Genre:

Short Fiction, Travelogue

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Theory, Vaccination, Evolution, Anti-Scientism, Hypothesis

    Among the miscellaneous passengers on a leisurely tour through Southern England is a 'great scientific Philosopher who can find you a reason for everything that exists in this mortal world—except for his own inability to perceive facts that won't square with his theories' (22). Later, an 'English girl with pince-nez is [...] severely lectured by the Philosopher on the iniquity of state-enforced vaccination, she having innocently mentioned M. Pasteur's Pasteur, Louis (1822–95) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> experiments' (24). The Philosopher and the bespectacled English maiden nevertheless become romantically involved when he 'discourse[s] to her of the future triumphs of the doctrine of evolution', although for this lovelorn 'man of molecules' an 'obstacle existed, a substantial obstacle weighing fifteen stone—a Mrs. Philosopher, living at Clapham, and the mother of three young men in business in the City' (28). The Philosopher's best day of the tour comes at the ancient monument of Stonehenge, over which he 'fairly exulted and gloated [...] and no wonder; for it is a subject that is all theory and nothing else. He was not hampered with a single fact, for there is not a single fact known about the history of these stones'. During this 'frenzy of theorizing', the Philosopher 'declared that modern science was wise in its audacity; that it did well to make guesses; that it was time to question conventional explanations'. (34)

Genre:

Novel, Serial

Subjects:

Natural History, Botany, Taxonomy, Agriculture, Theory

    After Gertrude Hargrove accepts his proposal of marriage, Burt Clifford tells his brother Webb that he has achieved 'a happiness of which all your science can never give you, you old delver, even an idea' (53). In a discussion of the upcoming nuptials, Webb observes that he 'could develop acres of four-leaved clover. Some plants have this peculiarity. I have counted twenty odd on one root. If seed from such a plant was sown, and then seed selected again from the new plants most characterized by this "sport", I believe the trait would become fixed, and we could have a field of four-leaved clover. New varieties of fruits, vegetables, and flowers are often thus developed from chance "sports" or abnormal specimens', to which Amy Winfield replies disparagingly that he would 'turn this ancient symbol of fortune into a marketable commodity' (54). Amy later remarks 'I wish I were a scientific problem, a crop that required great skill to develop, a rare rose that all those rose-maniacs were after, a new theory that required a great deal of consideration and investigation, and accompanied with experiments that needed much observations, and any number of other t-i-o-n shuns. Then I shouldn't be left alone evenings by the great inquiring mind of the family' (55). Her comments are correctly interpreted by Webb, and he and Amy are married at the conclusion of the story.

Reprinted:

Roe 1885 Roe, Edward P. 1885. Nature's Serial Story, Wright American Fiction 3, New York: Harper & Brothers
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Short Fiction, Dialogue

Subjects:

Technology, Progress, Class

    At a well-to-do dinner party in downtown Boston, a group of guests discuss the recent introduction of elevators in tall buildings, with Dr Lawton declaring 'You get in, with a glass of water, a basket of eggs, and a file of the Daily Advertiser. They cut the elevator loose at the top, and you drop. [...] In three seconds you arrive at the ground-floor, reading your file of the Daily Advertiser; not an egg broken nor a drop spilled. [...] The air is compressed under the elevator, and acts as a sort of ethereal buffer' (114). Another guest, Edward Roberts, observes that in his high-rise apartment block, 'we all live on the ground-floor practically. The elevator equalizes everything' (116). However, several people expected at the dinner party become trapped in a malfunctioning elevator, and are only rescued when it is realised that 'hydraulic elevators weaken sometimes, and can't go any further', and the elevator carriage is lowered gently to a earlier floor (123). During their ordeal, the trapped passengers discuss 'elevator etiquette', with Mrs Crashaw wondering 'Why should the gentlemen take their hats off?', to which Mr Miller replies 'The theory is that the elevator is a room' (117).

Reprinted:

Howells 1884 Howells, William Dean 1884. The Elevator: A Farce, Boston: J. R. Osgood and Company
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Short Fiction

Subjects:

Supernaturalism, Psychology, Mental Illness

    Claud Morton, the younger brother of the narrator, insists that since his engagement to the beautiful widower Judith Despard he has been haunted by a terrible ghostly face. His brother, who is a medical doctor, regards it as only a 'queer hallucination' that has probably been brought on by 'Overwork, [...] insomnia, too many cigars, late hours', and to reassure Claud's fiancée he gives her 'a little scientific discourse, which explained to her how such mental phenomena were brought about' (145–46). When the wedding of Claud and Judith is disrupted by the appearance of the ghostly face, even the sceptical narrator sees it 'gradually forming out of nothing, gathering on the blank wall in front of me, a face, or the semblance of a face, white, ghastly, horrible!', but he still tries to believe that 'excitement, my brother's impressive manner, superstition which I did not know I possessed—anything that might bear a natural explanation—may have raised that vision' (148). The spectral face turns out to be that of Stephen Morton, the elder, dissolute, and long-ago disowned brother of Claud and the narrator, but also the cruel and abusive husband of Judith, who had murdered him several years before. After the abortive wedding Judith and Claud part for ever, and the evil face begins to haunt Judith alone, who, at the conclusion of the tale, is 'removed to a private lunatic asylum' where she is kept for three years and then dies 'raving mad' (152).

Genre:

Short Fiction

Subjects:

Agriculture, Horticulture, Gender, Reading, Periodicals

    When her father falls ill with pneumonia, twenty year old Polly Finch takes over the running of the family farm in New England. Polly, who has been educated for a career in teaching at the Normal School, tells an old neighbour that she has been reading 'old numbers of the Agriculturist. Father has taken it for a good many years, and I've taken to studying farming' (208), and informs the local doctor that she is determined to 'raise a good many more early vegetables, and ever so much more poultry. Some of our land is so sheltered that it is very early, you know, and it's first-rate light loam' (204). The narrator observes that 'few people have set their wits at work on a New England farm half so intelligently', and, as well as many other successful agricultural innovations, 'by infinite diligence she waged war successfully on the currant worms, with the result that she had a great crop of currants when everybody else's came to grief'. Even Polly's ailing father, whose own agricultural innovations failed because 'he was afraid to take risk', is soon 'persuaded into thinking it was worth while to do the old work in new ways'. (209) Although 'some people laughed a good deal, and thought she ought to be ashamed to work on the farm like a man [...] nobody could have said that she had become unwomanly and rough' (209–10), and Polly herself finds that there is 'something delightful in keeping so close to growing things' (210).

Genre:

Poetry

Relevant illustrations:

eng. [3]

Subjects:

Exploration, Navigation, Heroism

    Two Nordic sea sprites, Olaf and Gudrun, encounter a ship in the freezing waters of the Arctic Ocean, and exclaim 'it is the Vega Vega, ship
Close   View the register entry >>! [...] None but the Northern Shield / Dares brave this icy field'. An earlier footnote explains that 'Northern Shield' is 'Literal English of the great explorer Nordenskjöld's Nordenskjöld, Adolf Erik (Nils Adolf Erik) (1832–1901) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> name' (n. 211). The two youthful sprites open one of the ship's port-holes and find 'Eric [i.e. Nordenskjöld], unaware / What 'twas that stirred his hair, / Sat, with his arms close pressed, / And chin upon his breast, / Much pondering whereaway / The Northeast passage lay'. The unseen Olaf then 'Unfolds the riddle clear' into Nordenskjöld's ear, and the explorer jumps to 'his toes; / Into the cabin darts, scans compasses and charts; / Then scans the atmosphere, / And shouts, "Ho! that way steer!"'. (212) With the help of the kindly sprites, 'The queenly Vega rides / Safe in Northeastern tides', and when 'their kind task is done' they collect 'Vega souvenirs' from the contents of the ship, including 'Some creatures in a jar' (213–14).

Genre:

Essay, Travelogue

Relevant illustrations:

eng. [9]

Subjects:

Climatology, Natural History, Ornithology, Hunting, Extinction, Positivism, Measurement, Instruments, Error, Mapping, Physical Geography, Prognostication, Natural Economy, Archaeology, Sound

    Tired of 'plunging through the tundras of New York Spitzbergen', the narrator and two companions travel to the warmer climes of Southern Florida on a cruise dedicated to hunting and fishing. During preparations for the trip, the narrator observes, 'We laid in such a supply of cartridges that had the final shell been exploded (unerring marksmanship being understood), over Florida today never would have winged its way a solitary flamingo, and that peninsula would have become an ornithological blank'. Also notes that the 'last purchase was a thermometer. The buyer of it was a positivist, and took nothing for granted', and not being satisfied with generalised estimates of the temperature, 'he wanted to have unimpeachable scientific record of the fact. He recalled a friend of his who went to Japan for the sole purpose of studying earthquakes. It happened that his seismometer was defective, and would give no record of nature's convulsions. He had pinned his faith on an instrument of his own invention. He only thought there was something up when he and his apparatus were tumbled together to the ground, and the walls of a building crashed on top of him. Though his seismometer escaped without a scratch, he did not; but to this day he pooh-poohs an earthquake in Japan'. (216) Observes that the 'Maps of Florida' used by the hunting party, whether 'derived from the highest sources of authority' or 'culled from geographers of less topographical distinction', were equally 'signal failures' in the recording of particulars, it being 'beyond the power of the most painstaking and conscientious of chart-makers to keep up with the changes on the coast'. Similarly, the maritime climate of the region is highly unpredictable and a 'great many of those indications which men who follow the seas in Northern zones, and about which they are so everlastingly oracular and prophetic, come to nothing in the Gulf. Prognostications are spent breath'. (218) Describes how 'in the economy of nature, so far as constructive process goes, the mangrove, in combination with the oyster, has had much to do with the building up of this western fringe of Florida', explaining that when oysters die they release their grip on the mangroves on which they have lived and 'fall in the shallow water. The calcareous portions of the shells dissolve in part, but some of the débris, with the silicious matter, remains. A little more soil under water is made, and here will sprout another mangrove, certain in time to have its oyster appendages' (218–19). In this perpetual process 'nature's laws of life and death are balanced, and make up that grand everlasting harmony' (220). Also describes the strange noises emitted by various marine creatures, including 'fish [...] singing a solo for our benefit' which was 'raucous, like a cry of distress, and it irritated the nerves at times', and a 'much more pleasing' sound that was 'put down [...] to the action of shell-fish', and which had 'unknown, indescribable cadences, which Mendelssohn Mendelssohn, Felix (properly Mendelssohn-Bartholdy) (1809–47) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> might have imagined when he composed his Meerstille' (226).

Genre:

Essay, Travelogue

Subjects:

Breeding, Mental Illness, Geology, Natural History, Ornithology

    Observes that the custom in Dorset stone-quarries which means that 'No one can work in the quarry who is not a freeman, and to be able to take up one's freedom one must be the legitimate son of a freeman [...] has had a serious effect on the mental health of the aborigines, for the original owners of the quarries were few in number, and intermarriage has been so frequent that often during the year three or four of the unfortunates are taken away to the county asylum' (243). Suggests that at this part of the Dorset coast 'for the geological student there are strata to examine found nowhere else', some of which 'point out emphatically that once in long-ago ages the Isle of Wight and the Isle of Purbeck were united'. Also advises that the 'best time to see Studland is when the wild-fowl are breeding in Little-Sea—two curious ponds much frequented by duck and teal and widgeon, and where their habits can be watched easily by a cautious person' (244). Warns, however, that the 'common sea-gull, whose breeding-place, if visited in May, is a most charming sight', has 'learned to mistrust mankind; for their true nature is to build along the shore, where young and foolish gulls still often begin housekeeping, learning by sad experience that they had better have followed their elders' example and built higher, as on the shore the eggs are easily taken' (245).

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Exploration, Navigation, Romanticism, Natural History, Ornithology

    An introductory note explains that 'More than 83^o north—about a good day's steaming distance to the Pole by one of our fast oceaners in clear water—Greely Greely, Adolphus Washington (1844–1935) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> heard the song of a single bird merrily sounding over the desolation' (264n.), and the following poem, which describes the 'arctic bleak and blank', celebrates not only the 'solitary bird', but also the 'welcome chilling drifts' and 'sluggish floes, pack'd in the Northern ice, the cumulus of years', of which, the poet exclaims, 'with gay heart I also sing' (264).

Reprinted:

Whitman 1891 Whitman, Walt 1891. Leaves of Grass: Including Sands at Seventy, Good Bye My Fancy, A Backward Glance O'er Travel'd Roads, and Portrait From Life, Philadelphia: David McKay
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Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Comparative Philology, Anthropology

    In a discussion of the gradual development of representative forms of government in Europe and North America, comments that the 'profound linguistic researches of Pictet Pictet, Adolphe (1799–1875) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>, Fick Fick, August (1833–1916) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>, and others have made it probable that at the time when the old Aryan language was broken up into the dialects from which the existing languages of Europe are descended the Aryan tribes were passing from a purely pastoral stage of barbarism into an incipient agricultural stage'. Also refers to that 'general law by which the useful thing, after discharging its functions, survives for purposes of ornament'. (268)

Genre:

Essay

Relevant illustrations:

eng. [7]

Subjects:

Naturalists, Industry, Laboratories, Experiment, Manufactories, Machinery, Invention, Skill, Gender, Patents, Industrial Chemistry, Progress

    Declares that 'A great naturalist [probably a reference to Richard Owen Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>] said, "Show me a scale, I'll draw the fish". Had he been a shoemaker he might have said, "Show me a shoe, I'll tell the wearer"' (273). Gives a detailed account of the various procedures involved in the manufacture of leather shoes, remarking playfully that the next pair that the reader will purchase may at this 'same moment be dodging the lasso of the "cow-boy" on some far-away plain' (274). Observes that 'Tanning in all its departments is largely experimental. A tannery is a great laboratory, and even experienced tanners differ in their opinions of treatment' (279). Describes the conditions of a modern shoe factory where the '"stitch, stitch, stitch" of the weary binder' was replaced during 'the "golden age" of invention [i.e. the 1850s and 1860s]' by 'machines [that] speeded at the rate of six hundred stitches in a minute', and now the 'clatter of machinery is heard' constantly by the largely female workforce (280). It is only the procedure of 'lasting' a shoe that still 'requires a skilled workman, and is a process which through years of wonderful invention has stood invulnerable against any improvement over an honest pair of hands'. Indeed, although 'Two or three inventors [...] claim to have discovered this philosopher's stone [...] there is no machine for fine work which has yet stood the test of an exacting market'. (282) Comments on the 'revolutionizing influence' of the 'McKay McKay, Gordon (1821–1903) RLIN
Close   View the register entry >> shoe-sewing machine' and the 'little shoe-makers shops [that have] disappeared before the march of the sewing machine', noting that 'By letters patent, for many years the company McKay Shoe Machinery Company, firm
Close   View the register entry >> controlling the machine collected a royalty from persons who used it, and one large manufacturer paid in a single year the sum of fifteen thousand dollars for the privilege of using thirteen of them. A McKay stamp, like a postage stamp, was in these times attached to each pair of shoes made on this machine'. Indeed, while 'Rivers have attracted capitalists to build acres of mills on their banks, [...] this machine has made cities and large towns anywhere'. (284) Also examines some of the 'many interesting machines used in addition' in the making of shoes (286). Asserts that 'In view of the accomplishments of one short generation, it is not visionary to assume that the invention of shoe machinery is far from its possibilities', and looks forward to an attempt 'to combine different steps' in the manufacturing process. In fact, although it is 'not probable that a shoe can ever be well made and profitably made by one machine, [...] it is not hard for a person who has watched the development of a few years to believe that the manufacture of cheap slippers for house wear is capable of enough simplification to approach it'. (289)

Genre:

Regular Feature, News-Digest

[1] United States

[2] Science and Progress

Genre:

Regular Feature—Anecdote, Drollery

Subjects:

Climatology, Anthropology, Race, Imperialism, Amusement

    Considers the 'influence of climate' on the behaviour of different races and nations, reflecting that the 'conquering and successful colonizing races, who are accustomed to an aggressive and defensive warfare against frost, take naturally to rough sports. We never hear of the students of El Azhar, in Cairo, playing at football, or taking a degree in rowing'. Similarly, 'wife-beating, although occasionally indulged in in mild latitudes, has never been practised anywhere so successfully as in cold and disagreeable climates. The people at the South are no more warm-hearted and constant than the people of the North, but they are less vigorous in the physical expression of their feelings, and they enjoy themselves in a different way'. (332)

Genre:

Essay, Travelogue, Biography

Subjects:

Laboratories, Chemistry, Photography, Amateurism, Politics, Electricity

    In a tour of Hatfield House, the Jacobean mansion which is the family seat of the current leader of the Conservative Party, remarks that 'Lord Salisbury's Cecil, Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> particular den is a room on the ground floor, which is used as dressing-room, bath-room, and laboratory. Great statesmen usually have some peculiar bend aside from their ordinary work, and suggestive of how they would have gained their livelihood had their lines fallen in other places', and, while his predecessor Benjamin Disraeli Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> wrote novels, 'Lord Salisbury dabbles in chemistry. In his room is a large cupboard with glass doors displaying a portentous array of chemicals. His Lordship is also a successful amateur in photography. He has put to practical use his scientific talents by planning the lighting of Hatfield House by electricity' (346), and he 'works in peculiarly fortunate circumstances, seeing that the river Lea runs through the park, and is utilized for motive power, thus saving the cost and inconvenience of a steam-engine' (347).

Genre:

Essay, Travelogue

Subjects:

Human Species, Archaeology, Ethnography, Heterodoxy, Race, Mesmerism

    Describes the numerous 'crumbling palaces and temples of races long gone by' in the Yucatan region of Mexico, which make it a principal 'point of attraction for students of American archæology' (372). Reveals that many of these ancient ruins contain mysterious 'symbols pertaining to Masonic rites' (376), and these 'inscriptions that have puzzled the heads of more than one wise man, [...] now have a fair chance of being deciphered, thanks to the perseverance of Dr. Le Plongeon Le Plongeon, Augustus (1826–1908) RLIN
Close   View the register entry >>' (377). Notes frequently that the primitive rites and customs of the indigenous population of Yucatan resemble those found in many other parts of the world, and Egypt, Hindostan, and Central Africa in particular [cf. Anon D R O'Sullivan, 'A Fairy Tale of Central American Travel. How Cain and Abel were Found in the Lost Atlantis', Review of Reviews, 12 (1895), 271–81]. The 'instrument called tunkul' used in 'sacred ceremonies', for instance, 'reminds us of the war drum used in Africa to call the tribes together, mentioned by both Du Chaillu Du Chaillu, Paul Belloni (1831–1903) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> and Stanley Stanley, Sir Henry Morton (1841–1904) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>' (384–85), while the 'small three-tailed whip', a 'symbol of ancient freemasonry' held by dancers during a sacred Yucatan procession, 'call[s] to mind the Egyptian flagellum of Osiris' (384). Likewise, the 'natives of Yucatan always carry infants [...] astride their hip, as the people of Hindostan also do' (385). Suggests that 'By mural paintings found in the ruined cities we learn that anciently they practised what is to-day called mesmerism, and induced clairvoyance'. Now, however, 'all the scientific knowledge of their ancestors has, by slavery and oppression, been reduced to gross superstition and ignorance' (386).

Genre:

Essay, Biography

Relevant illustrations:

eng. [2]

Subjects:

Observatories, Patronage, Astronomy, Instruments, Popularization, Instrument-makers, Amateurism, Photography, Universities

People mentioned:

Darius O Mills, Mills, Darius Ogden (1825–1910) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> Richard S Floyd, Floyd, Richard S (fl. 1876–93) RLIN
Close   View the register entry >> Alvan G Clark, Clark, Alvan Graham (1832–97) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Henry Draper Draper, Henry (1837–82) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Announcing that 'After ten years of preliminary work [...] the great Lick Observatory University of California—Lick Observatory
Close   View the register entry >> of California now seems fairly on the road to success' (399), gives a brief biographical account of its 'wealthy and eccentric' patron James Lick Lick, James (1796–1876) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> (400). Details how in 1873 Lick, who had made a fortune in San Francisco real estate, devoted $700,000 to the 'construction of a telescope "larger and more powerful than any ever made before", together with an observatory which should be connected with it', although 'he evidently regarded the observatory as an appendage of the telescope'. Reflects that Lick, despite his largesse, 'knew nothing more of astronomical instruments or their uses than the average California gold-digger', and his beneficence was probably prompted by 'a discussion in some papers devoted to diffusing scientific knowledge of the possibility of constructing a "million dollar telescope"'. (401) Reveals that because 'Mr. Lick had suddenly taken an antipathy to the only American firm who could undertake so great an instrument', an unnamed 'special agent Newcomb, Simon (1835–1909) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> was sent abroad to gather information on [...] European mechanicians' who might be able to complete the project (402). The eventual positioning of the observatory on Mount Hamilton was advised by Sherburne W Burnham Burnham, Sherburne Wesley (1838–1921) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, who, 'although an amateur in the science [of astronomy], had gained a world-wide reputation by the discovery, with an eight-inch telescope, of a great number of double stars which had escaped the scrutiny of the Herschels [William Herschel, Sir William (1738–1822) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and John F W Herschel, Sir John Frederick William (1792–1871) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>] and the Struves [Friedrich G W Struve, Friedrich Georg Wilhelm (1793–1864) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> and Otto W Struve, Otto Wilhelm (1819–1905) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>]'. The 'steadiness of view' afforded by Burnham's choice of location was soon confirmed by the 'observations and photographs of the transit of Venus taken [...] in 1882 by Professor D. P. Todd Todd, David Peck (1855–1939) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>'. (404) Even now, however, there remain problems with the construction of the actual telescope, and the 'great object-glass' that is being manufactured in France by Charles Feil Feil, Charles (1824–87) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> 'has not been shipped up to the time of sending these pages to press, and no one this side of the Atlantic knows what the state of things in the Paris foundry really is' [the glass was not completed until late in 1885]. Warns that 'it will probably require two years to complete the instrument'. (405) Expresses unease that 'the terms of Mr. Lick's donation are such as to prevent the [board of] trustees from inaugurating a course of observations', and that instead the 'institution is to be turned over to the Regents of the University of California University of California
Close   View the register entry >>, who are to appoint an astronomer, and put the institution into operation', but whose actions will always be dependent upon the 'current income of the establishment'. Even then, the 'frank opinion of the ablest astronomers of to-day [...] would no doubt be that the making of great telescopes had already been pushed beyond the requirements of science, and that current solid work must mostly be done with smaller instruments'. Concludes by advising that careful consideration must go into 'getting the right man as astronomer of the institution', for the 'plain fact is that upon him more than upon the instruments the reputation of the observatory must depend' [the Lick Observatory's first director was the author's protege Edward S Holden Holden, Edward Singleton (1846–1914) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>]. (406)

Genre:

Essay

Relevant illustrations:

eng. [7]

Subjects:

Ornithology, Natural History, Ancient Authorities, Animal Behaviour, Anthropomorphism, Hunting, Ethics

People mentioned:

Roualeyn G G Cumming, Cumming, Roualeyn George Gordon- (1820–66) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> John Cassin, Cassin, John (1813–69) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> François le Vaillant Vaillant, François le (1753–1824) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>

    Finds the earliest account of a 'guardian bird' in Herodotus's Herodotus of Halicarnassus (d. c. 430–420 BC) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> description of the 'curious relationship' between the crocodile and the 'crocodile watcher' or 'trochilus', which enters the reptile's mouth and removes the leeches which cling to its teeth. While 'Subsequent writers [...] denied the story of the old Greek on the ground of improbability', now 'Modern writers who have been to Egypt confirm the substance of the story'. (419) Details the peculiar symbiotic relationships of several other types of 'guardian bird', frequently comparing their habits to human actions. The crocodile watcher, for instance, is 'strikingly like our human trochilus, the dentist', while for 'red-beaked ox-biters' the 'ticks [on the back of a rhinoceros] are as so many nuggets of gold to the prospecting man' (419–20). Describes the treacherous habits of the 'white-beaked honey guide', a 'very Judas among birds', which, by its 'importunate invitation[s]' to lead the way to a 'nest of wild bees', frequently causes 'black attendants' to desert a 'white hunter [who] is eagerly pursuing the fresh spoor of one of the great pachyderms'. Notes that the bird is 'apparently entirely devoid of conscience, which will not be so much wondered at, perhaps, when it is known that it belongs to the cuckoos'. (422). Exclaims 'Guardianship in birds! The motive? Alas! the answer must usually be, ticks, bats, flies, snakes—a good meal, in short' (426). However, 'pure disinterestedness is sometimes seen', and the 'crane does, indeed, perform one of the purest and most beautiful acts of benevolence recorded in natural history' by allowing a 'great many small birds [...] incapable of long sustained flight' to migrate from Europe to warmer climes on the 'backs of their long-legged, big-hearted friends' (426–27). The smaller birds 'comfortably sit [on the back of the crane], and repay their benefactors by their cheery twittering and merry songs'. Concedes that 'It may be that future investigation will prove that the conduct of the crane is the result of some less noble impulse than that of doing good for good's sake', but suggests that 'in the absence of the necessary proof to that effect it will do no harm to accept it as it appears to be'. (427)

Genre:

Essay, Travelogue

Subjects:

Industry, Socialism, Mechanics, Status, Mathematics, Architecture, Libraries, Periodicals, Popularization, Sanitation, Natural Economy, Scientism, Government

    Describes the new industrial town of Pullman, Illinois, which was founded in 1881 for the employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company Pullman Palace Car Company
Close   View the register entry >> by George M Pullman Pullman, George Mortimer (1831–97) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>. Located some ten miles south of Chicago, this 'social experimentation on a vast scale' (453) has been planned so that 'clergymen, officers of the company, and mechanics live in adjoining dwellings'. These simple, purpose-built dwellings, however, have nevertheless 'avoided the frightful monotony of New York'. After all, a 'slight knowledge of mathematics shows how infinite [is] the variety of possible combinations of a few elements, and a better appreciation of this fact than that exhibited by the architecture of Pullman it would be difficult to find'. (457) Observes that the town's luxurious 'library [...] contains [...] numerous periodicals, among which were noticed several likely to be of special importance to mechanics, such as the Railway Age Railway Age (1876–1900+) BUCOP
Close   View the register entry >>, the Iron Age Iron Age (1873–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>, Scientific American Scientific American (1845–1900+) BUCOP
Close   View the register entry >>, and Popular Science Monthly Popular Science Monthly (1872–96) Appleton's Popular Science Monthly (1896–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>' (458), although the 'annual charge' of 'three dollars [is] rather high for workmen in these days of free libraries' (459). Suggests that the building of Pullman was 'probably the first time a single architect [Solon S Beman Beman, Solon Spencer (1853–1914) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>] has ever constructed a whole town systematically upon scientific principles' (460). The town is also notable for the 'pure air and perfect sanitary conditions of the houses' (463), and enjoys 'a perfect system of sewerage, similar to that which has been found so successful in Berlin, Germany. The sewerage is all collected in a great tank under the "water tower", and then pumped on to a large garden farm of one hundred and seventy acres, called the "Pullman Farm"' (462). Concludes, however, that the control exercised by the Pullman Company and the absence of freedom for ordinary citizens, the 'fatal weakness of many systems of reform and well-intentioned projects of benevolence', mean that the new manufacturing town on the shores of Lake Calumet is 'un-American' and 'not the American ideal' (465).

Genre:

Regular Feature, Review

Publications reviewed:

Thompson 1884, Thompson, Daniel Greenleaf 1884. A System of Psychology, 2 vols, London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
Close   View the register entry >> Allen 1884 Allen, Grant 1884. Strange Stories, London: Chatto & Windus
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Subjects:

Physiological Psychology, Soul, Comparative Philology, Imagination, Science Fiction, Popularization

    Warns that Daniel G Thompson Thompson, Daniel Greenleaf (1850–97) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> 'professes himself the pupil and follower of Mr. Mill Mill, John Stuart (1806–73) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, of Mr. Herbert Spencer Spencer, Herbert (1820–1903) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, and of Professor Bain Bain, Alexander (1818–1903) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>', and readers 'cannot therefore expect from him such lessons as were taught by Hegelian tutors of old, nor a fond adherence to Aristotle's Aristotle (384–322 BC) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> treatise, De Animâ' (490). Complains that Thompson's views on the origins of language are not tested by the 'comparison of civilised and savage tongues', and that he 'decorates his theme with a very curious set of quotations from authors of extremely diverse dates and qualities'. Concludes that the book will not be particularly welcomed 'even by the unscientific reader'. (491) Proclaims that Grant Allen Allen, Grant (Charles Grant Blairfindie) (1848–99) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> has 'plenty of the scientific imagination, which he can divert at will into the paths of romance' (491–92), and he 'has, in fiction, a field of his own, the romance of science'. Advises that 'it would be worth his while to make himself still more accomplished in this art, and, perhaps, to take himself and his work in this kind more seriously. His wide knowledge of strange lore and of many lands must enable him to conceive crowds of perfectly new situations [...]; this is better than popular treatise on the domestic snail, and the evolutions of the black beetle. Many men can write these, better or worse. Only one could write John Creedy [one of the tales in the volume under review]'. (492)

Genre:

Regular Feature, News-Digest

[1] Science and Progress

Genre:

Short Fiction, Travelogue

Relevant illustrations:

eng. [10]

Subjects:

Mining, Geology, Reading, Encyclopaedias, Gender, Environmentalism, Natural Imperialism

    Two female artists, Bessy and Anastasia, travel by railway from Boston to the coastal town of Rockport, where they intend to sketch the granite quarries of Cape Ann. Once there, the well-informed Anastasia remarks, 'The value of the product of the granite quarries of Massachusetts was nearly a million and a half dollars in 1875', and she reflects that 'It's a very entertaining book, that State census. The list of mines, quarries, and so forth, is edifying enough' (550–51). She later informs her companion that 'granite is not always so hard [...]. Don't you know it was melted, to begin with?—all white-hot, flowing out of the centre of the earth?', but Bessy replies that 'Some geologists think it was not', and she adds, 'It also, I hear, explodes sometimes in case of fire'. To this, Anastasia, 'looking into her notebook', responds, 'That's because of the unequal expansion of the parts. You're telling me all the things I meant to tell you. I've been looking them up in the encyclopædia, or rather in several different encyclopædias'. (552) The two women also ponder the environmental effects of the powerful 'steam-drill' used by the quarrymen ('which makes in a day a hole twenty to thirty feet deep'), and consider whether it is 'human work which they were doing, the ancient healthful business for which Adam was set in the garden?' (552–53). Anastasia, however, insists, 'I have always heard that what we were put here for was to subdue the earth', and she finds 'something inspiring in the atmosphere of hard work' (553).

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Progress, Industry, Evolution, Population, Statistics, Imperialism, Race, Futurism

    Argues that as the 'industrial phase of civilization slowly supplants the military phase [...] Men become less inclined to destroy life or to inflict pain; or to use the popular terminology, which happens to coincide precisely with that of the doctrine of evolution, they become less brutal and more humane' (578). Considers the 'rapidity and unabated steadiness of the increase of the English race in America', and suggests that a 'very simple operation in arithmetic' shows that the 'fact that the Americans double their numbers every twenty years' will lead to 'a population of fifteen hundred millions, or more than the population of the whole world at the present date' by the 'close of the twentieth century' (584–85). Although 'there are discernible economic reasons for believing that there will be a diminution in the rate of increase', the 'absence of such causes as formerly retarded the growth of population in Europe' and the 'abundant capacity of our country for feeding its people' means that it is an 'extremely moderate statement if we say that by the end of the next century the English race in the United States will number at least six or seven hundred millions' (585). Compares the English colonisation of North America in the seventeenth-century with 'what is going on in Africa to-day', and proclaims that this 'vast country, rich in beautiful scenery, and in resources of timber and minerals, with a salubrious climate and fertile soil [...] will not much longer be left in control of tawny lions and long-eared elephants, and negro fetich-worshippers' (587). Rather, 'within two or three centuries the African continent will be occupied by a mighty nation of English descent, and covered with populous cities and flourishing farms, with railroads and telegraphs and free schools and other devices of civilization as yet undreamed of'. Similar developments will also happen in Australia as well as in New Zealand, where the 'English race is now multiplying faster than anywhere else in the world'. In fact, in the 'stupendous future of the English race' it is 'destined' that 'every land on the earth's surface that is not already the seat of an old civilization shall become English in its language, in its religion, in its political habits and traditions, and to a predominant extent in the blood of its people'. (588)

Genre:

Essay

Relevant illustrations:

eng. [3]

Subjects:

Ornithology, Natural History, Animal Behaviour, Anthropomorphism

    Defends a creature 'burdened with an undeserved and offensive name, and having somehow become an object of suspicion and dislike to many persons', and insists that in fact 'the cat-bird—mimus carolinensis—is one of the most intelligent and interesting of our [i.e. America's] native birds' (598). Notes that the bird's unusual name comes from a 'cry [...] which at a little distance somewhat resembles the "mew" of a melancholy cat' (601). Attributes several human faculties to the bird, including 'an inquiring mind' and 'a sense of humour' (598), and suggests that when the habits of the bird are observed closely 'you recognize in him something like intelligence and reason, and you can not resist the conviction that he has opinions, and could express them if only you could understand his language' (601).

Genre:

Essay

Relevant illustrations:

eng. [5]

Subjects:

Accidents, Neurology, Vivisection, Pathology, Surgery, Mental Illness, Physiological Psychology, Telegraphy, Analogy, Anatomy, Cell Biology, Photography, Human Development, Microscopy, Health, Narcotics

People mentioned:

Gustav T Fritsch, Fritsch, Gustav Theodor (1838–1927) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Eduard Hitzig, Hitzig, (Julius) Eduard (1838–1907) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Augustus V Waller, Waller, Augustus Volney (1816–70) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Michael Foster, Foster, Sir Michael (1836–1907) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Jules B Luys, Luys, Jules Bernard (1828–97) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> Hermann Munk, Munk, Hermann (1839–1912) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> Ludwig Türck, Türck, Ludwig (1810–68) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Paul E Flechsig, Flechsig, Paul Emil (1847–1929) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Johann B A von Gudden Gudden, Johann Bernhard Aloys von (1824–86) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Observes that the 'famous [...] "American crowbar case"' of 1848, in which an iron bar accidentally entered the skull and 'perforated [the] brain' of an agricultural labourer, Phineas P Gage Gage, Phineas P (1823–60) RLIN Macmillan 2000
Close   View the register entry >>, who nevertheless was able to give an 'account of how it happened' and lived on for another twelve years, at first 'startled the minds of the reading public, and confounded the medical fraternity'. Now, however, the incident can be seen 'to have been the starting-point of a new epoch in medical science. It rendered untenable all previous hypotheses that had been advanced regarding the organ of the mind', and 'the "crowbar case" is no longer a mystery to specialists in neurology'. What it, as well as more recent 'results obtained by vivisection' and other 'new methods of research', have shown is that 'the brain must be regarded as a composite organ, whose parts have each some special function, and are to a certain extent independent of each other'. (632) Indeed, 'a frog [...] deprived of only the upper part of the cerebral hemispheres' still exhibits all the usual 'manifestations of frog life', but is in fact a 'pure automaton' and has been 'transformed into a machine' (634). Argues that those 'who have claimed that conclusions drawn from experiments upon animals are not applicable to man are to-day confronted with unanswerable facts to the contrary' (632), and notes in passing that practising such 'vivisection upon the human race is impracticable' (636). Applauds the 'labors of such men as Meynert Meynert, Theodor (1833–92) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>, Charcot Charcot, Jean-Martin (1825–93) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, Nothnagel Nothnagel, Hermann (1841–1905) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>, Ferrier Ferrier, Sir David (1843–1928) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, Wernicke Wernicke, Carl (1848–1905) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, and others, [which] have made neurology a science that would exceed the comprehension of its founders', and insists that the modern view of the subject is 'one upon which it is proper as well as important that all should be generally informed' (633). Avoids examining certain aspects of the brain (i.e. the functions of the cerebellum and medulla oblongata) that are 'too complex to be discussed here' (639), and frequently employs analogy to describe the functioning of other parts. The 'nerves', for instance, 'are but telegraphic wires' and the 'nerve centres are therefore to be compared to the main offices of a telegraphic system' (633), while the brain of a new-born baby 'may be likened to the sensitized photographic plate before it has been exposed to the action of the lenses of the camera' (636). Concludes with 'a few practical remarks that might be made to the reader with benefit in the light of what has been already stated' regarding the damage that can be done to the 'wonderful organ' of the mind by the 'anxiety' of life 'in our large cities', and advises readers not to 'abuse' and 'overtax' their brains, and to get plenty of sleep and physical exercise. Also warns that the 'habitual use of drugs should be avoided. Our insane asylums draw many of their inmates from devotees to the opium and chloral habit'. (641)

Genre:

Regular Feature, Review

Publications reviewed:

McLennan 1885 McLennan, John Ferguson 1885. The Patriarchal Theory, (based on the papers of the late John Ferguson McLennan), edited and completed by Donald McLennan, London: Macmillan & Co.
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Subjects:

Anthropology, Sociology, Gender

    Reflects that 'science has had a very heavy loss in Mr. McLennan McLennan, John Ferguson (1827–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>', and explains that his posthumously completed book demonstrates that 'even now, many races do not possess the Patriarchal Family. Perhaps the woman has several husbands, sometimes not even of the same blood. Perhaps the husband is reckoned into her family, in place of her being reckoned into his. Perhaps the children derive the family name through the mother (whose clan is never that of the father), and are thus not formally regarded as kinsfolk of the father at all. Where such practices are found, among many backward tribes, the Patriarchal Family, and paternal authority (Patria Potestas in Roman Law) do not exist'. However, the book, which 'attack[s] Sir Henry Maine's Maine, Sir Henry James Sumner (1822–88) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> views [on agnation] with extreme vigour', is 'all but impossible [...] to the "general reader"'. (655)

Genre:

Essay, Travelogue, Serial

Subjects:

Sanitation, Pollution, Botany

    On an artistic tour through the German towns of the old Hanseatic League, the narrator comments, 'If we ever visit Rostock again, it will be after it has been disinfected, for on the stuffy August day we spent there we were obliged to keep our luggage closed for fear of carrying off a too lasting souvenir of the stench-laden atmosph