SCIENCE. 



153 



SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Record of Scientific 

 Progress. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



Published at 



229 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 



P. O. Box 3838. 



SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1880. 



An article in the North American Review, 

 over the signature of Edison, confirms our editorial 

 remarks, made on the 10th of July last, respecting 

 the true condition of his system of electric illumin- 

 ation. 



The course of Edison has been consistent, and 

 from first to last he has emphatically stated that the 

 results arrived at last January practically demon- 

 strated the success of his system for the ends in 

 view, and that nothing remained to be done but to 

 improve his lamp and generator, to bring both 

 to as near a state of perfection as a long series 

 of exhaustive experiments would permit. 



Of course, Edison has also had to master the 

 enormous mass of details incident to the practical 

 working of his electric lamp on a large scale for 

 general use, and that he has accomplished both 

 tasks within a year must be a matter of astonish- 

 ment to all who have any conception of the work 

 done; but Edison seems born to overcome diffi- 

 culties that appall other men, and the fertility of 

 his mental resources appears unbounded. 



In the discussion of scientific questions affecting 

 vested interests, impartial treatment and justice to 

 the innovator are lost sight of. Better things, how- 

 ever, might have been expected from some of those 

 who have misled the public in regard to this 

 matter. Under the belief that Edison's electric 

 lamp was a failure, thousands of dollars have been 

 lost by those who have invested their money in 

 electric light companies which have tried to force 

 systems of lighting, fundamentally wrong in prin- 

 ciple, and ridiculously unfit for general illuminating 

 purposes. 



There is one fact which places the sincerity of 

 Edison above reproach ; he has left the merit of his 

 system of electrical illumination to assert its own 

 supremacy with the public, and has neither para- 

 ded his light in great cities, nor gone on a lectur- 

 ing tour, as other eminent inventors have done ; 

 and lastly, he has spent thousands upon thousands 

 of dollars in perfecting his system. 



On his system of electric illumination Edison has 

 staked his time, money, and reputation. He now 

 states that he has succeeded. Let those who are 

 wise accept the situation. 



— We see by a notice in a recent number of the 

 Veterinary Gazette that a French palaeontologist has 

 discovered the osseous remains of an extinct species 

 of horse at one of the "palaeolithic stations" in his 

 country. The species resembled our recent horse 

 more closely than any other fossil species, but the re- 

 markable feature was noted that the so-called " splint 

 bones" (the lateral metacarpals) are separate and dis- 

 tinct from the great metacarpal or "canon bone," 

 while in the modern horse these are co-ossified for the 

 greater part of the length of the former. It thus 

 constitutes a connecting link between the Hipparion 

 and Equis genera. The number of fossil remnants 

 discovered indicated that over a hundred thousand 

 animals ha. d perished in that locality, and the expla- 

 nation gw en for this accumulation is that a large her.l 

 of anima\s, seized with that panic that horse-herds 

 are liable to, rushed over a precipice and were thus 

 killed en masse. A fuller account is promised in 

 Kosmos, the journal from which the notice is taken> 

 and we will refer to it in due time more fully. 



There appears to be an uneasy feeling in cer- 

 tain English scientific circles ; the complaint is 

 openly made that the recognition of science (when 

 compared with that received from society by the 

 liberal arts) is inadequate, and calls for an im- 

 mediate remedy. Contributions, to be levied 

 from the State, and distinctions to be conferred 

 by Government or the Crown, are suggested, and 

 one writer proposes that new life peerages should be 

 conferred on eminent scientific men, the titles being 

 endowed with the salary of a junior lord, which, we 

 believe is about five or ten thousand dollars a 

 year ; the selection in some cases to be made from 

 the holders of certain offices, such as the Master of 

 the Mint, the Astronomer Royal, or the Presidents 

 of the Royal Society and British Association. 



THE AUGUST PERSEIDS, 1880. 



By Edwin F. Sawyer. 



The annual display of August meteors occurring 

 during the first half of the month, with a strong max- 

 imum on the 9th and 10th, has been watched for this 

 year with the usual attention of meteor observers, and 

 a successful series of observations have been ob- 

 tained. 



Although little important information has been 

 added to our present knowledge of this well-known 

 meteor stream, yet its fluctuating intensity from year 

 to year is an important element to record. 



The results of the observations so far as heard 

 from indicate that the display as observed this year 

 exceeded but slightly in intensity the shower as re- 

 corded last year, when, instead of a maximum display 

 as anticipated being observed, the shower proved to 

 be a very meagre one, in fact, representing a mini- 

 mum phase of its return. Thus the existence of an 

 eight-year period for this shower, as suspected and 

 pointed out by Dr. Phipson,* appears to lack con- 

 firmation. 



* See his work entitled " Meteors, Aerolites and Falling Stars," page 

 159- 



