THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



283 



tlu> rain is clear for as scion as the 

 moon is visible a tluuideistoi 111 ceases.' 

 T\w seienee of the iiiilNcrsities was 

 inuler tlie iloniination of tlic ' specida- 

 tive physics ' of Ilegel and Scheliing, 

 whose chemistry is fairly represented 

 by such a quotation as " Water con- 

 tains just the same as iron, but in ab- 

 solute indifference as yoniU-r in relative 

 indifference, carbon and nitrogen, and 

 thus all true polarity of the earth is 

 reduced to an original south and north 

 wliich are fixed in the magnet." What 

 Liebig accomplished will be better ap- 

 preciated if the deplorable state of 

 science in the German iiniversities is 

 recalled. 



Liebig was made professor of chem- 

 istry at Giessen at the age of twenty- 

 one, and full professor two years later. 

 He immediately proceeded to establish 

 a laboratory for students, the proto- 

 type not only of chemical laboratories, 

 but of the laboratory method in sci- 

 ence. In 1852 he removed to Munich, 

 where he died in 1873. Like many 

 other men eminent in research, Liebig 

 was a gi-eat teacher, an editor and a 

 popularizer of science. He also com- 

 bined the discovery of facts with the 

 formulation of wide-reaching theories. 

 Neither the facts nor the theories can 

 be described here; it suffices to say 

 that Liebig may properly be regarded 

 as the founder of organic, physiological 

 and agricultural chemistry. 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NAT- 

 URAL HISTORY. 

 The thirty-fourth annual report 

 (that for 1902) of the American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History in Xew York 

 City records the events of a prosperous 

 year for the institution. During the 

 year the membership increased ma- 

 terially, and the attendance on lec- 

 tures was larger than ever before. 

 Several scientific societies held their 

 regular meetings in the building. In 

 October, 1902, the International Con- 

 gress of Americanists held its thir- 

 teenth annual session at the museum, 



and discussed subjects I'elating to ' The 

 Native Races of .America ' and ' The 

 History of the Early Contact between 

 America and the Did World.' 



In May 1902, upon the aiiivul of 

 the news of the disaster in Marti- 

 nique, Dr. Hovej', of tlie Geological 

 Department, was detailed by the 

 president to investigate the causes of 

 the eruptions, and his work has placed 

 the museum among the leading con- 

 tributors to seismology. 



The additions to the collections of 

 mammals during the year numbered 

 more than 2,000, secured largely 

 through the museum collectors. The 

 gift of the Peary Arctic Club of about 

 one hundred mammals, collected by 

 Commander Peary on his last Arctic 

 expedition, is especially noteworthy. 

 The museum is now the richest in the 

 world in mammals from Arctic Amer- 

 ica. The donations from the New 

 York Zoological Society and the Cen- 

 tral Park Menagerie are of great value 

 to the museum. The specimens of 

 mammals obtained by the Andrew J. 

 Stone Expedition in North British 

 Columbia form the largest single col- 

 lection that has ever been brought 

 down from the north. In the Ba- 

 hamas and Virginia material was col- 

 lected for special bird groups for the 

 museum. The vertebrate paleontolog- 

 ical collections of the museum were 

 enriched by expeditions maintained in 

 the field, and the establishment of a 

 fund by a member of the board of 

 trustees for providing material to il- 

 lustrate the origin and development 

 of the horse produced immediate re- 

 sults of the highest importance. The 

 Cope collections, the purchase of which 

 was effected in the year, include fossil 

 reptiles, amphibians and fishes, and 

 the Pampean collection of fossil mam- 

 mals from South America. 



A nixmber of archeological collections 

 not before exhibited were installed, 

 notably the valuable collections made 

 in the southwest under grants fur- 

 nished by the Messrs. Hyde. Through 



