THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



5i7 



The report of the president. Dr. Os- 

 born, reviews the general progress of 

 the work of the museum, noting the es- 

 tablishment of a contributory pension 

 system, according to which the em- 

 ployee contributes to the fund three 

 per cent, of his salary and the trustees 

 provide an equal amount. Among in- 

 stallations, the collection of bronzes 

 made in China by Dr. Laufer is espe- 

 cially noted. Gifts include the Mason 

 archeological collection from Tennessee 

 by the late Mr. J. P. Morgan, the 

 Angelo Heilprin Exploring Fund, es- 

 tablished by Mr. and Mrs. Paul J. 

 Sachs, . and numerous specimens from 

 individuals and institutions. 



The museum, however, must depend 

 for its most valuable accessions on its 

 own expeditions. The number and 

 range of these expeditions in 1913 are 

 shown on the chart. The expedition to 

 Crocker Land, under Mr. McMillan, suf- 

 fered from the stranding of the Diana, 

 but has proceeded to the Arctic re- 

 gions. Expeditions to the north in 

 search of bowhead whales and to the 

 south to secure the nearly extinct sea 

 elephant were not successful, but other 

 material was obtained including mo- 

 tion pictures of the life on the seal is- 

 lands. The paleontological and ethno- 

 ogical expeditions in the west from 

 which important collections and re- 

 searches have resulted were continued. 

 In South America Mr. Chapman and 

 others have made ornithological surveys 

 and collections, and the present expedi- 

 tion of Mr. Roosevelt is under the aus- 

 pices of the museum. Africa has been 

 explored by Messrs. Lang, Chapin, 

 Rainsford and Rainey. Dr. Osborn, the 

 president, has visited the French pre- 

 historic caverns. Such expeditions not 

 only increase in the most desirable wav 

 the collections of a museum, but also 

 contribute in large measure to the ad- 

 vancement of science. 



THE MAEVELS OF SCIENCE 

 It would perhaps be worth while to 

 issue a number of The Popular Sci- 

 ence Monthly consisting entirely of 



articles sent in by those who in Bishop 

 Berkeley 's phrase are ' ' undebauched 

 by learning. ' ' At first sight it might 

 seem disquieting that there are so many 

 people in the United States without the 

 slightest training or appreciation of 

 scientific methods who would like to 

 publish their views on electricity, grav- 

 ity, the ice age and similar topics, or 

 have them endowed by the Carnegie In- 

 stitution. But we may in fact regard 

 it as a not altogether unsatisfactory 

 symptom of universal education in a 

 democracy, and of growing interest in 

 science. The pseudo-science often ex- 

 hibited in our daily papers and legisla- 

 tive halls will surely be eliminated by 

 a comparatively small increase in edu- 

 cation and the control of public senti- 

 ment by those who know, and we may 

 then look to a notable advance in sci- 

 entific research through the rewards 

 and opportunities which a discrimi- 

 nating public would be able to bestow. 

 While it might be unfair to print 

 some of the contributions sent in, it 

 may not be amiss to quote two para- 

 graphs which have just now been 

 brought to our attention. The first is 

 from a speech in the House of Repre- 

 sentatives by Mr. Hobson of Alabama, 

 which is being widely circulated under 

 the congressional franking privilege. 

 He said: 



The last word of science, after exact 



research in all the domains, is that alcohol 



is a poison. It has been found to be a 



hydrocarbon of the formula C 2 H 6 0, that is 



produced by the process of fermentation, 



and is the toxin or liquid excretion or 



waste product of the yeast or ferment 



germ. According to the universal law cf 



biology that the toxin of one form of life 



is a poison to all forms of life of a higher 



alcohol, the toxin of the low yeast germ, 



is a protoplasmic poison to all life, 



whether plant, animal or man, and to all 



the living tissues and organs. 



******* 



After long continued drinking, even 

 though temperate, the microscope shows 

 that the white blood corpuscles, with the 

 serum which contains their vegetable food 

 continually sucked up by the dehydrating 

 toxin, become carnivorous, and begin to 

 feed upon the tissues and organs, like dis- 

 ease germs. The favorite tissue food of 



