem. The 

 brilliant object visible in daylight was Venus. Tycho's star was 

 visible in the north in the constellation of Cassiopeia in 1572, and 

 has been thought by some, on the slenderest evidence, to be a 

 variable of long period, which might re-appear about this time. A 

 good account of it is found in Humboldt's 'Cosmos,' Vol. III. 

 Chapter IV. For an account of the theories about the Star of 

 Bethlehem, consult the unabridged edition of Smith's Bible Dic- 

 tionary, Vol. III., under the heading, 'Star of the Wise Men.' 



H. .\. Howe. 



University of Denver, Feb. 4. 



