July 18, 1884. 



SCIENCE 



53 



neighboring circuits. Submarine metallic circuits, 

 both insulated and uninsulated, and operated upon 

 the open-circuit system, were also experimented upon 

 by Mr. Gisborne, in conjunction with the late Hon. F. 

 O. J. Smith of Maine, during 1858-59, all of these 

 experiments being upon record. D. H. K. 



Too big to swallow. 



Some young men standing on the shore of the Mis- 

 sissippi, June 27, near this place, saw something sin- 

 gular on the water. On going out to it with a boat, 

 they captured it, and it proved to be a catfish with a 

 land-tortoise in its mouth. The fish weighed a little 

 less than twenty pounds. The turtle was about five 

 inches across the back. It was fast within the jaws 

 of the fish, requiring considerable force to extricate 

 it. It was dead. The fish was in a demoralized con- 

 dition, allowing itself to be captured with the hands. 



P. J. Farnsworth. 



Clinton, Io., July 3. 



The gyration of a vibrating pendulum. 



Eef erring to Mr. Hendricks's note on the gyration 

 of a vibrating pendulum, in which reference is made 

 to one of my statements, I wish to state that in the 

 original paper the expression of r by oversight was 

 r = sec d x one day. 

 The error was discovered soon after printing. 

 When this was corrected in the reprint, it was not 

 observed that it would make the sentence quoted by 

 Mr. Hendricks state what was never intended. 



W. Ferrel. 



HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE MASSES. 



A popular fallacy in respect to the worth 

 of the higher education has rarely been so 

 clearly put as it is by that master of fallacies, 

 Gen. Benjamin F. Butler. In his recent 

 response to an invitation from the National 

 educational assocation to attend the conven- 

 tion in Madison, Wis., he says, " The higher 

 education of the few mainly affects themselves ; 

 but the education of the masses, which shall 

 leaven the whole lump, is the foundation upon 

 which the permanencj 7 of our government must 

 rest at last." In other words, Gen. Butler 

 asserts that it is the dough, and not the } T east, 

 which acts as the leaven. 



Every intelligent patriot is in favor of popular 

 education, but who are to be the teachers of 

 the people? Gen. Butler replies, "It is the 

 education of the masses which shall leaven 

 the lump." The boy is to lift himself over the 

 fence by pulling at the straps of his boots. 



It is not even true in politics that the masses 

 leaven the lump : it is the men of intellect 

 who instruct and persuade and incite the mul- 



titudes to united action. In literature and 

 science it is quite as absurd to sa}' that ;t the 

 higher education of the few mainly affects 

 themselves." A doctrine more fatal to the 

 progress of knowledge, or more pernicious to 

 the welfare of the people, could hardly be 

 uttered by an intellectual demagogue. Did the 

 higher education of Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, 

 Pliny, ' mainly affect themselves ' ? Did the 

 higher education of Homer, Dante, Virgil, 

 Shakspeare, ' mainly affect themselves ' ? 

 How was it with Columbus, Luther, Xewton, 

 Bacon, Faraday, — did their higher education 

 ' mainly affect themselves ' ? For whose bene- 

 fit all the researches of Pasteur and Koch, — 

 ' mainly themselves ' ? 



If Gen. Butler were alone in cherishing the 

 fallacy that advanced education is a luxury, 

 which pleases a few impracticable souls, and 

 does no good to the masses, his words might 

 pass unnoticed by Science; but this deceptive 

 doctrine sways many, even, of those who are 

 devoted to teaching. It crops out in educa- 

 tional conventions and in educational journals. 

 The fallacy should be pointed out whenever it 

 is uttered. The progress of the masses, the 

 improvement of any age or any people, depends 

 upon great men ; great men are nurtured by 

 great ideas ; great ideas are developed by 

 higher education, — the education which goes 

 beyond that which is obvious to the abstract 

 and fundamental, — the education which raises 

 hard questions in respect to the unknown, and 

 proceeds to seek the answer, confident that 

 the discovery of every great truth will sooner 

 or later contribute to the welfare of mankind. 



This is an education which does not mainly 

 affect the few and cultivated : it elevates the 

 masses. If this truth should ever become 

 clearly understood b} T our country men. they 

 will do as much for higher education as they 

 have done for popular instruction ; and a happ\- 

 day it will be for American civilization. Uni- 

 versities and schools of science will flourish as 

 they have never done before ; the government 

 will be served by men who know, and not by 

 men who guess ; the public health, intelligence, 

 morality, and prosperity will all be promoted. 



