read before the Industrial and Scientific Society of that State, that besides its riches of coal and iron, the State has clays of quality suitable for the manufacture of every kind of brick and stoneware. They are not yet developed, for want of skilled and experienced workmen, and because the world is not acquainted with their qualities. The different clays and their location are fully described in the paper. THE Arago prize of the French Academy of Sciences has been awarded to Prof. Barnard and Prof. Asaph Hall. THE Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota has begun the publication of bulletins embodying from time to time such discoveries as may be made or scientific contributions presented as they occur, without waiting for the slower publication of the formal reports. The first of the series of botanical studies, Bulletin No. 9, contains five papers of interest in that branch of the survey. The Bulletin will be continued in occasional parts till a volume is completed. OBITUARY NOTES. COLONEL ALFRED BURDON ELLIS, commander of the successful British expedition against the Sofas in Africa and a valued contributor to The Popular Science Monthly, died at Teneriffe, March 5th, of African fever. He was the only surviving son of the late Lieutenant-General Sir Samuel Burdon Ellis, and was born in 1852. He entered the British army in 1872, and became a captain in the First West India Regiment in 1879, major in 1884, and lieutenant-colonel in 1891. During twenty-two years he saw a great deal of active service in Africa. He served in the Ashantee war and received a medal; commanded the Houssa Constabulary in 1878; was employed in the Intelligence Department during the Zulu war; was the leader of the expeditions to Tambi (Sierra Leone) and Toniataber (Gambia) in 1892, and for the latter received a medal with clasps; was civil commandant of Sekondi and Chamer on the Gold Coast in 1874, district commander of Quittah in 1878, and of Accra in 1879; was chief officer of the troops on the Gold Coast in 1882 and 1886; and was commandant in the Bahamas in 1889 to 1891, when he was appointed to the command of the troops in West Africa, with the local rank of colonel. In 1892 he administered the government of Sierra Leone. The last of his dispatches concerning the expedition against the Sofas was dated January 29, 1894. A few days after his return to Sierra Leone from this expedition he was attacked with fever, and was removed to Teneriffe. He was the author of A History of the Gold Coast, The Ewe-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast of West Africa, The Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa, and of the following articles in The Popular Science Monthly: A Letter on the Lucayan Indians, vol. xxxvi; The Indwelling Spirits of Men, vol. xxxvi; On Vodu-worship, vol xxxviii; Survivals from Marriage by Capture, vol. xxxix; On Polyandry, vol. xxxix; The Great Earthquake of Port Royal, vol. xl; Marriage and Kinship among the Ancient Israelites, vol. xlii; and White Slaves and Bond Servants in the Plantations; besides which we have others on hand awaiting publication. DR. H. C. GEORGES POUCHET, Professor of Comparative Anatomy in the Museum of that city. He was the son of the Félix Natural History, Paris, died March 29th in Pouchet who distinguished himself several years ago in the controversy respecting spontaneous generation, and was born in Rouen in 1833. He became assistant naturalist 1865. He was retired in 1869 in conseand head of the anatomical department in quence of the publication of some article relating to the Museum of the School of Agronomy, but was raised in 1875 to the position he occupied at the time of his death, succeeding Paul Bert. He was the author of numerous works of scientific value, among which were his doctor's thesis on the Coloration of the Epidermis and his Traité d'Ostéoiogie comparé. He was also a writer in literature of considerable productiveness and high reputation. MR. WILLIAM PENGELLY, F. R. S., who recently died in England, was a local geologist of much and excellent reputation. He sonal researches to the work of Lyell, contributed greatly by the results of his perMurchison, and others in establishing English geology. He continued the exploration of Kent's Cavern, under the direction of the Besides many other geological papers, he British Association, through sixteen years. prepared, in connection with Dr. Oswald Heer, a monograph on The Lignite Formation of Bovey Tracey, Devonshire. lected and arranged the Devonian fossils of originated the Torquay Natural History Sothe Pengelly Collection, now at Oxford. He ciety, and in 1862 founded the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art. He was Fellow of the Royal and Geological Societies, and an honorary member of the Société d'Anthropologie of Paris. He col PAUL JABLOCHKOFF, a distinguished Russian electrician and inventor of the electric lamp which bears his name, died in Saratov, Russia, early in April. He was an officer in the Russian army, and was the first person who succeeded in dividing the electric current satisfactorily. His system of electric lighting has been used in several cities of Europe, and for a considerable time the great thoroughfares of Paris, near the Opera, were illuminated with his carbons. THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. JULY, 1894. THE MEANING OF CORPORATIONS AND TRUSTS. BY LOGAN G. McPHERSON. arrive at an understanding of that tendency toward combination which is a most conspicuous phenomenon of the industrial life of the United States, it is necessary to trace the industrial development throughout its several stages. And as it has been in this country that industrial activity has met with the least hindrance, the steps of its development can be rapidly summarized with approximate accuracy. Although the industrial structures of other countries in previous centuries have had an influence in determining the industrial forms of the United States, the isolation of the American continent and the peculiarity of the conditions affecting its settlement justify the consideration of its industrial expansion as a separate growth, without reference to the industrial status of other countries or older civilizations. Grandfathers of to-day tell us that in their boyhood in many parts of the country the life of each household was sufficient unto itself. Buildings were erected, grain was raised, winnowed, and ground; cattle were killed, their meat cured and hides tanned; wool was clipped and spun by its members, who, in addition to the performance of manifold other simpler functions, carried processes of manufacture still further-the men, in the days of winter, making the family's shoes and the women its clothes. In doing this work the members of the family were maintaining themselves in that condition which contrasted with barbarism. Houses and clothing were necessary as protection against the often inclement weather, and the possession of a regular supply of food was only possible by the preparation and preservation of the products of the recurring seasons. Upon the evenness of the VOL. XLV.-23 temperature of the body, secured by the use of houses and clothing, and the evenness of the vital processes consequent upon regular nutrition, depends that appreciation of the impressions which come through the senses that leads to the clear and vigorous working of the mind. But in those early days tools and appliances were so rude and methods so crude that there was little time for any one to spend except at the work which directly concerned his bodily welfare. The duration of such tasks for men and women was usually from daylight until dark. The selfsufficiency of each household was forced by the conditions of life in a sparsely settled region. As the number of inhabitants in a certain area increased, and communication between them became less difficult, it was found that the production of certain articles, which involved particular skill, particular training, or particular facilities, could, with profit to an entire community, be left to the individuals possessing the requisite skill, training, or facilities. For example, a man making shoes for a considerable number of people acquired skill enabling him to make better shoes than the man who devoted but limited time to the making of a limited number for his own family, and the greater the time devoted to and the greater the revenue derived from the prosecution of a single industry the more readily could he afford, from time to time, to possess himself of appliances rendering more and better work possible with less effort, and the better could he afford to give more time to seeking the material best adapted for his product, which, as the quantities he used increased, he could secure, other things equal, at decreasing cost. And so with other functions contributing to material welfare. When the demands upon an artisan became so great that he could not meet them entirely by his own personal exertion he employed a man to assist him. This is the first combination-the simplest industrial organization. Its characteristics should be carefully noted. The efforts of both men being directed by the employer, there is centralized control, and the joint efforts of the two men supplying a greater demand than was possible for the one, the field of their operations extends. And the two men, by systematically combining their efforts, other things being equal, accomplish more than could the two men working separately; wherefore, there is economy of production. The numbers of individuals engaged in work for which there was greatest demand increased most rapidly-every village possessing its cobblers, carpenters, blacksmiths, and weavers-and with the further increase of population and the extension of the area over which their products or services could be distributed, the number of separate vocations increased. Because of the greater number of people wanting houses it became profitable for |