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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



absent from that region is evident from 

 — the newspapers. So long as we un- 

 derstand by politics merely a scramble 

 for offiee, so long will there be a very 

 slight and indirect relation between po- 

 litical action and the general welfare ; but 

 it rests with an intelligent community 

 to bring its politics up to a higher plane 

 of a constant striving after social and 

 economic harmonies and the realization 

 of justice in all human relations. We 

 are only able on this occasion to glance 

 at one or two points of our subject ; we 

 think, however, that the lesson we 

 would impress is sufficiently obvious. 

 Science is not merely a thing of ma- 

 chinery and apparatus ; it is not con- 

 fined to the measurement of material 

 forces or the explanation of physical 

 phenomena. It is a method for the 

 observation and co-ordination of facts 

 and the forecasting of results ; and 

 wherever facts are to be found there 

 Science is prepared to establish her 

 kingdom. The unwise flout her preten- 

 sions, preferring the worship of Chance 

 and Caprice; but the wise will range 

 themselves on her side and strive to set 

 up her peaceful reign, the benefits of 

 which they know will extend to all, and 

 increase from age to age. 



THE TORONTO MEETING OF THE AMERI- 

 CAN ASSOCIATION. 



Foe the third time in its history the 

 American Association this year peace- 

 fully invaded Canada, with hearty repe- 

 tition of former hospitalities at the hands 

 of Northern friends — indeed, hospitali- 

 ties were so abounding as to encroach 

 a little upon the serious work of the 

 meeting. Receptions, official and social, 

 followed one another in quick succes- 

 sion, and excursions were organized to 

 Niagara Falls, Musk oka, and the Sud- 

 bury mines. The local committee is to 

 be congratulated on its appointment of 

 Prof. Charles Carpmael as chairman ; 

 he is Director of the Toronto Observa- 

 tory, and the weather during the week 



was therefore delightful. Canada is 

 proving very attractive of late years as 

 a meeting-place for American scientific 

 organizations ; its latitudes are a guar- 

 antee for comfort in vacation months, 

 and its new railroads have developed 

 immense tracts of the highest scien- 

 tific, economic, and scenic interest. 

 It promotes international amity that 

 Americans and Canadians at work in 

 the same fields of research should gather 

 in the same rallying centers, and, as a 

 consequence, form the friendships of 

 men having aims in common. In cross- 

 ing the border an American finds him- 

 self amid differences, social and politi- 

 cal, sufficiently marked to make his visit 

 instructive — differences, nevertheless, 

 not so pronounced that he can persuade 

 himself to regard Canadians as a foreign 

 people. 



Prof. T. C. Mendenball, Superintend- 

 ent of the United States Coast and Geo- 

 detic Survey, was the presiding officer at 

 the Toronto meeting. His ability and tact 

 won him golden opinions on all hands. 

 The addresses of the vice-presidents of 

 the Association to their various sections 

 were excellent — with one exception, 

 which does not call for more specific 

 mention. Prof. George L. Goodale, of 

 Harvard, chairman of the Biological 

 Section, delivered an address on proto- 

 plasm, treating his theme chiefly from 

 the standpoint of vegetable histology 

 and physiology — the field of science in 

 which he is the leading American au- 

 thority. General Garrick Mallery, of 

 the Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, 

 chairman of the Anthropological Sec- 

 tion, made Israelite and Indian the sub- 

 ject of his address. He showed their 

 parallelism in planes of culture, in meth- 

 ods of government, social observances, 

 and religious faith. General Mallery's 

 address will be presented in " The Popu- 

 lar Science Monthly " at an early date. 

 Prof. H. S. Carhart, of the University 

 of Michigan, Ann Arbor, as chairman 

 of the Physical Section, gave a lucid 

 presentation of theories of electricity. 



