Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/437

 NOTES AND ABSTRACTS 421

favors the individual or restrains and thwarts his plans. The action resulting from the will of the individual and his environment we may call reasonable fatalism. This is difficult to comprehend or explain, because the second term " the social mind" and its phenomena are at present little understood, and especially difficult to measure. This makes the evaluation of this influence upon the individual a difficult matter.

Historians often attribute the success or decay of nations to certain persons. Especially in case of wars do they attribute victory or defeat to the commander-in- chief, and upon the fortunate one is bestowed the name of genius. Upon what is this assertion founded ?

In literature, art, and science we may say that the genius creates his work exclusively by means of his own ability; but are the troops of the commander-in-chief so docile or so much under control as the words of the author, the figures of thi mathematician, or the reactions in the laboratory of the chemist? The phenomena of wars are so varied and complex that it is impossible for any human intelligence to control them. After the beginning of the battle the commander loses in large part the control of the conditions. He cannot follow the course of the movements, and in the tumult and smoke of battle even his orders are lost. Genius in war does not have the same significance as in literature or science. There is lacking the characteristic of absolute individuality both in conception and execution of the work. The execu- tion is subordinated to the size of the armies and to a thousand circumstances, all of which may be summarized in the expression the collective spirit of the two armies.

There is then a greater force than that of man, whether general or emperor, and easier to study in the evolution of nations than an unknown fatalism. It is their mind, their spirit, with all the phenomena which it represents : intelligence, feeling, and will.

We do not desire to exclude the diverse external influences which act on the characteristics of this mind, such as the economic, religious, etc., but we are striving to establish the essence of this spirit which can determine the results independently of these conditions.

In the life of a nation, as in that of an individual, there is an evolution, a trans- formation, in which it gains a quality or a new property, or loses a characteristic of its personality. So, too, we see in certain epochs a nation seized with an irresistible desire to fight and giving itself up to a bloody internal revolution or to an aggressive external warfare. It is with this irresistible impulse that it is necessary to connect the expansion of the Macedonians under Alexander, the victories of the Romans under Scipio, the success of the French under Napoleon, etc. When this impulse leaves the people, this collective warlike spirit, then leadership, however strong, ceases to be successful in its efforts. Consequently the nation, being collective, in the evolution of its warlike feeling has an ascending course, an apogee, and a descending course; and the leader who does not follow this evolution of the collectivity will soon be punished. He will lose his influence and be crushed despite all his genius or his personal capacity. The most recent, as well as the most ancient, wars show that the social mind has exercised the primary influence; all other circumstances, including personal leadership, have been secondary. Dr. CAMPEANO, " La force de 1'ame col- lective dans les guerres," in Revue Internationale de sociologie, October, 1902.

E. M.

Gas Leakage in American Cities. There are very few American communities in which the facts of gas leakage in distribution, if known and comprehended, would not create a popular panic. Having studied this problem in every part of the United States and Canada, I am prepared to say that leakage ranges from 10 to 30 per cent, of output.

I will give the facts of one American city. The loss in distribution was about 1 1 per cent.; in round figures, three thousand millions of cubic feet. At 60 cents per thousand, this is $ 1, 800,000 per annum, which the consumer must pay. This gas is known as water gas. It carries, on the average, 30.79 parts carbon monoxide, 3 0<I 4 parts hydrogen, 19.10 parts marsh gas, 10.69 parts olefiants; the remainder being nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and oxygen. This is a very formidable compound to go at large in a city. Most of the leakage is under measurably or absolutely impervious pavements. It cannot work its way up through the soil and escape, but most of it in one way or another gets into houses.