SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1884. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 

 We often hear it said, that any thing is easy 

 to do when one only knows how ; but the 

 transition from doing to speculating involves 

 in some way the inverse of this ; for what is 

 easier than unending conjecture to the wilfully 

 ignorant theorizer ? Astronomers and physi- 

 cists, armed with powerful telescopes and spec- 

 troscopes, have for years been assiduously 

 occupied with the careful and s} T stematic study 

 of all the visible phenomena of the solar disk, 

 and have been able to obtain satisfactory solu- 

 tions of many problems of great difficulty. For 

 the pretentious pseudo-scientist, however, all 

 these labors have been in vain. His own 

 theories preclude all need of investigation, and 

 the facts must be manipulated into coincidence 

 with his vagaries. But there still remains a 

 host of mysteries in the field of the physics of 

 astronomy- which all observation and reason- 

 able hypothesis have so far failed to unravel. 

 Do these harass the soul of the pseudo- 

 scientist ? Far from it. Xot only is he ready 

 to urge on eveiy occasion 'the true theor}',' 

 and to prove that his is ' the onty possible 

 solution,' but he rashly confronts all existing 

 science with unanswerable clinchers, in this 

 wise: "Where, then, shall we turn for a 

 theory, if we reject the one herein developed, 

 . . . the non-admission of which will forever 

 involve science in difficulties and inconsisten- 

 cies ? ' ' 



We have a doubt whether we do not owe our 

 readers an apology for space given up to such 

 a book as that noticed in another column of 

 this issue ; but it gives us excuse for correcting 

 the impression, more or less prevalent among 

 those indirectly interested in the progress of 

 American science, that the crop of pseudo- 

 scientific literature is larger in our own country 

 than it is abroad. The scientific ' crank,' like 



No. 94.— 1884. 



all of that ilk, is perpetually clamoring for 

 recognition ; and, as he ever and anon acts 

 upon his belief that the acknowledged leaders 

 in science are most easily accessible through 

 their mails, this impression is speedily cor- 

 rected on examination of the sources of the 

 contents of a few waste-baskets. The more 

 thorough and wide-spread scientific education 

 afforded in many foreign countries is not ap- 

 parently, as we should expect, the means of 

 turning the energies of the ' crank ' into the 

 direction of legitimate research ; but he enjoys 

 his frequent appearance in type with a freedom 

 which the American pseudo-scientist only rarely 

 indulges. 



We may take this occasion to comment 

 further on the very unwise precedent which 

 the publishers of this book have set by the 

 issue of a work of this character. Book- 

 publishing has for a number of years been 

 conducted on a very scientific basis by a few 

 of the better-known houses, and only such 

 works have been issued as were able to pass 

 muster with the critical 4 reader ' or expert. 

 The greatest of care has been exercised, that 

 the publication of no book should be under- 

 taken the sales of which were not likely to 

 be reasonably remunerative. Such care has 

 greatly lessened the labors of large buyers of 

 books, and inspired them with a very proper 

 confidence in the best houses ; so that, in fact, 

 not a few libraries have standing orders with 

 certain publishers for every book as soon as 

 issued, and the book-buyer has heretofore 

 been usuallj' safe against serious imposition. 

 When, however, an accumulation of literary 

 refuse comes on the market, bearing the im- 

 print of a reputable house, it becomes an 

 appropriate season for the display of caution- 

 ary signals. 



The Monthly iceather-revieic of the signal- 

 service for last August shows an important 



