2o6 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



was placed on the educational side. It 

 has led in artistic methods of mounting 

 animals and exhibiting groups and has 

 perhaps more than any other museum 

 developed public lectures and relations 

 with the schools of the city. Under 

 President Henry F. Osborn, elected to 

 the office in 1908, and under Dr. F. A. 

 Lucas, elected director in May of this 

 year, we may be sure that the popular- 

 ization of the exhibits will be carried 

 forward, while at the same time every 

 effort will be made to draw to the 

 museum officers of the highest scien- 

 tific standing and to give them full 

 opportunity to use its resources and 

 collections for the advancement of 

 science. 



TEE PROTECTION OF THE FUB 

 SEALS 



The fur seal treaty signed at Wash- 

 ington this month by representatives 

 of the United States, Great Britain, | 

 Eussia and Japan is the solution of a ' 

 problem of much scientific and prac- 

 tical interest and at the same time an 

 important extension of international 

 arbitration. By the treaty the United 

 States and Russia agree to give Canada 

 and Japan thirty per cent, of the skins 

 of the seals killed on the rookeries on 

 condition that they will refrain from 

 pelagic sealing. The powers agree to 

 admit no skins the origin of which is 

 unknown, and steps are to be taken to 

 persuade other countries to prevent the 

 use of their flags on the high seas by 

 poachers. Provision is made for the 

 patrol of the waters by representatives 

 of the nations concerned. The agree- 

 ment is to last for fifteen years and 

 thereafter until it is denounced by one 

 of the powers. 



There is thus settled a problem that 

 for many years has offended humani- 

 tarian sentiment and has even been in 

 danger of causing international com- 

 plications. In the year 1882 there were 

 more than two million seals which went 

 annually in the spring to the Pribilof 

 and Commander Islands, where their 



young were born and reared. At about 

 that time pelagic sealing, or the killing 

 of seals on the high seas, came into 

 vogue, the number of skins taken in- 

 creasing from 10,000 in 1881 to 62,000 

 in 1894. It is said that for each skin 

 taken, probably four seals are killed 

 and lost. Eighty per cent, of the seals 

 killed in this way are pregnant fe- 

 males, which at the same time are nurs- 

 ing their pups on shore, and the death 

 of each sacrifices three lives. It is no 

 wonder, consequently, that the whole 

 number of seals has now been reduced 

 to 150,000 and that they, like the sperm 

 whale, are in danger of extinction. 

 The seals on their breeding grounds 

 can be treated like other domestic 

 animals. The seal is polygamous and 

 each male tries to obtain a harem of 

 from ten to one hundred females. As 

 there are an equal number of males, 

 most of them can not succeed; they are 

 isolated by the other males, and can 

 be driven off like a flock of sheep and 

 killed without injury to the herd, in- 

 deed, with benefit to it, as the fighting 

 between the males and the incidental 

 killing of females and young is thus 

 prevented. 



Since 1870 the United States govern- 

 ment has received about ten million 

 dollars by leasing the right to kill 

 superfluous males on the Pribilof 

 Islands — a larger sum than was paid 

 for Alaska. In 1893 an agreement was 

 made by which Canadians undertook 

 not to engage in pelagic sealing within 

 sixty miles of the Pribilof Islands, 

 Eussia and the United States having 

 already forbidden this practise to their 

 citizens. It was, however, found pos- 

 sible to engage in pelagic sealing at 

 greater distances from the islands, and 

 the greatest difficulty was caused by 

 the Japanese, who were not a party to 

 the agreement, engaging in pelagic 

 sealing within three miles of the 

 islands. In 1909 the Japanese pelagic 

 fleet consisted of 23 vessels compared 

 with five from Canada. Hence the 

 need of the new treaty, which has been 



