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SCIENCE AND INVENTION.

I

WHO INVENTED THE COMPASS?

T has been proposed by certain Italian journals to celebrate next year the sixth centenary of the mariner's compass. This supposes the truth of the tradition that ascribes the invention of the compass in its present form to an Italian named Flavio Gioia, a resident of Amalfi, near Naples. An article denying the truth of this tradition and asserting that we are nearer the ninth than the sixth centenary of the compass is contributed by Father Bertelli to the Unita Cattolica (Florence). The following paragraphs are translated from an abstract in Cosmos (Paris, June 8). Says Father Bertelli:

"The Italians certainly introduced from China the use of the valuable directive property of the magnetized needle. In all probability we owe this discovery to the Amalfitans, but toward the tenth century, not at the beginning of the fourteenth. We owe also to them the improvement of the rough Chinese instrument, which consisted of a magnetized needle floating on the water in a vessel (in Italian, bussolo, whence the [French] name boussole). These essential improvements are as follows: the introduction of the pivot, the division of the limb into degrees, and the application of the rose of the winds' to the needle itself. The compass thus perfected became a new instrument, adapted to the navigation of the high seas.

"Of these important modifications, the two first at least were in use in Italy much earlier than 1300. The fact is shown by the most ancient Italian marine charts and by the use of the compass in the form of a 'graphometer,' in the twelfth century, in the copper mines of Tuscany. Here the compass was used in laying out galleries, as appears from the records of these mines still preserved in the state archives in Florence.

"These arguments, and others like them . . . show the inadmissibility of the legend that places the invention of the compass at the beginning of the fourteenth century. This legend arose in the sixteenth century, after the great services rendered by the compass to Columbus. But because there were no positive data on the subject recourse was had at once to arbitrary conjectures, not only regarding the date (1300-1302-1310), but also regarding the name of the discoverer. The latter was called at first sim

ply Flavio, or Giovanni; afterward the name of Gira or Goja was added, and finally he was said to be Flavio Gioia, a citizen of Amalfi, or, as some maintained, of Positano, in the same republic. All this was affirmed without proof, and so, with no serious discussion, arose and spread the tradition of Flavio Gioia, inventor of the compass, in 1302.

"So it is not without reason that the oldest and best-informed authors have held to the primitive tradition, which attributed the use of the compass to the navigators of the ancient republic of Amalfi. The reason why these writers confine themselves to such a vague general indication is probably the following: This invention, like so many others, is not the result of a single brilliant idea, but the final outcome of numerous theoretical and practical researches, made by several persons during a longer or shorter period of time. This is what seems to have taken place in the case of the compass, after its introduction into the Mediterranean, up to the formation of the first marine charts, the construction of which necessitated the use of a compass furnished with the improvements indicated above. For the adoption of these a century was none too long, and consequently we can not attribute them to a single man.

"But at least may not the author of the final improvements have lived at the opening of the fourteenth century? To settle this question, the most careful researches have been made, both in the numerous Amalfitan manuscripts of the epoch, collected and published by M. Matteo Camera, of Amalfi, and in the Angevin parchments of the state archives, and of the monasteries of Cava and Mont Cassin. Now, among the numerous Amalfitans who are named therein, there is no one whose name has any resemblance to those mentioned above; moreover, there is not even any mention of the compass in the inventories of vessels. As to the existence of a Gioia family in these regions in the seventeenth century, that scarcely proves that a Flavio Gioia invented the compass in 1302. From what I have stated, I con

clude that if we wish the (approximate) centenary to be appreciated by science, we should call it the ninth centenary of the Amalfitan compass.""-Translation made for THE LITERARY DIGEST.

OUR "INDUSTRIAL INVASION" OF INDIA.

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UR English cousins are still devoting a good deal of attention to American industrial competition, especially to our success in obtaining contracts in India, which has recently been the subject of discussion in Parliament. The award of Indian work to American firms was atacked on May 23 by Sir Alfred Hickman, who asserted that it was in no wise due to the excellence of our work, but rather to the negligence and ignorance of the authorities. To this attack Lord George Hamilton, Secretary of State for India, has replied in a letter from which The Railroad Gazette makes the following extracts:

"No practical engineer who has visited American workshops and inspected their methods of production and manufacture would for a moment indorse your assumptions. Their competition is dangerous because they are yearly improving their prod ucts, both in quality and price. . . . Up to the great recent engineering strike no order for a locomotive was ever given outside of Great Britain. Since then, owing to the British workshops being blocked with work, certain of the Indian boards found it necessary, as locomotives could not be obtained here, to place a few limited orders in America.

"I am ready to give all the available reports concerning working, consumption of fuel, and load-drawing power of these locomotives. The earlier reports were unfavorable; but, when their working was better understood and alterations were made to suit the local fuel, marked improvement was noticed, so much so that one company wishes to obtain more engines of similar construction."

Of the Gokteik viaduct in Burma, the greatest structure of the kind in the world, Lord George Hamilton says the order for material was placed with the Pennsylvania Steel Company because no British firms had anything like the same experience in late superof construction. The Americans bid a lower price and for quicker this class time than any competitor. The charge made by the visor of construction of the viaduct that the riveting was defective was in no way supported by a searching inspection. He continues:

"You seem to think that orders have only gone abroad because those who gave them did not understand their business. I wish it were so. The competition we have to face is founded on something much more formidable and more substantial. Chemical research, the concentration of capital, thorough technical education, and improved industrial organization have made in recent years a greater advance in America than here. It is with the product of these combinations and not with the assumed stupidity of the Indian officials that the British engineer has to contend. So far as I am concerned I can undertake that preference, unless the difference in price, quality, and delivery is very substantial, will always be given to British firms. May I not ask you, as a leading member of the great steel industry of this country, to cooperate with me by impressing on your associates the necessity of meeting competition in the future, so as to insure that price and time of delivery shall be on the side of British production?"

The attitude of American mechanics toward Sir Alfred's charges may be judged by the following paragraphs from The Railway Age (June 14), which, tho wanting in elegance, are easy of comprehension. Says the writer:

"I admire the man that can take a licking and look pleasant, that is, of course, if he has to take the licking. But I have feelings closely bordering on contempt for the one that blubbers and cries and indulges in the baby act in spectacular form when he has been worsted. All the world knows that the United States has made wonderfully rapid strides within recent years in all lines of industry. We have entered the markets of the world and sold our goods simply because for the same money we gave bet

ter value than any one else could give. These facts have been gradually borne in upon the minds of our British cousins and some of them are acting in a most absurd fashion. If you want to read things that will make you smile, or if you want to get what usually goes under the term of 'mighty interesting reading,' you must read the London papers these days. If we are to believe everything we see in print (which, of course, we can not), we would be justified in thinking that the Englishmen had all gone crazy. The London editor speaks of the American terror,' or the American peril,' just as some of our own editors speak of the yellow terror' when referring to the Chinese Boxers.

"Sir Alfred Hickman, who has enjoyed some little repute in the iron and steel trade, has slipped his trolley and gone off in a violent and ridiculous attack upon every British subject who has ever awarded a contract to an American firm. He is evidently mad, and some of his friends should cool him off as soon as possible, because otherwise Sir Alfred will be in great danger of making a monkey of himself, which would be sad, because it is unnecessary. He seems to think that the people he criticizes so severely awarded these contracts to Americans for the special purpose of being spiteful and mean; that they could get better material, better deliveries, better prices at home; and that the awards to Americans were wholly malicious and far-fetched."

The greatest English authority, Engineering, is also inclined to take sides against Sir Alfred. In a long leading editorial it says, among other things:

"It may be thought that we, like the railway officials (according to Sir Alfred Hickman), seem resolved to screen the Americans at all costs. We are careless as to such an accusation. Unlike Sir Alfred Hickman, we believe that American competition in the engineering industry is an extremely serious question, with which British engineers must deal in a most strenuous manner; and we are of opinion that it is the height of folly to put aside unpleasant facts by caviling criticism on details. It is difficult to believe that English engineers should be guilty of the dishonesty attributed to them by Sir Alfred Hickman; for it would be nothing less than dishonesty, and that of a gross nature, if they betrayed the trust placed in them by screening the Americans.

"There is one other point upon which we would touch in conclusion: How do you account,' Sir Alfred Hickman asks, with an air of triumph, 'that the English maker is full of orders, while the American will undertake to deliver immediately, at any price?' The fact may not be so flattering to our home industry as the writer would have us suppose. If there is an excess of demand over supply, why do we not take steps to meet it? Is there in this country a lack of capital? A lack of confidence in its investment? A lack of talent for the management of manufacturing enterprise, or a lack of skilled workmen to carry on the operations? It is quite possible that the workshops of a country may be full of orders because they are too small, and there are too few competent operatives to supply the demand. The great engineering strike of three years ago has been given as a reason for orders going to America. That is not a cause of which Englishmen may feel proud. There are thousands of unskilled laborers who might have been competent mechanics had it not been for arbitrary restrictions placed in their way; and even those who are capable might turn out more work than they do were it not for a deplorable system which stifles energy and handicaps talent, reducing all to a low level of mediocrity. When we have engine-building firms that can turn out, as one establishment in the United States can, a thousand locomotives in a year; when we have fewer millions of capital seeking profitable investment; when we have fewer able-bodied men unemployed, who might be turned into skilled mechanics; when we have done all that can be done by the installation of improved machinery and labor-saving plant-then it will be time enough to point with complacency to the fact that we have got to the end of our resources, and accept that other countries are encroaching on markets once exclusively our own."

In this connection it may be of interest to quote the following figures from The Engineering and Mining Journal regarding the great Gokteik viaduct, the building of which by our engineers has been one of the chief reasons for British ire. Says this paper: "The Gokteik viaduct in Burma, which has been constructed

by American bridge-builders, and which has been the subject of discussion in the British Parliament, as noted elsewhere, has the distinction of being the largest structure of the kind in the world, and the highest, with one exception. It is 2,260 feet long, and its extreme height above the foundations is 335 feet. The only viaduct exceeding it in height is at Loa, in Bolivia, on the Antofogasta Railroad, that structure being 3361⁄2 feet high; but it is only 800 feet long. Moreover, the foundations of the Gokteik bridge rest upon a natural rock bridge, so that the track is not less than 835 feet above the river which flows through the natural tunnel. A table published by Engineering News shows that the highest viaduct in the United States is that over the Pecos River in Texas, on the Southern Pacific Railroad, which is 321 feet high and 2, 180 feet long; while close behind it is the Kinzua viaduct on the Erie Railroad in Pennsylvania, which is 301 feet high and 2,053 feet long."

THAT

ECLIPSES AND THE WEATHER.

HAT a total eclipse has an immediate and noteworthy effect on the weather of the district over which the path of totality passes is shown by the meteorological observations taken during the eclipse of May, 1900. From the results of these, which have been summed up by H. Helm Clayton in the proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (January), 1901, and discussed in detail in the Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College, it appears that a cyclone was developed by the eclipse and moved across the country in its path with the speed of the eclipse itself-about 2,000 miles an hour. The word "cyclone" is here used, of course, in its scientific sense of a huge rotating wind-storm and not in its popular meaning of a tornado, which is smaller and more violent. We quote the following from an analysis of the reports in Engineering (London) :

"The total eclipse area or penumbra had a diameter of about 5,000 miles; the eclipse shadow traveled with a speed somewhat greater than 2,000 miles per hour. The temperature and wind observations indicate very clearly an overflow of wind from around the unbra, and an inflow around the borders of the penumbra. As the umbra moved from the Western over to the Eastern coast, the winds were practically reversed in direction. A cold area followed the umbra, lagging behind it by about 500 miles. . .

....

"The temperature depression exceeds 8° Fahr. Plotting the successive fifteen minutes' observations at distances of about 500 miles, a synoptic chart was obtained which distinctly shows an anti-cyclonic circulation of the wind around the center of the eclipse extending out to a distance of 1,500 miles from the umbra. Outside this area there was an equally distinct cyclonic circulation about 1,000 miles in width, extending beyond the edge of the penumbra. The greatest temperature depression spoken of was not exactly in the track of totality, but a little to the north of it; this was chiefly due, no doubt, to the continental effect, and also to the fact that the sky was cloudy in the southern parts, at Havana, for instance. The air-pressure observations are in entire agreement with the conditions as indicated by the wind and temperature curves. . . . There was a decided upward swell of high pressure between 5 and 9 before the middle of the eclipse, and, further, a ring of high pressure surrounding the eclipse, marked by a rise in the barometer immediately preceding the beginning and following the end of the eclipse. This is precisely what Férrel's theory of a cold-air cyclone demands. We may distinguish between cyclones with a hot center and cyclones with a cold center. There is vertical circulation also in the latter, but it is out from the center in the lower regions, and toward the center above, the air gradually settling down in the central column. Theoretically, this eclipse cyclone is of especial interest, because it is clearly connected with the fall of air temperature, and is freed from all questions of vapor condensation and of meeting of air currents. It may, indeed, be compared to a grand experiment by nature, in which all complications of cyclones are removed. This cyclone developed and dissipated in the atmosphere again with a wonderful rapidity, and progressed with a velocity of 2,000 miles per hour, moving with its originating cause, not drifting with the atmosphere. The eclipse

cyclone shows no apparent lag or dynamic effect due to the inertia of the air. This discovery, that the brief fall of temperature attending a solar eclipse produces a cyclone which accompanies the eclipse shadow at the rate of 2,000 miles per hour, suggests that the fall of temperature due to the occurrence of night must tend to produce a cold-air cyclone. The heat of the day, on the other hand, gives a hot-air (hot center) cyclone, and these two diurnal cyclones would explain the double diurnal period in the air pressure and the annual oscillations of the hours of their maxima and minima. Those diurnal cyclones move from east to west, contrary to the motion of ordinary cyclones, "with a velocity which is 1.000 miles per hour at the equator and diminishes toward the poles."

THE

THE LIQUIDS OF THE INNER EAR.

HE part played by the liquids of the inner ear in the mechanism of hearing has just been investigated in France, and it is the belief of M. Marage, a French experimenter, that their rôle is more important than has hitherto been imagined. An article on the subject is contributed by M. Emile Gautier to Le Science pour Tous (June 2), and we translate from it the following paragraphs:

"The internal ear. . . comprises an inextricable complex of canals, ducts, etc., where circulate special liquids in which terminate, in a spray of rootlets, the nerves whose duty it is to convey the sensation of sound to the brain. . . . When the sound waves, collected by the outer ear, and directed into the auditive tube, strike against the ear-drum, the latter is set in vibration. This vibration is transmitted, by means of a chain of small bones, to the internal ear, where the incompressible liquids of the labyrinth, entering into vibration in their turn, finally influence the acoustic nerve. . . .

"Exactly what, in this delicate and complicated telephony, is the part played by the liquids of the internal ear? Are they simply passive instruments, like a sort of gearing, or have they a clearly determinate individual function? No one knew until the day when M. Marage succeeded in solving the problem.

"From his delicate investigations, which have been reported to the Academy of Sciences by M. Morison, it appears that the part played by the liquids of the internal ear, of whose nature and composition we were so long ignorant, is of capital importance. “These liquids—the ‘paralymph' and the 'endolymph,” to give them their somewhat barbaric real names-are, it seems, volatile oils. . . in which are dissolved bicarbonates of lime and magesium, with an excess of crystals of insoluble carbonates. This constitutes a kind of syrup, which conducts sound marvelously well.

"The celebrated German physiologist Helmholtz. . . loved to say that the eye was a defective instrument, so much so that any good optician could make a better one. Helmholtz could not have asserted this of the ear, whose perfection is, so to speak, irreproachable. . . .

"It may be supposed that the density of the auditory liquids may be a function of the musical sense. Thus may be explained the delicacy and acuracy of the musical 'ear' and also the transcendent aptitudes of a virtuoso or a maestro. The work of the beneficent fairy whose wing, the poets tell us, brushes the forehead of musical genius, may be reduced, in the end, to the condensation of some oily solution bearing through the invisible network of the auricular canals an avalanche of microscopic particles. A little less of the salts of lime or magnesia in the gateway of the brain and we should not have had 'Salambô,' nor Samson and Delilah,' nor Manon.'

"Who knows whether we shall not discover some method, sooner or later, of penetrating into the internal ear of the living subject, so as to modify the density and composition of the magic humors where harmony resides and thus make artificial Mozarts and unexpected Paderewskis? That should not be more difficult, after all, than to operate on the brain as is now frequently done."

It is unnecessary to say that the fanciful speculations of the last paragraphs are M. Gautier's, and have nothing to do with the scientific investigations of M. Marage, which he is reporting. -Translation made for THE LITERARY DIGEST.

I

BATHING A COMPROMISE.

T is unnatural for man to take a bath-that is, he must bathe for the same reason that he must wear clothes and shelter his head with a hat-because the changed conditions of civilized life make it necessary. So we are told by Dr. C. W. Lyman in The New Voice. Says Dr. Lyman:

"A learned German professor has said that in a state of absolutely wild nature a man would require no bathing. That is to say, the skin, exposed constantly to sun and wind and rain, brushed by dewy branches and grasses of mornings, and inured to periods of chill and cold, would keep itself clean enough. The skin, when exposed to all the vicissitudes of the weather, develops a vastly more extensive circulation than is seen in the clothed man of civilization. Lay a hand on the thigh of a Nez Perces Indian in winter-time. It is covered only by flaps of buckskin fastened roughly at the side edges with two or three thongs. Even in zero weather it feels hot. That means circulation of blood. But a savage pays for this by having most of his nervous force taken up in adjustments to the various inclemencies. In civilization we want this force for other things. So we dress, and heat our houses, and always shade the body (except hands and faces) from the sun-rays, and get quiet and equable conditions for the skin and its thousands of nerve-endings. The brain can work better thus than when the skin-nerves are in excitement. But incidentally to this almost incessant shielding of the skin, its circulation falls off vastly more than we ordinarily realize. Its glands become less active by far than in the savage. It becomes thinner in its working elements; or, worse, becomes a sort of shelving-place for half-vitalized fat and water—this especially in women of leisure lives or men in sedentary occupations. And its nerves from lack of employment become relatively inert. Finally the constant excretions, so necessary to the general well-being, tend to accumulate in the top layers of the skin, on its surface, and in the clothing, and impede the escape of other excretions that should be having right of

way.

"This brief history is necessary to bring the mind to the point where it realizes that baths are the compromise made by civilization to savagery. We need constantly to work back toward the superb skin circulation of the savage and his completer glandular activity, and to this end can gladly devote from a quarter to half an hour out of each day, taking all the rest for other things. It is not otherwise with a horse or a cow. Turned out in a brushy pasture, and (for horses especially) free to roll in the dirt, and getting betimes showers and sun and wind, their hides keep clean. The bushes carry them the whole day through. But if horse or cow or calf or bull is kept in a barn-and there are enough reasons for doing so in winter-then it becomes imperative, for the best results, to curry the creature thoroughly every day. We take extra work from the horse or more milk from the cow, and give in exchange currying-along with hay, grain, and shelter."

A Sand-Bow. -A phenomenon similar to the rainbow, but apparently caused by the reflection of sunlight by particles of sand suspended in air, is reported in Science (June 21) by James E. Talmage, of Salt Lake City. He writes:

"On the evening of May 16 the writer was crossing the main ridge of Antelope Island-the largest land body within the area of the Great Salt Lake. As he began the descent on the eastern slope, there appeared between the island and the mainland what seemed at first glance to be a segment of a brilliant rainbow of unusual width. It was evident, however, that no rain was falling in that direction. Clouds were gathering in the south and west, but the sun was yet unobscured. A wind setting toward the mainland had lifted from the dry flats large quantities of the 'oolitic sand,' with which the lake bottom and the recently dried patches on this side of the island are covered to a depth varying from a few inches to several feet. . . The prismatic colors were distinct, the red being outside, i.e., away from the sun. In apparent width the column was fully double that of the ordinary rainbow. A fainter secondary bow was plainly visible beyond the primary, with the colors in reverse order. The phenomenon

was so brilliant as to attract the attention of all members of the party, and it remained visible for over five minutes; then, as the sun sank lower, it rapidly died away."

These facts are given by Mr. Talmage without attempt at explanation, but he notes in conclusion that they appear inexplicable on the principle of refraction and total reflection from the interior of transparent spheroids, according to which the rainbow is generally explained.

THAT

DRUNKEN INSECTS.

"

HAT the nectar and pollen of many plants have marked narcotic and intoxicating properties has long been known. According to Dr. J. M. Weir, Jr., who is quoted in The Bulletin of Pharmacy, the popular flower known as cosmos is specially responsible for insect drunkenness. And not only this, but its toxic nectar is capable also of injuring human beings. Says Dr. Weir:

"Many of the bees, coleopterous, lepidopterous, and dipterous insects, after partaking of the pollen or of the nectar, would fall to the ground, and lie supine in a state of utter helplessness. That they were intoxicated was easily demonstrated by marking some of the prostrate bees with a paint of zinc oxid and gum arabic; the marked bees, in the course of an hour or so, were to be seen on the flowers, greedily sucking the nectar from the nectaries. . . .

"An intoxicated bee was carried to my laboratory for dissection and microscopic investigation. This insect was so drunk that, when placed upon its back, it had the greatest difficulty in getting upon its legs; yet when a cosmos blossom was brought within two inches of its head, the bee thrust out its proboscis and staggered toward it! It immediately began to suck the nectar, and in a few moments tumbled over, a drunken, senseless, almost inert little mass-a victim of appetite!

"The cosmos is rich in pollen, and a half-teaspoonful was therefore soon collected by shaking the blossoms over a sheet of notepaper. This pollen I swallowed. In about fifteen minutes I noticed an acceleration of the pulse-rate (three beats to the minute), with a feeling of increased warmth. There was also slight exhilaration.

"The nectaries of the depollenized flowers were macerated in boiling water and then distilled. A half drachm of the distillate was then injected hypodermically in my left arm. Almost immediately there was marked acceleration of the pulse-beat (six to the minute), with greatly increased volume. A feeling of exhilaration supervened, which lasted for some twenty-five or thirty minutes, and was followed by slight nausea. There was considerable pain at the seat of the injection, and a tumefied spot as large as a hen's egg made its appearance, which gave me some alarm for several days; I feared that an abscess was in process of formation. The swelling gradually disappeared, however, and in five days the arm regained its normal appearance, save for a slight discoloration, which eventually faded away.

“From these experiments it would seem that the toxic principle is to be found both in the pollen and in the nectar. This conclusion is further strengthened by the fact that numerous beetles were found in an intoxicated condition on the blossoms and on the ground beneath the plants. These insects evidently eat the pollen; having no proboscides, they can not reach the nectaries, hence must content themselves with the 'next best dish on the table.'

These facts show that honey may be contaminated by toxic substances gathered by bees, and altho no case of injury from such a source has been reported, it may be well to be on our guard against it.

Our Women Not Degenerating.-The idea that the modern women is not the equal of her great-grandmother in strength and endurance is negatived by statistics, we are told by Dr. C. A. L. Reed, in a recently published text-book noticed in The British Medical Journal (June 8). We quote as follows from this review:

"Evidence, he says, is not wanting to indicate that the Anglo

Saxon woman is not degenerating. Bowditch has made some interesting observations on the physique of women, as follows: Of over 1,100 he found that the average height was 158.76 centimeters (5 feet 31⁄2 inches). Sargent, in nearly 1,900 observations, the ages of the women ranging from 16 to 26, found the average slightly higher. Galton, in 770 measurements of English women from 23 to 51 years of age, also found a higher aver age-a difference due in part, no doubt, to the younger age of a number of American subjects. In 1, 105 subjects in ordinary indoor clothing, Bowditch found the average weight to be 56.56 kilograms (125 pounds). These observations, compared with 276 by Galton, show that the average weight is a little greater among Americans. It would seem that while the tallest English women surpassed the tallest American women in height, the heaviest American women exceeded the heaviest English women in weight. Dr. Reed goes on to say that specific observation of this systematic character is not necessary to impress the intelligent traveler with the generally satisfactory physique of the women of England and America. It is true that many defective specimens are found, and these come with relatively greater proportion under the observation of the physician. But no one can fail to be impressed with the fact that they comprise a distinct minority of the masses. The improvement in the physique of women has been very noticeable since the development among them of a taste for cycling, lawn tennis, hocky, and other forms of outdoor exercise, which would have been thought very unladylike in the early days of the Victorian era when girls lay on boards to straighten their spines, and were in all respects compelled to follow what may be called the 'prunes and prisms' system of life."

When the Eyes See.-It has been reported by Prof. Raymond Dodge, of Wesleyan University, that his experiments have clearly demonstrated that the eyes, when in motion, can distinguish nothing in any complex field of vision over which they sweep. "In order to see any object at rest," says a correspondent who writes to The Evening Post (New York, June 11) about Professor Dodge's discovery, “the eye must remain motionless, looking at some definite part of it for an appreciable length of time. If the eyes move, they see nothing for about one-twentieth of a second. This explains the success of those sleight-ofhand tricks in which rapid movements of the fingers are absolutely unseen, while the eyes follow the larger movements of the hand. It also explains the necessity of looking at a relatively fixed point in boxing, fencing, etc. While the new law will necessitate a reinvestigation of many psychological problems, it has an especially obvious bearing on the psychology of reading. Four years ago, in collaboration with Prof. Benno Erdmann, then of the University of Halle, Prussia, Professor Dodge demonstrated that, contrary to the general impression, the eyes do not move regularly over a page as we read, but make a series of distinct pauses as they sweep along each line of print. At that time evidence was found which seemed to show that the eyes actually saw the words only during these pauses. That evidence has recently been called in question by eminent authorities. The new experiments finally settle the question beyond all doubt, and justify the psychologically, as well as pedagogically, important conclusion that in reading the true unit of stimulation is not the individual letter, but a more or less extended group of letters. People of middle age remember that before they learned to read they had to first learn their letters,' then they were taught to put the letters together to make words, and finally they learned to read. Nowadays, children learn to read words before they learn the individual letters. According to Dr. Dodge's experiments, the last method has a good psychological basis."

FROM the Nuova Antologia we learn that a committee has been appointed to prepare for an international congress to be held in Rome in the interests of history, which is to review all the historical work of the nineteenth century and to discuss questions and methods of historical problems of ancient and modern history. It is to be divided into three great sessions, in the first of which will be considered all controversies as to historical facts, all theories regarding race, all historical matters and economic history, and the connection between history and sociology. The second is to be devoted to the history of ancient times and to be subdivided into political and social history, the history of law, literary history, history of art and numismatics, epigraphy and paleontology, religion and science, comparative history of classical languages and the neo-Latin. The third and last, modern history, is to be subdivided into the relative classes of the barbarous period, fuedalism, commune, Renaissance, reform, French Revolution, and the nineteenth century, with special classes for the comparative history of literature, law, religion, economic science, and modern art.

THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

THE DECLINE OF RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY.

TH

HE condition of religious faith in Christian countries at the opening of the twentieth century forms the central theme of a volume recently published under the title "Theology at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century." The book consists of a collection of essays by various prominent writers-including Frederic Harrison, President Charles F. Thwing, and President Eliot— most of whom are decidedly "liberal" in their views. President Eliot writes on the subject of "Progressive Liberalism in the Closing and the Opening of the Century." His essay is summarized in The Sun (New York, June 23). President Eliot dwells at some length on the decline of faith in the infallibility of the Scriptures, due to the work of the scientists and the "higher critics" in the century just ended, and on the results of this decline upon Protestant belief. The whole Protestant superstructure, he thinks, including the doctrines of original and imputed sin, the plan of salvation, mediation, atonement and regeneration, has been reared upon a literal acceptance of the story of the Fall. If the Scriptural story be not a true historical account, the superstructure is without a basis. President Eliot proceeds to point out that the decline of Biblical authority has been accompanied also by a decline of ecclesiastical, political, educational, and domestic authority. He writes:

"The decline of political or governmental authority since the Reformation is very striking. The present generation receives with derision the sentiment attributed some years ago to the present Emperor of Germany-salus populi regis voluntas—yet, at the period of the Reformation nobody would have questioned that sentiment. Ecclesiastical authority has declined in a still more marked degree; and, whereas the church used to rule not only the consciences and opinions, but the daily habits of all Christians, there is now, even among devout Catholics, the sharpest demarcation between the limited province in which the church is absolute and the large secular rest of the world. In education the whole conception of the function of the teacher has changed within fifty years. He no longer drives his pupils to their tasks, but leads and inspires them; he no longer compels them to copy or commit to memory, but incites them to observe and to think. Instead of imposing on them his personal opinions, tastes, and will, he induces them to form their own opinions, studies their tastes, and tries to invigorate their wills and to teach them self-control. In no field, however, is the diminution of arbitrary authority more striking than in the family and in the home; and in no field has the law more clearly recognized the new liberty than in the domestic relations."

Is any other kind of authority taking the place of these which have been declining? President Eliot thinks that "in some measure" the vacancy has been filled:

"There is an authority which, during all the century just closed, has been increasing in influence; this authority is the developing social sense, or sense of kin. On the negative side the restrictions which the sense of social solidarity and mutual accountability imposes are in some ways extraordinarily comprehensive and absolute. The conviction that one must not do anything which can be offensive or injurious to one's associates is highly restrictive-especially when this conviction becomes common and gets incorporated in statute law."

No autocrat, he thinks, ever dared to impose upon his subjects such personal restrictions as are now imposed by popular governments (the prohibition of spitting, for instance), and by social organizations such as trades-unions.

President Eliot speaks also of the development of a new body of learning in the nineteenth century, called sociology. We quote The Sun's paraphrase of his words on this point:

"It [modern sociology] is, in our author's opinion, a body of doctrine clearly founded on the ethics of the New Testament, tho

it is at present in a confused, amorphous state. At least one of its characteristics, however, is pronounced hopeful-it aims at the prevention rather than the cure of sin and evil; just as preventive medicine aims at the prevention of disease both in the single individual and in society at large. The Old Testament relied chiefly on prohibition and penalty. On the contrary, faith in penalty as a preventive of wrongdoing has rapidly declined during the nineteenth century, and this is equally true of penalty in this world and of penalty in the next. Barbarous punishments have been everywhere abolished in the civilized world, or are used only in moments of panic and delirium; and barbarous conceptions of punishments after death have been everywhere mitigated or abandoned. The new sociology, based on the Gospel doctrine of love to God and love to man, seeks the improvement of environment, the rectification of vice-breeding conditions, and the realization of the ideal Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'

"We are also reminded in this essay that sociology rejects a motive which systematic theology has made much of for centuries, the motive of personal salvation, a motive essentially selfish, whether it relates to this world or the next. Unquestionably it is no better motive for eternity than it is for the short earthly lives of ours. The motive power of personal reformation and good conduct and the true source of happiness must always be found in the love of others and the desire to serve them, selfforgetfulness and disinterestedness being indispensable conditions of personal worth and of well-grounded joy."

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Western civilization had invaded the Orient. Reforms of various kinds were being inaugurated in India. The religious beliefs of the people, which had been theirs for thousands of years, were fast being supplanted by the faiths of the Occident. this time (1835) Ramakrishina was born, the child of poor Brahman parents, in a remote village of Bengal. The father and mother were very orthodox people. The Brahman is the highest caste in India, the hereditary priesthood. The life of a Brahman is very much circumscribed. He would starve rather than eat a meal cooked by the hands of a man not belonging to his own small section of caste. His life is one of renunciation. Of peo

ple of this character this remarkable child was born. Vivekananda writes: "He was a peculiar child from babyhood. He remembered his past from his birth and was conscious for what purpose he came into the world, and every power was devoted to the fulfilment of that purpose."

The boy went to study with an elder brother, a learned professor; but, deeming the aim of all secular learning mere material advancement, he resolved to give up study and devote himself to the pursuit of spiritual knowledge. He went to Calcutta, and, tho the position is thought very degrading for a Brahman, was compelled, through poverty, to become a temple priest. There is no such thing as public worship in India. The temples are erected by rich men as a meritorious religious act. The man who goes to a temple is not considered thereby a better man than he who never goes.

In this temple in which Ramakrishna served was an image of the "Blissful Mother," who, the Hindus believe, guides this uni

verse.

The boy began to ask himself, "Is there any reality in religion? Is it true that there is a God? If it be true, can I see Him? Can I realize the truth?" This idea, writes the Swami, took possession of the boy and his whole life became concentrated upon that. Day after day he would weep and say: "Mother, is it true that Thou existest, or is it all poetry." His abstraction increased so that it became impossible for him to serve in the

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