Transcriber’s note: Table of Contents added by Transcriber. Bold text is indicated with =equals signs=, italics with _underscores_. CONTENTS South Sea Bubbles in Science 401 What Makes the Trolley Car Go 408 Is the Christian Religion Declining? 423 A Century of Geology 431 The Applications of Explosives 444 A Year’s Progress in the Klondike 456 The Decline of Criminal Jurisprudence in America 466 The Blind Fishes of North America 473 The Man of Science in Practical Affairs 487 Forenoon and Afternoon 492 President Jordan’s “Neminism.” 494 Correspondence 497 Editor’s Table 501 Fragments of Science 505 Minor Paragraphs 510 Publications Received 512 Established by Edward L. Youmans APPLETONS’ POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY EDITED BY WILLIAM JAY YOUMANS VOL. LVI NOVEMBER, 1899, TO APRIL, 1900 NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1900 COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. APPLETONS’ POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. FEBRUARY, 1900. SOUTH SEA BUBBLES IN SCIENCE. BY PROF. JOHN TROWBRIDGE, DIRECTOR OF JEFFERSON PHYSICAL LABORATORY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY. The advances in science lead to hopes of the sudden accumulation of gold, just as the discovery of new worlds led our ancestors to invest in many inflated enterprises of commerce and conquest. This older temptation has passed away, for there are no new worlds to discover, and this small globe has been practically staked out; but the mysterious domains of science are still illimitable, and afford vast opportunities for inflated schemes which have their prototype in the South Sea Bubble.