December 25, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



63 



notices. It states that in a room in the lar^e spire 

 of the cathedral of Strassbourg, then belonging to 

 Germany, was preserved the first press, with which 

 Gutenberg had printed his books. 



Dr. H. a. Hagen. 

 Cambridge, Dec. 20. 



Reineke Fuchs in political economy. 



It is a pity that the recent discussion in Science on 

 political economy should end in a kind of mutual tri- 

 angular contempt. The questions raised are extremely 

 interesting, and especially in the view which Mr. 

 James seemed to take at first ; that is, whether we 

 can consider such questions entirely aside from their 

 effect on human character. So far as the principles 

 of political economy are concerned, is it right to lie, 

 <?]ieat, steal, rob, and murder, provided, of course, 

 that one is not caught red-handed. This seems to be 

 the teaching of orthodox political economy, and it is 

 well to state the result plainly. In Goethe's version 

 of the old story, Reineke was successful, and at last 

 "became chancellor of the kingdom. But there remain 

 some sentimental people, generally poets, clergymen, 

 and women, who will not believe in Reineke. 



Asaph Hall. 

 Washington, Dec. '^2. 



A new meteoric iron from West Virginia. 



Through the courtesy of Dr. H. C. Torrey, U.S. 

 assayer in New York, I have come into possession of 

 a mass of meteoric iron weighing about 240 grams, 

 «aid to have been found near Charleston, Kanawha 

 county, W.Va. It is evidently a fragment from a 

 larger mass, as on no portion of its surface does it 

 present any appearance of the crust invariably form- 

 ing the exterior of an iron meteorite. 



It belongs to the megagramic order of Shepard 

 (the Grobe lamellen of Brezina's new classification), 

 and closely resembles the Sevier county (Tennessee) 

 iron. Its structure is coarsely granular or crystalline, 

 having distinct rhomboidal crystals embedded in the 

 mass. Thin laminae of schreibersite are sparingly 

 distributed throughout, but not in such a manner as 

 to produce the common type of Widmann figures. 

 When a polished surface is etched, it shows a some- 

 what tessellated arrangement of the figures formed 

 by alternate bands or blocks of kamacite and plessite ; 

 but the blocks are irregular in outline, and somewhat 

 wedge-shaped, with rounded sides and angles. In- 

 stead of presentmg a homogeneous surface, these 

 blocks seem to be cemented together like those 

 of the Arva iron, the distinguishing features of 

 these two falls being confined principally to two 

 points, so far as relates to their general appearance 

 upon an etched surface : viz., the schreibersite shows 

 conspicuously in stone laminae or blocks in the Arva, 

 and only in scattered thin leaves in the West Virginia ; 

 and the former is especially subject to oxidation in 

 spots, while the latter seems to be free from them, 

 and it also receives a higher polish, and shows a little 

 lighter color. It was found in 1883, and other 

 pieces are said to exist in Kanawha county. Its 

 time of fall is not known. The British museum 

 possesses a 2,699 -gram mass of iron, stated to have 

 been found in Greenbrier county, W.Va., sufficient- 

 ly contiguous to Kanawha to imply that both irons 

 may have formed part of the same original mass. 



In answer to a description of my iron sent to Mr. 

 Davis of the British museum, Mr. D. expressed the 



opinion that such was the fact, which is confirmed, 

 in my judgment, by his minute description of the 

 museum iron above referred to, which, like my own, is 

 wholly wanting in any thing like a crust. A further 

 comparison with the Sevier county iron shows a like 

 identity in all respects except in the graphitic con- 

 tent, which seems lacking in the West Virginia 

 masses, but altogether so close in appearance and 

 structure as to suggest that both might have come 

 from one original mass. This inquiry must remain 

 a mere suggestion, not fully to be solved even if the 

 separate analyses should closely agree. It is to be 

 hoped for, and yet possible, that fragments may yet 

 be found showing the natural crusted exterior, and 

 that we may learn whether these fragments were all 

 found at one spot, or at such distances apart as to 

 indicate the bursting in mid-air of an iron meteorite, 

 and the scattering of its fragments over an extended 

 line of flight. Of its chemical constitution and the 

 circumstances of its fall, we are quite ignorant. 



S. C. H. Bailey. 

 Cortland-on-Hudson, N.Y., Dec. 21. 



The English sparrow. 



Apropos to the discussion on the merits and de- 

 merits of the English sparrow pest, it may be inter- 

 esting to the readers of Science to know a little of the 

 way the bird is viewed in England. The London 

 Academy says, ''It is hard for a lover of birds to 

 approach the ' sparrow question. ' Sparrows are found 

 to do more harm than snakes or tigers. Nature's 

 thieves and vagabonds, they are. This is the verdict 

 of every one who investigates the matter. They 

 drive away birds which do more good, and httle, if 

 any, harm. For every noxious insect they destroy, 

 they consume more corn than one likes to calculate. 

 A Cheshire farmer, indeed, estimates the loss to 

 England, due to depredations of sparrows, at £770,- 

 094 in a year, and this loss is on the increase. No 

 amount of sensationalism can find any countervailing 

 advantage. The careful and long-continued experi- 

 ments of Colonel Russel in Essex show that sparrows 

 do unmitigated mischief, and the experience of our 

 colonies and of the Americans confirms the facts 

 beyond cavil. There is really nothing to be said for 

 the sparrow. He carries destruction with him wher- 

 ever he goes, and leaves devastation to mark his in- 

 crease. From every point of view, he must be looked 

 at as the enemy of man. Either he must give way 

 to us, or we to him ; and just now his power is such 

 that he seems in a fair way to become here, as he has 

 already become in Australia, a factor in politics. 



" The Colorado beetle can never commit such 

 ravages as the sparrow is certain to do wherever he 

 is allowed to go on unchecked. Love him as we may 

 for his personality, he ought everywhere to be ex- 

 terminated with the utmost vigor, for there is no 

 limit, in the course of nature, either to his reproduc- 

 tiveness or to the mischief which he causes. We in 

 England have little conception of the scourge he has 

 proved to be wherever he has been naturalized in 

 foreign lands. It is none too soon to have the ques- 

 tion put before us clearly, for every day its impor- 

 tance must become greater." There may be some 

 points in this that are overdrawn and exaggerated, 

 but the general tenor of the notes shows that the pest 

 is giving trouble in its native home as well as here. 



Ralph S. Tarr. 

 Washington, D.C., Dec. 18. 



