October S, 1884.] 



SCIENCE. 



347 



called away. The address of Gen. Eaton upon scien- 

 tific methods and scientific knowledge in common 

 affairs was well received by an audience of about 

 fifty persons. Some of the more interesting papers 

 were the following: — 



Prof. E. B. Elliott read a paper on the credit of the 

 United-States Government, and presented tables and 

 formulas. He said that the credit of the government 

 had been continually increasing, as shown by the 

 reduced rate of interest required; the rate of in- 

 terest realized to investors in the four and a half per 

 cents having been but about 2.7 per cent during the 

 past four months. 



Miss Alice C. Fletcher of the Peabody museum 

 presented a paper on lands in severalty to Indians, 

 illustrated by experiences with the Omaha tribe. 

 She spoke of the Indians' ideas of land and property; 

 of the agriculture of the Omabas, their reservation, 

 their uneasiness upon the land tenure of Indians, 

 and the desirability of securing to them land in 

 severalty. The Indian question was discussed by 

 Dr. Steiner, Mr. Spencer Borden, Mr. T. B. Browning, 

 and others. 



Mr. J. B. Martin of London read a paper upon the 

 future of the United States ; this, being from an 

 English point of view, was very interesting. He 

 called attention to the rapidity with which the public 

 lands are being taken up, and to the rapid increase 

 in population, which he thinks will soon reach sev- 

 enty-five millions. How shall this population be fed ? 

 "With the lands all taken up, and with cultivation 

 brought up to a par with the improved agriculture of 

 England, he estimated the surplus to suffice for thirty- 

 five millions. The development of American agri- 

 culture will have to depend on foreign markets for 

 its products ; and, as the experience of England and 

 America has been that food-supply is regulative of 

 population, it may be assumed that Great Britain 

 will long supply a market for cheap American food- 

 products. But, meanwhile, the urban population is 

 growing relatively to the country population; and 

 this fact may be expected to exercise a retarding 

 influence on the development of agriculture. The 

 condition of the public debt was remarked upon as 

 without parallel elsewhere. The debt charge has 

 decreased to one-fifth the public revenue, while that 

 of Great Britain is one-third the total revenue. With 

 a debt entirely manageable, and with charges for 

 naval and military purposes merely nominal, the 

 nation will be able to develop itself under the most 

 favorable conditions ever witnessed in the world. 

 But the opportunity for capitalists to invest in public 

 bonds failing, and the exceedingly low rate of in- 

 terest, he regarded as ominous, and as likely to pro- 

 duce low wages, low prices generally, cheaper raw 

 material, cheaper production, and close competition. 

 The impossibility of spending the national revenue 

 will cause a reduction of customs duties. With in- 

 crease of population, and diffusion of wealth, the 

 accumulation of individual fortunes w,ill become 

 more difficult, ' corners ' less frequent, and time be 

 found for literature, science, and art. He anticipates 

 a gradual federation of state rights, increased inter- 



communication, perpetual shifting of population from 

 state to state, — all tending to a complete amalga- 

 mation in one federal republic. 



Mr. Thomas Hampson of the bureau of education 

 read a paper on the apprenticeship question and 

 industrial schools. He maintained that the appren- 

 ticeship system does not provide an adequate supply 

 of workmen, and that it cannoUbe modified so as to 

 do so. He, therefore, would substitute scientific for 

 literary studies in the common schools, and establish 

 manual-labor schools everywhere. Mr. C. M. Wood- 

 ward, principal of the St. Louis manual training- 

 school, gave a full account of that institution, which 

 had been exceedingly useful thus far. Mr. Spencer 

 Borden, owner of a bleachery at Fall Kiver, Mass., 

 encouraged the proposition ; saying that he had be- 

 come dependent upon foreigners for foremen of his 

 factory, much against his wishes. The discussion 

 showed much sympathy with the plan, though very 

 little for labor-industrial schools, the latter tending 

 to speculation upon the work of the pupils. 



Professor W. O. Atwater of Wesleyan university 

 read a paper on percentages and costs of nutrients in 

 foods, which elicited great interest. Of the different 

 nutrients, protein is physiologically the most impor- 

 tant, as it is pecuniarily the most expensive. Amonc 

 the animal foods, those which rank as delicacies are 

 the costliest. The protein in oysters costs from two 

 to three dollars, and in salmon nearly six dollars, per 

 pound ; in beef, mutton, and pork, it varies from 108 

 to 48 cents; in shad, blue-fish, haddock, and halibut, 

 about the same; while in cod and mackerel, it ranges 

 from 67 to as low as 33 cents per pound. Salt cod 

 and salt mackerel are nearly always, fresh cod and 

 mackerel often, and even the choicer fish as blue-fish 

 and shad, when abundant, cheaper sources of protein 

 than any but the inferior kinds of meat. With the 

 larger proportions of both refuse and water, the pro- 

 portions of nutrients, though variable, are usually 

 much less than in meats. Thus a sample of flounder 

 contained 67 per cent of refuse, 28 of water, and only 

 5 per cent of nutritive substance; while the salmon 

 averaged 23, the salt cod 22, and the salt mackerel 36, 

 per cent of nutrients. The nutrients in meats ranged 

 from 30 per cent in beef to 46 in mutton and S7-£ in 

 very fat pork. Canned fish compare very favorably 

 with meats. Vegetable foods have generally less water 

 and more nutrients than animal foods. Ordinary 

 flour, meal, etc., contain from 85 to 90 per cent or 

 more of nutritive material ; but the nutritive value is 

 not proportional to the quantity of nutrients, because 

 the vegetable foods consist mostly of carbo-hydrates, 

 starch, sugar, cellulose, etc., of inferior nutritive 

 effect, and because their protein is less digestible 

 than that of animal foods. Potatoes contain a large 

 amount of water and extremely little protein or fats* 



Prof. J. W. Chickering, jun., and Prof. J. C. Gordon 

 of the National deaf-mute college, Washington, read 

 papers upon the condition of deaf-mutes and deaf- 

 mute instruction. Deaf-mutes average 1 in 1,500 of 

 the world's population. In the United States there 

 were 33,878 reported by the last census. Over 15,000 

 have received an education, and are engaged in the 



