master of anything more than a small branch of a single science. Along with this accumulation of isolated facts, however, there comes the development of great simplifying generalizations LINNEUS. a decided stand in regard to the question of solar heat. He rejects the theories of Helmholtz and Kelvin, as being incompatible with geological evidence. While chemical theories have been considered hopelessly insufficient or laws which enable men to grasp and to account for the tremendous out- remember an enormous number of pour of heat observed, Arrhenius advo- facts. It is only during the brief cates a return to them. He points out periods when the discovery of new that the exchanges of energy in the re- facts has not yet given rise to newer distribution of chemical equilibria are and more comprehensive theories that enormously greater at very high tem- there is even an appearance of narrowperatures than at lower ones and that ness. for this reason computations made from laboratory data have no bearing on the problem. While this hypothesis of Arrhenius may not stand the test of time, it is an interesting one and especially in view of the peculiar heat effects manifested by radium. the book itself Professor Barus says, in a review: "As a whole the work will take rank beside the great contributions of Mohn, Guldberg (who, it will be noted, shared with Arrhenius this double allegiance to chemistry and geophysics), and others, who have made meteorology a debtor to the thinkers of the North." It may also be mentioned that Arrhenius will attend the International Congress of Arts and Science at St. Louis as one of the speakers before the Section of the Sciences of the Earth. Of The most recent papers of Arrhenius deal with the chemistry of serums, and it seems probable that the study of medical problems will occupy much of his time during the next few years. In Arrhenius we have a man who has received the Nobel prize before he was forty-five, and whose scientific work ranges from salt solutions to comets and from glacial periods to the typhoid bacillus. Such a record lends little support to the belief that a scientific man must be a narrow specialist if he is to attain eminence. This belief rests on a misapprehension. It is true that scientific men are accumulating facts at a tremendous rate and that this apparently makes it more and more difficult for any one man to be CAROLUS LINNEUS was born on May 13, 1707, and suggestions have already been made as to the celebration of the bicentenary of his birth. The centenary of his death was duly commemorated by the erection of a statue in Stockholm by Professor Kjelberg which stands in the Humlegarden, and represents the great naturalist holding in his hand the 'Systema Naturæ and surrounded by allegorical figures representing botany, zoology, mineralogy Just what form the and medicine. celebration of the bicentenary of Linnæus's birth will take in his native country has not been decided, but it is not perhaps too early to make preparations for a suitable commemoration in America. There has perhaps been in recent years a tendency to depreciate the work of Linnæus, some of his ideas having been discovered in the publications of previous writers and his works naturally containing many mistakes. But he is the founder of botany and in a way of modern natural history to an extent but rarely vouchsafed in science to a single man. He left order where there had been confusion, and largely prescribed the development of a science for a century, until the time of Darwin and the theory of evolution. Linnæus himself seems almost to have foreseen the course of events, for he said: A natural method is the first and last thing to be desired in botany; nature does not make leaps.' The education of Linnæus was irregular, as has been frequently the case with men of science, and his early life was more adventurous than is usual at the present day. His interest in the names and qualities of plants is said to have begun at the age of four. His father, who was a clergyman, wished to train him for the church, but when he showed no taste for routine studies, he was almost apprenticed to a shoemaker. He made his way through Swedish universities with many adventures and spent a number of years in Holland, whence he visited England. He practised medicine for a time at Stockholm, but finally received a professorship at Upsala which he held for thirty-seven years. He made this northern town the center for natural history in Europe, its students increasing from 500 to 1,500 through his influence. Expeditions proceeded thence to all parts of the world, and all discoveries were reported to Linnæus, resulting in a large series of works by him and his pupils. All honors were then showered upon him. He was ennobled under the name Carl von Linné and founded an estate. His son inherited his position at the university, but not his talents. When he died on January 10, 1778, his reputation was world-wide, and his name will always be a landmark in the history of science. PRESIDENT ELIOT. THE seventieth birthday of President Eliot, perhaps the greatest American now living, was celebrated at Harvard University on March 20. Mr. John Sargent has been invited to paint a portrait which will be placed in the Harvard Union. The following admirably expressed letter with some ten thousand signatures was presented to President Eliot: March 20, 1904. Dear Mr. President: As with undiminished power you pass the age of seventy, we greet you. Thirty-five years ago you were called to be president of Harvard College. At the age of thirty-five you became the head of an institution whose history was long, whose traditions were firm, and whose leading counselors were of twice your age. With prophetic insight you anticipated the movements of thought and life; your face was towards the coming day. In your imagination the college was already the university. You have upheld the old studies and uplifted the new. You have given a new definition to a liberal education. The university has become the expression of the highest intellectual forces of the present as well as of the past. You have held from the first that teacher and student alike grow strong through freedom. Working eagerly with you and for you are men whose beliefs, whether in education or in religion, differ widely from your own, yet who know that in speaking out their beliefs they are not more loyal to themselves than to you. By your faith in a young man's use of intellectual and spiritual freedom you have given new dignity to the life of the college student. The universities and colleges throughout the land, though some are slow to accept your principles and adopt your methods, all feel your power and recognize with gratitude your stimulating influence and your leadership. Through you the American people have begun to see that a university is not a cloister for the recluse, but an expression of all that is best in the From nation's thought and character. Harvard University men go into every part of our national life. To Harvard University come from the schools, through paths that have been broadened by your work, the youth who have the capacity and the will to profit by her teaching. Your influence is felt in the councils of the teachers and in the education of the youngest child. common As a son of New England you have sustained the traditions of her patriots and scholars. By precept and example you have taught that the first duty of every citizen is to his country. In delivered by a friend; but otherwise public life you have been independent and outspoken; in private life you have stood for simplicity. In the great and bewildering conflict of economic and social questions you have with clear head and firm voice spoken for the fundamental principles of democracy and the liberties of the people. the ceremony is to be silent, and I direct that no monument shall be placed over my ashes until at least two months after my funeral." Among the books and manuscripts bequeathed to the trustees and executors are the Autobiography' with directions to secure its simultaneous pubMore precious to the sons of Har- lication in England and America after vard than your service as educator or the corrections have been made that citizen is your character. Your out- are marked in the press copy. The ward reserve has concealed a heartAutobiography' will be published in more tender than you have trusted yourself to reveal. Defeat of your cherished plans has disclosed your patience and magnanimity and your willingness to bide your time. Fearless, just, and wise, of deep and simple faith, serene in affliction, selfrestrained in success, unsuspected by any man of self interest, you command the admiration of all men and the gratitude and loyalty of the sons of Harvard. THE WILL OF HERBERT SPENCER. MR. SPENCER'S will is a document so interesting and characteristic that we quote some of the details, as published in the London Times. The first clause gives very exact directions as to the burial, and the executors are not to receive their fees unless these are observed. The clause reads: "I direct that if I shall die in any part of Great Britain, my body shall be placed in a coffin with a loose lid easily opened from below, and that it shall be subsequently burned in a proper crematory, and the ashes taken to the space numbered 33,292 purchased by me in the unconsecrated part of the Highgate Cemetery, and deposited in a fit cavity made in the concrete foundation underlying the stone slab now placed there; and my express direction is that my cremation and the subsequent deposition of my ashes shall be conducted without any species of religious ceremony such as is used either by the Church of England or any other sect, though I do not object to an address America by Messrs. D. Appleton and Co. at about the same time as this issue of the MONTHLY. Mr. David Duncan is requested to write a biography in one volume, of moderate size, in which shall be incorporated such biographical materials as I have thought it best not to use myself together with such selected correspondence and such unpublished papers as may seem of value, and shall include the frontispiece portrait and the profile portraits, and shall add to it a brief account of the part of my life which has passed since the date at which the autobiography concludes.' The trustees are to give their approval of the biography before it is published, and to arrange with the biographer for payment either of a fixed sum to be paid out of my estate or by receipt of the net proceeds of sales in England and the United States; but if the net receipts exceed £600, then the surplus to be equally divided between the biographer and my trustees, who will retain the copyright.' The will makes numerous personal bequests, such as to Dr. Henry C. Bastian-telescope, case of drawing instruments, etc., reading easel, and the invalid bed of my invention with its appliances for private or public use'; to Mrs. Leonard Courtney-a victoria with india-rubber tires; to Mrs. Sidney Webb-the piano given to me by my American friend, Mr. Andrew Carnegie,' with music-stool, music-shelves, and contained music. The income from invested property and from the sale of his works is to be used for the completion of the 'Descriptive Sociology.' "I declare that my trustees shall apply as nearly as possible the whole of the income derived from all investments for the time being representing my residuary estate and also the income derived by my estate from the publication and sale of the works mentioned in this my will (including the autobiography and biography) in resuming and continuing during such period as may be needed for fulfilling my express wishes, but not exceeding the lifetime of all the descendants of Queen Victoria who shall be living at my decease and of the survivors and survivor of them, and for twenty-one years after the death of such survivor, the publication of the existing parts of my 'Descriptive Sociology' and the compilation and publication of fresh parts thereof upon the plan followed in the parts already published. And I expressly empower my trustees to delegate to some competent person the duty of selecting and appointing (subject to their approval) competent compilers, deciding (subject to their approval) upon successive works to be undertaken by them, overseeing the execution of such works, superintending their approval) upon the remuneration of such compilers, and rendering periodical reports and accounts to my trustees, and out of such annual income my trustees shall appropriate and pay to the person so delegated £150 per annum, or such larger sum as, having regard to the work done, they may think reasonable and proper. And I wish that the first person so appointed shall be Henry Tedder, secretary and librarian to the Athenæum Club." stock of the whole body of them, and shall sell in like manner the copyrights, stereotype plates and stock of such of my works, if any, as continue to be published by them, and shall sell in the usual way the shares, stocks, funds, securities and other property held by them as trustees, and shall give the sum realized in equal parts to the Geological Society, the Geographical Society, the Linnean Society, the Anthropological Institute, the Zoological Society, the Entomological Society, the Astronomical Society, the Mathematical Society, the Physical Society, the Chemical Society, the Royal Institution and the British Association, or such of them as shall then be in existence, and shall accept the gift upon the condition in each case that the sum received shall, within five years from the date of payment, be spent by the governing body for the purchase or enlargement of premises, or for books or apparatus, or collections, or for furniture or repairs, or for equipment, or for travelers and donations of instruments of research; but in no way or degree for purposes of endowment; and, after having previously made an authorized statement of the purposes for which the donation is to be used, the receipt or acknowledgment by the treasurer or secretary of the society to or for the benefit of which the payment is made to be in each case an absolute discharge to my trustees, and a certificate in writing signed by all my trustees stating that they have carried out the provisions of the trust to the best of their judgment and ability shall be a complete termination of their responsibilities and shall be conclusive and binding on all persons and institutions interested under this my will." SCIENTIFIC ITEMS. The ultimate disposition of the estate is as follows: "When the series WE regret to record the death of M. of works, and the reorganized work, F. A. Fouqué, the well-known French specified above shall have been com- geologist and mineralogist; of Dr. Karl pletely executed and published, my Schumann, titular professor of botany trustees shall thereupon sell by auction at Berlin and curator of the Royal the copyrights, stereotype plates and Botanical Museum; of Henri Perrotin, |