SCIENCE 



FRIDAY, MARCH 30, li 



The annual inquiry into the management of the Government 

 Printing-office by a committee of the National House of Represen- 

 tatives is now in progress. It matters little what conclusions this 

 committee may reach, if, like its predecessors, it does not devise 

 some method of hastening not only the printing of Congress, but 

 also that of the departments. Nowhere is this delay more keenly 

 felt than in the scientific bureaus. Much of the material gathered 

 in these with great labor and expense loses value with delay in pub- 

 lication. Take the work of the United States Geological Survey, 

 for instance. Although the manuscript for the eighth annual re- 

 port has been completed, the seventh has not yet been printed. 

 The eighth report contains, among other things, an able dis- 

 cussion of the Trenton limestone as a source of petroleum and 

 natural gas, by Professor Orton, State geologist of Ohio. This is 

 a subject upon which information is most eagerly sought in many 

 parts of the country, and it should be published immediately. But 

 there is no probability that it will appear for a year or more, and in 

 the mean time no one can tell what new discoveries or develop- 

 ments may be made. A large number of bulletins issued by the 

 Geological Survey are also in the hands of the printer, with no im- 

 mediate prospect of their being finished. The cost of printing these 

 reports is very small in comparison with that of their preparation, 

 and some means ought to be devised for their speedy appearance 

 after the 'copy' goes to the printer. 



There are several branches of scientific work pursued in 

 Washington, at the expense of the government, which are still in 

 need of proper, systematic, scientific direction. This is not true of 

 the Coast Survey, Naval Observatory, the Geological Survey, the 

 Fish Commission, or the Smithsonian Institution and the National 

 Museum. In each of these there is a general purpose which is in- 

 telligently pursued. But in some other departments, notably in the 

 Agricultural Department, while there is much valuable original in- 

 vestigation going on, there is also much that is desultory and mis- 

 directed. This is not so much attributable to the workers them- 

 selves as to the lack of intelligent scientific direction. This trouble 

 is aggravated, also, by the fact that in this and some other depart- 

 ments the annual appropriations are made for specific purposes ; 

 and it becomes necessary every year for the scientific worker to 

 convince a new committee of the utility of his labors in order to 

 secure the money to keep him employed until the next appropriation 

 bill is passed. This leads not only to jealousies, but acts as a con- 

 tinuous temptation to do showy work rather than that of permanent 

 value, and to the exaggeration of the importance of some branches 

 of inquiry and the neglect of others of greater moment. It has 

 also resulted in the pursuance of some investigations far beyond 

 the limit of economical or useful inquiry, and the publication of 

 very expensive books, which are of no value whatever to the farm- 

 ers of the country, and of very little to science. What is needed is 

 that the heads of all such departments shall be selected both for 

 their scientific attainments and for their executive ability, and that 

 they shall not be considered as political officers, to be changed with 

 each new administration. They should be men capable of passing 

 an intelligent judgment upon the scientific work performed by their 

 subordinates, and of giving to it proper direction. As it is, the 

 heads of the several scientific bureaus of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment seem all to be working independently, some wisely and to 

 useful purpose, and some otherwise. 



The annual report of the New York State Reformatory 

 deserves a word of notice, and that word must always be one of 

 hearty commendation. This institution, that embodies so many of 

 the wisest and advanced views upon the true end in view in the 

 treatment of the prisoner, and the ways that science teaches leads 

 to such ends, is rapidly coming to be regarded as the pattern for 

 reformatory institutions everywhere. The report for the year 1887 

 gives evidence that the work is going on, ever developing further 

 improvements, and increasing the efficiency of those that have been 

 adopted. The statistical tables showing the career of all those who 

 have ' graduated ' from the institution tell their own tale : in brief, 

 they tell us that the public have a guaranty of protection from 

 90^, and of reformation from 83.3^, of all released, — certainly 

 astounding figures. The portion of the reformatory process that 

 strikes the average observer as most remarkable is the literary in- 

 struction. That classes in English literature, in ethics, in psychol- 

 ogy, should be attended with a deep interest by these men, seems 

 surprising indeed ; and, when one learns the high character of this 

 instruction, the surprise is doubled. Yet the facts are unmistak- 

 able ; and the statement of the literature instructor, that the 

 beauties of literary production can readily arouse a sympathetic 

 chord in the minds of those whom we regard as outcasts of society, 

 strongly suggests the remark, that, were the educational institu- 

 tions outside the reformatory conducted upon equally scientific 

 principles, there would be less need of reformatories. The managers 

 subscribe to this statement : " The success which has attended the 

 methods practised in the reformatory for the reclamation of first of- 

 fenders is sufficiently assured and recognized among penologists and 

 humanitarians generally, to warrant its more extended adoption in 

 place of ordinary prison administration, which for so long a period 

 has been in operation in the State of New York. Without attempt- 

 ing to disparage that system, the attention of the Legislature is 

 respectfully called to the reports of the general superintendent, the 

 school secretary, and the physician of the reformatory, for more de- 

 tailed information in support of this recommendation." 



The AnthropometriCAL method of identifying criminals, 

 originating from Paris, has been adopted in the prison at Joliet, 111. 

 In addition to the photograph of the prisoner, accurate measure- 

 ments of his height, the length and width of his head, the length of 

 the left middle and little finger, of the foot, the fore-arm, the ear, 

 the stretch of the arms, description of scars, color of the eyes, and 

 so on, are recorded ; and it is thus possible to identify prisoners 

 assuming false names with far greater ease than was before pos- 

 sible. It is asserted, that, in the two years that the system has 

 been in operation in Paris, 826 habitual criminals arrested under 

 assumed names have been identified. Besides the practical utility 

 of the system, it amasses very valuable statistical data contributing 

 towards the natural history of the criminal (Masses. 



Superintendent MacAlister of Philadelphia has arranged 

 for a representative exhibit of the school-work of that city from May 9 

 to May 12 next. The exhibit will be placed in Horticultural Hall, 

 and will undoubtedly attract a large number of visitors from other 

 cities. Under Mr. MacAlister, Philadelphia's schools have become 

 the most progressive in the country, and many other superintendents 

 and principals will be glad to get the benefit of their methods and 

 results. The exhibit will include all kinds of school-work that can 

 be represented graphically or objectively ; viz., manual-training. 



