SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 1886. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 

 It seems probable that in the latter part of 

 April, and first part of May, we are to have the 

 unusual spectacle of two fine comets visible at the 

 same time. We have already mentioned the in- 

 creasing brightness of Barnard's comet, and we 

 now learn, from Dr. Oppenheim's study of the 

 comet discovered by Fabry at the Paris observa- 

 tory on Dec. 1, that this comet will greatly sur- 

 pass Barnard's in brilliancy. It will be seen in 

 the north, and its position will be very similar to 

 that of the brilliant comet of 1881. For a short 

 time it will not set at all in our latitude, but will 

 remain visible throughout the night. The comet 

 is now visible in a moderate-sized telescope, and is 

 increasing slowly in brightness. About April 1 

 the increase will become more rapid, and by the 

 middle or latter part of that month it will un- 

 doubtedly become visible to the naked eye. Its 

 maximum brightness, over six hundred times as 

 bright as when it was discovered, will be reached 

 about the first of May, when it will be situated in 

 the sky, not far from Barnard's comet ; and by 

 the end of May it will have passed south of the 

 equator, becoming again a telescopic object. An- 

 other favorable circumstance is noted in the fact, 

 that, when the comet is at its brightest, there will 

 be no moon ^o detract from its splendor. Dr. 

 Weiss points out the possibility that on the 26th 

 or 27th of April the comet may be between us 

 and the sun, and may consequently be projected 

 on the sun's disk. 



The annual report of the managers and 

 superintendent of the reformatory at Elmira to 

 the New York legislature is not a very large 

 document, but every page of it is of the greatest 

 interest. It is the record of the progress of an 

 attempt, not merely to confine and punish crimi- 

 nals, but to reform them, and to make good and 

 useful citizens out of a class of men usually given 

 over altogether by society as dangerous. It will 

 be remembered that this institution was founded 

 in 1870 ; and it was then enacted, that, at the 

 discretion of the court, any male criminal between 

 No. 161. — 1886. 



the ages of sixteen and thirty, who had not pre- 

 viously been sentenced to a state prison in this or 

 any other country, might be sent to it ; and by 

 the provisions of the act the managers were made 

 a reforming and not a merely punishing body. 

 No criminal was to be confined for a longer period 

 than the legal term of the sentence for the crime 

 of which he was convicted ; but he might be 

 released at any time after six months' confine- 

 ment, if, in the judgment of the managers of the 

 institution, he was sufficiently reformed to be 

 trusted with his freedom. How well Mr. Z. R. 

 Brockway, the superintendent, has succeeded in 

 his task of reformation, is well known to students 

 of our penal institutions, and the many problems 

 connected with them. But we believe that the 

 general public will hardly be prepared to hear the 

 facts and figures adduced in the present report. 



Mr. Brockway believes that the common incen- 

 tives to crime are ignorance, improvidence, and 

 indigence ; and he undertakes to employ the time 

 during which the prisoners are confined, in en- 

 deavoring to remove and guard against these 

 incentives. To ignorance he opposes education ; 

 to improvidence and indigence, voluntary earning 

 and saving; and he calls these "indispensable 

 elements in any rational, effective, reformative 

 system of prison management." The details of 

 the scheme of instruction, as given in this report, 

 are marvellous, especially those concerning the 

 English literature class, which is a new feature, 

 and one called into being in order to fill in the 

 gap between the hours of compulsory labor and 

 compulsory study, — a period "in which inmates 

 returning to their accustomed thoughts often 

 return, at the same time, to their former selves : 

 so that much labor was lost, and injury derived." 

 Imagine five hundred felons intently poring over 

 'Hamlet,' the 'Canterbury tales,' 'Rasselas,' 

 Bacon's 'Essays,' Browning's 'Rabbi ben Ezra,' 

 — names selected at random from a long list of 

 works studied ! This sounds very fanciful ; but, 

 as a matter of fact, the results are very practical. 

 The reformatory keeps accurate statistics regard- 

 ing its inmates ; and, of the 2,061 prisoners 

 handled under the act of 1877, the state has pro- 

 tection against 1,878, or 91.1 per cent ; and it is 



