Septembeb 20, 1884.^ 



SCIENCE 



313 



and Charles Deane, Moses Coit Tyler, W. B. Weeden, 

 aud Ephraim Emerton. 



Dr. Edward Charming of Harvard college then read 

 a paper in which he maintained that the early set- 

 tlers of the English North-American colonies did not 

 leave behind them the experience in the management 

 of local affairs which they had inherited from their 

 ancestors, and which formed one of the most precious 

 inheritances of the English race; but that they 

 brought such experience to this country, and there 

 applied it so far as the peculiar conditions of their 

 environment would permit. He further said, that he 

 thought the English common-law parish of 1600 was 

 the most important connecting link between the 

 institutions of the English race in their two homes ; 

 and he gave some examples of this connection. Dr. 

 Charles Deane gave the pith of the argument ad- 

 vanced by Judge Aldrich, at a recent meeting of the 

 Antiquarian society, that the New-England town 

 system was but a legislative creation. Dr. H. B. 

 Adams said that in his opinion there was not one 

 institution of early New England which did not have 

 its analogue in the institutions of old England, and 

 he thought that the author of the paper under discus- 

 sion had found the connecting link. Judge Cham- 

 berlain of the Boston public library endeavored to 

 show that the two theories were not inconsistent, 

 and likened the experience that the New-England 

 fathers had brought with them to a grain of English 

 wheat, which when planted in our soil reproduced 

 its kind so far as circumstances would permit. Presi- 

 dent White, in closing the discussion, remarked that 

 he considered the paper an example of the union 

 of the analytic and synthetic methods which he had 

 advocated. 



Mr. C. H. Levermore of Johns Hopkins then read 

 an able essay on the founders of New Haven, — John 

 Davenport and Theophilus Eaton, — who had strength- 

 ened class distinctions at the outset in their colony, 

 and had created a ruling caste of Brahmins. 



Prof. T. M. Crane of Cornell described some new 

 sources of mediaeval history which he has recently 

 opened up. He thought the field would be an attrac- 

 tive one, both from the large amount of new material, 

 and also from the new methods applied to old mate- 

 rial such as local traditions, popular songs, and folk- 

 tales, which often contained details not to be found 

 in written history. A still more curious source was 

 the collections of stories with which the preachers of 

 that time enKvened their sermons ; each in itself of 

 little value, but forming, en bloc, invaluable material 

 for the historian. This new method of study would 

 re-act most favorably upon the study of our own his- 

 tory, and encourage the collection of local traditions, 

 folk-songs, and tales; of which an excellent beginning 

 has been made in Allen's Slave songs of the South, 

 and Ne well's Songs and games of American children. 

 President White spoke of the importance of Profes- 

 sor Crane's work, and then introduced Dr. Fran eke 

 of Harvard college; who described the founding and 

 progress of the Monumenta Germaniae, with which 

 he had been associated for two years. Justin Winsor 

 closed the session with an account of the Narrative 



and critical history of America that he is now edit- 

 ing, and of which two volumes are already printed 

 although not published. 



At a public session in the afternoon, Professor 

 Tyler of Cornell presented a rather commonplace and 

 eulogistic paper upon the influence of Thomas Paine 

 on the declaration of independence; and Professor 

 Austin Scott — formerly associated with George 

 Bancroft — read an essay on the constitutional de- 

 velopment of the United States. The intense heat 

 interfered with the author's delivery, and also with 

 the taking of notes ; but it may be said that the 

 author maintained that what he termed the federa- 

 tive principle was the key to our constitutional his- 

 tory, and he traced its action with great care and 

 detail through the successive periods of our national 

 growth. It is to be hoped that Mr. Scott will still 

 further elaborate and publish his paper, which 

 showed considerable ability and thought. 



NOTES ON THE ELECTRICAL CON- 

 FERENCE. 



The Electrical conference, called together by the 

 commission appointed by the president of the United 

 States, met in Philadelphia on Monday, Sept. 8, and 

 continued its sessions throughout the week. The 

 first meetings were held in the lecture-hall of the 

 Electrical exhibition; but on account of the bad 

 acoustic properties of that room, the sessions after 

 Tuesday took place in the hall of the Franklin in- 

 stitute. 



About one hundred and seventy-five delegates were 

 invited by this commission to be present, and con- 

 stitute the conference. Of these the greater number 

 were American investigators and electricians, but 

 a number of foreign conferrees were also included. 

 Of these it should be mentioned, that there were 

 present Sir William Thomson, who was also vice- 

 president of the conference ; Professor Fitzgerald of 

 the University of Dublin; Professor Oliver Lodge of 

 Liverpool; Mr. W. H. Preece of the English postal 

 telegraph ; Professor Arthur Schuster of Manchester ; 

 and Professor Silvanus P. Thompson of University 

 college, Bristol. 



The conference was designed to be representative 

 of all interested in progress in electrical knowledge; 

 and so not only were those present who are more 

 concerned with the purely theoretical questions in- 

 volved, but also those especially occupied in develop- 

 ing applications of electricity. 



Prof. Simon Newcomb, on behalf of the commis- 

 sion, opened the conference in a brief address of wel- 

 come, and also stated the objects for which the con- 

 ference had been called. He was followed by the 

 president of the conference, Prof. Henry A. Row- 

 land, who delivered a carefully prepared and very 

 interesting address, in which were discussed, among 

 other things, the interdependence of applied and 

 pure science, some of the questions still open in 

 electrical science, and the need of more careful train- 

 ing in the theory of electricity in technical schools. 



