IS DARWINISM ON ITS DEATH-BED?

The persistent opposition of the late Professor Virchow to the teachings of Darwinism has usually been of late years the most important feature of the international conventions of European scientists, of which he was the leading spirit. His recent death has again brought into public prominence the attitude of German and other continental scholars toward this school of philosophy, with the result that the opponents of Darwinism claim that it is practically on its death-bed. One of the prominent advocates of this view is the well-known Christian representative of the natural sciences, Dr. E. Dennert, perhaps the most pronounced representative of that class who maintain that perfect harmony exists between the teachings of the Scriptures and those of nature correctly interpreted. His latest work on this subject is entitled "Vom Sterbelager des Darwinismus" (At the Death-bed of Darwinism), a pamphlet of eighty-three pages, which contains the views of dozens of naturalists, zoologists, biologists, etc., who are opposed to the Darwinian philosophy. Of the actual status of the present controversy on the Continent, Dennert has this to say:

"Some twenty years ago it was perfectly justifiable to identify the ideas of Darwinism and the doctrine of the descent of man, for at that time Darwinism was the only theory of descent extant. The few who would not accept this could easily be numbered. Only occasionally a scholar, such as Wigand, Kölliker, Nägeli, and a few others dared to raise their voices in protest. Now all this has been changed. Practically all naturalists now make a sharp distinction between Darwinism and the doctrine of descent. A survey of the field shows that Darwinism in its old form is becoming a matter of history, and that we are actually witnessing its death-struggle.

"A fair examination of the leading natufalists of the Continent justifies the claim that the doctrine of descent or evolution is now generally accepted as a demonstrated theory by nearly all scientists. But, on the other hand, it cannot be denied that Darwinism, in the sense of natural selection by means of the struggle for existence, is being crowded to the wall all along the line. The bulk of modern scientists no longer recognize it, and those who have not yet discarded it, at any rate regard it as of subordinate importance. In place of this, older views have again com: into

acceptance, which do not deny development, but maintain that this was not a purely mechanical process."

The comments made on the position of Virchow by many periodicals are of the same character, so the "Germania" says. The same journal adds:

"The great bacteriologist, Pasteur, was an outspoken opponent of the materialistic explanation of the origin of things known as the generatio æquivoca, or the development of organic beings out of inorganic, in the Darwinian philosophy. He stated his opposition in these words: 'Posterity will one day laugh at the foolishness of the modern materialistic philosophers. The more I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the works of the Creator. I pray while I am engaged in my work in the laboratory."

Virchow was not a professed Christian, but he was as much opposed as was Pasteur to the theory of Darwinism. At the last convention of anthropologists, held in Vienna, Virchow said: "The attempt to find the transition from animal to man has ended in a total failure. The middle link has not been found and will not be found. Man is not descended from the ape. It has been proved beyond a doubt that during the past five thousand years there has been no noticeable change in mankind."

Other naturalists have also raised their voices against the Darwinian views. Notably the zoologist, Professor Rütemeyer, who has written a special work directed against Haeckel, the alter ego of Darwin in Germany. In this book, he charges Haeckel with "playing with the public and with natural sciences."

The Strassburg professor of zoology, Dr. Goette, has published in the "Unschau" a natural history of Darwinism, which he depicts as having passed through four stages of development, namely; (1) the beginnings, when it was received with great enthusiasm; (2) the period, in which it flourished and found general acceptance; (3) the period of transition and sober second thought, when its principles and teachings were called into question; (4) the final period, upon which the scientific world has just entered, and when its days will evidently soon be numbered, while the germ of truth it contained will become a permanent possession of modern science.-The Literary Digest, Oct. 18, 1902.

"You never kin tell which way any pleasure is a-comin'. Who ever would 'a' thought, when we aimed at the cemetery, that we'd land up at a first-class fire?"-From "Lovey Mary," "The Century," February, 1903.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

SANITARIAN, MARCH, 1903.

Embarrassment incidental to the death of the intended manager, under the new business arrangements, announced in October number, delays the completion of the organization. Meanwhile:

All Communications, business and otherwise, all exchanges and all publications for review, should be addressed to the Editor, as heretofore: Dr. A. N. Bell, 337 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.

CORRIGENDA. In our January issue, in the report of the proceedings of the American Public Health Association, page 27, the statement attributed to Dr. Wilbur, "that in many cities fictitious results were adduced by eliminating deaths occurring in hospitals and other institutions, and yet comprehending in the population all the itinerancy for the time being, insomuch that, notwithstanding the showing, he doubted whether any city in the United States reached an annual death rate of less than 17 per 1,000 of population," is erroneous.

It affords us pleasure to present Dr. Wilbur's excellent paper in full, elsewhere in this number.

THE SUBSTITUTORS.

Apropos the common practice of substitution and the recent phenacetin frauds, the "New York Times" remarks:

"Now that the Board of Health has found forty New York druggists who use wood alcohol, a deadly poison, instead of that ` made of grain, in the preparation of such common household remedies as camphor and ginger, perhaps 'The Druggists' Circular' will pull in its horns a little and no longer charge that in selecting phenacetin for their tests the Board's chemists took the one substance out of which they could create a sensation. Those chemists have shown that common and inexpensive drugs, as well as uncommon and expensive ones, are fraudulently sophisticated in order to increase profits, and the indignant question propounded by 'The Druggists' Circular,' whether it was reasonable to suppose that men as virtuous as the pharmacists of this city would be guilty of substitution and adulteration, has received an answer different from the one it hoped to receive. Of course there are honest pharmacists, but-there are others, and a lot of them, who can base a claim to honesty only on a confession of criminal ignorance. Are these murderous fellows trying to con

vince the public that the only way to get pure medicines is to establish municipal drug stores, conducted by salaried officials? It really looks so."

And in verification of the practice of the "others" an ex-druggist verifies the evidence, in an effort to contradict it. He says: "I know this whole matter is greatly exaggerated. The American druggist is a careful and conscientious business man, and not the criminal that he has been made out to be by the Health Department. It is true that of late some foreigners have been landing here in great numbers and gone into the drug business, some of whom, it is safe to say, are not overscrupulous; and no one would find any fault if the dishonest ones were ferreted out and punished. They can be found right among these importations; but to hold up the whole drug trade to view, like a gang of criminals out of jail, is the worst kind of injustice.

"If our reform Board of Health really wants to do some good work, let it set about examining our food nutrients in general. About six years ago, when I was still in the drug business, I remember selling a great deal of chrome yellow to a certain baker; I could never find out just what he did with it, but I am more than satisfied that he used it for coloring cake instead of putting in eggs. Here is a crime far beyond any possibilities in the drug line. Instead of getting nourishment you were slowly getting poisoned by chromate of lead. There is no doubt that the practice is carried on to-day. The baker has a substitute for butter and eggs, and all his flavors are artificial compounds, more or less poisonous. The yellow color, supposed to be due to eggs, contained in cake is always some kind of "paint," mineral in some instances, vegetable in others; but whatever it is, it should not be there, for it is harmful, in a greater or less degree.

"Let our reform Board get to work and make it possible for us to get pure food; then it will be rendering the public a really useful service."

FOR THE INSPECTION OF OYSTER BEDS-A BILL THAT OUGHT TO

PASS.

Senate Bill, Int. No. 82.

"An act providing for the inspection of oysters and other shell fish and regulating the sale thereof. Introduced by Mr. Russell," January 22.

It is made the duty of the Commissioner of Health, within thirty days after the passage of this act and at regular intervals

thereafter, to inspect or cause to be inspected oyster beds and other places in this State from which oysters and other shell fish are taken, in order to ascertain their sanitary condition and the fitness of the oysters and other shell fish for use as articles of food. After such inspection is made a record thereof shall be kept and the Commissioner shall issue certificates setting forth the result of the inspection, to the owners or lessees of such oyster beds and piaces as shall be found in good sanitary condition, and the product of which shall be fit to use for food.

The bill also forbids any person, after June 1, 1903, to sell or expose for sale within this State any oysters or shell fish taken from oyster beds and other places within this State which have not been duly certified by the Commissioner as above provided to be in good sanitary condition, and the product of which to be fit to be used as food. 1

Persons violating any of the provisions of the act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of $500 or by imprisonment for the term of six months, or by both fine and imprisonment.

NEW VOTE FOR SHORT SKIRTS.

Health Commissioner HENRY MEIGS, of Bayonne, N. J., is encouraged. For almost a year he has had a rule pending before the Board of Health forbidding the wearing of long skirts. Until recently he has stood alone in advocating it, but Commissioner Thomas Meetan, of the Board, has now come out in favor of the rule, so that while the ordinance is still on the table, it is one vote nearer passage than ever before, and, besides, Deputy Sanitary Inspector John Nevins favors the measure.

The ordinance was referred to recently. It was recalled to mind when Mrs. Mary McCarthy, on complaint of a neighbor, was placed under $100 bonds not to offend again the neighbor's sense of propriety by displaying her stockings. The fact that the stockings alleged to have been displayed were white seemed to have some weight with the Recorder in determining the case.

Commissioner Meetan, after the meeting of the Board, said he did not favor a very short skirt, but one that would reach to the ankle, and possibly one that would clear the ground by about the same distance that the rear of men's trouser legs did. Mr. Meigs favors an even shorter skirt. Deputy Inspector Nevins, when asked what length he favored, said that from four to six inches from the ground was none too short from a sanitary point of view.