508 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. IV., No. 96. 



selves to the prospect of nothing being done 

 beyond the passage of the regular appropriation 

 bills. 



The rapid increase of an organic species in 

 a new and favorable habitat has been illus- 

 trated by Darwin's description of the cardoon, 

 that so quickly spread over the Argentine 

 pampas. A more recent example of similar 

 success on the part of a colonizer is seen in 

 the English sparrows that have become so nu- 

 merous around our eastern cities ; but the most 

 peculiar illustration of the effect of better op- 

 portunity on an old form is found in the rapid 

 development of seismometric instruments in 

 Japan. The instrumental observation of earth- 

 quakes has had but moderate advance in Europe 

 of late years : earthquakes are too rare there to 

 give the study sufficient nourishment for devel- 

 opment much beyond its present stand. But the 

 English and German professors imported a few 

 years ago, by the Japanese government, to build 

 up the Universit}' at Tokio, found the numer- 

 ous light shocks in that country to be just the 

 stimulant needed for the rapid multiplication of 

 seismometers ; and as a result the European 

 stock planted there has sprung up in such num- 

 ber, variet3 T , and perfection, as to leave its rel- 

 atives elsewhere in the world far behind. 



We dwellers in a land of relatively few 

 earthquakes may profit b}^ the studies made in 

 Japan, as reviewed in another column, instead 

 of waiting for the slow development of seis- 

 mometry among ourselves. Even a brief ex- 

 amination of Professor Ewing's memoir and of 

 the transactions of the Seismological society of 

 Japan will show how manj^ of Mallet's theorems 

 need revision in the light of these newer and 

 more practical studies, and how great is the 

 need of S3 T stematic and co-ordinated observa- 

 tion in the search for the seat and cause of 

 seismic disturbances. The stud} T is regener- 

 ated since Mallet's time. The newl}' opened 

 opportunit} r for its cultivation in this country 

 is described in our notes. 



Ewing's recent work on earthquakes, printed 

 by the Japanese government, the date is given 

 as '2543 (Japanese era). 1883 A.D.' In a 

 matter of chronologj T , where, to avoid confusion 

 in dates, a uniform s} T stem among all nations 

 is the great desideratum, it would seem almost 

 superfluous to suggest the advisability of drop- 

 ping from the works which the Japanese pub- 

 lish in foreign languages the use of an era 

 which has never been employed in either 

 business or official correspondence or records 

 b} r the Japanese themselves, which was in- 

 vented and officially adopted only twelve years 

 ago, and which, though claiming to reckon 

 from the time of the accession to the throne 

 of the first Japanese emperor, has no reliable 

 historical basis whatever, for at least the first 

 twelve or thirteen hundred years, perhaps 

 more, of its claimed antiquity. 



At the foot of the titlepage of Professor 



In a notice of the first annual report of the 

 New-York experiment-station (Science, vol. ii. 

 No. 42) we took occasion to point out what 

 appeared to us to be the mistaken view of its 

 director regarding the duties of an experiment- 

 station. It would seem either that our appre- 

 hension of his meaning in the preliminary 

 passages of that report was imperfect, or that 

 time and further experience have led to a re- 

 vision of opinion upon the point in question. 

 On p. 22 of the present report we find the fol- 

 lowing : " Before much real practical advance 

 can be made in bringing agricultural pursuits 

 within the domain of applied science, much 

 work of a purely scientific character must be 

 accomplished ; and unpopular as it may be for 

 the worker, } T et that worker who investigates 

 agricultural problems, not from the economic 

 but from the reason stand-point, is doing the 

 best work, and the work which in the end will 

 be found most profitable in its applications." 

 We quote this paragraph because it so well 

 expresses the opinion which we urged in our 

 review of the first report, that an experiment- 

 station is primarily a scientific institution, in- 

 tended to promote the advancement of the 

 science of agriculture, and capable of the high- 



