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Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, September 1899

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Title: Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, September 1899

Author: Various

Editor: William Jay Youmans


        
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK APPLETONS' POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, SEPTEMBER 1899 ***

  Established by Edward L. Youmans

              APPLETONS'
           POPULAR SCIENCE
               MONTHLY

              EDITED BY
         WILLIAM JAY YOUMANS

              VOL. LV

        MAY TO OCTOBER, 1899

              NEW YORK
       D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
                1899




          COPYRIGHT, 1899,
     BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.




[Illustration: EDUARD OSCAR SCHMIDT.]




APPLETONS' POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

SEPTEMBER, 1899.




ARE WE IN DANGER FROM THE PLAGUE?

BY VICTOR C. VAUGHAN,

PROFESSOR OF HYGIENE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN.


In an article on the plague in this journal, in May, 1897, the writer
answered this question as follows: "Yes, there is danger; but this,
being foreseen, may be easily avoided. Thorough inspection of persons
and disinfection of things from infected districts will keep the
disease out of Europe and America. Only by the most gross carelessness
could the plague be permitted to enter either of these continents."

It will be of interest to take up this subject again, and study it in
the light of the history of the plague since the article referred to
was written. The plague first appeared in western India, at Bombay,
where it still prevails. We are without any exact information
concerning its introduction into that city. Before the outbreak of the
disease at Bombay the mortality had increased so markedly that it was
a subject of discussion for three meetings of the Grant Medical
Society. The increase was attributed to the filthy condition of the
streets. This society made an investigation of the increased
mortality, and presented a report on the same to the municipal
authorities. Instead of heeding the warning, the authorities jeered at
the society, and refused to allow the report to be read.

Dr. Viegas appears to have been the first physician to recognize the
existence of the plague in the city. In a paper read before the Grant
Medical Society on November 24, 1896, he discussed the possible and
probable avenues by which the disease had found its way into the town.
He stated that sugar and dates had been mentioned as means by which
the plague was imported, but, if this had been the case, he thought it
strange that the infection had not been conveyed from Bagdad and
Bassorah, inasmuch as these articles come almost exclusively from
those places. Again, it was thought possible that the clothes of the
sick or of the dead from the plague in China might have been brought
over to Bombay, but Dr. Viegas was unable to find any evidence in
support of this theory. It had also been claimed that rats sick with
the plague had come by ship from Hong Kong, and had infected the rats
about the docks in Bombay. This theory, Dr. Viegas held, was not
supported by any facts. In short, Dr. Viegas found some objection to
every theory that had been proposed, and leaves us in doubt as to his
own views concerning the avenue by which the plague reached Bombay. He
is quite confident, however, that the filthiness of the city is to
blame for the rapidity with which the disease spread.

In a report by Lieutenant-Colonel Weir on the plague in Bombay a
statement is made that the disease was imported from Suez. Early in
September, 1896, four very suspicious deaths were reported, but, as
none of these had been attended by medical men, no definite conclusion
could be reached concerning them. The first case was reported by Dr.
Viegas late in September, 1896. The patient was a native who had not
been out of the city for months. The first case reported among
Europeans occurred on November 12, 1896. During the winter of 1896 and
1897 the disease prevailed most alarmingly, and reached its highest
mortality during the week ending February 9, 1897, when the deaths
from all causes in Bombay numbered 1,891. During the summer of 1897
the disease declined, and led to the belief that the measures that had
been put in operation would prove successful. This hope, however, was
not realized, and during the winter of 1897 and 1898 there was a
recrudescence of the disease. During the summer of 1898 the disease
again abated, to appear with renewed strength during the winter of
1898 and 1899. During the last week in March, 1899, the total number
of deaths from all causes in Bombay reached 2,408, and the deaths from
plague alone numbered more than 250 a day. It will be seen from these
figures that the plague still rages with undiminished virulence in the
capital of western British India. The abatement of the disease during
the summer months and its increased severity during the colder season
are not directly due to the effects of temperature. In the warm season
many of the natives sleep out of doors, while during the colder
weather they crowd into small, unventilated, filthy rooms. It is the
opinion of practically all observers at Bombay that the recrudescence
of the disease during the winter is due to this overcrowding.

Since the plague has prevailed at Bombay for nearly three years, it
may be well to inquire concerning its probable continuance at that
place. In making this inquiry we may learn something of the sanitary
condition of the city and the habits of its inhabitants. Bombay is the
metropolis of western India, and is situated on a long, narrow island
running almost north and south. The city is located near the southern
end of this island, with its harbor to the east and its sewage outfall
to the west. Its population of about nine hundred thousand is a very
mixed one, consisting of Hindoos of different castes, of Mohammedans,
of Eurasians, and of Europeans. Differences in race, in religion, and
in caste make it exceedingly difficult to carry out sanitary measures
and to look after the sick. The mean temperature is about 79° F., and
the relative humidity seventy-seven per cent. A considerable portion
of the island is below high-water level, and consequently the sewage
must be removed by means of pumps. The mean maximum temperature of the
ground eleven feet below the surface is 84.9° F., and the mean minimum
temperature is 80.9° F. It will be seen from these figures that
organic matter must undergo rapid decomposition both on the surface
and in the sewers. The water supply, which is said to be excellent, is
so carelessly drawn upon by the natives that, although sufficiently
abundant if used properly, it sometimes becomes scant. It not
infrequently happens that the sewers will not carry the volume of
water turned into them. For this reason, together with the tropical
rains, the soil often becomes water-logged. Indeed, the surface in
some sections of the city may be, not inappropriately, compared with a
fermenting muck-heap. Besides the fixed population, there is a
constant current of people flowing to and fro between the island and
the mainland. When there is any opportunity for the employment of a
large number of unskilled laborers, hundreds and thousands from the
surrounding country pour into the city. These people know nothing of
sanitary appliances, they lodge in the most densely crowded parts of
the city, and often a dozen of them will hire a single room, not more
than ten feet square, in which they eat and sleep. It is said that
seventy per cent of the inhabitants of Bombay live in "chawls." These
are tenement buildings of from five to seven stories high, built on
the "flat" system. A narrow hall, at the end of which is a latrine,
runs through each story, and from this doors open into rooms eight by
twelve feet in area. In one of these houses from five hundred to eight
hundred people live. These buildings are crowded together, with only
narrow, dark alleys between. Into these alleys the inhabitants of the
houses on both sides throw all kinds of refuse. In many parts of the
city fecal matter is deposited in boxes or baskets, and these, when
filled, are carried on the heads of scavengers to certain designated
places and the contents dumped into the sewers. It may be of interest
to note, in passing, that these scavengers seem to be largely immune
to the plague and all other infectious diseases.

This is a brief description of the sanitary condition of the city into
which the bubonic plague found its way nearly three years ago. How
long is it likely to remain? Before attempting to answer this question
we might ask what means have been employed to eradicate the disease.
On October 6, 1896, the municipal health commissioner issued an order
to the effect that all cases of the plague were to be segregated,
their houses disinfected, by force if necessary, and their sick to be
taken to the hospital. Health inspectors visited all parts of the
city, and carefully went through the great tenement houses looking for
those sick with the plague. When such were found they were immediately
sent to a hospital. Later, four camps were prepared, with facilities
for accommodating about twenty thousand people. An attempt was made to
transfer all the residents from a certain section of the city to these
camps, and detain them there while their residences were being
disinfected. After this had been done these people were allowed to
return to their homes, and another twenty thousand were taken to the
camps. This attempt, however, was never fully carried out. A
high-caste Hindoo prefers death at any time to association with one of
inferior caste. Every attempt at segregation of the sick led to more
or less disturbance; and finally, in March, 1898, serious riots
resulted. These were begun by Mohammedans, who followed a medical
officer to the hospital and burned the building and hospital supplies.
A plague inspector and three English soldiers were stoned to death.
Since the riots attempts at segregation of the sick have been
practically abandoned. Numerous hospitals have been provided, in order
that those differing in religion or in caste might be cared for at
different places. Under certain restrictions those sick with the
plague are allowed to remain in their homes. It will be seen from
these statements that it is not probable that the plague will be
driven by human agency out of Bombay. The Hindoos believe that when
the plague finds its way into a city it will remain for six years. The
probabilities are that this belief will be strengthened by the history
of the present epidemic in Bombay. Nothing short of an extensive
conflagration, destroying a large part of the city, can thoroughly
disinfect this place, in which the plague has already dwelt for nearly
three years. I think, therefore, that we must conclude that it is
quite certain that for several years yet Bombay will remain an
infected city.

When the plague was first announced at Bombay a large number of its
inhabitants, estimated at about three hundred thousand, left the city.
There can be but little doubt that with these the germs of the plague
were carried into the surrounding country. From Bombay the disease has
spread out in every direction, until it has found its way into nearly
every part of India. To-day the three large commercial cities of
British India--Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras--are all infected. The
manner of the introduction of the disease into Calcutta is somewhat
uncertain, several different accounts being given as authentic. Dr.
Cantlie says on this point: "The first case dealt with and reported
upon in Calcutta gives an interesting history. The patient, a lad
seventeen years old, came from Bombay, where evidently he had been
exposed to infection, as his sister, who accompanied him, had seen
several cases of plague in Bombay. Fifteen days before leaving Bombay
he had noticed swelling first in one groin and then in the other, but
never felt ill until his arrival in Calcutta, on September 24th. He
was seen and carefully examined in Calcutta by honest observers, and a
diplobacterium identical with the Kitasato bacillus was found in his
blood. Not only so, but the clinical symptoms of plague were most
manifest."

Another authority would have it that the plague was brought to
Calcutta from Hong Kong by a British regiment which had been engaged
in cleansing infected houses at Hong Kong. On this point Dr. Simpson
makes the following statement: "In January, 1895, the regiment went to
Calcutta, and this disease was first diagnosed as syphilis, then as
malarial fever with bubo, and finally the cause was declared to be
unknown. In June, 1896, one of the medical officers of the regiment
was attacked with fever, and the glands of the neck, axilla, and groin
were all enlarged. A goodly number of similar cases were met with in
the town; moreover, the rats became sick, and the grain stores swarmed
with diseased and dead rats. In spite of opposite evidence, it was
well-nigh certain that plague in a sporadic form had been in Calcutta
since 1895 or 1896."

The bacillus of the plague has undoubtedly found Calcutta quite as
well prepared for its reception as Bombay. In discussing a medical
report on the sanitary condition of Calcutta, the Pioneer Mail makes
the following statement: "London, with its population of over
4,000,000, has about 36,000 people to the square mile. In the thirteen
wards of Calcutta there are only four below this figure; the remainder
have from 46,000 to 144,000 per square mile, three wards containing
actually over 100,000. Colootolah is most densely populated; the
houses are literally crammed with people. One case is quoted where 250
persons were living in a space that should accommodate only 50. In a
hut seven feet in length, breadth, and height five men were found, and
several instances are given where similar conditions obtained. In our
barracks 600 cubic feet per man is the minimum space allowed. In these
_bastis_ the space runs from 157 to 49 cubic feet. This would be bad
enough if everything were clean and sweet in and about the huts, but,
as the medical board puts the case, 'here we find an allowance per
head going as low as practically one thirtieth of that given in
barracks, and no ventilation, with filth _ad libitum_ both in the room
and in its surroundings, to say nothing of the filthy persons of its
occupants, the sewage in the adjacent drains, and the accumulated
filth in the neighboring latrines; and to this may be added the fact
that the subsoil on which the huts are built is soaked through and
through with sewage matters and littered with garbage and filth of all
kinds.' The narrow gullies which give access to these huts are in
keeping with the general character of the _bastis_, and we may well
wonder that epidemic disease is not always present."

The probabilities are that the plague will continue in Bombay,
Calcutta, and Madras until it dies out from want of susceptible
material. It is not at all likely, with the conditions in these
cities, such as have already been described, that sanitary measures
sufficiently energetic to destroy the bacillus will be resorted to.
For some years to come these cities are likely to harbor the
infection, and will remain, as they are now, nurseries for the
disease.

The plague has not confined itself to the large cities of India, but
has spread all over that country. It has extended into the
northwestern provinces, has crossed the frontier, and passed into
Baluchistan and Afghanistan. In many of the interior cities it has
proved quite as fatal, in proportion to the population, as at Bombay
and Calcutta. At Poonah the mortality has during some weeks been as
high as eighty per cent of the cases, and four hundred deaths a week
have been reported. At Sholapore, in the Punjab, far to the northwest
of Bombay, the disease has prevailed in epidemic form.

With the plague widely diffused over the Indian empire, what measures
have been taken to prevent its spread to other parts of the world?
There are two routes by means of which the disease may pass from India
to Europe. One of these is by ship through the Red Sea, the Suez
Canal, and the Mediterranean; the other is overland from the
northwestern provinces of India through Afghanistan into southeastern
Europe. In fact, there are three overland routes from northwestern
India into Europe. One of these leads from Lahore, the capital of the
Punjab, through Afghanistan into the Transcaspian Province of Russia.
The Transcaspian Railway extends from Samarkand, a place of about
thirty-five thousand inhabitants, through the desert to the Caspian
Sea at Ouzoun Ada. The latter place is connected by steamer with Baku
and the Russian railroad system. The second overland route starts from
the northwestern provinces, or Afghanistan, or Baluchistan, passes
through Persia, extending on up between the Caspian and Black Seas,
and crosses the Caucasus Mountains in the neighborhood of Tiflis. Both
of these routes are quite extensively traveled and pass through cities
of considerable commercial importance. Samarkand has extensive
manufactures of cotton and silk, and carries on considerable trade by
means of the Transcaspian Railway with European Russia. The second
route passes through Teheran, the capital of Persia, with a population
of about two hundred and twenty-five thousand. This route is also
largely employed by commercial travelers, especially from Russia. The
third overland route passes through Persia and Turkey in Asia up to
Constantinople. This route can not be called a commercial highway, but
it is used to a considerable extent, especially by pilgrims, and since
at no point do travelers along this route come in contact with
European guards against the plague, it is most likely that the pest
will find its way into Constantinople by this avenue, if at all. The
first two overland routes are guarded by Russian medical inspectors.
Russia has not been slow to protect itself against the introduction of
this epidemic. In December, 1896, the following lines of action were
determined upon, and have apparently since that time been carried out
quite thoroughly: First, Russian medical men were sent to the larger
cities of Persia, such as Teheran and Meshed, for the purpose of
watching the approach of the plague. All Russian consular officers in
Persia were requested to inform these medical men of every rumor of
the epidemic. Second, points of embarkation on the Persian shore of
the Caspian Sea have been watched, in order to detect suspicious cases
that might pass to Russia along this route. Third, observation
stations have been established along the frontiers of the Transcaspian
Province. Inspection officers stationed at these places have been
notified to close the frontier, with the exception of certain points
where inspection stations have been established. Fourth, inspectors
have also been placed to guard the region of Tiflis against the
introduction of the plague from both Persia and Turkey. For the
reasons above mentioned, it seems to me probable that if the plague
reaches Europe, it will likely do so by way of Turkey in Asia, across
the Bosporus into Constantinople. The large number of pilgrims passing
along this route, with the Turk's well-known fatalistic belief, render
it quite probable that infection gathered anywhere along the route
may be carried into Europe. Since several places in Hedjaz, along the
eastern shore of the Red Sea, have already become infected with the
plague, it is by no means improbable that the disease may find its way
into the Balkan Peninsula. There are also several centers of infection
along the shores of the Persian Gulf. It will be seen from these
statements that Mohammedan pilgrims are exposed to the infection.
Indeed, already the disease has been detected among these pilgrims on
steamships in the Red Sea.

Certain international measures for the restriction of the plague were
formulated at the Sanitary Convention of Venice in 1897. Nearly all
civilized nations sent representatives to this conference, and certain
general rules were adopted. Recognizing the fact that Mohammedan
pilgrims from infected districts in India, coming to Mecca and other
places along the eastern shore of the Red Sea, would mingle with those
of like faith from Turkey and northern Africa, special rules
concerning pilgrims were adopted at this conference. It should be
understood, however, that these rules are likely to prove efficient
safeguards only among those pilgrims who travel by sea. In the first
place, the conference made certain regulations concerning the
construction and sanitary arrangements of pilgrim ships. The upper
deck must be kept clear for these people, and on the main covered deck
every pilgrim has to have at least sixteen square feet of surface.
Every one embarking on a pilgrim vessel must pass a medical
inspection. No sick person or one suspected of having an infectious
disease is allowed to go on board. The number which the vessel is
allowed to carry is determined beforehand, and the names of all
passengers and their home residences are recorded. The ship must
supply wholesome water and make provision for food, proper in quality
and sufficient in quantity. Every vessel carrying pilgrims must have
on board a medical officer and a disinfecting stove. Details are given
concerning the sanitary regulations during the voyage. All pilgrims
are landed on the island of Camaran, in the Red Sea, before being
allowed to disembark on the last stage of their journey. The period of
detention from healthy ships at this place extends through only three
days. If no disease appears during this time, the pilgrims are allowed
to embark again, and go directly to Jeddah. If disease appears either
before or after landing at Camaran, the pilgrims are detained at least
ten days from the date of the last case. Arriving at Jeddah, they are
no longer under international sanitary regulations, and any control
exercised over them at that time must be administered by Turkish
authorities. Just here, in my opinion, lies the greatest danger so far
as pilgrims are concerned. It is true that the conference made certain
recommendations and formulated certain rules concerning the return of
those pilgrims going to the north or into Egypt, but the fact must not
be overlooked that these restrictions are applicable only to those who
go by sea. No restrictions are placed upon Mohammedan pilgrims
returning from Mecca to India. India is already so generally infected
that such restrictions have been deemed unnecessary.

The following is a general statement of the rules applicable to
vessels coming to European ports from India through the Suez Canal:
All vessels that have been ten days or longer at sea after departure
from an infected port are allowed to pass through the canal without
question and without precaution. Suspected vessels or those which have
been at sea less than ten days since departure from an infected port,
and which are provided with a medical officer and a properly equipped
disinfecting plant, are allowed to pass through the canal in
quarantine. This means that while passing through the canal there
shall be no communication between those on board the vessel and those
on the land. Other suspected vessels are compelled to proceed to the
Wells of Moses for disinfection. Here the passengers and crew are
disembarked, isolated for twenty-four hours, and their effects
disinfected. At the same time the contents of the ship undergo
disinfection. If the plague be found on board, all passengers, as well
as the crew, are detained for a period not exceeding ten days. All
clothing, the cargo, and the ship itself are disinfected. When a
vessel passes through the Suez Canal in quarantine, notice of that
fact is telegraphed to the country to which the vessel is going, and
it is not allowed to land elsewhere.

Should the plague appear in any European country, the following rules
were formulated to prevent its spread: (1) Whenever a case of the
plague appears in any country the sanitary authorities of that country
must give immediate notice to all other countries represented in the
conference. This notice may pass through diplomatic or consular
agencies, or it may be sent directly by telegraph. After this the
sanitary authorities of the country in which the plague has appeared
shall inform other countries at least once a week concerning the
progress of the disease and the measures resorted to to prevent its
spread.

(2) When an infected person enters a country by rail or other
conveyance overland, disinfection of his person and personal effects
is made obligatory. Land quarantine is condemned, and it is
recommended that modern disinfection be practiced in its stead. Each
country, however, may reserve the right to close its frontier against
any other country in which the disease exists. It is recommended that
medical inspection along the frontier be established in connection
with custom-house examinations, in order to prevent unnecessary delay
in travel. Passenger trains and postal cars are not to be detained at
any frontier, but if a car be found to contain a real or a suspected
case of the plague, this car shall be detached from the train at the
frontier or at the nearest station thereto and its contents
disinfected.

(3) Travelers coming from infected countries may be, at the discretion
of the sanitary authorities, detained under observation for a period
not exceeding eight days. Individual governments are allowed to take
any special measures that may be deemed wise against the importation
of the disease by means of gypsies, vagrants, and immigrants.

In formulating the above-mentioned rules to prevent the importation of
the plague into Europe the members of the Venice Congress seem to have
been thoroughly convinced that the longest period of incubation
possible in this disease is ten days. It seems to have been assumed
that if a vessel had been for ten days or longer at sea after
departure from an infected port, and no cases of the plague had
developed up to that time, there could be no danger of this vessel
carrying the infection. It appears to me that a safer course would
have been to require inspection of all persons and things going on
board a vessel leaving an infected port, and the thorough disinfection
of certain things, at least, on such vessels arriving at uninfected
ports. The disinfection of a ship and its cargo by means of steam is
not at present a very costly procedure.

Since the plague, if it reaches America at all, must come to us by
sea, it may be of special interest to inquire concerning outbreaks of
this disease on board ship. In making this inquiry we will confine
ourselves to such cases as have occurred within the past two years. In
March, 1897 (I have been unable to ascertain the exact date), the
transport Dilwara left Bombay, bound for Southampton, with a regiment
of English soldiers, together with their wives and children. On March
18th, while the vessel was in the Red Sea, a child died of the plague
and was buried at sea. On arriving at Suez the persons who had been in
immediate contact with the child were transferred to the Wells of
Moses and properly disinfected. After this had been done, the vessel
was allowed to pass through the Suez Canal in quarantine. No fresh
case occurred, and the vessel arrived at Southampton April 6th. Here
all articles which might possibly contain infection were disinfected,
the passengers were allowed to go to their homes, and the troops were
placed in barracks. No other cases resulted.

On July 6, 1897, one of the crew of the Carthage, of the Peninsular
and Oriental Company's line, was attacked with the plague. The ship
was then in the Arabian Sea. Two days later the sick man, with two
other members of the crew detailed to attend him, was landed at Aden.
Six days later a second member of the crew was attacked with slight
symptoms of the plague. This fact was reported when the vessel passed
Malta. The Carthage had intended to stop at Marseilles, but, on
account of the plague on board, continued its course to England. Both
of these patients were isolated by being placed in a large boat hung
at a height at the side of the vessel so as to avoid communication
with others on the ship. When the vessel arrived at Plymouth the
passengers were allowed to depart to their respective homes. The only
precaution that was taken consisted in ascertaining the destination of
each person, and informing the health authorities of the places to
which these people were going. The Carthage had on board a steam
disinfector, and everything that had been exposed to the infection was
thoroughly disinfected. On arrival at the port of London the second
patient was isolated until he recovered. No cases developed in
England.

On December 7, 1897, the Caledonia arrived at Plymouth, England, from
Bombay, without touching at any Mediterranean port. While in the Red
Sea two lascars developed symptoms of the plague. They were landed at
Suez, and no further outbreak occurred. When the ship reached Plymouth
one hundred and sixty passengers were landed, and their names and
addresses forwarded to the local authorities of their respective
destinations. After proper disinfection, the ship proceeded to London.

In December, 1898, a case of plague developed on the Golconda while at
Marseilles, on her way from Bombay to London. The ship proceeded
immediately, the patient was landed at Plymouth, proper disinfection
was carried out, and no other cases developed. This is a proof that
the assumption that a vessel is safe from infection after ten days
have passed since leaving an infected port is fallacious, as this time
was exceeded between Bombay and Marseilles.

The report that the Nippu Maru recently arrived at San Francisco with
the plague on board has proved to be erroneous.

In September, 1896, a Portuguese-Indian steward died at the Seamen's
Hospital, at Greenwich, England, very suddenly. This man was in the
hospital for only forty-eight hours, and no one suspected the plague
at that time. On the last day of October of the same year another
patient in the same hospital was taken ill and died with symptoms of
the plague. Bacteriological examinations of the glands of the body of
the second man were made, and a bacillus which presented the
well-known characters of the plague bacillus was found. The vessel on
which the Portuguese steward came to England left Bombay about the
end of August, 1896. There was at that time no official knowledge of
the existence of the plague in Bombay, but it probably existed there.
This is another evidence of the fallacy of the belief in the ten days'
period of incubation. It seems quite evident to me that the English
authorities lay too much stress upon the period of incubation. A man
leaving Bombay or any other infected port may carry the bacillus under
his finger nails, elsewhere on his person, or in his clothing, and may
not become infected until many days after leaving the infected place.
Careful inspection and thorough disinfection of all vessels coming
from infected ports should be insisted upon. It has been abundantly
demonstrated by the history of the plague, as well as that of other
infectious diseases, that the old plan of detention in quarantine is a
relic of bygone times. Detention is cruel, dangerous, and inefficient;
inspection and disinfection are rational and efficacious.

The modes of infection with the bacillus of the plague are as follows:
(1) By inoculation. The history of the present epidemic in Asia
recounts several instances of inoculation with the plague bacillus. On
June 22 or 23, 1896, while making a post-mortem examination, Professor
Ayoama, of Tokio, one of the Japanese commissioners sent to Hong Kong
to study the plague, scratched the third finger on his left hand; on
June 27th he again scratched himself on the end of the right thumb; on
the evening of June 28th he felt ill, and had a temperature of 101.6°
F.; he slept well during that night, but during the afternoon of June
29th he had a temperature of 105° F. At that time a bubo was found in
the left axilla, and there was well-marked lymphangitis of the right
arm. Professor Ayoama has described his own case as follows: "On June
28th, after having finished a dissection, I took my meal about half
past two and did not enjoy it. After the meal I went upstairs, when at
certain movements of the arm I felt a slight pain in the left armpit,
and on feeling with my finger I found some slightly enlarged glands
present. In the evening I felt very ill, depressed, and languid,
burning hot along the whole of the back, while the thermometer showed
normal temperature. As Mr. Kitasato and I had invited guests that
evening, I was present at supper. I had no appetite, and felt so
languid that I often wished to withdraw. At half past eleven I hurried
to my room, when I found my temperature was 39° C. I took one gramme
of quinine, and slept well. Next morning I awoke and noticed, on the
under side of the left ring finger, a small, whitish-yellow blister,
and then, along the back of the hand, a red line. From this time I
remembered nothing for more than two weeks."

Dr. Ishigami, another of the Japanese commission in Hong Kong, also
inoculated himself with the plague while making a post-mortem
examination.

A patient, while delirious with the pneumonic form of the plague,
expectorated into the face of an English nurse caring for him. Within
a few hours the eye on that side of the face became inflamed; later
the parotid and cervical glands became involved, and the nurse died.
Other illustrations of inoculation with the bacillus of the plague
might be given. Dr. Wyssokowitch and Dr. Jobobat believe that the
bacillus can penetrate the unbroken skin. In support of this belief
they report some experiments made by them upon macaque monkeys. They
found that when a needle was dipped in the culture of the plague
bacillus and drawn across the palm of the hand of one of these
monkeys, without making any visible scratch, the animal speedily
developed the disease. However, this does not prove that the bacillus
will penetrate the unbroken skin of man.

(2) By inhalation. That the pneumonic form of the plague results from
inhalation of the bacillus can not be doubted. Monkeys caused to
inhale the bacillus develop this form of the disease.

(3) By deglutition. That the disease may be acquired by taking the
bacillus into the alimentary canal has been demonstrated by
experiments upon animals of various kinds.

The sputum of patients suffering from the pneumonic form of the
disease is filled with the bacilli. The germs are also found,
sometimes at least, in the discharges from the bowels and kidneys.
That the infection may be transported in clothing and rags has been
long known. The following extract from a memoir by Sir John Hay, then
minister from England to Morocco, indicates that the plague was
introduced into Morocco in 1826 by means of infected articles of
clothing: "The danger from plague by contagion can not, however, to my
mind be called in question. That dire disease was introduced into
Morocco about the year 1826 by an English frigate, which our
Government had dispatched to Alexandria, where the plague was then
raging, to convey from that port to Tangier two sons of the Sultan,
returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca. No case of plague or other
illness had occurred on board the frigate during the voyage, and the
Sultan's sons and other passengers were allowed to land at Tangier.

"The customs officers, being suspicious that, in the numerous boxes
brought by the pilgrims who had been permitted to embark with the
Moorish princes, contraband goods were being smuggled, caused some of
the cases to be opened. One contained Egyptian wearing apparel, which
the owner said he had bought second hand, and subsequently confessed
had belonged to a person who had died of the plague in Alexandria. The
two Moorish officials who opened the boxes were attacked with the
plague that night and died in a few hours. The disease spread rapidly
throughout Morocco, carrying off eighty per cent of those who were
attacked."

I mention these facts in order to emphasize the desirability of
disinfecting all articles liable to carry the infection coming from
infected places.

Professor Haffkine's preventive inoculation against the plague is
still being largely employed in India. This consists in injecting
hypodermically sterilized cultures of the bacillus. No curative action
is claimed for this treatment, but it is believed to be protective
against the disease. It is stated that more than eighty thousand
people in India have undergone this form of vaccination, and that the
death rate among these has been exceedingly low. However, it is well
to be careful in accepting statistical statements on a matter of this
nature. In the first place, it is probable that only the more
intelligent will submit to vaccination, and these will also employ
other means of protecting themselves against the disease. In the
second place, there are many thousands of people exposed to the
infection, or at least live in infected districts, who have never been
vaccinated and who do not acquire the disease.

Three kinds of serum have been used as curative agents in the plague.
In 1896 M. Yersin began the use of a specially prepared serum in
China. The first cases treated with this preparation did unusually
well, and it was hoped that most valuable results would follow from
its more extended use. This serum is prepared after the manner of the
antitoxine used in the treatment of diphtheria. That used most largely
in India is made at the Imperial Institute of Experimental Medicine in
St. Petersburg. Numerous physicians in India have reported upon the
action of this serum, and none of them favorably. Very recently Dr.
Clemow treated fifty cases with this serum, and compared them with
fifty other cases treated without the serum. Every other case was
selected for the serum treatment. The mortality was exactly the same
in each group, forty patients out of fifty dying.

The second serum is that prepared by M. Roux, of the Pasteur Institute
in Paris. This is practically the same as the preparation made by M.
Yersin, and the results obtained are equally unsatisfactory. In 1897
the writer had the privilege of observing, both at Paris and at St.
Petersburg, the preparation of these agents, from which at that time
great results were expected. A third preparation is made by Professor
Lustig, of Florence. I have been unable, so far, to find any detailed
account of the method followed by Professor Lustig in preparing his
serum. From all that I can learn, however, it is not a serum, but a
sterilized bacterial culture; at any rate, Lustig's preparation has
proved probably least valuable of all.

At present (July, 1899) the plague prevails throughout India, and has
appeared at various places in Baluchistan and Afghanistan, at
Samarkand in the Transcaspian Province of Russia; in Persia, at
Bassorah and other points along the Persian Gulf; at several places
along the western shore of the Red Sea; at Suez and Alexandria; at
Tamatave, in Madagascar; at Port Lewis, Mauritius; at Penang, in the
Straits Settlements; at Amoy and Hong Kong, China; and at numerous
places in Formosa. For reasons already given, it will not be at all
surprising should the recent report that the plague had appeared in
Constantinople prove to be true. If it once reaches that place, it is
more than likely that it will become scattered throughout the Balkan
Peninsula. The sad death of Professor Müller and his laboratory
servant, at Vienna, from the plague bacillus which Professor Müller
brought from Bombay, shows the necessity for caution in handling the
germ of this disease.

Are we in America in danger of the plague? I will have to answer this
question very much as I did two years ago: "Yes, we are in danger; but
this danger, being foreseen, may be easily avoided." In my opinion,
our most vulnerable point is along the Pacific coast. With the plague
at Hong Kong, it is possible that it may be transferred to Manila, and
the transports bringing soldiers to this country may also bring the
infection. However, I think the chances of this happening are small.
The length of time required to make the voyage from Manila to San
Francisco is so great that, with the infection on board, it would be
almost certain to manifest itself before reaching our shores, and,
knowing its presence on board a ship reaching San Francisco or any
other point on the western coast, thorough inspection and disinfection
will keep the disease out of this country. The probabilities are that
for several years to come the larger cities of India, at least, will
remain infected, and our sanitary authorities must be vigilant. The
fact that, if the plague reaches us at all, it must come by sea, that
a long voyage must be made before it can reach us, and that the
disease will most probably appear on board ship before arrival at any
American port--all these conditions are in our favor. The General
Government should take upon itself the control of all measures to
prevent the introduction of infectious diseases from without.
Quarantine detention is a relic of ignorance of the true nature of
infectious diseases. All transports and other vessels between Manila
and this country should be provided with proper disinfecting
apparatus. The Government should supply the Marine-Hospital Service
with every needed equipment, and if this be done the plague can enter
America only through incompetency in that service. There is another
source of danger on our Western coast that must not be overlooked. The
plague is now widely distributed in Formosa, which is under the
control of Japan, and our intercourse with the last-mentioned country
should be most carefully watched.




TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE AND ITS PRESIDENT.

BY M. B. THRASHER.


Tuskegee is a county town in the State of Alabama, not far from
Montgomery. It is near the center of that part of the South commonly
spoken of as the "black belt," because the negro inhabitants there
greatly outnumber the whites. The town is one of the oldest in the
South. It is said, in fact, that when De Soto made his famous journey
across that part of the newly discovered continent he found an Indian
village of the same name on the site of the present town. Tuskegee is
five miles from the main line of the Southern Railroad, with which it
is connected at Chehaw by means of a narrow-gauge road.

[Illustration: THE FACULTY OF THE TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL
INSTITUTE.]

Tuskegee, as the word is oftenest used now, means the Normal and
Industrial Institute, situated a mile out from the town and forming a
little settlement in itself. This is the great school for young negro
men and women which Booker T. Washington has built up, and of which he
is the principal. The pupils who attend number a thousand each year.
It is the largest school for colored people, managed by colored
people, in the United States. There is no one connected with the
school, except some of the members of the board of trustees, who is
not of the race which the institute is designed to help.

Tuskegee Institute is so entirely the result of Booker T. Washington's
labors, and his life has been so interwoven with the development of
the school, that a brief account of his boyhood and youth is almost
indispensable to a complete description of the institute, particularly
as the conditions with which he struggled were so generally those
which confronted all of the negroes at that time.

[Illustration: PRESIDENT BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.]

Booker T. Washington was born a slave in Virginia, not long before the
breaking out of the war. It seems strange that a man who is so widely
known to-day and is so universally respected as Mr. Washington, when
asked how old he is should be obliged to reply that he does not know,
yet such is the case. The birth of one more black babies on a large
plantation at that time was a matter of too little moment to have
sufficient notice taken of it to accurately fix the date. He was a boy
old enough during the war, though, to know something of the struggle
going on around him, for, speaking in public of Lincoln once, I heard
him say: "My first acquaintance with our hero was this: Night after
night, before the dawn of day, on an old slave plantation in Virginia,
I recall the form of my sainted mother bending over the bundle of rags
that enveloped my body, on a dirt floor, breathing a fervent prayer to
Heaven that 'Massa Lincoln' might succeed, and that some day she and I
might be free."

[Illustration: MRS. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.]

Another incident of those days I have heard him tell of in these
words: "Word was sent over the plantation for all 'the hands' to come
up to the 'big house.' We went, and to us men, women, and children
gathered in the yard some one standing on the veranda read a paper. I
was too young to understand why the men and women around me should
have begun to shout, 'Hallelujah! Praise de Lawd!' when the reading
was finished, but my mother, bending down to where I was clinging to
her dress, whispered to me that we were free."

Not long after the close of the war the Washingtons left the
plantation and went to West Virginia, where, in the coal mines, work
could be had which would pay money wages. At first Booker worked in
the mines with his brothers, but he soon became dissatisfied with the
chance for improvement which that work afforded. "The first thing that
led me to study," he has said, "was seeing a young colored man slowly
reading a newspaper to a group of colored people who surrounded him
with open mouths and gaping eyes. He was almost a god to them." The
chance to study was soon found. An energetic woman of kindly nature
hired the young colored boy to work about her house as a general
chore-boy. Finding that he was anxious to learn, she offered to teach
him to read in the spare minutes of his work, and did so. One day he
overheard a man talking about Hampton, where General Armstrong had
already begun his noble work. This, the man said, was a place where
black boys could go to school, and at the same time work to pay their
way. "As soon as I heard that," Mr. Washington has said, "I made up my
mind that Hampton was just the place for me, and that I would go
there. I started, although I had no money and did not even know where
Hampton was. I felt sure I could inquire the way as I went, and work
my passage. I walked a good share of the way, begged some rides, and
when I had earned any money which I could spare, paid my fare to ride
on the trains. I reached Richmond, Virginia, one night too late to get
any work, and I was entirely out of money. While I was walking about
wondering where I would get a lodging, I happened to see a nice dry
place under a stretch of plank sidewalk. Watching my chance when no
one was looking, I crawled in and curled up to sleep. The next day I
was so fortunate as to get work helping to unload a vessel, and, as
the job lasted several days, I came back each night to my lodging
under the sidewalk, thus saving all my wages except the little
required for food. In this way I was able to get money enough to carry
me the rest of the way to Hampton, and leave me fifty cents when I got
there."

In these days of entrance examinations to various institutions of
learning, it is interesting to read of the examination which young
Washington was required to pass before he could enter Hampton. He
tells us of it thus: "Of course," says he, "they knew nothing of me,
and, after my long tramp, days of hard labor and nights of sleeping in
barns and under sidewalks, I suppose I could not have presented a very
prepossessing appearance. After looking me over in a not very
encouraging manner, they gave me a broom and took me into a room,
which they told me to sweep. I suppose I swept that room over three or
four times before I was satisfied to call it done, when a teacher came
in and took her handkerchief and wiped the walls to see if she could
find any dust on them. After that they said I could come to the
school. So you see I passed my examination.

"At Hampton I found the opportunity, in the way of buildings,
teachers, and industries provided by the generous, to get training in
the class room, and by practical touch with industrial life to learn
thrift, economy, and push. I was surrounded by an atmosphere of
business, Christian influence, and a spirit of self-help that seemed
to have awakened every faculty within me, and caused me for the first
time to realize what it meant to be a man instead of a piece of
property.

"While there I resolved that, when I had finished my course of
training, I would go into the far South, into the 'black belt' of the
South, and give my life to providing the same kind of opportunity for
self-reliance and self-awakening that I had found provided for me at
Hampton. My work began at Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1881, in a small
shanty and church, with one teacher and thirty students, without a
dollar's worth of property. The spirit of work and of industrial
thrift, with aid from the State and generosity from the North, has
enabled us to develop an institution of a thousand students, gathered
from twenty-six States, with eighty-one instructors and thirty-eight
buildings.

"I am sometimes asked what is the object of all this outlay of energy
and money. To that I would answer that the needs of the ten million
colored people in the South may be roughly said to be food, clothing,
shelter, education, proper habits, and a settlement of race relations.
These ten million people can not be reached by any direct agency, but
they can be reached by sending out among them strong selected young
men and women, with the proper training of the head and hand and
heart, who will live among these masses and show them how to lift
themselves up. The problem that Tuskegee Institute keeps before itself
is how to prepare these leaders."

The first time I went to Tuskegee I happened to ride for half a day
through the State of Georgia in the same seat in the car with a man
whose conversation showed him to be one of the class to whom the
designation "unreconstructed" has sometimes been applied. An officer
in the Confederate army, he had accepted the situation at the close of
the war, but now, after thirty years, although he spoke of existing
conditions without bitterness, he spoke of them with little or no
sympathy. I had some doubt how he would comment on my errand, when I
told him that I was on my way to attend the Negro Conference at
Tuskegee. Imagine my surprise when he exclaimed: "Going to Tuskegee,
are you, to see Booker Washington? Just let me tell you there's a man
that's got the right idea of things. He's teaching the negroes to
work. I wish the South had a thousand Booker Washingtons." This man, I
learned afterward, when I was in Atlanta, was one of the most
prominent and successful business men of that city.

The second day of my stay at Tuskegee, as I came out of the rude
buildings where the conference had been held, a young colored man
waiting at the door accosted me. "Is not this Mr. ----," he said, "and
at the World's Fair were you not in charge of such an exhibit?" naming
one of the educational exhibits. I said I was the man. "Don't you
remember me?" he added, telling me where he had been working at the
time. I did remember him perfectly, and asked how he happened to be so
far removed from Chicago.

"It was like this," he said. "Next year I went to the Atlanta
Exposition. While there I heard Mr. Washington speak, and learned
about his school where negro boys could learn a trade. I had always
been at a disadvantage because I did not know how to do any kind of
work really well. So I came here and began to learn carpentering. I
have the trade nearly learned now, and when I graduate from here I
shall know how to really work."

Soon after beginning my long car ride from Tuskegee back to the North
I stepped into the mail car on the train to post some letters. The
envelopes I had used bore the imprint of Tuskegee Institute in the
corner. As I handed them to the postal clerk, he glanced at the
printing in the corner and exclaimed: "I say, that Booker Washington
is a wonderful man, isn't he? I never saw him, but he's teaching those
people there to work." Then he went on to tell me about a young
colored man whom he had known who had gone to Tuskegee and learned
harness-making, and then come home to set up business for himself.
This man told me later that he had never been farther north than
Louisville.

It seemed to me as if here was an interesting coincidence of unsought
testimony, and all tending to show how consistently Tuskegee teaches a
gospel of work. Industrial training goes hand in hand there, with
mental and moral teaching, in earnest effort to help the thousand
young negro men and women there and make their lives count for the
most possible for themselves and their race.

[Illustration: A CLASS IN MENTAL PHILOSOPHY.]

Any one who has heard Mr. Washington speak at any length to audiences
of his own race knows how earnestly he advocates industrial education
for the negro. As might be expected, then, we find at Tuskegee
practical hand training. The advantage is twofold. The students not
only learn to work, but in doing so many are enabled to work out all
or a part of the expenses which otherwise in many cases would have
prevented them from remaining at the school.

[Illustration: ARMSTRONG HALL. One of the oldest buildings at
Tuskegee.]

Of the thirty-eight buildings at Tuskegee, all but the first three,
and these are among the smallest ones, have been built by the
students. Several of the largest of these buildings are of brick, and
the educational process begins in the institute's own brickyard, where
a class of muscular young men are making bricks under the direction of
a capable instructor, and in making them learn the trade which they
expect to follow in after life. This yard not only makes all the
bricks the institute uses, but many thousand more to be sold each year
for use in the surrounding country.

[Illustration: ALABAMA HALL. One of the first buildings erected by the
students.]

I heard Mr. Washington tell to an audience of fifteen hundred negroes,
in Charleston, South Carolina, a characteristic story of the beginning
of this brickyard. "After I had been teaching a while at Tuskegee," he
said, "I began to feel that I was partly throwing away my time
teaching the students only books, without getting hold of them in
their home life and without teaching them how to care for their bodies
and how to work. I looked about for some land, and found a farm near
Tuskegee which could be bought. I had no money, but a good friend had
confidence enough in our prospects to loan me five hundred dollars to
pay down toward the land so as to secure it. After that it was not
long before I had the school moved. Then I would teach the boys for a
part of the day, and then for the rest of the time take them out of
doors with me to help clear up the land. In that way we did all the
work we possibly could. When it came to making bricks for a building,
though, we were stuck. We could make the bricks, and did, but none of
us knew how to burn them. For that it was necessary to have a skilled
man, who must be paid. I was out of money by that time, but I owned a
gold watch. This I took to a pawnshop and raised all I could on it.
The money I got was enough to pay a man to burn the bricks and teach
us so that we could do the next ones ourselves. That watch is in pawn
yet, but we have got thirty-eight buildings."

[Illustration: STUDENTS AT WORK ON NEW TRADES-SCHOOL BUILDING.]

Another class of young men are learning bricklaying. They take the
bricks as they come from the yard and put up the walls of the
buildings, while the carpenters do the woodwork. The classes in
woodworking are among the most important at the school. The institute
now owns a large tract of valuable timber land, while among the
industrial buildings on the grounds is a good sawmill, equipped with
the necessary machinery. Whatever lumber is needed in the erection of
the buildings is cut on the timber lot, drawn to the mill, and sawed.
In this way one class learns to saw and handle lumber. Besides the
regular carpentry classes, joiner work and carriage-making are carried
on. A large part of the furniture in the buildings, including the
beds, tables, and chairs in the dormitories and dining rooms, was
built in this way. All the carts, wagons, and carriages which are used
about the place were built in the carriage shop, and the hickory
lumber wagons turned out there have so good a reputation that all not
needed on the place are sold readily to be used on the near-by farms.
The carriages are painted, ironed, and trimmed by the young men, and
no better proof of the workmanship can be asked than some of the rides
I have had in them about Tuskegee.

[Illustration: ONE END OF THE DINING HALL AT TUSKEGEE.]

The management at Tuskegee tries to have a building always in course
of construction for the benefit of the building classes. This year
they are erecting a trades-school building. Last year they built a
handsome brick church, which will seat two thousand persons. The
building of this church shows well what the school's building classes
can do. The designs were drawn by Mr. R. R. Taylor, the young colored
man who is the instructor in mechanical and architectural drawing. One
of his pupils designed the cornices with which the building is
finished, and another designed the pews which furnish it. These pews
were built in the school's joiner shop. The bricks were all made in
the school's brickyard, and laid by the students. Men learning slating
and tinsmithing covered the roof, and the steam-heating and electrical
apparatus were also put in by the students, although this is one of
the first of the buildings where the students have been sufficiently
advanced in those trades to do the last-named work.

As it was determined to employ only negroes as instructors at
Tuskegee, it was at first difficult to find enough men and women of
that race skilled in the arts and trades which it was wished to have
taught there, and teachers were brought to the institute from all over
the country. Now, however, as each year sees the industrial classes
better under way, the tide is setting out, and Tuskegee yearly turns
out teachers of trades, both men and women, who are eagerly sought by
other institutions which are coming to see the value of industrial
training. In many cases these teachers go to such positions at lower
wages than they might hope to earn if they went to work at their
trades, but they do this because they feel they have a duty to the
institute and to the friends who have sustained it, to help extend its
influence as widely as lies within their power. The question is often
asked if a negro having learned a trade can find work at it. I do not
think that the Tuskegee students who have thoroughly fitted themselves
feel any anxiety about this. I remember speaking on this subject to
the teacher in the harness-making and saddlery department, a good
workman and a superb physical specimen of a man. He told me that
during the long summer vacations he had left Tuskegee, and had never
had any trouble in getting work and keeping it in shops in Montgomery
and other towns of the State.

[Illustration: A CLASS OF TAILORS.]

Among the buildings at Tuskegee is a foundry and machine shop, which
is always full of work, especially in the way of repairs upon
agricultural machinery for the farmers about Tuskegee, because there
is no other shop of the kind within thirty miles at least which has
facilities for doing such heavy work as this. Printing, tailoring,
blacksmithing, and painting are taught. Since a large proportion of
the students at Tuskegee are young women, arrangements are made to
furnish opportunities for them also to learn to work. They do all the
work of taking care of the dormitories and dining rooms, learn plain
and fancy cooking, candy-making, millinery, dressmaking, and all the
most modern methods of laundry work. One class learns nursing, under
the direction of a capable trained nurse.

[Illustration: "BUILDING A HAT"; MILLINERY DEPARTMENT.]

In speaking of the trades taught at Tuskegee, it should be remembered
that agriculture is reckoned among them, and one of the most
important. A very large percentage of the negroes of the South must
continue to live upon the plantations and gain a living by tilling the
soil. As a general thing their knowledge of how to best do this is
lamentably deficient, and they labor under great disadvantages. They
do not own their land, but rent it at ruinous rates. They mortgage
their crops and eat them up before they are harvested. They plant
nothing but cotton, because that is about the only crop that can be
mortgaged, and are therefore obliged to buy food at any exorbitant
prices which the dealers may demand. Tuskegee tries to remedy these
evils by teaching the young men who come there the best methods of
modern farming. If the farmers' sons can remain only a short time they
carry back to the home plantations some new ideas to put in practice
there; if they can remain for the full term of three or four years,
they are fitted to take full charge of the work on any large
plantation. The institute has a farm on which are raised the crops
best adapted to the soil and climate of that part of the South. The
men who have charge of this work are among the most able in the entire
force of instructors. Mr. C. W. Green, the farm superintendent, has no
superior in the South as a practical farmer. Mr. George W. Carver, the
head of the agricultural department, is a graduate of the Iowa State
College. To my mind, no more valuable text-book for Southern scholars
could be furnished than a little pamphlet which this man has recently
issued, telling how he raised between two hundred and three hundred
bushels of sweet potatoes from an acre of ground, whereas the average
yield of that crop in the same part of the country is less than fifty
bushels to the acre.

[Illustration: AN INSTITUTE CABBAGE FIELD.]

Tuskegee has a large herd of cows and a good dairy and creamery, in
which a class of men receive instruction in dairy work. An incident
which occurred in connection with this dairy furnishes a story which
Mr. Washington likes to tell, because it illustrates a point which he
constantly impresses upon his colored audiences. One of the surest
ways to abolish the color line, he tells his hearers, is to learn to
do some kind of work so well that your services will be really needed.

[Illustration: THE START FROM THE BARN. "FARM STUDENTS."]

"There came to my knowledge," says Mr. Washington, "the fact that the
owners of a certain creamery were in search of an able superintendent.
We had just graduated a man who was thoroughly capable in every way,
but he was just about as black as it is possible for a man to be.
Nevertheless, I sent him on to apply for the place. When he made his
errand known to the owners they looked at him and said:

"'A colored man? Oh, that would never do, you know.'

[Illustration: DAIRYING DIVISION; MAKING BUTTER.]

"The applicant for work said very politely that he had not come there
to talk about his color, but about the making of butter. Still, they
said he would not do.

"Finally, however, something the man said attracted the attention of
the owners of the creamery, and they told him he might stay two weeks
on trial, although they still assured him that there was no
possibility whatever of their hiring a colored man. He went to work,
and when the report for the first week's shipment of butter came
back--would you believe it?--that butter had sold for two cents a
pound more than any butter ever before made at that creamery! The
owners of the establishment said to each other, 'Why, now, this is
very singular!' and waited for the second week. When the returns for
that week came back--a cent a pound more than for the week previous,
three cents a pound more than the creamery's best record before our
man had taken charge of it--they didn't say anything. They just
pocketed the extra dividend, as welcome as it was unexpected, and
hired the man for a term of years. That extra three cents a pound on
the price of the butter he could make had knocked every bit of black
out of the color of his skin so far as they were concerned."

[Illustration: DELEGATES TO THE TUSKEGEE NEGRO CONFERENCE.]

Out of the desire of Mr. Washington to help the struggling negro
farmers has grown one of Tuskegee's greatest institutions--the annual
Negro Conference which assembles there each year. About ten years ago
Mr. Washington invited a few of the negro farmers who lived near
Tuskegee to meet at the institute on a stated day "to talk over
things." Perhaps twenty men accepted the invitation. These men,
gathered in one of the smaller rooms of the institute, under Mr.
Washington's leadership discussed the problems with which they had to
contend, and different ones among them told how they had succeeded or
failed. The meeting was felt to be so helpful that another was planned
for the next year. From that small beginning has developed a
conference which now brings to Tuskegee, in February of each year, two
thousand persons, from a dozen States, and representing many
occupations besides that of farming. These men and women are the
parents of the generation which is at school at Tuskegee and similar
institutions. These fathers and mothers lived "too soon" to be able to
profit by such advantages. Few of them can read or write, and nearly
all of them know by experience what slavery was. They see their
children learning so much which was unattainable for them that they
ask, "Is there no chance for us?" The conference is Tuskegee's attempt
to answer that cry. As one grizzled old negro preacher, whom I heard
make the opening prayer one year, said, "O Lawd, we wants ter tank de
for dis, our one day ob schoolin' in de whole year."

[Illustration: NEGRO CONFERENCE IN SESSION IN TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE
CHURCH.]

Beginning with this year the conferences will be held in the new
church, which will comfortably seat all the delegates. Until this
church was completed, though, there was no audience room at the
institute which would begin to accommodate all who came, and the
sessions were held in a rude temporary building, which was also
utilized for chapel and graduation exercises. Convenient as the new
church is in every way, I shall always miss the unique gathering in
that old pavilion. Imagine a broad, low building of unplaned boards,
its floor the earth, and its seats backless benches made by spiking
planks on to posts driven into the ground. From its rafters hang
masses of Spanish moss, amid which streamers of red, white, and blue
bunting are woven. On the walls are many American flags, looped back
with the spiked leaves of the palmetto tree. Booker Washington stands
on a low platform at one end of the room, and all around him, packed
just as closely as they can be, are the people, while hundreds of late
comers cluster around the doors and open windows like bees around the
opening of a hive. No matter if the benches are backless and hard. No
opera audience in five-dollar chairs ever sat half so interested for
an hour as do these men and women through all the day, which, long as
it is, proves far too short for what they have to say. This is the one
day of the year for them, and not a minute must be wasted. The
speakers are the men and women themselves. Mr. Washington simply
starts the discussions and steers them so as to make all the time
count. He is a genius as a presiding officer, and gets more out of the
limited time than any one else could do. The subjects which they
discuss are the practical ones which concern them most vitally. Some I
have mentioned--non-ownership of land, crop-mortgaging, and the evil
of raising only cotton. Others are the need of a longer school year
and how to get it, the foolish extravagances of buying showy clocks,
sewing machines, and organs before a house is owned to put them in,
and similar subjects. The time is never long enough for all there is
to be said. The effort is to make this a center from which some
helpful thought will be carried out to take root during the year.

[Illustration: "PLAIN-SEWING" ROOM.]

I saw a striking example of the influence which the conference may
exert at one of the sessions. A tall young mulatto woman had finally
succeeded in getting a chance to speak, for there are always twice as
many to talk as can find time. "Last year brother Washington told us,"
said she, "that three acres of land, properly carried on, would
support a person, and told us how, and said that a woman as well as a
man could carry on the land. I made up my mind I'd try it. I did, and
it's so. I hired three acres of land and had it plowed. I had it
plowed deep, too. No lazy nigger half done the job, for I sat on the
ground myself to see it done." She then went on to tell what her seed
and fertilizer had cost, what she planted and raised, and what her
profits were, showing them to be quite enough, as she had said, to
support her for a year.

Loud applause greeted this report, and cries of "Dat's good!" and "Go
ahead, sister!" but through it all the woman was seen to be still
standing where she had spoken, waiting for a chance to go on, and with
no sign of satisfaction in her face at the approval shown her. Raising
one yellow hand high above her head, as soon as she could be heard,
she cried in a strangely thrilling voice, which echoed through the
dusky room: "How can you waste the one day of the year for us in such
foolishness, when the life of a race is in jeopardy? Get to work! We
must learn first to help ourselves, if we want God to help us!"

Hardly had this woman finished speaking when it was seen that another
woman had risen and was waiting for a chance to make herself heard. I
think I never saw a more pitiful figure. Very black, old, with a gaunt
form on which a shabby dress hung loosely, her face was that of a
person for whom life had been so hard that hope was for her a word
unknown. Two or three men in the audience said, "Oh, sit down!" as if
they wondered what such a person could have to say which would not be
a waste of the meeting's time, but she would not sit down. Standing
there until the noise had hushed, she began:

"I wants ter tank Gawd I'se come here ter day an' heard what dat
sister had ter say. I don' know what made me come. I'se nebber been
here before, but I'se so glad I come ter-day! I'se been de mother ob
sixteen chillen. I hain't nebber had a home nor a mule nor eben a
dress dat wa'n't morgiged. My chillen's gone an' lef' me as soon as
dey's growed up, an' now my ole man is gone too. I tought dere wasn't
nuffin lef' for me ter do but jes' die, but now I'se goin' home an'
get some lan' an' do for myself an' my littles' chillens what nobody
has ebber done for me. I kin do it, an' I tank Gawd I'se been here ter
git de word."

It seems to me as if this was missionary work of the best kind, and it
is such work as this that Tuskegee is doing constantly.




RECENT LEGISLATION AGAINST THE DRINK EVIL.

BY APPLETON MORGAN.

[_Concluded._]


X. QUALITY INSPECTION.--In my paper in these pages, in 1894, I
remarked, "If there is any such thing as a salutary liquor law, not
derived from excise or police jurisdiction, it would be, perhaps, a
statute insuring the purity of liquor; reviving that old English
functionary, the 'ale-taster,' with his care over all drinkables
exposed for sale." And surely this would be a legitimate and a
constitutional law, as providing for the public safety (which is,
after all is said, the origin and summit of all law). To kill a
rattlesnake the rattlesnake must first be recognized as alive, and the
old cry of the Podsnap that nothing improper exists is fast
disappearing. It seems to me that at present, and in view of the fact
that Mr. Reed's plan would involve a social and economical plant which
could only be accumulated by long and deliberate legislative action,
and admitting that the drink evil not only calls for legislative
action but has received it for sixty-two years, and so accustomed our
communities to expect it; admitting also Mr. Bellamy's and Mr. Reed's
basic proposition that there is no reason why any human being should
starve, and that it is not public policy that any creature of the
State (even if a criminal confined for crime in a State penitentiary)
should starve--admitting all these, it seems as if this plan really
might be the best and most immediately practicable plan yet. Every
State, without any criticism or clamor of constitutionalists against
paternal government, appoints its official tester of illuminating
fluids, that conflagration may not ensue and the public safety be
imperiled by the destruction of the citizens' homes. Why not a State
"tester" of the stimulant which may inflame the vital forces of the
citizen himself, and so imperil the public peace, which, by all laws,
is the public safety? Municipal corporations appoint inspectors of
meat, of milk, of fruits, of confectionery, precisely under this
constitutional duty of preserving the public health, upon which, most
largely of all, the public safety depends. Why not, then, inspectors
of the potables which the public drink?

By having liquors examined, and only pure liquors sold, and condemned
liquors destroyed, precisely as in the case of unclean or impure
meats, milk, fruit, and confectionery; much could be practicably, and
in a minimum lapse of time, accomplished to the decrease of the liquor
evil. The prohibitionists themselves, by placing and replacing and
abolishing and experimenting with all sorts of statutes upon the
statute-book, have accustomed us to State regulation of the sale of
intoxicants, and, least of all, can complain of yet one more
experiment toward the decrease of drunkenness.

Let the national or State government have liquors examined, and those
not up to the standard emptied into the sewers, precisely as in the
case of milk found filthy, dangerous, or questionable. The Government
might also supervise the distilleries and forbid the manufacture of
what are called "quick-aging" goods, or "continuous distillation,"
precisely as it controls the manufacture of oleomargarine. It is not
improbable that a commission appointed to this good work might, by
just, equitable, and easily-to-be-borne statutes, prescribe a time
limit or period after which no spirituous liquors should be sold less
than, say, five years old (the age of liquor being said to regulate
its irritant and insanitary and to conserve its really salutary and
sanitary qualities). I believe (not without consultation and a
deliberate exchange of opinion with experts) that the good effects of
such legislation would be almost instant; I believe that from pure
motives of self-interest alone the distillers and rectifiers of
liquors, instead of fighting such a law, would be eager to compete to
furnish pure brands of liquor for the State censors, in the certainty
that the State must adopt the best and the purest. To-day the public
is served with precisely what the publican finds it most to his profit
to sell. It may be only dirty water which he sells at a price at which
he could (to his own immense profit) sell pure liquor. In every
drinking place in the land, to which the public resorts, there are two
prices--one price for what you order, and the other for the same
"good." I believe that one of these days the world will remember, as
curiously as it now remembers the days of the stagecoach or the
tallow-dip, a time when a man desiring a dram of liquor was obliged to
drink whatever the dram-seller found it profitable to sell him.

We have tried about everything else. Why not try this? We have
conceded to our legislators the right and the jurisdiction. Since we
can not adopt Mr. Reed's proposition to feed everybody, why not enter
the wedge right here and do the next best or a next best thing--see
that the people not only eat proper meats and fruits, but that they
drink, if drink they will, pure liquors? And it need be added (however
it may appear to be a sop to Cerberus) that it would not antagonize
that most powerful class, whose organized and capitalized opposition
every other liquor-regulating law which has ever been suggested has at
once antagonized, and been obliged in the end to if not conciliate, at
least to recognize in the adjustment of equities. Fortunately, we have
not to begin our experiments out of whole cloth. Illinois, Michigan,
Ohio, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington have led the way, and
made the adulteration of liquor a misdemeanor. (New York, however, has
probably negatived the best results of the prohibition by adding that
the prohibited adulteration must only be "with any deleterious drug,
substance, or liquor which is poisonous or injurious to the health,"
which is shutting one door and opening another, and relegating to the
lawyers and their experts a tedious inquisition as to what the word
"poisonous" or the term "injurious to health" may mean, in the course
of which the offender would walk free.) The question as to whether it
would conserve the public peace as well as the public safety by
decreasing drunkenness can only be favorably conjectured. Experience
of such a law only can show. To begin with, it would increase the cost
of a dram. A glass of true whisky, for example, might be twenty cents
instead of ten, and (the law forbidding adulteration) this would
probably in itself lessen dram-drinking. In England, many years ago, a
similar law was found to eventuate in compelling that only the highest
grades of ale should be sold at a certain price. This led to the
offering of a second, and then of a third grade, and finally of what
was claimed to be a blending of all three grades or an "entire" (which
was the origin of the term ENTIRE, that later began to be the name of
an alehouse--a legend still seen on English alehouse signs). But the
law we now suggest, by preventing the blending of three grades of
spirits, might, while lessening the sales, increase the excise
revenues, and perhaps accomplish whatever may be left to be
accomplished in conserving at once the health, the peace, and the
income of the State.

That a system by which only pure liquors can be exposed for sale as
beverages is feasible, seems already assured, the States of Ohio,
Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Washington having already long
since adopted a partial statutory policy of the sort, and the State of
New York, in 1896, having followed. In order to demonstrate what these
have accomplished, and what improvements can be suggested, there were
addressed to the proper officers of each of these States the following
questions, viz.:

1. In your State what officer is charged with enforcement of the
provisions of its liquor statutes, forbidding adulteration of liquors
exposed for sale as beverages? And must such officer be examined as to
his experience or as to his competency only?

2. Is his standard of unadulterated liquors established by law, and if
so, what is it? Or is the officer's judgment as to what liquor may or
may not be sold discretionary according to the circumstances of each
case?

3. Is the examination to be conducted by taste or tasting (sampling),
the old English method, or by chemical analysis?

4. Is adulteration so defined as to include the mixing of liquor with
water, or only with substances or liquids in themselves toxicants?

5. Is the effect of this clause thought to be beneficial? Has it, for
example, decreased drunkenness?

To the first question Mr. Samuel P. Sharpless, State Assayer of
Massachusetts, reports as follows: "An assayer of liquor is appointed
under our public statutes, who is charged with performing such duties
as are referred to him. No particular examination prior to appointment
is laid down. The presumption is that an analytical chemist will
receive the appointment, as in the twenty years in which the law has
existed only analytical chemists have received the same."

As to Ohio, Mr. Joseph E. Blackburn, Dairy and Food Commissioner,
says: "The office of Dairy and Food Commissioner is charged with the
enforcement of all laws governing the sale of food, drink, and drugs.
He is not required to stand any examination, and his experience and
qualifications are not considered except as to his eligibility as a
candidate. It is distinctly a political position, and all the parties
nominate candidates for the place."

As to Michigan, Mr. Elliot O. Grosvenor, Dairy and Food Commissioner,
says, "The Dairy and Food Commissioner of the State is charged with
enforcement of the law relating to adulteration of liquors."

As to Illinois, Hon. E. C. Akin, Attorney-General, writes: "It is the
duty of the several State's attorneys to prosecute for violations of
this section, on complaint of any one, or by indictment. There is no
officer charged with the duty of making examinations or tests of
liquors."

As to New York, Hon. Henry H. Lyman, Commissioner of Excise, replies:
"The district attorneys of the several counties in this State have
direct and exclusive control of all criminal prosecutions against
violators of the liquor-tax law, but indirectly the matter of
enforcing this section devolves upon the State Board of Health. By the
provisions of section 42, chapter 661, laws of 1893, the State Board
of Health shall take cognizance of the interests of the public health
as affected by the sale or use of foods and adulterations thereof, and
make all necessary inquiries and investigations relating thereto. It
shall appoint such public analysts, chemists, and inspectors as it may
deem necessary for that purpose, etc. Upon discovering any violations
of the provisions of the act relating to the adulteration of foods or
drugs, the State Board of Health shall immediately communicate the
facts to the district attorney of the county where the violation
occurred, who shall thereupon forthwith commence proceedings for the
indictment of the persons charged with such violations."

To the second question, as to what is held to be adulteration, in
Massachusetts the only standard fixed by law is that of the United
States Pharmacopoeia. Chapter 272, Acts of 1896, undertakes to provide
certain standards. But so far not a single case has been brought under
this act, since it has not been made the duty of any one in particular
to enforce it. The assayer and inspector can only examine such liquors
as are brought to him by the proper officers. He has no authority to
institute proceedings even if he finds the liquor to be badly
adulterated. Such action must be taken by the officers making the
seizure. But Mr. Sharpless writes that, in his opinion, the law
(section 31 of chapter 100 of the public statutes) providing for
taking samples of liquors for analysis contains in its last sentence a
clause which renders it inoperative: it requires such samples to be
paid for if they are found to be of good quality. Mr. Sharpless adds:
"Under this section I have received perhaps on an average twenty
samples a year for the past fifteen years. These samples have
generally been whisky, gin, brandy, and rum. The Legislature has been
repeatedly requested to give the assayer authority to take samples in
the same manner as they are taken by the milk inspector, but has as
uniformly refused to give him that power."

Ohio reports that the legal standard for liquors is the requirements
of the United States Pharmacopoeia.

In Michigan the law does not define any standard for adulteration or
unadulteration. Nor is it left to the mere judgment of any officer.
"In case of prosecution the fact of adulteration would have to be
proved to the satisfaction of the jury by any competent evidence."
This is the language of Mr. Samuel A. Kennedy, Deputy Secretary of
State. Mr. Elliot O. Grosvenor, the Dairy and Food Commissioner,
indicates the nature of the evidence, however, as follows: "If the
word 'standard' can be used in connection with the word
'adulteration,' our law does regulate this standard. We send you under
another cover a copy of the law concerning liquors, so far as within
the jurisdiction of this department, from which you will see we have
little or no discretion in the matter." The clause marked by Mr.
Grosvenor is as follows: "The law relating to liquors seems to be
meant only to prohibit the sale of spirituous or fermented or malt
liquors containing drugs or poisons or substances or ingredients
deleterious or unhealthful; and provides that each barrel, cask, keg,
bottle, or other vessel containing the same shall be branded or
labeled with the words 'Pure and without drugs or poison,' together
with the name of the person or firm preparing the package. This
applies to every package of whatever size--it matters not whether they
are put up for immediate delivery or for stock purpose. This includes
all bottled ale, beer, rum, wine, or other malt or spirituous liquors,
also the bottles used for dispensing over the bar. The State has no
standard of proof, but liquors in packages where proof is indicated
must test to that proof. Compounds containing nothing deleterious or
unhealthful may be sold as cordials. The blending of liquors will be
permitted, if spirits or other ingredients are not added. Dealers
purchasing and receiving goods not properly branded or labeled are not
relieved from any responsibility, if they sell the same without
branding or labeling."

In Illinois the standard is not mentioned, but the articles forbidden
are plainly set forth by the criminal code of the State, which
provides that "whoever adulterates, for the purpose of sale, any
liquor used for drink, with cocculus indicus, vitriol, grains of
paradise, opium, alum, capsicum, copperas, laurel water, logwood,
Brazilwood, cochineal, sugar of lead, or any other substance which is
poisonous or injurious to health; and whoever sells or offers, or
keeps for sale any such liquor so adulterated, shall be confined in
the county jail not exceeding one year, or fined not exceeding one
thousand dollars, or both."

In New York there is a standard fixed for wines, and sections 46, 47,
and 48 of the laws of 1893 are devoted to the definition of pure wine,
half wine, made wine, and the adulteration of wines generally. But
there is no standard of purity enacted for spirituous or malt liquors,
and it is left to the discretion of the inspecting officers whether
any liquors inspected and analyzed by them contain any deleterious
substances.

As to question third, all the States seem to agree that chemical
analysis is the safer, but adulteration seems to be considered by them
all as a fact, to be proved by any competent process, even the taster
not being barred, as he certainly is not by the clause as to
inspection in the State of New York. Mr. Grosvenor, Food Commissioner
of Michigan, however, says that the only test recognized by his
department would be that made in its own laboratory by its own two
chemists.

As to whether the adulteration could be by water only, all our
courteous informants refer us to their answer to the question as to
standards but Ohio, whose Food Commissioner (Blackburn) replies, "Yes,
if the proofage is reduced to less than one hundred degrees." In
Massachusetts, Mr. Sharpless says, "In a case brought a number of
years ago the court refused to consider water as an adulteration; no
recent case has been brought."

As to the fifth and vital question, whether the clause against
adulteration tends to decrease drunkenness, Mr. Sharpless adds the
following valuable record of his experiences as State assayer in a
State which, in thirty years, has experimented with about every known
form of liquor statute: "So far as I have observed, the quality of the
liquor has but little to do with the question of drunkenness. In some
localities where prohibition has been strictly enforced we find that
the class who will have liquor is obtaining it in other than the
well-known commercial forms. Frequently we find that large quantities
of extract of ginger are being consumed. A number of cases have been
brought against the venders of this article, as an alcoholic beverage
containing more than one per cent of alcohol. These cases have
generally proved successful in stopping its sale. Essence of
peppermint and of checkerberry, for example, are favorite tipples.
During the past summer a case was found in which 'So-and-so's Drops,'
a nostrum, a mixture of ether and alcohol, was being used as an
intoxicant. The so-called 'native wines' have given us some trouble.
These are essentially a fermented solution of sugar and water, with
sufficient juice of some fruit for flavoring and color. When made
without the addition of spirits they contain about fourteen per cent
of alcohol. They are generally pretty poor stuff. About two years ago
we had an epidemic of so-called 'malt extracts.' These, with very few
exceptions, were found to be essentially porter. The alcohol in them
averaged about six per cent, and they were quite palatable beverages.
They contained about seven or eight per cent of solid extract.

"It has been several times proposed here that no liquors should be
sold unless their purity was certified to by the State assayer. This I
have uniformly opposed, for the reason that, while the State may well
prohibit the sale of adulterated liquors, it is no part of its
business to certify to the purity of any man's goods; and, unless the
State becomes the sole vender of liquors, it has no means of keeping
track of them.

"It has been my practice during my term of office never to give a
certificate in regard to a liquor to any one but the officers
authorized to ask such a certificate. In other words, the only way a
private person can get an analysis of liquor made by the State assayer
is to take it to the chief of police of his town or city and make a
complaint in regard to it; as the assayer is paid by the State for his
work, it would obviously be wrong for him to do work which he might,
have to revise in his official capacity.... I may perhaps be allowed
to add a few words as to what is defined in this State as an
intoxicating liquor. When the State assayer of liquors was first
appointed he soon became convinced that some limit must be fixed to
the allowable amount of alcohol contained in a liquor. After
consultation this amount was fixed at three per cent by volume at 60°
F. This law remained in force several years. Soon after it was found
that a large amount of beer was being made which contained about 3.5
per cent of alcohol. This was a palatable beer, and the venders gave
the officers much trouble. The regular trade, who were selling lager
beer and ale, and paying for the privilege, were also much opposed to
its sale, and the Legislature was asked to reduce the limit to one per
cent by volume. This at one stroke destroyed a large amount of
illegitimate trade. The Massachusetts law, as it now stands, is that
ale, porter, strong beer, lager beer, cider, all wines, and any
beverage containing more than one per cent of alcohol, by volume, at
60° F., as well as distilled spirits, shall be deemed to be
intoxicating liquor, within the meaning of the license provisions, and
this section of the law has been decided by the Supreme Court of the
Commonwealth to be constitutional.[A] The question is never raised now
in the court as to whether a liquor is actually intoxicating; the only
question being, Does it contain more than one per cent of alcohol? If
it does (and as a matter of fact cases are very rarely brought in
which the sample does not contain at least two per cent of alcohol),
the court has no power except to convict, if it be proved that the
article was kept for sale. The result of this law has been that the
sale of beer, with the idea that it is possible to convince the court
that it is not intoxicating, has entirely stopped. Some few attempts
are made to produce a beverage that shall contain less than one per
cent of alcohol. And several brands are on the market which, when
cold, taste very well, but which contain only about 0.85 per cent of
alcohol. Generally the only test made in regard to liquors is as to
the amount of alcohol that they contain; or, rather, whether the
amount of alcohol exceeds one per cent, that being the maximum amount
that can be sold without a license. Such examination is generally
made by distilling the liquor and determining the alcohol in the
distillate.

     [Footnote A: _Vide_ Commonwealth _vs._ Brelsford, 161 Mass., 61.]

"The whiskies examined have in Massachusetts, as a rule, been free
from any substance more injurious than the alcohol they contain. They
have generally (as well as the other distilled liquors examined) been
of standard strength--that is, they have contained about fifty per
cent of alcohol, and as a rule have not given much over the amount of
residue allowed by the Pharmacopoeia. As you will see by the foregoing
remarks, the provisions of the Massachusetts liquor law, so far as
adulteration is concerned, are practically a dead letter. I have been
repeatedly before the Legislature asking for such modifications of the
law as would enable me to make an intelligent study of the subject;
but it seems satisfied to allow the matter to stand as it now is.
Several difficulties arise in regard to any enforcement of the law.
One of these--that samples must be paid for, and there is no
appropriation to pay for them--I have already pointed out. In the
second place, the State Board of Health (which has full power to
inspect liquors under the food act) has discovered that the chief
adulteration is water in distilled liquors, and that this, together
with a little burned sugar and sirup, is practically the only
adulteration. Large amounts of rectified spirits are used in the
preparation of whiskies for the market, where the whisky is used only
as a flavoring material. But such manufactured whiskies meet the
requirements of the Pharmacopoeia better than the genuine article,
being more free from the higher alcohols and ethers than a pure
whisky. The only point in which they do not agree is that they are not
three years old. But the only method for determining the age of a
liquor that I am acquainted with, is the brand on the barrel. It
certainly can not be determined by any chemical means."

But, with the exception of Massachusetts, where Mr. Sharpless points
out clearly the reason why the law against adulteration is a dead
letter, all the reports speak encouragingly. Michigan, Illinois, and
Ohio believe that the operation of the provision will do genuine good.
Says Food Commissioner Blackburn, of Michigan, "It is my opinion that
this law has and will decrease drunkenness, for the reason that pure
liquor will not create the unnatural appetite that compounded,
adulterated, or artificially prepared liquors do."

The State of Washington sends no report. There is a provision in the
South Carolina law providing that liquors shall be "pure"; but, as the
State is the dispenser of liquors, the operation of this clause has
not been considered exemplary for the purposes of this article. Mr.
Lyman, in New York, thinks that sufficient time has not elapsed to
fully pronounce as to the benefits of the law.

XI and XII. HIGH LICENSE AND LOCAL OPTION.--Certainly the examination
of these statutes and reports of their results in forty-nine States
and Territories leaves it beyond question that so far the very best
results have accompanied the combination of these two provisions.
Perhaps the best example is in the largest of the communities to be
affected--viz., in the State and city of New York. Here, by separating
the plebiscitum or referendum into four local options--viz., (1)
selling liquor to be drunk upon the premises where sold, (2) selling
liquor not to be drunk upon the premises where sold, (3) selling
liquor by apothecaries only on physician's prescription, (4) selling
liquor by license granted to "hotel keepers" only--the result obtained
has been, I think, precisely what I contended for in the paper of five
years age, namely, the value of liquor has been recognized, and its
sale provided for without denying its dangers as a temptation, or the
disastrous effects of drunkenness. To use the exact words of the
commissioner's report: "The tendency is to recognize the propriety of
the sale of liquors by hotels and pharmacists in many communities
where they will not, by their votes, approve the sale by saloons and
groceries; and while there are now twenty less absolutely 'no-license'
towns than when the law took effect, there are very many less saloons
and groceries where liquors are dispensed." And this while not in any
way compromising or dallying with the proposition which the
prohibitionists and temperance societies insist upon (and which is all
they have as a basis for their claims), viz., the consequences of
intoxication and the public policy of its prevention. To show that, as
a fact, an equivalent result has been reached in every State in the
Union where high license and local option are united, would unduly tax
these pages. But one or two prominent examples are of the paradoxical
results--as gratifying as they are paradoxical--that the fewer the
places where liquor is sold the larger the revenue to the State, and
the less the drunkenness, may be cited. In the State of New York in
two years of high license the reduction in selling places was 5,484;
the increase of revenue to the State was $9,094,646.01; the decrease
in the number of arrests was 22,689. In the city of New York alone the
reduction in places was 1,204; the increase of revenue was
$3,549,851.90; the decrease in the arrests for drunkenness was 3,044.
Similar results are reported invariably as the fruit of high license
elsewhere in the United States. In the city of Chicago, under an
exceedingly high license, the reduction in one year was 200 in the
number of saloons, while the increase of revenue was $1,250,000; and
yet the decrease in the number of arrests was 1,217. Contrast this
result with the condition of affairs in the triple-steel-barred
prohibition State of Maine! Says an ex-Mayor of Portland: "I went into
office perfectly free; I think I enforced the law impartially with
all the vigor I could control.... I looked it all over to see what I
had accomplished; I found that I had driven out of the business one
set of men, and another had come in worse than the first. I found that
the young men were establishing club rooms. Not only did they become
drinking places, but they brought in gambling and other vice. While I
was driving liquor out of the ordinary shops I was driving it into
houses and kitchens, where even children dealt in it.... I am sorry to
say it, but the law makes perjury alarmingly common; it opens up ...
an avenue for bribes.[B]

     [Footnote B: Annual Report of the New York State Commissioner of
     Excise, 1897-1898, p. 716, Id.]

"The local authorities could not be trusted to enforce the law. The
price of liquors has been lessened and the quality is worse.... To
those who shunned the open bars the apothecary shops supplied liquor
by the bottle as often as desired.... Then arose pocket peddlers,
young men who loiter about the street supplying customers from the
bottle with a drink known as splits--a concoction of the cheapest
alcohol mixed with a dash of rum and coloring matter, which produces a
dangerous form of intoxication.... At the city agency the question
'Medicine?' and the answer 'Yes,' was quite sufficient, and throngs of
people were constantly waiting with flasks to be filled.... 'Bars,'
'Eating Houses' (so called because protected by the police), 'Kitchen
Bars,' 'Pocket Peddlers,' 'Hotel Bars,' 'Apothecary Shops,' 'Bottling
Houses,' 'Express Companies,' 'Clubs,' and the 'City Agency.'"

But all these, under the very eye of the late Hon. Neal Dow, were
powerless to convince the Hon. Neal Dow that his policy was not a
massive and monumental success, and to the end of his days the good
old man delivered glowing eulogiums upon its exalted benefits to a
suffering and liquor-ridden world!

Among the novel devices among the statutes of States classed as
licensing sales of liquor (or which have rejected prohibition) may be
mentioned the following: Apothecaries may sell without a license if
they keep records of sales. Purchasers of liquor must make affidavit
of the purpose for which they require the liquor. Physicians
prescribing liquors must make affidavit that they are required by the
case they are attending. Public officers who tolerate or refuse to
prosecute are fined. Name of owner of premises where liquors are sold
must be painted in large letters on outside window with the word
"owner" added. A provision that any one may sell liquor, but that the
Legislature may provide in any way it sees fit against "the evils
resulting therefrom." No barmaids, or dancing, gambling, or oil
paintings on premises where liquor is sold. The provisions that
eatables must or must not be sold where liquor is retailed are about
numerically even. (It will be remembered that the New York ["Raines"]
law at first abolished free lunches, but insisted that while one must
not have food with his liquor on week days, he could not on Sundays
have it without--the last provision still being enforced). Similarly,
in some States, liquor dealers must not keep lodging houses, while in
others they must. West Virginia says that a tavern or hotel must not
be used as a liquor-selling establishment only, and that a refusal to
give diet or lodging to any one demanding it will forfeit its license
to sell liquor. One State (Colorado) recognizes the so-called
"gold-cure," and authorizes "the person most interested," or the
county, to send habitual drunkards at county expense to "any
respectable gold-cure institute." In Illinois a drunkard is by law a
vagrant, and drunkenness is a cause for divorce. In Louisiana the
excise man who makes an erroneous estimate of the amount of business
done (Louisiana regulates the liquor business according to sales only,
disclaiming any preventive or reformatory object) is removable from
office. In Tennessee applicants for license must state the amount of
business they intend to do. Kentucky regulates the price of liquors
sold, being the only American State so doing (except that South
Carolina says that the price of a potion shall not be "more than fifty
per cent above," or if used as a medicine "more than ten per cent
above," the cost thereof to the seller--rather a difficult matter to
approximate). Arkansas prohibits sales within three miles of a church,
schoolhouse, or academy. The sales of liquor to Indians is prohibited,
and the exclusive right of army officers to purchase it is conserved,
at the proper frontiers. Texas inserts in her statutes a fine for
keeping a "blind tiger" (defined to be a place "where intoxicating
liquors are sold by any device whereby the party selling or delivering
the same is concealed from the person buying or to whom the same is
delivered"). And, in Kansas, twenty-five reputable women must unite
with twenty-five reputable men in applying for a license to sell
liquor. No State or Territory mentions the size or quantity of liquor
to be sold at any price, as is the European custom.

It would seem, therefore, that, with the exception of the State of
Maine alone, all the American Commonwealths are gradually harking back
to the standpoint of the earliest liquor laws. Moderation (temperance)
in drinking was the public policy. Leaving out the act of the British
Parliament, in the year 1735 (which gave Governor Oglethorpe the right
to prohibit the importation of ardent spirits into Georgia, which was
not a measure to prevent intoxication, but to give a monopoly to
Governor Oglethorpe), the first temperance association was that
founded by Dr. Rush; and it is related that the venerable president,
upon being elected, rose with a glass of brandy in his hand and gave
the toast: "Gentlemen, fill your glasses. Let us show the world that
we know how to drink in moderation."

To sum it all up. Why, since we can not set out with a club or a
headsman's axe to reform mankind; since there are substantial rights
to adjust and innocent parties to protect, why is not the proposition
to prevent by law the exposure of adulterated liquors for sale as
beverages the best so far suggested? Is there another which at the
same time is constitutional, equitable, peaceable, and so conservative
of the public safety, which creates no law-breaking class out of
honest citizens, sheds no blood (as blood was shed in South Carolina
in 1875 because men of Anglo-Saxon breed could not be readily made to
concede that a man's house was not his castle), and which imports no
new doctrine into American policy?

I, for one, believe that, with it, the solution of the drink problem
would be in sight. High license and personal damage laws are two
thirds of it. If a man desires to sell liquor let him pay one or two
thousand dollars, or other substantial sum of money, to the school or
the police or the poor fund of his neighborhood. Let him be liable in
damages, as are common carriers or any others who deal in conveniences
or commodities in which there is possible risk to the community, for
what is injured by his operations. As to the remaining third of the
remedy: the sole objections to local option (viz., that it may be
abused at the polls, where the total-abstinence interest might be as
capable of a wrong use of money or of other undue influence as the
liquor interest, or that it might be inconvenient to the public) are
fully met by making adulteration impossible and providing for a
compulsory, rigid, and universal inspection of liquors exposed for
sale as beverages. And then, besides, it will be unnecessary to burn
down our village to roast our pig.

       *       *       *       *       *

     A curious experiment, at Carnot, in the Congo, is described in
     the journal _Le Chasseur Français_ in the shape of the collection
     and raising of the animals which the natives bring in from the
     bush. Large numbers have been taken in. Some of the animals die,
     some escape. Among those that have stayed are two wild hogs,
     which roam at liberty, eat from the hand, and follow like dogs.
     There are a jackal, mangoustes, small rodents, a company of
     monkeys, and a young tiger cat, "which is the lawgiver to the
     others." None of the animals is confined, except that the jackal
     is tied, though he follows; but it has been necessary to separate
     the guinea-pigs from the rest. A large monkey has assumed the
     office of shepherd's dog, and takes care of the sheep. There are
     also dogs--"good company, but not of much value"--eight horses,
     with a colt that will eat at the table if allowed to; forty
     horned cattle, which are multiplying; and asses, which are also
     increasing.




HAWK LURES.

BY W. E. CRAM.


It is a pretty well known fact among hunters and students of Nature
generally that most flesh-eating animals, whether in fur or feathers,
can be more readily called by imitating the squeaking of mice than in
any other way, and proves conclusively enough that these creatures
depend largely on the sense of hearing in their struggle for a
livelihood.

My first practical illustration of this fact occurred so long ago that
it seems almost like ancient history.

For some reason or other one summer's vacation began some six hours
earlier than was expected, and although apparently insignificant
enough when compared with the entire three months that were to follow,
that extra half holiday was probably valued out of all due proportion
by the pupils, owing to its unexpectedness, and for that reason,
perhaps, more than any other, is still recalled by one at least as
distinctly as ever.

One of the boys had a contrivance known as a bird-call--a simple
instrument of wood and some soft metal--that, on being turned,
produced noises that bore not the slightest resemblance to the cries
of any bird, but were not entirely unlike the squeaking of a mouse in
distress.

Some of us were more or less skeptical as to its powers of attracting
birds, and decided to put it to the test. So we loafed about under the
apple trees working the thing for all it was worth, but no birds came
about us, and the bird-call was in danger of being thrown away in
disgrace, when a small brown beast appeared from under a pile of
boards and came running toward us, till suddenly scenting danger it
disappeared. There was some discussion at the time whether it was a
rat, chipmunk, or red squirrel; none had seen it very clearly or could
give any very definite description of it, but in all probability it
was a weasel attracted by what it supposed to be the voice of its
accustomed prey.

About halfway between that time and the present a young long-eared owl
became an important member of our family, a most original and amusing
bird, without the slightest fear of any of us. He was christened
Mephistopheles.

[Illustration: MEPHISTOPHELES.]

As he was learning to fly, it seemed advisable that he should be
taught to come at our call to be fed; and accordingly one day, by way
of experiment, I held out a piece of meat to him and squeaked like a
mouse. There was a rush of downy pinions, and his talons were neatly
arranged about my lips. He was evidently a good deal excited, but was
careful not to hurt me any more than was absolutely necessary in order
to secure the mouse which he fancied he had cornered in my mouth. I
was just reckless enough to try it again on the following day as he
perched on the low branch of an apple tree. His power of detecting the
direction whence the sound came proved fully equal to the occasion,
and the result was the same as in the first instance. The end of
Mephisto was tragic in the extreme. He was sometimes fastened by a
linen cord six or eight feet long and as large as a lead pencil, which
when not in use was hung across the perch where he slept. Evidently he
felt that the food furnished him was too effeminate, for the powerful
stomachs of all birds of prey require a certain amount of such
indigestible matter as hair, feathers, or bone to keep them in good
condition. So one ill-fated night, in looking about for something that
would answer that purpose, he unfortunately hit upon the cord as a
substitute, and proceeded to swallow one end of it. The first few feet
must have fully satisfied his cravings, but there was the rest to be
disposed of, and the most feasible method that presented itself
naturally was to go on swallowing. The thing must have grown extremely
dry and distasteful as inch after inch disappeared, still there was
nothing for it but to go on, which he did. In the morning he was
strangely silent and gloomy, with hardly a foot of cord protruding
from his beak. Any attempt on our part to remove the cord proved not
only fruitless but painful, so it was cut off close to his beak,
whereupon he swallowed what remained in his mouth and looked relieved.
His meal proved too much for him, however, and he only lived a few
days after it.

The different species of hawks vary greatly as regards the readiness
with which they may be called--most of them, in fact, absolutely
refusing to be lured in any way. As might be expected from its habits,
the marsh hawk is the most susceptible, and in still weather may be
brought from a distance of one hundred yards or more. At the first
squeak he wheels about in the air and comes directly toward you with
most unexpected impetuosity and swiftness. His discomposure on
discovering the fraud is usually most amusing, as he stops short in
mid air, with wings and legs asprawl, and turning his back on you,
hurries off in feverish haste.

The red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks are also easily attracted in
this manner, but the rough-legged hawks, although they live almost
entirely on mice, are not so readily deceived, though this is
undoubtedly owing more to their extreme wariness than to any dullness
of hearing on their part.

None of the falcons or short-winged hawks pay the slightest attention
to the most lifelike squeaking, so that evidently when they do deign
to attack such ignoble quarry as a field mouse they depend more on
their eyesight than on the sense of hearing. One still October day the
red-tailed hawks were soaring and screaming above the pines beneath
which I was hidden; by mimicking their cries I enticed one of them
nearer and nearer, till at last he closed his wings and alighted bolt
upright on a dead stump not fifty feet away. Changing my tactics, I
endeavored to convince the hawk that a family quarrel was in progress
among the mice in the thick clump of pines below him, and was rewarded
by seeing him turn first one keen eye and then the other on my place
of concealment; then he leaned forward and crouched catlike on his
perch, half opening his broad wings and shifting his feet about in his
impatience. But he evidently desired more positive evidence than his
ears could give him before making the final dash for his breakfast.
There was a slender dead branch beside me, and cautiously taking this,
I shoved it slowly along under the carpet of pine needles out into the
opening, as one sometimes amuses a kitten with a pencil beneath the
tablecloth. The instant the hawk's eye caught the movement of the pine
needles he descended with a whir almost to the point of seizing the
stick in his claws; then, catching sight for the first time of the
author of his disappointment, he rose flapping into the air, shrieking
out his anger to the skies. If we had been more evenly matched in
weight, I fear I should have suffered the most extreme punishment for
my deceit.

The northern shrike is generally given the credit of living to a
certain extent on mice, but the only evidence pointing in that
direction that I have ever seen is that, like the mouse-eating hawks
and owls, he comes quickly enough to the call; nor is there any need
of concealment when dealing with this bird. He will come fearlessly
within a few yards of you, hopping and flying from twig to twig, with
his long tail continually moving up and down in his excitement,
apparently impelled more by motives of curiosity than hunger.

[Illustration: NORTHERN SHRIKE.]

But when it comes to calling up to you such shy creatures as the mink
or fox the utmost caution is necessary, for although lacking the
keenness of eyesight possessed by birds, the acuteness of their sense
of smell and hearing is something marvelous; yet when conditions are
favorable they may sometimes be brought quite close and studied to
advantage.

Standing one day beside an old tumble-down rail fence that ran along
between the woods and salt marshes, half hidden in the brambles and
tall grass, I caught the merest glimpse of a mink slipping along
between the bottom rails. As he was evidently unaware of my presence,
I determined to see more of him, and squeaked in as mouselike a manner
as possible, and quickly had the satisfaction of seeing him make his
appearance on a projecting stake much nearer than when I had first
seen him. Stretching himself along the stake, he appeared to listen
and look in my direction, but although I was standing in plain sight
on the edge of the marsh hardly a rod away, the fact that he was
obliged to look directly into the sun made it quite impossible for him
to clearly distinguish what he saw. At the end of a few moments he
dropped into the grass and started in my direction, the trembling
grass blades clearly indicating his progress as he approached nearer
and nearer, until almost at my feet he vanished, and, in spite of the
most patient waiting on my part, absolutely refused to show himself
again.

The last instance of the kind that has come under my notice happened
on a clear moonlight night as I was wheeling along a lonely road
between old apple orchards. Some part of the machine squeaked at
intervals in a way that might possibly have been mistaken for a mouse.
At all events, an owl appeared to have been deceived thereby, for he
came flapping out of the orchard and flew alongside, at times coming
quite close and again swinging off into the shadow, till at last,
convinced that his supper lay not in that direction, he put on fresh
speed and left me far behind. Perhaps he would have done as he did if
the bicycle had not squeaked, but, judging from his behavior, I am
inclined to think otherwise.




THE MILK SUPPLY OF CITIES.

BY PROF. H. W. CONN.


The ever-growing needs of civilized communities constantly demand new
methods. At the time when the streets of Boston may have been the
actual cow paths which we are sometimes told they represent, the milk
problem did not exist. Every farmer owned his cows, and if some of the
people in the small communities did not happen to own a cow there were
plenty of these animals in their neighborhood to furnish them with
milk. But as our cities have grown the farmer has been pushed back
farther and farther into the country, while the demand for milk in the
cities has been constantly increasing. The man of the city can no
longer call upon his neighbor for milk, but must depend upon some
unknown farmer living perhaps many miles away. In England the farmer
still lives somewhat close to the city, and as soon as one passes the
city limits he begins to find the fields and meadows covered with
cows. London and Berlin draw their immense milk supply chiefly from a
radius of seventy-five miles. In the United States, however, the
farmer does not live so close to the cities, and the demand for milk
is even greater than in Europe. Our cities must therefore depend upon
a wider range of territory. New York draws its milk from a radius of
some three hundred miles. It is easy to see that with such conditions
many new problems have arisen. These problems, so far as they concern
the obtaining of a sufficient quantity and the transportation and
preservation of the milk, have, from a business standpoint, been
pretty satisfactorily solved. The milk-supply companies succeed in
obtaining a sufficient supply at all seasons of the year, and get it
into the city in such a manner that when delivered to the consumer,
even though it be forty-eight hours old, it is in tolerably good
condition. But it is beginning to appear that the problem, as concerns
the consumer, is a somewhat serious one, and that this problem has not
yet been solved, nor is it likely to be solved unless the consumer
himself takes a direct interest in it.

The problem of the milk supply in the smaller cities is quite
different from that of our larger cities. In the smaller cities, even
those with populations of one hundred thousand, there may be commonly
found a number of milkmen who bring into the city the milk from their
own farms and personally distribute it. Such a business is a small
one, and the dealer and the producer may be held directly responsible
for the quality of the milk. In large cities, however, the business is
very different. The individual milk dealer who brings in milk from his
own farm has almost disappeared, and his place is supplied by the
milk-supply companies that control the product from hundreds of farms
and regulate the large part of the milk which the city consumes. These
companies send milk trains into the country in all directions, and
collect milk from thousands of farms. The milk is brought into the
city in cars in which it is cooled by ice. It may be already many
hours old when it reaches the city. It is taken from the cars, and the
milk from many different sources is mixed in large mixers to insure
greater uniformity. It is again packed in ice, and remains thus until
the individual dealer is ready to put it into his cart and distribute
it through the city to the customer.

As a result of this the customer no longer knows whence his milk
comes. If he is a citizen of New York, he may receive milk from his
own State, or Connecticut, or Pennsylvania, or New Jersey. It may come
from a thrifty farmer, or from a slovenly, filthy farm, or, for all
that the consumer knows, it may come in part from a farm where there
is a contagious epidemic. There is no method of tracing
responsibility, no method of even knowing the source of any lot of
milk. One morning we may receive milk from northern New York, and the
next from New Jersey. One morning, for all he knows, it may come from
a model dairy farm, and the next from the most unhygienic surroundings
imaginable.

But this is to a certain extent true of other foods. We can not tell
where our flour or meat comes from, or our apples or sugar. Why should
we be more disturbed over milk than other foods? Indeed, until
recently we have had no especial interest in the milk problem, and
have taken milk as it has been offered without question, except as to
its being pure milk unadulterated with water. But the rapid
discoveries of bacteriology, which have shown milk to be such a good
locality for bacterial growth, have been raising some very significant
questions. We have been told of the countless millions of bacteria
which we have been drinking daily. This has somewhat disturbed us, and
no sooner have we become reconciled to this idea than we are told of
the great amount of filth that finds its way into milk--two hundred
pounds of cow dung being the daily ration of New York city, some one
tells us. The matter appears more serious still when we are told by
the public press that there are more bacteria in city milk than in
city sewage, and are informed of the epidemics of typhoid which are
distributed by milk, or of the prevalence of tubercle bacteria in this
food product. We become suspicious of the milk supply and hesitate to
use this food product or to give it to our children.

Naturally, the people in small communities feel somewhat more at ease
in the matter since they know their milk producer and can hold him
responsible. But it is questionable whether the milk supply of the
large city is not more reliable. The milk supply in the city is
handled by organizations, and these, on the whole, are rather more
likely to exercise care in the treatment of the milk than are the
small dealers. The advantage of handling the matter through companies
is well shown in many European cities. In the large cities of England
and the continent the milk business is commonly handled by concerns
that distribute great quantities daily. Now, many of these companies
deal with the subject in a very intelligent manner. They exercise a
very considerable control over the individual dairy farms. Some of
them keep inspectors traveling constantly among the farms, spending
$10,000 to $15,000 yearly in such inspections. They will receive no
milk from a farm until after an inspector has visited it and looked
into the hygienic conditions of the dairy, even sometimes going so far
as to make an analysis of the water used in the dairy. Only after such
inspection has been declared favorable is the milk received in the
city. These inspections are repeated monthly. The appearance of a
contagious disease on the farm is noted at once and the milk no longer
received, although still paid for. These companies employ chemists and
bacteriologists to study the character of the milk received. They
educate their men into their business, and consequently employ more
intelligent help than small concerns can. They can furnish a more
uniform product than can be expected of smaller dealers. They soon
acquire a reputation for their milk, which they are very careful to
preserve. Such firms can exercise a much more satisfactory control
over the individual farmer than can even public statute, since, with
their systems of inspection, it is possible to have an accurate
knowledge of the actual conditions under which the milk is produced.
It is plainly within the power of firms dealing in large quantities to
control the character of its milk more accurately than can small
dealers.

Results, too, appear on the whole in favor of the large dealers. In
the cities where there is a system of rigid milk inspection it is
comparatively seldom that the milk furnished by such companies is
found below the standard. This milk is kept up to the standard, and
the companies having a chemical laboratory and having milk from many
sources can keep the quality of the milk much more uniform than can a
dealer whose supply comes from a single farm. The milk inspectors
usually find that it is the small dealers that fail to meet the
standard. Moreover, it is a fact that where epidemics have been traced
to milk it has always been in communities where individual milkmen
bring in milk from one or two dairies and distribute it personally.
All the epidemics of typhoid that have been definitely traced to milk
have been in small communities, and none traced to the milk of large
dealers. It is true that it would be difficult or impossible to trace
to the milk a typhoid epidemic which might occur in a large city. No
one is likely to receive the milk from the same source for two days in
succession, and the mixing which the milk receives in the receiving
station entirely obliterates the individual source. If there should be
some milk brought to the city which contained typhoid bacteria it
would be impossible to determine the fact, for such milk, after
mixing, would be thoroughly scattered beyond any possibility of
following it. We may, then, question somewhat the significance of the
fact, but it certainly is true that while serious epidemics have been
caused by milk in smaller cities no such instance has occurred in the
large cities, or been traced to the milk furnished by companies that
handle it in considerable amounts. It would seem that if milk has ever
been the cause of such diseases in large cities there ought to have
been some evidence of the fact obtained.

It is probable, therefore, that the small community can hardly feel
itself any better off in regard to the milk supply than the larger
city. It is, of course, easier to trace responsibility for bad milk if
we know where it comes from, but it is less likely to be very bad if
it comes from a large number of sources and is thoroughly mixed. The
milk in the large city is perhaps forty-eight hours old when it is
received by the consumer. But it has been kept on ice, has perhaps
been filtered, and many of its bacteria may have been killed by the
long-continued cold temperature. So far as concerns the bacteria
question, our milk which is thus two days old, appears to be actually
superior to milk delivered in European cities, which is only a few
hours old. The free use of ice in our milk car produces a more
favorable result than the more rapid handling which the milk receives
in Europe. The milk company controlling a large territory, with great
resources at its command, can put into practice rules which even
public statute can not enforce, and which the individual farmer will
rarely do by himself. One who is acquainted with the methods of
handling milk in our cities finds that the companies are each year
improving their methods, and that the milk is in most places becoming
more reliable. The proper solution of the milk supply for our
communities is in the formation of large companies, provided they are
managed partly for the benefit of the public and not wholly for
money-making.

There is little question that the public has become somewhat
suspicious of milk, and that many hesitate to drink it as freely as in
earlier years. This suspicion is more pronounced in Europe than in the
United States. Upon the continent of Europe the amount of milk which
is used raw is really very small, and apparently its use in this
condition is destined to cease. The younger generation of physicians
are now being taught that raw milk is a dangerous food, and in some
countries even the children in the schools are being taught that it is
not safe to drink raw milk. Such teaching can have only one result,
and that is the reduction in the amount of milk consumed. Much less
milk is used in Europe than in this country. It is used for tea or
coffee or for cooking, and of course for infant feeding, but for any
one to drink milk as we do in this country is certainly a rarity. The
suspicion under which milk has been placed has decreased its use.

The dangers which are feared in milk are of course connected with the
distribution of disease. Most persons who thus hesitate to use milk
have simply a vague fear, without knowing just what is to be feared.
When we put together all the facts in our possession we find that
there is good reason for believing that milk is sometimes concerned in
the distribution of the following well-known diseases and some obscure
ones: The first is _tuberculosis_, which is a disease attacking the
cow, and, if located in the mammary gland, may infect the milk with
tubercle bacilli, and may subsequently produce the disease in the
person who drinks the milk. It should be stated, however, that there
is good reason for believing that the danger from this source has been
overrated. Second, we have _diphtheria_, which apparently may also
attack the cow. The diphtheria germs may get into the milk from the
cow, and they certainly do get into the milk occasionally from
secondary sources. _Scarlet fever_ apparently is distributed by milk,
though whether this disease may come from the cow or only by secondary
contamination of the milk is not yet positively settled. _Typhoid
fever_ has in a large number of cases been traced to the milk supply.
This disease, however, does not occur in the cow, and the germs always
get into the milk from a secondary source, such as water or contact
with a person who has the disease. _Cholera_ may be distributed by
milk, but this is of course of little importance. Of these disease
bacteria, the tubercle bacillus probably never grows in milk, while
the typhoid and diphtheria germs do. The most common of all troubles
attributed to milk are those somewhat obscure _intestinal diseases_
which attack people especially in the summer months, and are
particularly common among children. Prominent among these stands
_cholera infantum_. These latter troubles, according to our present
knowledge, are not produced by distinct species of bacteria finding
entrance into the body and growing there, as are the other diseases
mentioned. They appear to be produced by bacterial poisons which are
in the milk. The bacteria--probably several different varieties--grow
in the milk and there give rise to certain poisonous products, and
these, when taken into the stomach, produce the diarrhoeal diseases
referred to.

The question of more importance is, however, as to the extent of the
danger from such causes. This question is much like the famous one of
how large is a piece of chalk. There is danger in everything, even in
drinking water and breathing air. Is the danger from milk so great as
to suggest that we should give up our habit of drinking milk as they
have largely done in Europe, or is this danger so slight that we can
well afford to neglect it? We can not avoid all sources of disease
even if we would. To do this we should need to shut ourselves up in a
box, breathe nothing but sterilized air, drink nothing but sterilized
water, and come in contact with no other person, to say nothing of
wearing sterilized clothes. Such a method will produce physical
weakness rather than vigor. We have learned in the last few years that
the proper way of avoiding disease is rather by preparing ourselves to
resist it rather than try to avoid all contact with possible disease
germs. The question is significant, then, whether the danger from milk
is so great that we should use every means of avoiding it; or is it
one of the slight dangers which we may best class with the everyday
incidents against which our proper guard should be simply vigorous
health?

It is impossible to say how great is the liability of contracting
disease from milk. Sometimes the subject looms up before us in
gigantic proportions. When our papers are describing the occurrence of
hundreds of cases of typhoid fever in a city, all traced to a milk
supply, the seriousness of the problem is very apparent, and very
likely we stop drinking milk for a season. But when, on the other
hand, we remember the millions of people that are drinking milk daily
without injury, and remember that our forefathers have done the same,
we grow graver and begin again our old custom. No one can, indeed,
pretend to say how great the danger is. That it is greater than that
from drinking water is pretty clear. That it is less than that of
riding in the cars is probably equally true. That it is greater in a
small community than a large one seems probable, and that there is a
greater likelihood of its being serious where the milk comes from a
single source than where it passes through the hands of a milk-supply
company appears to the author to be quite sure.

In his relation to this problem each person must decide for himself.
We do not cease to ride in the cars because there is danger here, nor
do the innumerable accidents from bicycling deter us from this
pleasure. Ought we to give up milk because of an occasional instance
of disease? It might be possible to give advice to use milk freely,
looking upon the danger as a slight one and one of the unavoidable
dangers of living, but if such advice is given some one will instantly
declare it bad advice. It might be possible to advise boiling all milk
before drinking, and again some authority would say that this is
unnecessary and bad. Personally, the author, though living in a small
community, uses raw milk with perfect freedom, but would regard it as
unwise to allow young children, especially infants, to use it in this
way.

As already stated, the agitation over the milk supply is greater in
Europe than in this country. While in England milk is used much as in
this country, on the continent really little milk is drunk raw, and
there is a growing demand for some means which shall deprive milk of
the suspicions attached to it. This demand has been rapidly growing in
recent years, and has resulted in the appearance of two new
industries. These are the preparation of _sterilized_ and
_Pasteurized_ milk. Neither of these industries has as yet developed
much in the United States, although in our larger cities beginnings
are being made along similar lines.

_Sterilized_ milk has been used for many years. Long ago our doctors
learned to recommend, for invalids, that milk should be boiled before
drinking. This was done before the matter of its relation to bacteria
was understood, and when physicians simply conceived that the boiling
rendered the milk more digestible. From being used by invalids it came
to be suggested in feeding infants, and then, after the relation of
milk to possible disease germs had been understood, the general
sterilization of milk was widely recommended. The process of
sterilization of milk has not taken much of a hold upon the people of
this country as yet, nor has it in England. In continental Europe,
especially in northern countries, where the amount of tuberculosis is
very large, it has made rapid headway, and now in most of the cities
sterilized milk can be bought on the streets just as easily as
ordinary milk.

In sterilizing milk as it is done in Europe the destruction of the
disease germs is not the only purpose. An object of perhaps equal
weight is to produce a milk that will keep. There are many
circumstances where it is desirable to carry milk for long distances,
and to lay in a supply to last many days or even weeks. Under these
circumstances sterilization is resorted to, since it preserves the
milk.

There are various methods of sterilizing milk. The simplest, and
doubtless the most common, is simply the boiling of the milk. This can
easily be done by any one at home, and is, beyond question, very
widely resorted to. But where the sterilization is to be performed by
a public-supply company, boiling is not satisfactory, since the milk,
although it will keep some time, is not indefinitely preserved. The
common method used is heating with superheated steam. The milk is
placed in bottles of special device, holding about a pint or a quart,
and are placed, hundreds at a time, in a large chamber which can be
hermetically sealed and then filled with steam under pressure. Here
the temperature rises to 102° to 106° C. (216° to 220° F.), and is
retained here for some little time. This high heat is supposed to kill
all the living bacteria that may be in the milk, even the resisting
spores being commonly destroyed. While the milk is still in this
apparatus, and before the chamber is opened, the bottles are sealed by
a mechanical contrivance and then allowed to cool. After this they are
taken out of the sterilizer, and are ready for distribution. The milk
thus treated is sometimes pure white, although frequently it has
acquired a brownish color, which is not enticing to one accustomed to
ordinary milk. Moreover, it has a taste of cooked milk, which is to
some people very unpleasant. But when the method is successful the
milk contains no living bacteria, and may now be kept indefinitely
without further change. It may be shipped to all parts of the world,
and whenever opened it will be found still sweet. The process is
evidently equivalent to the canning of fruit or meat, only more
difficult because the milk commonly contains many resisting spores.

Such sterilized milk can be bought almost anywhere in Europe, and
there is undoubtedly a growing demand for it. Where this or other
sterilized milk is used it is claimed that very favorable results
follow. Careful statistics have been collected as to the number of
deaths among infants from diarrhoeal diseases, and it is found that in
some cities the deaths from infants fed upon raw milk are nearly three
times as great as among those fed upon sterilized milk. Of course, no
typhoid epidemics can ever be traced to such milk, and in general its
use seems to meet with decided favor.

There are, however, some serious objections to this method of treating
milk, which have been and probably will continue to be sufficient to
prevent its wide extension. The first is that such milk appears to be
slightly less digestible than raw milk. Over this matter, however,
there has been and still is a great diversity of opinion, and many
claim that there is really no difference in the digestibility. It is a
matter of comparatively little importance, however, at least for
adults and healthy children, for the sterilized milk can be digested,
and the slight difference in ease of digestion probably has little
significance unless it be for weakly individuals. Secondly, the taste
of the sterilized milk is that of boiled milk, and this is rather
unpleasant to most people. Probably a majority of our people, if
called upon to drink sterilized milk or none at all, would prefer to
give it up entirely. This is really an almost insurmountable obstacle
to the wide extension of the use of sterilized milk, at least for the
present generation. Those who have accustomed themselves to the taste
of raw milk will not drink sterilized milk, and, if they do not dare
to drink it raw, will not drink it at all. If infants are brought up
on sterilized milk the next generation may look upon the matter
differently, since the taste can be cultivated.

The third objection to sterilized milk is its cost, which pretty
effectually prevents its wide use. Here is probably the real reason
why the sterilized-milk industry has not extended more rapidly than it
has. The cost of the milk that has been subjected to the treatment
above described is considerably above that of ordinary milk, and the
size of the pocketbook is commonly a matter outweighing, with most
people, even matters of health. When raw milk can be purchased at half
the price of sterilized milk, or even for a cent or two less, it will
be purchased almost uniformly by the bulk of people, rather than the
more expensive sterilized milk. Thus it happens that, in spite of the
fact that sterilized milk can be purchased easily in most European
cities, the business is not a large one. Probably not one quart of
sterilized milk is sold to a hundred quarts of raw milk, even in
cities where the business is best developed.

There are some who think that this method of treating milk is soon to
be recognized as a necessity, and that it will be shortly regarded as
improper to drink raw milk as it is to eat raw pork. But the business
has grown rather slowly. Most people prefer to purchase their milk raw
at a cheaper price and then boil it themselves, if they do not forget
it. There is, moreover, one rather serious criticism that is made
against this sterilized milk. Even with the high temperature that is
used, it is impossible to be sure that all bacteria spores are
destroyed. In most cases they are killed, but occasionally, and indeed
not infrequently, a lot of milk will contain resisting spores that the
heat does not destroy. These few spores that are left may become
serious, far more so than the bacteria in raw milk. After
sterilization they begin to grow, and, since this milk is very
commonly kept for many days before it is used, these germs have a
chance to become very abundant in the milk and to produce profound
chemical changes therein, in some cases actually developing poisons.
The changes that thus occur may be such as to escape notice with the
eye, since they do not curdle the milk, and they may even fail to
affect the taste of the milk. Such milk is to all appearances good,
and would be given to infants without hesitation. If it did contain
the injurious products thus referred to the results would be serious.
Some bacteriologists are convinced that not a few cases of serious
sickness have been produced in this way. When the milk is used shortly
after the sterilization this matter is of no importance, since the
bacteria spores grow slowly. But sterilized milk is supposed to keep
indefinitely, and is therefore likely to be preserved some time before
using, giving abundant opportunity for these spores to grow.

For these several reasons there is developing a different method of
dealing with the problem. It is the well-known process of
_Pasteurization_. But although the process has been known for several
years, its application to the milk business on a large scale is quite
new. Pasteurization consists in heating the milk to a temperature of
only about 68° to 85° C. (165° to 185° F.), leaving it at this
temperature for a short time, and then rapidly cooling. The length of
time required depends upon the temperature used, being, of course,
shortest for the higher temperature, but it varies from some two
minutes to half an hour. This moderate heat does not necessarily
produce the cooked taste nor, as we shall see, does it involve an
expense which need raise the price. The temperature, however, is not
sufficient to destroy all bacteria, and for this reason is looked upon
with disfavor by those who feel that what is needed is an absolute
destruction of all bacteria. The Germans, who like to do things
thoroughly, do not take readily to Pasteurization, and there are
others besides Germans who insist that this treatment does not make
the milk safe. But if one is looking for practical possibilities
rather than theoretical success, there is perhaps at present more to
be said in favor of Pasteurization than sterilization.

Pasteurization is found to be sufficient to destroy all the strictly
pathogenic bacteria that are likely to be in milk. The germs of
diphtheria and typhoid are killed, and even the tubercle bacillus is
rendered innocuous by a few moments at a temperature of 75° C. The
resisting spores above mentioned are of course not destroyed, and many
other bacteria are left uninjured. But the bacteria which escape the
heat are not strictly pathogenic, and do not grow in the body. If they
produce any injury to the drinker it is because they grow in the milk
and produce injurious chemical products there. They are only
dangerous, therefore, after they have had an opportunity to grow in
the milk for some time. This opportunity they do have, as we have
seen, in sterilized milk, but they do not have the opportunity in
Pasteurized milk. Pasteurized milk is not designed for keeping, and
those who use it know that while the strictly pathogenic bacteria are
killed the milk will not keep. It will remain sweet a little longer
than raw milk, but it must be used at once. It must be treated just
like fresh milk. Under these conditions the bacteria do not commonly
have an opportunity of growing sufficiently to produce their poisonous
products before the milk is consumed. Practically, then, these
bacteria that resist the moderate heat of Pasteurization are of no
serious importance in connection with the healthfulness of milk.
Pasteurized milk has been deprived of all its strictly pathogenic
bacteria, and the germs still left will commonly have no opportunity
to grow very much before the milk is consumed. It is therefore the
confident belief of many that Pasteurization is actually a safer
method of treating milk than sterilization. Moreover, the results
appear to be equally favorable, for Pasteurization is claimed to
produce an effect upon diarrhoeal diseases equal to that of
sterilization.

But the most important argument for Pasteurization seems to be that it
is really practical, and can be introduced upon a scale vastly more
extended than can sterilized milk. The practice of Pasteurizing milk
has doubtless been followed not a little by private families, but from
the very outset it has appeared that the proper method of dealing with
the matter is to treat the milk at a general distributing center,
rather than to depend upon the consumer to do it. Not a few devices
have been suggested for accomplishing the purpose satisfactorily and
rapidly. The machines invented are planned upon two different
principles. In one plan the milk is placed in some large vessel
holding many gallons and is here heated, commonly by steam coils. It
is allowed to remain here at the desired temperature for twenty
minutes to half an hour, and is then cooled. This method is
necessarily slow--so slow, indeed, that it is impractical for use
where large amounts of milk must be treated rapidly for general
distribution. It probably could not be used for the milk supply of a
city. The other method is called that of continuous flow. Here the
milk is allowed to flow continuously over a heated surface, which
brings it quickly to the desired temperature. It is kept hot for only
a short time, however, and it then flows over a cooled surface, where
the temperature is brought down again and the milk is finally
delivered from the machine in a continuous stream of cooled milk.
Great objections have been urged against this process, from the fact
that it is not thorough. The milk is retained at the high temperature
for such a short time that many of the bacteria are not killed. The
Pasteurization is decidedly less thorough than by the other method.
But here, again, before condemning the process it is necessary to
consider its purpose. If it is to destroy all the bacteria, or as
large a number of them as is possible, it is of course unsatisfactory.
If, however, the purpose is to treat the milk cheaply and rapidly in
such a manner as to remove the danger of disease distribution
through, the milk supply, it would appear that such a method is
perhaps satisfactory.

So far as can be determined, this method is efficient in destroying
pathogenic bacteria. Its efficiency is of course dependent upon the
length of time that the milk is retained at the high temperature, and
this can be regulated by the rate of the flow of the milk through the
machine. All evidence we have seems to point to the conclusion that a
temperature of 75° C., continued for a few minutes only, so far
destroys or weakens the pathogenic bacteria which are liable to be
found in milk that they need not subsequently be feared as producing
disease. Of course, there are pathogenic bacteria that are not
destroyed by this temperature, but they are not likely to occur in
milk. The germs of typhoid, diphtheria, and tuberculosis are probably
rendered harmless by such treatment, and these are the chief
pathogenic bacteria of milk. Moreover, the other bacteria are very
greatly decreased in numbers, so that the dangers of intestinal
troubles are at least much reduced. In hospitals where Pasteurization
has been adopted the results are as favorable as with sterilization.

The great value of this plan is, however, that it is practical on a
large scale. In Copenhagen it has been in practice for some three
years very extensively. In Denmark the amount of tuberculosis among
cows is very great, somewhat more than half the animals suffering from
this disease. As a result the public milk supply is regarded with more
suspicion than in countries where the disease is less. It is
everywhere recommended that the milk be always boiled before using,
but the bother of treating the milk thus daily makes people unwilling
to do it, and it is doubtful whether the practice is as common as the
physicians think necessary. Some three years ago a company was
organized to meet the public demand for safe milk, and it has adopted
plans by which it furnishes Pasteurized milk on a scale as extensive
as that of the ordinary milk-supply companies. The company has devised
and manufactured two large machines which receive the milk, Pasteurize
it, and cool it in a constant stream, and are capable of treating two
thousand quarts an hour. The milk received by the company is tested
chemically and filtered, and then allowed to pass through one of these
large machines. After this it is placed in glass bottles and sealed
with the company's seal. The heating is done by steam, and the cooling
by brine cooled by an ammonia cooling machine. The greatest care is
taken in cleaning and sterilizing the bottles, an enormous chamber
some twenty feet long and six feet in diameter being used for a
sterilizer. Into this the washed bottles are placed, the chamber
hermetically closed, and then superheated steam is turned in upon
them. Everything connected with the establishment is conducted with
the greatest attention to cleanliness, and upon a very large scale.
The bottled milk is subsequently distributed in ordinary milk carts. A
bacteriologist is constantly testing the efficiency of the machines by
bacteriological examinations of the Pasteurized milk.

The most important feature in this undertaking is that the company
furnishes the city with milk at the same price as that furnished by
the other companies without Pasteurization. It seems strange that this
can be done, for the Pasteurization of course costs something. But the
explanation is essentially that heat is cheaper than cold. Because of
the subsequent Pasteurization this company does not feel it necessary
to demand that the milk should reach them in as cool a condition as is
required by the other companies. While their business rivals insist
that they shall receive milk not warmer than 4° C., this Pasteurizing
company receives it as warm as 10° C., and this saving in the cooling
largely pays for the Pasteurization. The mechanical bottling enables
them to employ a cheaper grade of help than is necessary when the milk
is peddled in carts.

The results of this endeavor to furnish safe milk are in quite decided
contrast to those connected with sterilized milk. Sterilized milk has
now been on the market for quite a number of years, but, in spite of
the fact that it can be readily bought in most cities, the actual
business is small. The largest milk-supply company in Europe has a
demand for only a few hundred quarts per day. This company in
Copenhagen offers to the public a milk which has the taste of fresh
milk and which has been so treated as to have all pathogenic bacteria
within it destroyed, and at the same time the other bacteria greatly
reduced in number. This milk it sells at the same price as ordinary
milk. As a result its business has rapidly grown, and instead of
supplying a few hundred quarts it sells some thirty thousand daily,
and the amount of milk handled is increasing with great rapidity. It
probably sells more Pasteurized milk than all the sterilized milk sold
in Europe.

It would thus seem that we have here actually a practical method of
dealing with the new problem of the milk supply. That it is practical
is manifest from the actual results in this institution in Copenhagen.
Whether it is regarded as satisfactory will of course depend upon our
standpoint. Those that insist that the milk must be freed from all
danger, and hence deprived of all bacteria, will not regard this
method as satisfactory. But probably every one will recognize that
milk thus treated is very much safer than raw milk, and that dangers
from typhoid epidemics and tuberculosis are removed, even if they do
not admit that intestinal troubles are thus avoided.

There can be little doubt that the method would be successful in our
own cities, but its success would depend upon the price at which the
milk is sold. If the Pasteurized milk is sold for a price much higher
than ordinary milk it will not be a commercial success, for the vast
majority of people prefer to save the one or two cents per quart, and
run the rather slight risk of trouble from the milk. If it can be sold
in our cities, as in Copenhagen, for the same price or a price only
slightly higher than that of ordinary milk, it is hardly doubtful that
it would soon come into favor, for who would not prefer milk that is
safe from disease germs if the price is the same? Already there are a
few attempts in this direction in some of our cities, but as yet they
are only in the beginning stage. Whether they will develop to a wide
extent depends probably almost wholly upon the price at which the milk
can be sold.

It would appear, then, that this method of Pasteurization by a central
company offers the most hopeful solution of this feature of the
problem which is growing with the growth of cities. The milk companies
could probably arrange, without great expense, such a plan of
Pasteurizing large amounts of milk. This only emphasizes the
conclusion, already reached, that the most hopeful method of dealing
with the problem in our cities is through properly organized companies
that can handle milk on a large scale, and will do it conscientiously,
and not wholly from the standpoint of money-making.




TEACHERS' SCHOOL OF SCIENCE.

BY FRANCES ZIRNGIEBEL.

[_Concluded._]


Parallel in time with the course in historical geology or paleontology
was that in botany, under the leadership of Dr. Robert W. Greenleaf, a
Boston physician, who in his student days had assisted Dr. Goodale and
was at the time of giving these lessons Professor of Botany and
Materia Medica at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. A growing
interest in the study of botany in the schools, and Dr. Greenleaf's
exceptional ability as a teacher, made the attendance at this class
very large. After an hour's lecture the instructor and two assistants
directed the observation of the specimens by the students, who were
required to make sketches of the objects studied. The first set of
lessons was similar to that given in the school by Dr. Goodale several
years before, and was of a preparatory nature, including
morphological, structural, and physiological botany.

[Illustration: ROBERT W. GREENLEAF.]

The introductory lesson dealt with the relation of botany to its
various subdivisions and to other studies. The meaning of morphology
was illustrated by comparing the four plant members--root, stem, leaf,
and plant hair--with the different plant organs, and a practical
exercise, with specimens whose parts were sketched and labeled, was
given to show that the position and mode of development of a part
determine its rank as a member or structural division, while its
function may give it quite a different rank as an organ.

A preliminary view of vegetable histology, considering the shape,
wall, markings in the wall, and contents of cells, was next given.
This was followed by lessons on vegetable physiology, in which the
absorption of liquids and gases for the making of food, assimilation,
transfer and storage of food, the growth of cells and tissues, the
excretion of waste products, special kinds of work, as climbing,
catching of insects, etc., reproduction, and the process of metabolism
as illustrated in cells, were treated of first in a general way and
then elaborated upon in the succeeding lessons. Much time was devoted
to the anatomy, histology, and germination of seeds and to the
structure and function of root, stem, and leaf. The morphology of
fruits and their anatomical classification (profusely illustrated from
the fruits of the market and neighboring fields), with a discussion of
the contrivances for dissemination of fruits and seeds, furnished
subject-matter for both a profitable and interesting lesson.

The last lessons of this set were devoted to the study of the flower
and its parts, particularly stamens and pistils, and ended with an
explanation of the processes of pollination and fertilization. The
work of making vertical and horizontal plans of the flower served as
an introduction for the second year's course on Systematic Botany,
wherein the relations between the common families of flowering plants
were shown. This course was illustrated by numerous hothouse flowers
and also by dried specimens, of which one hundred kinds were given to
each teacher. This course was given to teachers, many of whom could by
means of a key analyze any common flower, but who knew nothing of the
principles of plant relationship. The theories of special creation and
of evolution were explained, and the theory of descent with variation
was taken as a hypothesis.

Starting with this theory of evolution as a basis, the structure of
certain families was studied and they were taken as types with which
other related families were compared. After a classification of all
known flowering plants into gymnosperms and angiosperms, and
subdividing the latter into monocotyledons and dicotyledons, the lily
family was considered as typical of monocotyledons. It and its related
families afforded a simple means of demonstrating the problems under
consideration. Members of this family were found to be characterized
by having an endogenous stem, usually parallel veined leaves,
six-parted perianth free from a three-celled superior ovary, and six
stamens. The allied families were shown to agree with the type in the
internal or fundamental characters, such as the number of carpels and
cells of the ovary, but were found to differ in the more external or
environmental characters, such as the arrangement of the parts of the
perianth.

After studying the relations between the various groups of endogens,
the trees and weeds of the apetalous division of exogens were next
considered, and through _Ranunculaceæ_ connected with polypetalous
dicotyledons. These latter were classified according to whether the
parts of the flower were hypogenous, perigynous, or epigynous. These
terms signify, respectively, under the pistil, around the pistil, and
on the pistil. In this group the rose family presented several
modifications of the pistil, according to which it was divided into
tribes.

When the group of _Gamopetalæ_ was studied, _Solanaceæ_, the
nightshade family, with its regular flower, and _Labiatæ_, or mint
family, with irregular flower, were taken as types with superior
ovaries. Various modifications from these types were found in several
families.

_Ericaceæ_, the heath family, presented, in its suborders of
_Ericineæ_, _Pyroleæ_, and _Monotropeæ_, which had superior ovaries,
and _Vacciniæ_, which had inferior ovaries, an intermediate order
between the preceding _superæ_ and following _inferæ_, of which latter
group _Campanulaceæ_ was considered a type.

The relations between many families were traced, and the _Compositæ_
were lastly considered, this family showing the greatest
differentiation with its coalescence of circles, adnation of different
circles, reduction in parts, and number of individuals brought
together. The greatest deviation from a simple flower and a
complexity of structure were here presented. Through the co-operation
of parts these flowers were of high physiological efficiency.

Throughout the course, families of medicinal or other economic value,
or such as presented evidences of adaptation for cross-fertilization,
dissemination of seed, life in desert regions, or contained examples
of parasiticism or many poisonous genera, were incidentally
considered.

Carefully made illustrated notebooks, collections of dried specimens,
and other evidences of interest in the course were shown by the
teachers, who gained great facility in placing an unknown flower in
its proper family without the use of a key or botany.

The next set of lessons in the botanical series consisted of the usual
number (fifteen) on cryptogamic botany. This was perhaps the course
which was the most difficult of presentation; but, notwithstanding,
much dried and fresh material, representing chiefly the higher
cryptogams, was distributed among the pupils and examined by them.

The fourth and last year of the series was spent on paleobotany. This
was a somewhat novel and valuable course, which was particularly
appreciated by those who had studied geology and paleontology in other
classes of the school. A large amount of laboratory material was
provided from the museum. The duplicate fossil specimens of the
society were used by the class, and ninety determined species were
figured by many members. Since the close of these lessons persons who
have shown throughout the four years a satisfactory knowledge of
botany and have passed the examinations, in the most exhaustive course
ever given in the subject for teachers, have received certificates
stating their qualifications.

[Illustration: GEORGE H. BARTON.]

In the spring of 1887, owing to a suggestion made by Professor W. O.
Crosby and to assistance furnished by him, a private course of
instruction was arranged by Prof. G. H. Barton, of the Institute of
Technology, for a series of lessons in field geology. Twenty-one
persons, nearly all of whom had attended Professor Crosby's course in
The Teachers' School of Science, took these lessons with great
enthusiasm. The series of lessons was continued in the autumn, with
the addition of twelve new members to the class. From this beginning
has grown the systematic course of field instruction in geology now
carried on as one of the regular courses. As at present conducted, it
consists of a series of lessons in the autumn and spring of each year,
so arranged as to give detailed instruction in methods of observation
covering a range through all portions of the subject, embracing
mineralogy, lithology, structural geology, historical geology, and
physiography.

[Illustration: TEACHERS' SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. FIELD CLASS IN GEOLOGY.
PROF. GEORGE H. BARTON, INSTRUCTOR.]

The method pursued is as follows: The class is taken to a typical
place for illustrating the subject in hand. The area to be studied is
pointed out, and then for a half hour or so the class is asked to make
observations unassisted by the instructor and with as little
communication among themselves as possible. Then they are called
together and questions are asked to draw out the results of their
observations, free discussion being invited at this time, and
questions from the class answered by the instructor. Then the
instructor explains the phenomena studied, and finally gives a general
lecture upon the particular subject involved. Notes, taken in the
field, are carried home and rewritten and then handed in at the next
lesson, to be corrected and returned later. A printed synopsis is
furnished each member of the class at every lesson, for which payment
is made sufficient to cover the cost of the printing. Each member is
also required to be provided with a hammer, chisel, and compass.

The course of instruction begins with a discussion of the general
principles of erosion, and one lesson each is given at places
illustrating an excess of chemical and mechanical action. At Medford a
very broad dike of coarsely crystalline diabase, penetrated by
numerous cracks, furnishes an exceptionally good opportunity for the
observation of rapid chemical decomposition, an almost complete
gradual transition being shown from the fresh unaltered rock through
all degrees of decomposition to the formation of soil. The cause of
the decomposition is explained, with the resulting products, and the
history of the latter is traced till they form parts or the whole of a
new rock. A drumlin is seen, at Great Head, Winthrop, being undermined
and worn away by the waves. By comparison with other drumlins in the
neighborhood, the original form of Great Head can be easily restored
mentally and the effect of waves and currents upon a coast can be
readily appreciated. In an excursion to North Adams and rides over the
Hoosac Mountains and to the summit of Greylock, rivers are seen in
their various stages of action, the cutting backward by the cascade
action, the cutting downward of torrent action, and the more quiet
transportation and final deposition of the streams passing through the
lower levels and approaching the sea. From the sides of Hoosac and
Greylock the surface of the Massachusetts plateau is seen, with its
dissection by the Berkshire and Deerfield Valleys, illustrating the
broad effects of erosion over the surface of the continent.

Passing next to a discussion of the disposition of the material that
is derived by erosion from the land, a lecture upon the sorting action
of water is given, and the resultant beds of gravel, sand, and clay
are studied in a section cut by the Fitchburg Railroad through the
sand plateau at Lake Walden, in Concord.

The next step is to study these products of deposition in their
consolidated forms. At Parker Hill, Roxbury, a large quarry furnishes
opportunity for the study of conglomerate, special attention being
paid to the means of determination of stratification in a nearly
homogeneous, coarse material. Here also is a large section in a
drumlin left in a nearly vertical face by excavation about twenty
years ago, and now illustrating finely the action of rain during the
years. This forms an instructive contrast with the marine erosion of
Great Head, Winthrop. Any one of the numerous slate quarries at
Somerville serves the purpose of studying stratification in a fine,
homogeneous material. In each of these three last-named places the
various phenomena of stratified rocks are studied, such as
unconformity, cross-bedding, ripple-marks, strike, and dip, but
attention is confined more especially to the original structures,
subsequent structures being left for later lessons.

Eruptive rocks are then taken up and studied in respect to their
origin and original structures. The quarries near Winter Hill, in
Somerville, furnish an admirable opportunity to study dikes. Here a
small hill of slate is intersected by three series of dikes of
different character and intersecting each other at various angles,
enabling a determination of their relative ages. An intrusive bed, now
separated from its parent dike by erosion, affords the means of
comparing the characteristics of the two forms and of tracing out the
relation between them. The inclined positions of the dike and bed and
the numerous quarries furnish several sections in varying relations to
the two. The various dikes and the inclined position of the inclosing
slate give an excellent chance for the first instruction in the making
of geological maps and sections. Notes are taken for this purpose, and
both maps and sections are constructed and handed in at a later date.

At Marblehead Neck various other eruptive structures, such as flow
structure, ancient ash-beds, etc., are seen in the felsite, of which
many varieties occur there. Attention is especially called to the
liability of mistaking flow structure for stratification, the
similarities and differences being explained. At Marblehead Neck,
also, a careful study is made of the formation of pebbles, all stages
being shown from the dislodging of fragments from the cliffs by frost
action, the dropping into reach of the waves, the first rounding of
the sharp angles to the subangular outline, and finally the rounding
of the fragment into a complete pebble form.

At Newton Centre a study of contemporaneous beds is made, including
their relations to the inclosing rocks and a comparison of their
characteristics with those of intrusive beds.

Eruptive masses, metamorphic rocks, and vein phenomena are all well
shown at Fitchburg, where Rollstone Hill is an eruptive mass of
granite cutting through the metamorphic mica schists and gneisses, and
the granite in turn is cut by very numerous veins of pegmatite,
abundantly rich in tourmaline crystals and occasionally having beryl.

Glacial structures are next taken up. At Newtonville is studied the
esker and sand plateau, rendered famous by the work of Prof. W. M.
Davis and others; at Clinton an exceptionally fine set of terraces,
and the best example of _roches moutonnées_ near Boston, where a class
can be taught in a very few minutes to recognize that the movement of
the ice sheet must have been from the north toward the south; and at
Stow and Haverhill are studied drumlins.

After this, special attention is devoted to the subsequent structures
of rocks, such as folds, faults, cleavage, joints, etc. Typical
places, as before, are selected for each, and the work carried on in
the same manner. When this course has been entirely accomplished, then
places of greater complexity and where the problems are not quite so
plain are visited, and opportunity is given to exercise the skill or
knowledge already gained.

Following this, a series of lessons is devoted to the study of typical
places illustrating the various historical strata occurring in
Massachusetts; among others, Nahant and Braintree for the Cambrian,
Attleboro for the Carboniferous, Mount Holyoke for the Triassic, Gay
Head for the Cretaceous and Tertiary, Rockport, Martha's Vineyard, and
claypits of Cambridge for the Glacial Champlain.

The work in this course has been marked by enthusiasm, and the
attendance has been very large, reaching a maximum of two hundred and
ten, with an average attendance of seventy-one in the autumn of 1896.
As a direct outcome of this work, and connected with it, several
excursions to distant points have been made by parties under the
charge of Professor Barton during the summer vacations. The most
important of these were the following: A five-days' trip through
western Massachusetts; a seven-weeks' trip to the Pacific coast,
including visits to the Lake Superior copper regions, the Yellowstone
Park, Butte, Montana, Great Shoshone Falls in Idaho, Columbia River,
Mount Hood, Frazer Cañon in British Columbia, the Great Glacier of the
Selkirks, and the Hot Springs at Banff; and two trips through Nova
Scotia, one in 1894 and another in 1898. In each of the latter trips
special attention has been paid to the various kinds of mining coal,
iron, and gold, to the famous mineral localities like Cape Blomidon,
and to the general geology.

Also, connected with this work, a special course of lessons has been
given by Professor Barton each spring to a class from the Boston
Normal School, and many occasional lectures and field lessons to the
classes of the State Normal School at Framingham, and at other
schools, teachers' clubs, etc. During the Boston exhibition of the
cyclorama of the volcano of Kilauea, Hawaii, over three hundred
teachers and a large number of schools visited that exhibition and
listened to personal lectures by Professor Barton in direct connection
with the work of The Teachers' School of Science.

Owing to the request of members of the field class, a private class
was organized in the winter for a course of twelve lessons in
mineralogy. This proving successful, and a demand for laboratory work
being shown, this work was incorporated as a distinct course in the
school. It was during the early part of this work that Professor
Barton introduced for the first time in The Teachers' School of
Science the system of daily and final examinations--a system since
followed as the general practice of the school and now considered as
one of its most fundamental features.

This course, after various experiments, has finally developed into a
definite four-years' course of instruction, at the end of which those
members who have met all the requirements receive the diploma of the
school. The full four-years' course is designed to give a thorough
training in the fundamental principles of geological science. Each
year is given a series of fifteen lessons of two hours each, partly
laboratory, partly lecture, and fully illustrated with specimens and
diagrams. The first year's work is devoted to mineralogy. One
introductory lecture is given on the principles of chemistry as the
basis of understanding the composition of minerals, and the four
following lessons are devoted to a study of the physical properties,
mainly crystallography. During the remaining lessons, about one
hundred and fifty of the commonest mineral species are studied, the
class being required to learn to recognize each species and be able to
tell its composition.

The second year's work with lithology is carried on largely in the
same way as with mineralogy. At first a brief review is made of the
most important rock-forming minerals. Then all the commoner species of
rocks are taken up and studied, so as to learn to recognize each
species at sight and to tell its composition. Besides this, lectures
are given upon the origin of the rocks and the derivation of their
component materials, involving a large amount of dynamical geology.

During the third and fourth years are taken up, respectively,
structural and historical geology. Both these subjects are taught
largely by lectures, illustrated by charts and diagrams, a select set
of specimens for the table, and a few such specimens as can be passed
around the room. In the historical geology special care is taken to
furnish for class use as many specimens as possible of the typical
rocks and fossils of the various ages. It is nearly impossible to
provide so abundantly, however, as for mineralogy and lithology. As
regards examinations, the methods used are as follows: The first half
hour of each exercise is taken up with answering questions or
identifying specimens, the examinations in all cases being written.
The ground covered by each examination includes all that has been gone
over during that year previous to the examination. After the
examination is finished, the instructor briefly answers and explains
the questions. The papers so handed in are marked by the instructor
and returned the following week. All of this serves to enable the
class to keep a comprehensive grasp of the subject constantly in hand.
At the end of each year's work a final examination of three hours in
length is given, covering the complete subject. The final rank given
each member is made up equally from an average of the term's work and
the final examination. This course has proved decidedly popular. The
instruction was originally given in the Geological Department of the
Institute of Technology, in a room adapted to seating thirty-six
persons. This was gradually crowded to accommodate fifty-six persons.
At the beginning of the last four-years' course the number of the
applications was so large that each applicant was required to sign a
printed statement promising to be present at all exercises for the
four years, except for good and sufficient reasons. One hundred and
seventeen persons gave the required promise. In order to meet this
demand, two divisions were formed, and on each Saturday afternoon the
same lesson was repeated. In order to defray the additional expense of
the second division the members of the class voluntarily contributed
three dollars each. The labor of repeating the lessons on the same
afternoon proving too great, provision was made the second year to
transfer the instruction to the large lecture hall of the Natural
History building, where accommodations were made for one hundred and
twelve students. The work has since been carried on there, and a
complete new set of specimens, diagrams, etc., is gradually being
obtained.

The membership of the class is, of course, principally made up from
Boston and the towns immediately surrounding, but a few come from
places as far distant as towns in Connecticut and Rhode Island, from
Bridgewater, Scituate, Framingham, Fitchburg, Lowell, Lawrence, and
Beverly.

One member of the class has made an exhaustive study of the granites
of eastern Massachusetts, and others are teaching geology in secondary
schools outside of Boston.

An important and influential outcome of the first lessons of Mr.
Barton was the formation, in the fall of 1888, of the Barton Chapter
of the Agassiz Association, by seven ladies who had been
fellow-students in mineralogy. Later, men and other ladies who had
attended Mr. Barton's field lessons were invited to join. For ten
years this club has flourished, and held weekly evening meetings for
nine months of the year, at which the members have done much
systematic work in the study of geology, mineralogy, chemistry,
botany, entomology, and zoölogy. At some of the sessions the
individual members have taken their share of the work by the preparing
of exhaustive papers which have been read to and discussed by the
class, and sometimes a series of lessons has been given by specialists
in the several departments. Many of the first scientists of Boston
have aided this association by the giving of lectures and advice
regarding courses of lessons and opportunities for study, while the
club has in return been a great benefactor to many who sought its
instruction and the association of those with like tastes. In
arranging regular Saturday outings for the study of field geology and
botany, this club was the pioneer in this vicinity of the kind of
study which happily now seems to be fast becoming popular. A number of
persons who were members of this association in their younger years
are now holding positions in the United States Geological Survey or
other departments of the Government, or in the capacity of curator or
instructor are connected with large museums, colleges, or schools in
different parts of the country, thereby having opportunities to
continue their favorite lines of work, to spread a knowledge of the
things about them, and to induce in others tastes such as were
fostered in them while connected with the Barton Chapter of the
Agassiz Association.

[Illustration: FIELD CLASS IN ZOÖLOGY. LOOKING FOR SHORE LIFE AMONG
THE BOWLDERS AT WOODS HOLE.]

Since closing the four-years' course in botany Dr. Greenleaf has
repeated the lessons on vegetable morphology and physiology and those
on systematic botany. Finding the class not so well prepared as in
former years, instead of continuing the third course of the series, he
has given a set of fifteen lessons on the elementary structure and
function of flowering plants, as he believed that course to be a
necessary foundation for further botanical study.

Another feature of The Teachers' School of Science should not remain
unnoticed. It consists of effective work in zoölogy and geology by Mr.
A. W. Grabau, the official guide in the museum and a graduate student
of geology. A course of lessons on The Shore Animals of New England
was begun by him in April, 1897. Directly connected with these field
lessons was held a class in laboratory work, which was attended by
about twenty persons.

The next year Mr. Grabau endeavored to give his audience a
comprehensive view of the action of cold and heat, of winds and waves,
rain and rivers, and of the chemical effect of the atmosphere in the
production of the natural features of the earth's surface, by giving
eight lectures on The Surface of the Earth, its Rocks, Soils, and
Scenery. Special attention was given to the scenery of New England,
and this awakened an interest in local scenery, which interest led to
Mr. Grabau giving several lectures in surrounding towns, under local
auspices. One of these lectures called the attention of the people of
Arlington, Massachusetts, to the fact that they had in their midst a
valuable geological monument, and led them to start a movement for the
preservation of a terminal bowlder moraine on Arlington Heights, which
is the only good accessible example of such moraine near Boston.

Under the same instruction ten lessons were given on the use of the
microscope and the preparation of specimens of hydroids.

The work begun at the winter lectures was continued during the spring
by excursions to the seashore. The beaches of Revere, Swampscott,
Marblehead; the cliffs and tide pools of Nahant, Marblehead Neck, and
Nantasket, and the mud flats and piles of Beverly, were explored. One
excursion was made to the outer shore of Cape Cod and Buzzards Bay.
The party spent four days on this excursion.

During the early part of the summer an outing was made to Bayville,
Maine, where a laboratory was furnished, with microscopes and other
accessories, and fourteen persons (mostly teachers) devoted ten days
to the study of marine fauna, special attention being given to
hydroids. Some geology was studied during this excursion, and a small
island mapped. Those who attended this expedition were delighted with
an experience new to most of them, as many of them had not before
studied zoölogy and knew not what a field could be opened by the study
of natural history. One of the party afterward remarked, "I feel as if
I had been born into a new world, so different are these things in
their homes from their representations in books."

In the autumn and following spring field lessons were given on marine
zoölogy, the object being to study animals in their natural habitats.
Another excursion was made to Woods Hole, Buzzards Bay, and a summer
laboratory established for ten days at Goldsborough, Maine, where work
similar to that done the previous summer was here carried out. Among
the field lessons of the spring of 1899 was an excursion of four days'
duration to Cuttyhunk, one of the Elizabeth Islands, where there was
an opportunity to study a marine fauna southern in character and
different from that found on the Maine coast. On the afternoon of
Agassiz's birthday a sail was taken to another of this group of
islands--Penikese, the site of the famous summer school. In the
evening the class of seventeen persons listened to the reading of
selections from the life of Agassiz, poems regarding him, and magazine
articles describing events connected with the great meeting in the
summer of 1873. The next day an excursion was made to Gay Head,
Martha's Vineyard, where the afternoon was spent in studying the
wonderfully colored clay cliffs and in searching for fossils. As an
outcome of Mr. Grabau's field lessons the Hale House Natural History
Club was formed. This club consists of teachers and other persons who
have banded together for the study of natural history. Meetings are
held twice a month, and similar classes have been formed for children
of the neighborhood.

The Teachers' School of Science has been of great assistance to the
Boston Normal School by furnishing certain of its pupils with
instruction in geology and zoölogy.

In 1893 The Teachers' School of Science took part in the exhibition of
elementary science teaching made by certain teachers of the schools of
the eastern part of Massachusetts. The school was enabled to take part
in this public exhibit through the generosity of Mr. T. A. Watson, a
pupil in the school, who paid the necessary expenses.

       *       *       *       *       *

     A collection of articles obtained by the Baron de Baye in a
     scientific expedition last year to Siberia and the Russian
     Caucasus contains specimens from very ancient times down. Among
     them are mammoth bones and chipped flints, like those of the
     Mousterian period in France, from the Yenisei; arrowheads, like
     the European and American, from the same region; bronze weapons
     from the Caucasus; iron arrowheads like those of the Congo;
     skulls, weapons and ornaments, necklaces of hard, polished,
     pierced stones, from the Kurgans of the steppes, dating from
     antiquity down to the beginning of the middle ages; Caucasian
     jewels, and ceramic ware ancient and modern. A very curious
     object is one of the statues, called Kamenaia Baba, of a kind
     supposed to have been set up by the Scythians and always held in
     veneration, of which the present specimen is the only one yet
     allowed to go out of Russia.




INFLUENCE OF THE WEATHER UPON CRIME.

BY EDWIN G. DEXTER.


The relation between general climatic conditions and the prevalence of
suicide has been somewhat exhaustively studied by students of
criminology, the result being a considerable accumulation of data and
the formulation of a number of more or less tenable theories. From
these studies we may safely conclude that the homicidal tendency, as
shown by self-destruction (suicide) and the destruction of others
(murder), is stronger in the temperate climatic zones than in the
torrid or frigid, and that in the late spring and early summer months
more of these offenses have been recorded than for any other period of
the year. To these few facts the seeming effects of cosmical forces
upon such tendencies has apparently been limited.

In fact, it was the oft-repeated statement that nothing was known of
the exact relations of the more definite meteorological conditions
with the prevalence of suicide--a statement to be found in most
treatises upon the subject--that has given rise to this paper.
Realizing that the science of climatology must include, and in fact be
based upon, a study of the meteorological conditions prevalent, and
that the study of these definite conditions for the exact times when
suicides or murders occurred might throw some light upon the question,
this problem was undertaken.

In the preparation of the accompanying charts, from the study of which
the conclusions herein stated were deduced, the record of crime for
Denver, Colorado, for the fourteen years ending with June, 1897, was
made use of. Superintendent Howe, chief of the city detective service,
has kept such a record with the greatest care, and we wish here to
acknowledge the many courtesies of his office.

No attempt has been made in this paper to compare the conditions for
Denver, either meteorological or social--and each is somewhat
unique--with such conditions elsewhere. In fact, such a comparative
study is at present impossible since data are wanting.

In the actual preparation of the charts each murder, suicide, or
attempt at suicide--which, for our purpose, is equally important--was
set down chronologically in the left-hand columns of large sheets of
paper ruled for the purpose. These sheets were then taken to the
office of the United States Weather Bureau, F. H. Brandenburg,
director, where were recorded in the proper columns the maximum and
minimum barometer readings, maximum and minimum temperature, maximum
and minimum humidity, maximum velocity of the wind, precipitation, and
character of the day for each day during the fourteen years on which
a crime of either class occurred. When several took place upon the
same day the fact was taken into consideration. From the sheets thus
filled out, the curves on the accompanying charts were plotted by
computing the per cent of crimes of each class committed under the
definite meteorological condition indicated.

The curves marked "normal" were constructed by tabulating in a similar
manner the conditions for every day in a sufficient number of days to
secure a fair average. Five years were so tabulated for Figs. 2, 3, 4,
and 5, and the records for nineteen years used in Figs. 1 and 6.

The whole number of suicides recorded is two hundred and sixty;
murders, one hundred and eighty. It may be noted that this number of
suicides, for a city averaging hardly one hundred thousand inhabitants
for the fourteen years, is largely in excess of the rate recorded for
American cities, but it must be remembered that some of these were
unsuccessful attempts, and also that the social conditions of Denver
tend to swell the number--containing, as it does, so many disappointed
in the last struggle for health.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.]

Fig. 1 shows the occurrence, in per cent, of crimes of both the
classes considered for each month of the year, together with the
monthly meteorological means, computed from the records for nineteen
years. The expectancy curve in the occurrence table is based upon the
supposition that the months of the year are all of the same length,
and that the numerical expectancy would be one twelfth, or eight and a
third per cent for each. It will be seen that the crime curves are for
the most part below the expectancy for the winter months, and above it
for the summer (except for April, and suicides for June), showing the
maximum for the latter class in May and for murders in March. Morselli
shows[C] that for most European countries suicides are at the maximum
in June, though a considerable number show that condition for the
later spring months. A study of the general meteorological means,
shown upon the same plate as the occurrence table, fails to indicate
any good reason for irregularity of the crime curves. The "month"
columns read from the top to the bottom of the chart, and by following
that for May, for instance, which month shows the maximum for suicide,
we find that the meteorological condition for each class of data is
about halfway between the extremes for that class for the year, while
for January (minimum suicides) each class is by far more divergent.
Yet a mean, like those considered in this table, is but the average of
the extremes, and those months which show great per cents of crime
also present great extremes of condition, which fact, interpreted in
the light of those disclosed by the charts yet to be considered, make
the occurrence curve more explicable.

     [Footnote C: Suicide, International Science Series.]

[Illustration: FIG. 2.]

WIND.--An explanation of the various curves in Fig. 2 may serve for
the series following, so I give it somewhat in detail. The vertical
distances from the base line indicate per cents, and the distances
from left to right, divided into columns, the maximum velocity of the
wind per hour for the days tabulated. In the "normal" curve every day
for five years was considered, and it was found that seven per cent of
the days for that period showed a maximum velocity of between one and
ten miles (first column), forty-eight per cent a maximum velocity of
between ten and twenty miles (second column), nineteen per cent a
maximum velocity of between twenty and thirty miles, and so on, as
indicated by the curve. Now, it can readily be seen that this normal
curve may also be considered the expectancy curve--_if the wind has no
effect_. That is, if forty-eight per cent of the days of the year show
a maximum velocity of the wind, between ten and twenty miles an hour,
the law of probability would give us the same per cent of the crime
for the year on such days if this meteorological condition were not
effective.

What we do find, however, is indicated by the other curves, and any
increase of crime over expectancy may in this case be ascribed to the
wind. We notice that for slight velocities (one to twenty miles an
hour) the crime curves are below that of expectancy, but we can see
that if the sum of all the per cents for any one curve is one hundred,
and one is forced above the other at any part, there must be a
corresponding deficiency at some other part. So we may, perhaps, with
justice suppose that these mild velocities do not exert a positively
quieting effect emotionally, but simply a less stimulating effect than
the higher ones. For velocities of between twenty and thirty miles a
marked effect is noticeable, and under those conditions the proportion
of suicides to that expected is 37:29; velocities of from thirty to
forty miles, 14:11; of forty to fifty miles, 7:2; of fifty to sixty
miles, 0.4:2.6; of fifty to sixty miles, 0.2:2. The curve for murders
shows the increase to be slightly less than for suicides, but the same
general relation is preserved throughout. The value of such curves is,
of course, somewhat proportional to the number of observations made
and recorded, and we must confess that two hundred and sixty
(suicides) and one hundred and eighty (murders) is a hardly sufficient
number from which to deduce a definite law, but we can hardly doubt,
even considering this somewhat limited number, that the wind is, in
our problem, a factor of no mean importance.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.]

TEMPERATURE.--Fig. 3 is intended to show, in a similar manner, the
relation between expectancy curves, based upon conditions of
temperature, and the actual occurrence of the crimes in question. With
this class of data, as well as that for the barometric readings and
humidity (Figs. 4 and 5), both the maximum and minimum readings are
considered. This was done instead of taking the mean of both for the
day, since in many cases the latter might be quite normal, while one
or possibly both the former might exhibit marked peculiarities. All
the curves were constructed precisely as in the chart just considered,
and those marked "normal" are again the expectancy curves. An
inspection of the chart shows no marked discrepancies till we reach
the higher temperatures. For the lower the coincidence for all the
maximum and all the minimum curves is not exact, but somewhat similar.
When, however, we reach for the minimum curves, temperatures of from
40° to 50° and from 50° to 60°, which means that for the per cent of
days indicated, the temperature did not go below those points, the per
cent of crime exceeds that expected under the conditions in the
proportions of 22:16.5 and 24:18 (suicides), and 21:16.5 and 29:18
(murders).

The same general relation exists between the maximum curves, where it
is shown that for temperatures between 80° and 100° the actual crime
is about thirty-three per cent in excess of the expected.

These facts have their bearing upon the already noted statement that
the summer months show a preponderance of homicide.

[Illustration: FIG. 4.]

BAROMETER.--Fig. 4, disassociated from the others, shows but little.
Naturally we should not look for very marked effects from variations
of an inch or less in the barometric readings, when in the course of a
journey from the sea level to Denver a change of six inches is brought
about, and in going from the same point to the summit of Pike's Peak
one of nearly twelve inches without producing any marked emotional
abnormities, but we must take into consideration the fact that sudden
barometric variations generally accompany or more frequently precede
other important meteorological changes. In the latter case, though
they might be the primary cause of factors considered in this study,
they themselves would fail to show upon the tables.

[Illustration: FIG. 5.]

HUMIDITY.--This figure (Fig. 5) indicates in a very decisive manner
that states of low relative humidity, as shown by both maximum and
minimum readings, are conducive to excesses in both the classes of
crimes studied. For instance, for maximum humidities between ten and
twenty the proportion of actual crime to that expected is 1:0.1;
between twenty and thirty (suicide), 11:1; between thirty and forty,
9.5:4.5; between forty and fifty, 15:8. The maximum curves show
somewhat the same general relation though not with quite so marked
divergences. To one who has experienced the general low humidities of
our Colorado altitudes (Denver is one mile above the sea level) this
result is not surprising. There is no doubt that a nervous tension
much in excess of that common in the lower altitudes exists, due in
part, perhaps, to the deficiency in barometric pressure and a
consequent effect upon the respiratory processes, but probably, as
shown by these curves, more largely to the dryness of the atmosphere,
as indicated by low humidity. I hope at some future time to verify or
disprove this supposition by a comparative study made at some lower
altitude.

[Illustration: FIG. 6.]

CHARACTER OF THE DAY.[D]--Fig. 6 shows the relation between the
expectancy of crime, based upon the actual per cents of cloudy, partly
cloudy, and clear days (records of nineteen years), and its actual
occurrence. The disagreements are very slight, although a slight
excess of murders is shown for cloudy days.

     [Footnote D: By the United States Weather Bureau days are
     characterized as "cloudy" when for 0.8 or more of the possible
     hours of sunshine the sun is obscured; "partly cloudy" when from
     0.4 to 0.7 inclusive is obscured; and "clear" when 0.3 or less.]

SUMMARY.--Fig. 1 shows at a glance no generally prevailing
meteorological conditions to which can be ascribed, with any degree of
certainty, the monthly variations of crime.

Fig. 2 shows that high velocities of wind seem to increase to a marked
extent the tendency to crime. For the highest velocities increasing
the probability twenty times (two thousand per cent).

Fig. 3 shows that high temperatures seem to have the same effect, that
of between 90° and 100° increasing the probability one hundred per
cent.

Fig. 4 fails to show that barometric changes are accompanied by any
marked excesses in crime.

Fig. 5 shows that low conditions of relative humidity are attended
with very marked excesses, those below thirty increasing the
probability of suicides eleven times (eleven hundred per cent).

Fig. 6 fails to show that the character of the day has any
considerable effect.

Considering briefly, in conclusion, the results of the foregoing
study, and comparing them with a somewhat similar one for children,[E]
we may safely conclude that the tendency to homicide varies with those
meteorological conditions which bring about an emotional state
necessitating a considerable discharge of motor stimulus. The same
conditions which bring about irritability and unruliness on the part
of the child accompany suicidal tendencies.

     [Footnote E: See The Chi

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