748 
rel resulted in the pruning of over two hundred 
branches. A great many other trees showed equal 
evidence of the relish of squirrels for the seed, which 
they all obtained in the same wasteful manner; but 
this destruction can last only a short time, as the 
fruit falls very promptly when ripe. 
Wn. TRELEASE. 
Madison, Wis., May 24. 
The claims of political science. 
Is there any valid reason why political science should 
not take its natural place among the sciences? That 
it has no such place is evident from the fact that it is 
almost wholly excluded from all the scientific jour- 
nals that profess to be devoted to all the sciences. 
How many articles on political science have ever ap-- 
peared in the American journal of science, in Nature, 
in Science? Canany other science be named of which 
the same can be said? It seems to be assumed that 
all that is ever said about national affairs must neces- 
sarily be of a partisan character, and be said, not for 
the sake of truth, but to serve some political party or 
private interest. Yet any one who has any faith in 
humanity must admit that a large amount of disinter- 
ested political work is being done. Those who deny 
this for the present will generally admit it for the 
past, and the present is always becoming the past. 
But, even if this were not the case, it would still be 
true that scientific politics is theoretically possible. 
Most sciences are more or less practical; i.e., they 
furnish the principles which underlie the useful arts. 
From pure science to pure art there are always three 
somewhat distinct steps. The first is the discovery of 
scientific principles; the second is the invention of the 
methods of applying these principles; and the third 
is the actual application of the principles. The first 
two or the last two of these 
steps may sometimes be so inti- 
mately blended as to render it 
difficult to detect the line of de- 
marcation between them; but 
theoretically the three steps are SS===={ 
SCIENCE. 
q . 
[Vou IIl., No. 72. 
Why, then, does not politics form a legitimate sub- 
ject of scientific investigation ? Why might not its 
discussion in strictly scientific societies and journals 
be permitted and encouraged ? And would not this 
be one of the best checks that could be set to the mad 
surge of unreasoning partisanship that now fills the 
columns of the public press ? | 
It will probably be replied, that, the moment a sci- 
entific man should attempt to discuss current political 
issues, he would lose his scientific attitude and spirit. 
Were he to do so, he would certainly forfeit the re- 
spect and confidence of scientific men; but this would 
be contrary to our hypothesis that the discussion be 
scientific. LESTER F. WARD. 
+ 
Some Indiana glaciology. 
In Science, No. 22, I gave some account of certain 
glacial scratches in Montgomery county which showed 
a trend approximately at right angles to the direction 
of the first, or at least a former glacier. Since that 
date I have made a more thorough study of the region 
with much better instruments, and the results are 
worth recording. In the short note referred to, it 
is stated that Sugar Creek, a large eastern tributary 
of the Wabash, has a general south-westerly course 
through the county, about parallel with that of the 
Wabash, twenty or thirty miles to the north. In the 
bed of this stream there are glacial scratches, indi- 
cating a movement parallel with its course, referred 
to the first or Lake Erie glacier, whose course across 
the state, up the Maumee and down the Wabash, has 
been plainly shown. In the north-eastern part of the 
county, near the junction of Sugar and Lye creeks, 
the former stream runs along a ledge of subcarbonifer- 
ous sandstone, which forms its northern bank. This 
SSS SSS 
always present. SSSR WS 
If, therefore, there is a politi- SOc | KYW y Se 
cal science, this must also be AN AS ee 
true of it. We will assume that pid dt EE RRESS = 
there is such a science; that the SV 
operations of a state constitute a “SS a 
department of natural phenom- Mc - F#ewBwe 
ena, which, like other natural ® SHIA AS 
phenomena, take place accord- QS Aa 
ing to uniform laws. The pure SS TN YK 
science, then, consists in the dis- \\\ \\ A 
covery of these laws. The in- 
termediate, or inventive, stage 
embraces the devising of meth- 
ods for controlling the phenom- 
ena so as to cause them to follow 
advantageous channels, just as water, wind, and elec- 
tricity are controlled. The third stage is simply the 
carrying-out of the methods thus devised. 
Political science is one of the cases in which, in its 
present state at least, the first and second steps are 
very much blended. They are both embraced in 
legislation, which includes both discovery and in- 
vention. Yet the pure investigator is not entirely 
wanting; and the ideal politician or statesman would 
correctly represent the first stage, or pure political 
science. ‘The executive branch of government fairly 
coincides with the third, or pure art, stage. The ju- 
diciary is properly legislative or inventive; but, in 
va it often performs executive or technologie func- 
ions. 
ledge is from three to five feet above average water- 
level, has no representation on the southern bank, 
and is exposed for perhaps a mile. Upon uncovering 
its surface, it is found to be planed as smooth as a 
floor, and deeply and closely grooved with glacial 
scratches, which trend directly across the stream and © 
the course of the old glacier. The sandstone is, for 
the most part, fine-grained; but in some places it con- 
tains numerous small geodes, which beautifully indi- 
cate the direction of flow, each having a struck side 
to the north, and a protected sandstone ridge to the 
south. On top of the platform there lies a typical 
moraine, whose trend, being about at right angles to 
the scratches, indicates a terminal moraine. A sec- 
tion showed the following results: stiff blue clay, with 
™ 
