January 20, 1880.] 



SCIENCE. 



109 



IRON CONFERENCE AT ST. PETERSBURG. 



The meetings of the Russian iron and coal 

 trades conference at St. Petersburg have been 

 marked, says Engineering, by an acrimonious dis- 

 cussion between the representatives of the older 

 Ural establishments and the newer ones in the 

 Baltic provinces and South Russia. The former 

 date from the time of Peter the Great, when that 

 monarch, by generous and well-directed state 

 support, gave such an impulse to the charcoal iron 

 trade that Russia became the leading iron-pro- 

 ducing country in Europe. For a considerable 

 period pig-iron was one of the principal products 

 Russia exported to this country. In the beginning 

 of the century, however, mineral coal began to 

 prove a formidable competitor to charcoal in 

 smelting-operations ; and ultimately the tables 

 were turned, and Russia received most of her iron 

 from England, instead of supplying her with it. 

 This revolution was marked by the collapse of 

 the Ural iron industry, the ruin of which was 

 accelerated by the wasteful destruction of the 

 forests, and the extravagance of descendants of 

 the iron-masters enriched by the support of Peter 

 the Great. Twenty years ago the Russian govern- 

 ment wanted to encourage the manufacture of 

 rails, etc., for the home railways, and, finding the 

 Ural firms disorganized and ruined, created a new 

 industry at St. Petersburg, Briansk, etc., by giving 

 large and lucrative contracts to a number of 

 Russian and foreign capitalists. As coal and 

 iron do not exist in the immediate vicinity of the 

 Baltic, these new ventures were dependent upon 

 foreign iron and coal for their sustenance, and 

 have never been other than weaklings since their 

 birth. The government is now tired of continually 

 altering the tariff, and giving subsidies to these 

 undertakings ; and the attitude of neutrality it 

 has taken up has had the effect of placing most of 

 them more or less on the verge of ruin : hence the 

 delegates representing them have been vehement 

 in their demands for support ; and, the support 

 they want being precisely the opposite of that 

 which would revive the Ural iron trade, the battle 

 between the ' independent works ' (i.e., using only 

 Russian iron and fuel, as in the Urals) and the 

 'dependent works,' which cannot exist without 

 foreign iron and coal, has been a tough one, 

 accompanied by scenes of personal and undigni- 

 fied wrangling. It is hardly possible for the 

 government to support one without injuring the 

 other ; and, as both are equally rotten, it is 

 angrily disposed towards each of the industrial 

 parties. Probably no branch of Russian trade has 

 i milked ' the financial resources of the govern- 

 ment more than the iron trade ; and prosperity 



and progress have attended so few of its efforts, 

 that the government is almost tired of dispensing 

 its support. 



LONGEVITY. 



It has been stated, with some degree of reason, 

 says the Lancet, that the maximum age attainable 

 by man has risen somewhat during the present 

 century over that recorded in former ages. In 

 judging of such statement, some allowance for 

 error must be made. The exact statistical calcu- 

 lations of our day should not, in fairness, be mar- 

 shalled against the round numbers of less accurate 

 traditions. The fact remains, nevertheless, that 

 the limit of seventy years is now very frequently 

 passed. Fourscore may even be reached by some 

 without excessive labor and sorrow, and we have 

 among us nonagenarians who cany on with still 

 respectable proficiency the activities of their 

 prime. Such effective longevity is a bright spot 

 in the history of our advancing civilization. Its 

 comparative frequency, and its association with 

 different physical types, suggest a certain gener- 

 ality in its origin, and encourage the hope that it 

 may be, in some measure at least, dependent on 

 personal conduct. It has been stated that no such 

 condition can influence the length of life after 

 middle age. After that period, inherited vital 

 force is the only potential factor. To some ex- 

 tent this may be granted. If we fix an average 

 of conduct, and suppose that a number of persons 

 conform to it, we should certainly find the purest 

 and most powerful constitutional types outlive the 

 others. For instance : a gouty tendency does not 

 enhance the prospects of old age. A rheumatic 

 one is little better in this respect. The scrofulous 

 are heavily weighted in the race of life by the 

 chances of several infirmities. Nervous persons, 

 again, are wiry, and may live through much 

 trouble in virtue of their elastic tenacity. Then 

 there are nondescript diatheses, which, except in 

 their remote history, present no definite physical 

 bias. Theoretically, these are most likely to fur- 

 nish, under ordinary usages, the old men of a 

 given time. 



It will be at once evident, however, that these 

 are general statements, and that an unlikely indi- 

 vidual will often exceed his own expectation of 

 life, and by care, or from the suitability of his 

 circumstances, will reach old age. In weighing 

 the value of constitutional tendencies, moreover, 

 another nearly related quality should be con- 

 sidered. This is disposition. The mind of a man 

 must be more or less of the nature of his body, 

 and accordingly we expect to find, and do find, 

 that mental habit reflects in preferences, varia- 



