36 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
tific exchanges and specimens promote the 
diffusion of knowledge quite as much as 
Journals of Education ? And yet these Bos- 
ton law-givers, in their egotism and selfish- 
ness, would absolutely exclude from the 
mails some of the most important means 
of diffusing sound scientific knowledge! 
That nothing which can possibly injure 
mail matter or post office employees should 
be allowed to pass through the mails, is too 
obvious to require more than mere state- 
ment, and consequently glass vessels, 
liquids, pastes, sugar, explosives, etc. , ought 
to be unmailable. But why a microscopic ob- 
ject-glass, securely boxed in its brass case, 
or the small slips of glass used for micro- 
scopic objects, should be so prohibited, we 
cannot see. In England, from whose laws 
this section is very closely copied, these 
things pass freely, and out of thousands of 
packages thus sent, none has ever caused 
^ny injury. But in this country, under 
our present laws which are not so strictly 
worded as the proposed law, the post 
office authorities at Washington have de- 
-cided that the smallest fragment of glass, 
* ' even if enclosed in a cast-iron box and 
firmly screwed up, is unmailable."* Ac- 
oording to this, even a finger-ring, having 
in it a tiny lock of hair, covered with a 
minute glass plate, is unmailable, lest it 
should injure the mails!! 
It is true that hundreds of postmasters 
throughout the country cannot be convinced 
that such an interpretation of the law is not 
an absurdity, and they constantly admit 
glass slides and objectives to the mails. 
The Boston postmaster, who was consulted 
in regard to the new law, admits glass 
slides to his mails, but when they reach 
New York, our authorities charge them up 
at double letter rates! 
If the proposed law should pass and be 
enforced, all scientific exchanges between 
students of microscopy will be stopped, and 
*The8e are the exact words reported to us as the 
decision of the legal advisers of the Post Office 
Department. The best men in the country have 
argued and protested in vain against such rulings. 
But in the words of Schiller, "Mit der Dummheit 
kampfen Gotter selbst vergebens." 
the seven publishers, through whose influ- 
ence such disgraceful regulations have been 
enforced, will have their names crystallized 
in our scientific literature in no very envi- 
able connection. 
The list of substances excluded is indefin- 
ite, and consequently far too sweeping. 
"Poisons" include almost all our minerals, 
and very many of our finest flower seeds; 
*' metallic substances " include a vast num- 
ber of harmless and important articles. 
Under this law a lady could not procure by 
mail a sample of buttons, if they were 
made of metal or had metallic eyes! It 
may perhaps be objected that the author- 
ities would probably rule that such articles 
are mailable, but the rulings previously 
quoted forbid this hope. Articles having 
"angles" are also excluded. Indeed it 
would be hard to find anything that would 
be mailable, except the products of these 
publisher's shops. 
The fact is, that this whole section 
requires careful revision at the hands of 
business men of sound common sense. 
The authors of this bill tell us that it has 
been prepared "after consultation with 
publishers in different parts of the coun- 
try." But other people besides publishers 
use the mails and contribute to the support 
of the government, and we regard it as a 
singularly unfortunate thing that the pub- 
lishers of two religious journals, and one of 
them a regularly ordained clergyman, 
should have appended their names to such 
a thoroughly selfish document as the one 
before us. A proper liberality to other in- 
terests cannot possibly injure the publish- 
ers, and is but simple justice to the people 
at large. 
> ♦ « 
What Will the Weather be To-morrow? 
EVERYBODY, from the child looking 
forward to the play hour, to the farmer 
or man of business whose livelihood de- 
pends upon rain or sunshine, is interested 
in the weather, and any means which will 
"foretell correctly any change in the 
weather twelve to twenty-four hours in ad- 
vance," will be eagerly sought by a very 
