The exhaust valve is then opened and the sulphur dioxide, unchanged, is blown into water and most of it is saved for future work.

The converted sawdust is treated with water till finally a solution is got which contains from 450 to 500 pounds of sugar. This sugar is made up of 20 to 30 per cent. of pentose, non-fermentable, and 70 to 80 per cent. of glucose, which latter easily yields ethyl alcohol when fermented with yeast. Some thirty gallons of absolute alcohol may be obtained from one ton of sawdust; and the sawdust residue, when dried out, makes a very good fuel. Comparing the original cost of sawdust with that of grain and the output of alcohol from the former with that from the latter, it seems that the new process is destined in time entirely to supersede the older one.

The Vanishing Crab.-The dodo became extinct towards the end of the seventeenth century, the great auk disappeared from our North Atlantic coast in 1844, and to make matters worse, Prof. Williston told his students lately that the human race is doomed to annihilation. "Man is already too highly specialized and cannot change into another form; in a few million years he too will disappear." The cat, the horse and the whale, according to the same authority, are running, if we may use the term for all, the same We should state that Prof. Williston belongs to the University of Chicago, and this probably will relieve our apprehension.

course.

There are disappearances however, not on account of high specialization, not in the distant past nor in the far, far future, but close to our living horizon, which are of more practical importance. We have already spoken of the threatened passing of the terrapin and now we hear Mr. René Bache, in the Saturday Evening Post, warning us of the vanishing of the crab.

The common blue or edible crab, next to the lobster, the most valued of crustaceans, is caught in greatest number in Chesapeake Bay. For some reason, probably on account of the density or clearness of the water, the egg-bearing crab is commonly found, not in the upper but in the lower bay. Unfortunately too it is from the lower bay that the crab supply is chiefly drawn, and there are situated the "crab farms" and huge factories or canneries.

One of these canneries uses some hundreds of millions of crabs every year, nearly all of them egg-bearing. The average egg-bearing crab lays about 2,500,000 eggs; but the larger part of this enormous number goes to feed the fish and other swimming creatures. If the source of the egg supply finds its way to the cannery, we, with the fish, shall be the sufferers.

The attention of the United States Fish Commission has been directed to this problem and the experts are confident that there will be no difficulty in hatching large numbers of crabs by the artificial process. On account of the wholesale destruction of the species in the Chesapeake, it looks as if the "incubator and brooder" will soon be a necessity in the keeping of the crab.

Magnetic Alloys of Non-Magnetic Metals.-The phenomena of magnetism, according to physicists, belong to the molecule not to the mass. Ampere's theory supposes that electric currents circulate round the molecules of a magnetic substance, thereby polarizing them. By no known means can these Amperian currents be produced or destroyed. The act of magnetization therefore consists simply in rotating the molecules so that their magnetic axes all point in the same direction.

Magnetism then is a vortical electrical current; and magnetic substances are supposed to have, by their very nature, electrically excited molecules.

They may therefore become temporary magnets; and if moreover they possess coercive force or resistivity they may become permanent magnets. Iron, nickel and cobalt are magnetic and may be magnets if the molecular current whirls are fixed in parallel planes; manganese is known to be feebly magnetic. Recent researches show that alloys of certain non-magnetic metals may posses magnetism in quite a high degree. Dr. Heusler, according to the Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift, has discovered that alloys of maganese, copper and aluminum are strongly magnetic, some samples not varying in capacity when heated to 110 degrees C. or when cooled to minus 190 C.

The Electrical World admits that from a practical standpoint these new alloys have as yet no importance, since they are still much inferior to soft steel. Nevertheless the hope is awakened of ultimately discovering an alloy that may compete with steel, and may simplify and cheapen the building of dynamo machinery.

Level Rise in the Great Lakes.-Scientists and ship owners are puzzled over the rise in the levels of the great lakes during the last ten years. From 1895 to the present time the level rise has been as follows: For Superior, one inch; for Huron and Michigan, eighteen inches; for Erie, twenty-one inches, and for Ontario, thirty-six inches.

The increase in depth would naturally be ascribed to excessive rain and snowfall; but the Weather Bureau statistics show that during the period in question the precipitation has been somewhat below the normal. No other explanation has been proposed.

The business men are not interested in the cause, but are hoping for a continuance of the effect. The level rise implies increased draught of water channels and harbors and this means deeper ships and greater freight space. On a 10,000 ton steamer, now the standard for the lakes, one foot added draught means an additional carrying capacity of 500 or 600 tons. Figuring on the basis of last year's iron ore rate, this would mean an increased earning capacity of nearly $10,000 in the season.

Vandalism at Niagara Falls.-We had occasion some months ago to call attention, in these notes, to the threatened destruction of Niagara Falls by the withdrawal of the water for power generation.

New and extensive concessions of water rights, granted or proposed, by the Province of Ontario and New York State, have provoked new protests. The Canadian Government receives revenue for the privileges while New York State has asked for no money return.

The New York State Geologist, Dr. J. M. Clarke (Popular Science Monthly, April) and the editor of the Scientific American, are at one in protesting loudly against the spirit of brutal utilitarianism which tries everything by the test of the money that is in it. The sense of both articles is well expressed in the closing sentence of the editorial above cited:

"And the spirit which is back of this attempted vandalism is the same spirit that is becoming rampant throughout the whole of our commercial life, a spirit of cold, hard, ugly utilitarianism which, if not curbed in this and many other similar cases that confront us at every turn, will work irreparable injury to the ideals and the character of this the youngest, and as many of us believe, the greatest among the nations of the earth."

VOL. XLIII.

JUNE, 1905.

DR. WHITE ON WITCHCRAFT.

No. 6.

DR. ANDREW D. WHITE is one of the most prominent writers of the present day in this country. His recent Autobiography has been received with great applause, but the Athenæum, May 13, 1905, commenting on it says: "In spite of Dr. White's considerable abilities, which caused him to be appointed by successive Presidents to the highest posts in the gift of the American Government, he does not know how to write a book." It takes him severely to task in one instance for language about the present Czar, which it says is "hardly the diplomatic style." Dr. White's career has been a varied and important one as educator and diplomat, and his former positions as president of Cornell University and ambassador to Russia and Germany give him a certain authority which few writers in this country possess. In his literary productions he appears before the public chiefly as historian, and preferably, if not exclusively, treats most difficult and delicate subjects, such as the struggles between scientists and theologians, or as he calls it, the "Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom." Topics of this kind, more than any others, require a most comprehensive and thorough knowledge, scrupulous accuracy, and above all great calmness of judgment, particularly in a writer whose words, owing to his position, carry exceptional weight with the majority of readers. Does 'Dr. White possess these necessary qualifications? This question must force itself upon the mind of the careful reader of Dr. White's articles now appearing in the Atlantic Monthly. For some months he has been discussing the "Warfare of Humanity with Unreason," and in the May issue he dwells on the activity of Christian Thomasius, especially his struggles against the witchcraft delusion. In less than three pages he gives a very brief summary of the development of the persecutions for witchcraft; but these few pages contain so many remarkable statements that they furnish abundant material for an appreciation of Dr. White's methods of dealing with history. The author, indeed, is fair enough to admit that the leading Re

formers, both Lutheran and Calvinistic, accepted the whole witchcraft superstition, and that the great body of Protestant theologians and ecclesiastics made their procedure against the witches even more cruel than that obtaining in Catholic states. But his chief contention is that the development and strengthening of this delusion was due to official actions and authoritative utterances of the Catholic Church, and that the main agents in carrying on the witch persecutions were first the Dominicans, and at a later period the Jesuits. We shall have to examine the arguments by which Dr. White endeavors to prove these formidable charges.

Before entering into historical details, we wish to state that Catholics no less than others deplore the sad witchcraft delusion which surrendered thousands of innocent victims to frightful tortures and a horrible death. Nor do we try to exculpate all ecclesiastics, be they Popes, Jesuits or Dominicans. It was during the latter part of the middle ages that the belief in witchcraft began to assume larger proportions and gradually led to systematic persecutions. As Father Grisar, S.J., says, this age was really in infancy, as far as historical instinct and critical spirit were concerned. The love of the extraordinary, and the tendency to see supernatural and preternatural intervention in all events, were supreme. Lack of knowledge led the childlike and credulous to accept the most fantastic tales. Ecclesiastics were children of their age, and influenced by the spirit of the time. Lacking sufficient critical spirit, they often failed to direct their energies toward dispelling popular delusions. Many of the scholastic theologians did not apply the necessary examination to the current notions and alleged magical arts and their one-sided, a priori treatment of the whole matter, proved harmful. But it is equally one-sided, and not proved by historical facts, to make the theologians chiefly responsible for the witch persecution. Much less is Dr. White justified in asserting that the witch delusion was more and more bound on the consciences of the faithful by the edicts of various popes and councils."

As typical among these edicts Dr. White notes "the Bull Spondent Pariter, issued in 1317 by Pope John XXII. In this solemn utterance to the universal Church, under guarantee of his infallibility in all teachings relating to faith and morals, he complained that he and many of the faithful were in danger of their lives from the arts of sorcerers; that such sorcerers could send devils into mirrors and finger-rings; could kill men by magic words; that they had

tried to kill him by piercing a waxen image of him with needles." Here we are confronted by a difficulty. Unless Dr. White is in possession of valuable documents unknown to others, we must maintain that a Bull of the nature described by him does not exist. There is a decree of John XXII., issued in 1317, beginning Spondent, but it treats of alchemy, and as far as embodied in the Corpus Juris Canonici does not contain a single one of the details mentioned. It is more than improbable that there should be a second Papal decree of the same year, beginning with the same words. Nor can any such Bull be found in the authentic collection, the " Bullarium" (editions by Cherubini and Cocquelines), or in the "Ecclesiastical Annals," by Baronius and Raynaldus. Nor is a word said about it in a recent collection of all important documents relating to witchcraft, published by the leading author on the subject, namely Dr. Hansen ("Sources for the History of Witch Delusion and Witch Persecution"). (1) And still a document similar to the one noted by Dr. White would be of vast importance and would certainly not have been overlooked by this author, who is scarcely surpassed by Dr. White in condemning the Church.

Until the existence of this Bull Spondent is proved, the following facts may furnish an explanation of Dr. White's statements: In 1318 Pope John XXII. wrote a letter to three French ecclesiastics. In this letter, usually assigned to the year 1317 (so also by Raynaldus, ad annum 1317), we find some of the details mentioned by Dr. White. Thus the Pope says that reprobate persons endeavor to conjure up evil spirits and do harm to other people by the aid of mirrors and rings. In the year 1326 or 1327 the same Pope issued' a Constitution, beginning Super illius Specula, (2) which forbids similar practices and the use of magical books under severe penalties.. Various other letters of John XXII. to different Bishops speak of the same subject. In letters to Count Charles de la Marche and King Philip of France, the Pope mentions that attempts had been made to take his life by poison, by piercing waxen images and by other magical practices. Has Dr. White, or the authority from which he got his information, confounded these various sources and through oversight assigned them to the Papal decree Spondent of 1317, or rather 1318? This would certainly imply great want of accuracy on the part of one who lays claim to critical scholar

(1) "Quellen und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Hexenwesens und der Hexenverfolgung." Bonn, 1901.

(2) Hansen, l. c., p. 5.