Religion and Science are exceedingly harmonious in assisting each other, but theologians and scientists are exceedingly discordant. Who is in fault? It is the fault of both. Both are bigoted and narrow-minded. Neither can see the truths that belong to the other party; theologians dislike science, not being able to see that science is a grander and more unquestionable revelation than any they have derived from tradition, and scientists deride religion and theology, not being able in their narrowness to recognize the higher forms of science in the great spiritual truths which have been apparent to all races from the most ancient limits of history. Of the scientific class the majority are averse to the religion of the times, partly from their own sceptical nature, and partly because religion has been presented in the repulsive forms of an absurd theology.

Prof. E. S. Morse, the president of the American Association, is a very sceptical agnostic.

At the late meeting of the Association, August 10, at Columbia College, New York, Prof. Morse made an address in which he is reported as saying that “Dr. Darwin’s theory was accepted by science, although ecclesiastical bodies now and then rose up to protest against it. He asserted that the missing links for which there was such a clamor were being supplied with such rapidity that even the zoÖlogist had to work to keep up with his science. It was a singular fact that no sooner did some one raise an objection to the theories of derivative science, than some discovery was made which swept down the barrier. It was safe enough for an intelligent man, no matter what he knew of science, to accept as true what science put forth, and to set down as false whatever the church offered in opposition. Every theory and declaration of science had been opposed by the church. The penalty of original sin, according to a scientific writer, was the penalty of man being raised to an upright position. Laughter.] Cannot it be proved without question that the illiteracy of Spain was the result of centuries of religious oppression and of the inquisition?”

One of the scientists told a World reporter (says the Truth Seeker) that at last year’s convention in Buffalo, Prof. Morse made an address that was so full of infidelity that the Catholic diocesan authorities there forbade the clergy from attending the meetings.

However, the Association has a small orthodox element in it, and on Sunday about one-eighth of the members held a prayer-meeting at Columbia College, at which allusions were made to the ungodly character of the majority of their associates, which the said associates on Monday regarded as a very objectionable proceeding.

In the contests between scientists and theologians it has long been apparent that the theologians are steadily receding. The time was, two or three hundred years ago, when fearless scientists were imprisoned or burned by theologians. Now, the scientists who lead the age treat theology with contempt and the press sustains them. Meanwhile, scientific scepticism is invading the pulpit, and all that distinguishes the Bible from any treatise on moral philosophy is gradually being surrendered by leading theologians; they are losing religion as well as theology.

Good Psychology.—Prof. Wm. James, of the chair of Philosophy in Harvard College, and apparently the most philosophic gentleman in that conservative institution, has published in the Popular Science Monthly an essay on Human Instincts, characterized by a vigorous common sense and close observation. When he asserts (contrary to the old metaphysics) the existence of such instincts as fear, acquisitiveness, constructiveness, play (or, properly, playfulness), curiosity, sociability, shyness, secretiveness, cleanliness, modesty, shame, love, coyness or personal isolation, jealousy, parental love, etc., he shows the spirit of science. But is it not self-evident, Mr. James, to a man of your fine intelligence, that all strong impulses (or instincts, as you call them) must have a special nervous apparatus in the psychic region of the brain; and that loving, blushing, stealing, and fighting cannot be functions of the same organs concerned in perceiving color, or comprehending music? If I have traced these instincts to the special convolutions in which they reside, and given innumerable demonstrations of their locality, even in Boston, and before critical observers, why have you not interested yourself in the question of the cerebral localities and the complete demonstration of all the instincts by that method?

I have even found an instinct of the love of truth among the higher sentiments, which, to a few rare individuals, is the predominant impulse of their lives, though, alas, in college professors, as well as in other classes generally, it is “inhibited” by a great variety of opposing instincts, interests, and social influences. Nowhere is it more completely “inhibited” than in Boston and Cambridge, as I have been informed by the most intelligent old citizens.

The Far-away Battle.—In the quiet home the sounds of the far-away strife are not heard. The war of the cannon is determining the destiny of empires, but it is unheard in the cottage. The myriad sounds of commerce in the city do not disturb the quiet of that home. Its quiet life attracts no attention. But there is something in that home more important than war or commerce or king-craft—something that concerns human welfare more profoundly. In that quiet home, a human life is developing; a human soul preparing for its life work—a work that will change the destiny of coming generations. In many quiet homes such a work is in progress, determining a nation’s future.

All important movements are quiet and obscure in their origin. As the magnificent forest was slowly and obscurely germinated in darkness, in the seeds from which it sprung, so are the great discoveries in science and philosophy matured in quietness and obscurity. The thinker hears afar the sound of strife and the agitation of parties warring for power. He knows the follies and errors that agitate mankind, but he is withheld from entering the strife, for he has a more important work to accomplish—a work for the future. It is to such work that the Journal of Man is devoted; laying the foundation of that philosophy in which future thinkers shall find the principles of social reorganization. It does not join in the strife of contending parties, nor does it recognize any existing party as entirely free from error. It gives its care to new and growing truths, knowing that, as Carlyle says, “The weak thing weaker than a child becomes strong one day if it be a true thing.”

How not to do it.—The Seybert commission having made a splendid failure to find interesting and valuable facts where other investigators have succeeded, their blundering ignorance is now assisted by newspaper mendacity. The New York Times, of Aug. 22, concludes an extremely stupid article on this subject, by the following paragraph, which, if the writer gave any indications of intelligence, would be set down as a pure specimen of mendacity, but is more probably a specimen of indolent ignorance:

“If Spiritualists could furnish one clearly-proved case of a spirit from the other world, seen and tested by those now living on the earth, there would be some sense and reason in their claims to be heard; but until they do, the great mass of intelligent people will refuse to listen, and rightly, too.”

There must be an immense mass of the same kind of lazy ignorance in the community, when such stuff is tolerated in a newspaper. The contents of daily newspapers show that they expect more patronage from the debased and ignorant classes than from the intelligent and honorable.

Robbery of Public Lands.—The report of Surveyor General Geo. W. Julian, of Colorado, shows that of the patented and unpatented lands referred to, aggregating 8,694,965 acres, it will be safe to estimate that at least one-half have been illegally devoted to private uses under invalid grants, or unauthorized surveys.

He thinks it would not be extravagance to say that these land claimants, with their enormous interests, have exercised a shaping influence upon Congress. Congress has approved 47 out of 49 of these claims. In this connection the report calls attention to the action of Congress in 1860, and the Interior Department in 1879 in the famous Maxwell land grant case, which he characterizes as a wanton and shameful surrender to the rapacity of monopolists of 1,662,764 acres of the public domain, on which hundreds of poor men had settled in good faith and made valuable improvements. It has been as calamitous to New Mexico, says the Surveyor General, as it is humiliating to the United States. The report says:

“During the last Congress several members of both Houses, including the delegate from this Territory, reported bills for the confirmation of the Socorro grant, which is one of the most shocking of the many attempts yet made to plunder the public domain. I do not say that the men who introduced these bills intended to make themselves parties to any scheme of robbery, but their action shows that the hidden hand of roguery is still feeling its way in Congress for a friendly go-between.”

As a remedy for this condition of affairs, Mr. Julian recommends resurveys of all grants about which there is any doubt, and the entering of suits to set aside patents obtained by fraud.

Land Reform in England.—One hundred and twenty-four members of the English Parliament are in favor of the following land scheme propounded by Charles Bradlaugh:

“Ownership of land should carry with it the duty of cultivation.

“Where land capable of cultivation with profit, and not devoted to some purpose of public utility or enjoyment, is held in a waste or uncultivated state, the local authorities ought to have the power to compulsorily acquire such land.

“The compensation is to be only the ‘payment to the owner for a limited term of an annual sum not exceeding the then average net annual produce of the said lands.’

“The local authorities are to let the lands thus acquired to tenant cultivators.

“The conditions of tenure are to be such ‘as shall afford reasonable encouragement, opportunities, facilities, and security for the due cultivation and development of the said land.’”

Life in Europe.—Senator Frye, of Maine, having returned from Europe, spoke thus to a reporter, at Lewiston:

“We have taken a tour of the continent and of Great Britain, and although we have seen many places, we have seen no place like home—no place in all respects equal to America. You will find in the Old World much that is admirable, but what impressed me most painfully was the poverty of the masses of the people. Why, the people in Europe live on the poorest food, and mighty little of it. I found that laborers in Glasgow work for 2s. 6d. a day—sixty-two cents. I was charmed with Edinburgh, but when I saw women drunk and fighting in her beautiful streets, the modern Athens lost her charms. I cannot convey to you the picture of the degradation and want throughout Great Britain, caused by drink. I come back a stouter cold-water man than when I went away. The drink evil is a horror. Speaking of wages, I found girls in factories in Venice working with great skill for from five to twelve cents a day, the most experienced getting twelve cents a day, out of which they have to live, but how they live is a wonder. Their chief diet is macaroni. Farm hands all over Europe—women—earn twenty cents a day. Women do most of the field work. I saw no improved machinery on the farms of the continent. I have seen twenty women in one field at work—not a man in sight. The plain people see no meat to eat once a week on the continent. The condition of American wage-earners is incomparably better than that of working people in Europe. It’s the difference between comfort and competence, and discomfort and insufficient food and clothing.“Perhaps the most contemptible people one meets abroad are the Anglicized Americans—the man who apes, both in manners and language, what he regards as the English aristocracy, affects to believe everything in England perfect, and seems to be ashamed to institute any favorable comparison between his country and that.”

Education in France.—The Academy of Medicine has passed a resolution demanding of the government changes in the hours of study for children, larger play grounds, removal of schools to the country, and daily teaching of gymnastics. These suggestions are urgently needed in France, where children are subjected to a far more rigid and enfeebling method than in America. The power of the church over education is destroyed in France, and religious instruction is now prohibited.

Canada and the Union.—Rev. W. H. Murray reports a strong feeling in Canada for annexation. He says:

“A gentleman of great influence in this city, and of established loyalty to the land of his birth, described the position here very distinctly in the following words: ‘I wish I could make money and remain an Englishman, but I can’t, and hence I propose to become an American, for I cannot impoverish myself and my family for a sentiment, however honorable.’

“In the many conversations I have heard on the part of many people of all classes touching commercial union, it has, in every case, been assumed that it was only a prelude to political union also. Many have insisted, as they talked, that the two countries should come together, and at once; that the feeling of the country was fast ripening for it, and that what it lacked in education in this matter would soon be learned. This has surprised me; for it was not so a few years ago.”

Woman in the Moon.—The discovery of a woman in the moon is announced by W. H. Burr, in a letter to the New York Sun, It was made more than a year ago by Dr. James H. Thompson, a retired physician of Washington. It is a profile occupying the west half of the moon, the dark spot above answering to the banged hair. She faces a little upward, and has a neck big enough to require a collar of the size that Mr. Cleveland wears. And yet she is good-looking. The profile may be seen through an opera-glass.—Truth Seeker.

Emancipation from Petticoats.—“That distinguished Parisienne, Mme. de Valsayre, has been petitioning the French legislature in favor of the emancipation of women from petticoats. Her case is that petticoats are very dangerous, leading to innumerable fatal accidents, and that trousers are just as decent, more healthy and far less expensive. ‘All this is very true,’ says Labouchere, in the World, ‘though I do not suppose that if the French women were as free as our own countrywomen are to dress as they like, they would make much use of their liberty. Trousers do not afford the same scope for decoration as petticoats. They cannot be trimmed to any considerable extent, and the effect of an improver or bustle worn under them would be absurd. I have always wondered, however, that serious ladies in this country do not set more store by this branch of progress. If I were a woman I would much rather have a pair of trousers than a vote or even a university degree.’”

Women’s Rights in the Streets.—The lawless freedom with which men approach or assail women in some American cities, while women on the other hand are subjected to the meddlesome and domineering interference of policemen, lends some interest to the case of Miss Cass in London, one of the victims of police brutality, which has excited an inquiry and comment in Parliament, and is likely to result in the punishment of the policeman. The New York Sun says:

“The case of Miss Cass, who was arrested in Regent Street as a disreputable character, has started in the Pall Mall Gazette a discussion of the annoyances to which decent women are subjected in the streets of London. It will be remembered that she was a respectable girl recently arrived in London, where she had obtained employment in a milliner’s shop, and that while waiting in Regent Street early in the evening she was arrested by a policeman, who insisted in regarding her as a professional street-walker, as which, also, she was held by a magistrate, who refused, to listen to her denials and explanations.

“Many women have accordingly written to the Pall Mall Gazette to ask why, if a woman is liable to arrest on the mere suspicion of having addressed a man, men are allowed to annoy and insult women in the London streets with perfect impunity. The testimony of them all is that, even in the daytime, a lady with any claims to good looks, and who walks alone, is always liable to such treatment, no matter how modest her apparel and reserved her demeanor. It is not merely of insolent and persistent staring that they complain, for they have grown to expect that as a matter of course; but they are actually spoken to by men who are strangers to them, in the most insinuating and offensively flattering terms. These men are commonly described as ‘gentlemen’ in appearance; ‘a tall, distinguished, military-looking man;’ ‘a youthful diplomat;’ ‘a government official, a man holding a lucrative appointment,’ and the like. They are not roughs; from them ladies have nothing of the sort to fear; but men who think to have the greater success and to enjoy the complete immunity because they wear the garb of gentlemen.

“Rev. Mr. Haweis writes that ‘you might easily fill the Pall Mall Gazette with nothing else for months, for we have come to such a pass as this, that a young girl cannot stand aside at a railway station while papa takes tickets, nor a girl lead her blind relative through the streets, nor can a married woman go twenty paces in a London thoroughfare without the risk of insult or even assault.’”

These evils are a relic of the old ideas of woman’s inferiority, and their only sure remedy is the destruction of that inferiority by the industrial and professional education, which will make the woman the par of her brother, and enable her to maintain her equal rights everywhere.

A Woman’s Triumph in Paris.—The public examination of Miss Bradley at the Ecole de Medicine in Paris is thus described:

When Miss Bradley stepped into the arena, clad in the traditional garb, the general comment of the audience was:

“How like Portia in the trial scene of the ‘Merchant of Venice.’”

It was known to Miss Bradley’s college mates and other friends that her thesis would be on “Iodism,” and that she had taken a year to write an elaborate book on the subject, which will soon be republished in England from the original French. For an hour and a half she was questioned with great shrewdness and ability by four of the leading professors of the Ecole de Medicine,—Drs. Fournier, Gautier, Porchet, and Robin. Each of these gentlemen had previously received a copy of Miss Bradley’s bold book, and they had brought their copies to the examining room, with multitudinous interrogation marks on the margins, showing that the new treatise had not only been very carefully read, but had excited much curiosity and attention. Miss Bradley had the great advantage of an unhackneyed theme, which she skilfully illustrated by a numerous array of unfamiliar facts.

Her triumph was of a very peculiar character. Her four examiners said to her, with admiring frankness: “You have been working a new field; we cannot agree with many of your conclusions; further investigation may lead either yourself or us to different views; but, meanwhile, you have presented to the college a thesis which does you uncommon honor, and for which we unanimously award you the maximum mark of merit.”

After the announcement of the award, Miss Bradley was entertained at dinner by Miss Augusta Klumpke, the first female physician who has ever been admitted to practice in the hospitals of Paris. Both these ladies are Americans—Miss Klumpke from San Francisco, and Miss Bradley from New York.

A Woman’s Bible.—We have not reached the end of revision. A woman’s translation of the Bible is expected next. Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton is the chairman of the American committee having this matter in charge, and a woman’s Bible and commentary are to be expected in due time.

Work for Women.—Miss Katie Young, of Ironton, Mo., writes The Voice a letter upon the advantages of plating, as a new and pleasant field of work for women. A relative made her a plating-machine at a cost of $4; she readily obtained orders for work from everybody in the neighborhood; the outlay for chemicals, etc., proved slight; and in 22 days she netted $95.45. Her brother, working 24 days, cleared $90.50. Miss Young states that she is making a collection of curiosities, and that to any lady sending her a sea-shell, fancy stone, piece of rock, ore or crystal, an old coin, or curious specimen of any description, she will be glad to mail complete directions for making a machine similar to hers, that will do gold, silver and nickel-plating.

F. Henry Greer writes: “Two young gentlewomen are studying electrical engineering, which profession has not yet been overcrowded. Great fortunes have been made in its pursuit. If any readers of your valuable journal are interested, I will freely give them any information in my power.”

Mrs. Stanton on the Jubilee.—“If mine has been the one discordant note in the grand jubilee chorus to the Queen, it is because behind all the busy preparations for the most brilliant pageant the world has ever witnessed, of gilded royalty and nobility, my eyes beheld the dark shadows on the background of homeless, starving men, women and children, into whose desolate lives would never come one touch of light or love. There is something to me unspeakably sad in the eager, gazing multitudes that crowd the streets on these grand gala days. There is ever a sphinx-like questioning look in their upturned faces that seems to say, ‘Ah! must the many ever suffer that the few may shine?’ As the sun went down on that 21st of June, what a contrast in the close of the day’s festivities between the children of luxury and want.

“Who that can share in imagination one hour the miseries of England’s impoverished people, can rejoice in a reign of fifty years that has cost the nation 22,000,000 of pounds sterling in extra allowances to the Queen and her children, in addition to the legitimate cost of the royal household and the hereditary property rights of the throne?” Nevertheless the Jubilee was a fine exhibition, and the London Baptist says that $4,000 was paid for the use of the windows of one house to see the Jubilee.

Electricity seems destined to be the motor power for street cars. In Montgomery, Alabama, the mule has already been superseded, and there are fifteen miles of street railways operated by the electric motor. Some satisfactory experiments have been made on the Cambridge Street railway. Edison’s latest discoveries in the conversion of heat into electricity are expected to produce important results, dispensing with the intermediate use of steam, and ultimately getting the power from the sun’s rays.

Progress of the Telegraph.—The London Times thus summarizes some of the statements made by Mr. Raikes, the postmaster-general, in his speech delivered at the telegraph jubilee the other day:

At first a machine required five wires before it could dispatch a message. Now on one single wire seven or eight messages can be sent simultaneously. At first the rate of sending did not amount to more than four or five words a minute. Now on the latest machine no less than 462 words a minute can be dispatched. The number of messages has increased by steady steps, until now, under the new tariff and with the facilities that have been so widely extended since the telegraphs came into the hands of the government, the number is truly portentous. Those sent during the past year amounted to close upon a million a week—fifty-one and one-half millions in all. Letters have grown from 80,000,000 in the year of the Queen’s accession to more than 1,400,000,000. According to Mr. Pender, there are some 115,000 miles of cables lying at the bottom of the sea. The progress in this department has been constant. The latest scheme, as the new colonial blue-books show, is for laying a cable under the Pacific Ocean, from Vancouver to New Zealand. Surely there is no task from which modern science will recoil.

The Mystery of the Ages.—A work recently published at London by the Countess of Caithness is a work of ability and learning, devoted especially to a philosophy which is thus defined:

“Theosophy is the essence of all doctrines, the inner truth of all religions…. God is Spirit, and Spirit is One, Infinite, and Eternal, whether it speak through the life of Buddha or Jesus, Zoroaster or Mahommed…. The ideal of the Theosophist is the at one-ment of his own spirit with that of the Infinite. This is the essential teaching of all religions, and to obtain this union you must believe in and obey the voice of your own higher conscience; for the true Christ is the Divine Spirit within you, and thus, God manifest in humanity.”

Progress of the Marvellous.—Mrs. Herbert, of St. Joseph’s Hospital, Joliet, Illinois, as reported Aug. 16, had slept 219 days, sitting in an easy chair, in a cataleptic state. She rarely moves a muscle, and if her arm is lifted and not replaced it remains as it was left. Her hands are cold, and her face very pallid. The food given her daily, it is said, would only sustain life in a bird, and the doctors are expecting her death.

Mr. C. J. Helleberg, of Cincinnati, says that a lady of his family has become developed as a medium, and many messages have been written through her. Among others, a message from Charles XII. of Sweden declared that “Sweden will be a republic sooner than any other power in Europe,” and the elections will be easily and honestly managed.

A Grand Aerolite.—The Galt Gazette (California) describes the fall of a meteor in that vicinity, witnessed by Dr. Goodspeed, which fell in a slough and so heated the water as to kill the catfish that inhabited it. It lies in the pond, and looks as if a hundred feet wide. A much more marvellous story has been published of an engraved meteoric stone falling in an obscure portion of Georgia near Clayton Court-house, which is a hoax, and has been so pronounced by the postmaster at Clayton.

Whether the California story is true I have not ascertained, but the fall of a great meteor in this region has developed a grand meteoric capacity for lying. The despatch first published by the Boston Herald described the stone as falling near McAdam Junction, not far from Bangor, Maine, making the crockery rattle at the Junction, and plunging into the earth all but about ten feet of the stone, which was so hot that no one could come within fifty yards of it. It has not been found at all, for it dropped into the Bay of Fundy; but it illuminated the whole country for a vast distance, and looked as large as the moon. It had a long trailing violet light behind it as it fell. Our meteoric showers generally occur in August, this was on the 15th of September.

The Boy Pianist.—Joseph Hoffmann is considered in London the greatest young pianist since the days of Mozart. He is coming to America. He is from Poland.

Centenarians.—The Rabbi Hirsch, born in Poland, died a few weeks ago in Brooklyn, aged 109. He saw Napoleon on his march to Moscow. Mrs. Paradis of North Grosvenordale, Conn., died Aug. 26, aged 120. The Boston Globe in making a record of old people in Maine, has mentioned Miss Betsey Sargent, of Canterbury, aged 100; Mrs. Ellen Scott, Portsmouth, 100; Mrs. Mary Mann, Oxford, 101; Mrs. Jane Wilson, Edgecomb, 102; John Chandler, Concord, 102; Mrs. Nancy Chase, Edgerly, 103; Perault Pickard, Colchester, 107; Robert Peters, Berwick, 107; George McQueen, Portland, 109; Giles Bronson, Castleton, 115; Mrs. Mary Ludkends, Portland, 117.

Samuel Zielinski, a Pole, who came to the United States after he was 100 years old, is now living a mile from Dubois, Illinois, with his descendants, at the age of 120.

Educated Monkeys.—The story comes from Brazil, by way of Panama, that on a hemp farm seven large monkeys have been taught to work as laborers, and that they work faster and eat less than negroes. If they can pull hemp, why not do other work? If this report is confirmed it may be of some importance.

A correspondent of the New York Times says that monkeys from Cape Town, Africa, have been introduced successfully into the hemp fields of Kentucky. One gentleman employs twelve near Shelbyville, Perkins & Chirsman have eleven, Smith & Murphy twenty-six, and J. B. Park, near Kingston, who introduced monkey labor, employs seventeen. The monkeys cost about $60 each, they are docile, easily taught, and cost about one fourth of human labor.

Causes of Idiocy.—Dr. T. Langdon Down, inquiring into the causes of idiocy, has found that intemperance of parents is one of the most considerable factors in producing the affection. His view is confirmed by some French and German investigators, one of whom, Dr. Delasiauve, has said that in the village of Careme, whose riches were in its vineyards, ten years’ comparative sobriety, enforced by vine-disease, had a sensible effect in diminishing the cases of idiocy. Nervous constitution and consumption exercise important influence. Of the professions, lawyers furnish the smallest proportion of idiots, while they are credited with the procreation of a relatively very large number of men of eminence. With the clergy, these proportions are more than reversed. The influence of consanguineous marriage, per se, is insignificant, if it exists.—Pop. Science Monthly.

A Powerful Temperance Argument.—A most powerful argument for temperance is furnished by the records of the British army in India for 1886, showing the comparative amount of crime, disease, and death among 12,807 soldiers, of whom 3,278 were temperate, and 8,828 were drinking men. The number of cases of crime among the abstainers was 172, among the drinkers 3,988, a difference of one to twenty-three in number, or more than ten to one in percentage. The temperate had but 4.32 per cent. of crime, the drinkers 45.17 per cent. The percentage of sickness and death was more than twice as great among the drinkers. Liquor, therefore, more than doubled the proportion of disease and mortality, and increased the criminality more than tenfold. Of the numbers tried by court martial there were 120 times as many proportionally among the drinkers as among the temperate. The destructive effects of drink are far greater in hot climates, and perceptibly greater in hot weather.

The Southern States of the Union are in advance of the Northern on the temperance question. The legislature of Georgia has passed a bill by a large majority which taxes wine rooms in prohibition counties $10,000. At present this covers nearly all the State.

The forty-fifth annual report of the Registrar General of England shows that estimating the average mortality of males in England at 1,000, that of brewers is 1,361, of innkeepers and publicans 1,521. Scotch reports show the mortality of males engaged in the liquor business to be 68 per cent. above the actuaries table for healthy males, and 49 per cent. over the English life table.

Slow Progress.—It was a long time before lobelia was recognized by the profession—before anything good was found to belong to it. Now one of our leading professors thinks lobelia will become the most valuable of our cardiac sedatives—regulator of the heart’s action. I wrote up the value of lobelia in surgery, obstetrics and practice over thirty years ago; also the valuable properties of hydrastis can., both of which were almost unnoticed then and since by regular practitioners. But now Prof. Bartholow has discovered their great merits and written the latter up especially, and what I and Prof. Dodd, (V. S.,) wrote a third of a century ago will be credited to others. Well, who cares? The tincture of calendule flavas I have tried to force upon the profession for forty years as a dressing for wounds, but it will require some one higher in the profession to give it a hurrah, boys!—Med. Summary.

Community Doctors.—It is manifestly the interest of society that the doctor should be engaged and paid by the year, so that his interest would be to keep the people well instead of sick. Moreover, it would be more economical, as a doctor, secure of steady support, would not be inclined to make heavy charges, and the patient would not find a fit of illness making a dangerous inroad on his finances, so as to double his misfortune. The scheme has been advocated in the newspapers.

The Selfish System of Society.—The system of antagonism and competition results in a universal system of plunder by exorbitant charges, and each man protects himself by overcharging in return. Plunder by overcharging is so much the custom that no one objects to it. The Boston Herald says: “There is a baker in New York, who sells large loaves of bread of the finest quality for five cents a loaf. The same-sized loaf sells for ten cents in Boston.” In like manner, Americans generally pay ten cents for a loaf about half as large as that sold for ten cents, in London; yet the London baker has to buy the same flour after its cost is enhanced by an ocean voyage. This is the custom of society; the glass of lemonade, costing perhaps two cents, is sold at all prices, from five or ten cents up to twenty-five.

The correspondent of a Denver paper says that lumber costing forty-five cents a hundred feet, is sold at $2.25. These are samples of the financial disorder of life in all departments.

Educated Beetles.—Bridgeport, Conn., Aug. 24. Miss Emily Nelson, of this city, has received a present from Merida, Yucatan, in the shape of an educated jewelled bug. It has a harness of gold and is jewelled with precious stones.

The custom is said to have originated among the Spanish nobility several centuries ago, when the first bug was educated and worn by a princess. The bug became greatly attached to the maiden, and partook of her moods and dispositions. When she was sad or disheartened the bug became sluggish; and when she was joyous and vivacious the bug was likewise lively in its movements. At her death, the bug pined away and died, too.

Miss Nelson is very happy and justly very proud of her present. The insect is about the size of an ordinary black beetle. Around the body is firmly fastened a gold band. A gold strap is riveted to this and passes down the back around and under the body, and is welded upon the under side to the gold belt. Upon the back are tiny jewels set in gold and fastened into the shell. The coloring of the shell is a brilliant Nile green, edged with black. The movement of the bug gives flashes of variegated colors. Upon the under side is fastened a delicate gold chain which in turn is attached to a brooch. It is educated to eat from the lips. It understands various whistles and calls, and appears and disappears at the word of command.—Globe.

Rustless Iron is being manufactured in New York by a new process which, it is claimed, converts the surface of the metal into magnetic oxide of iron. This is done by subjecting it successively to the action of highly heated air and carbonic acid gas from coal fires. The process can be applied with most satisfactory results to water-pipes and architectural work.

Weighing the Earth.—Prof. Proctor proposes to repeat in Florida an experiment to determine the weight of the earth, and mentions the results of the methods heretofore tried. Newton first estimated the weight of the earth to be between five and six times as great as that of water. Such a weight it would have if it were one half iron and the other half limestone, or half copper and half clay. Evidently the metallic weight preponderates.

Weighing the earth is accomplished by comparing the effect of its attraction with that of much smaller bodies. One method is to compare, by balancing the weight of two balls, one above a globe of lead, as large as practicable, and the other below it, so as to have the attraction of the leaden globe pulling up and counteracting the gravitation to the earth. The effect is very slight and requires delicate apparatus.

By another, but more inaccurate method, the attraction of the earth has been compared with that of a mountain—a very indefinite method indeed. A better method was that of Astronomer Airy and Mr. Dunkin, who went down into the Harton coal pit 1,260 feet to see how much difference that depth would make in the movements of a pendulum. It gained 2¼ seconds in 24 hours, and the weight of the earth was inferred to be over 6½ times as great as that of water; but it is manifest that such a method could yield nothing much more accurate than the mountain experiment which indicated a weight 4¾ times that of water. The ball experiment, which is the most reliable, indicated 5½ times the weight of water, thus coinciding with Newton’s astronomical opinion, which is probably true.

Head and Heart.—The popular use of the terms head and heart to represent thought and emotion, which is contrary to physiology, is analogous to Dr. Hartmann’s statement of the oriental doctrine that thought alone belongs to the brain, but life and will to the heart. This ancient speculation (not intuition) is easily refuted. If it were true, the will power and powers of life would be proportional to the development of the heart, regardless of the brain, but the reverse is the fact. Great development of heart does not increase either will power, or life, but is injurious to both. The enlarged (hypertrophied) heart is injurious to vital power and will power, and in proportion to its increase, it tends to shorten life by apoplexy or some other form of cerebral disorder. It produces no increase of either life, will, or love. In fact, the stomach is more nearly associated with love than the heart, for men are much more amiable after enjoying a feast, but the heart, which is a part of the muscular system, is at its maximum of action in combat and war.

The Rectification of Cerebral Science, commenced in this number, will be continued in the November number, bringing the science up to its present condition, and showing how, after the rectification is completed, the science attains a grand simplicity, and, instead of being puzzled by cerebral organology, a very brief instruction will enable us to master the subject. In 1836 I instructed Prof. Cubi at New Orleans in the old organology, giving him six lessons in exchange for his instructions in Spanish. Three lessons would give an equal familiarity with the new system, though it is four times as extensive.