L898J NOTES AND COMMENTS 



which is very tiring ; a perpendicular dropped from the hip should 

 pass through the centre of the pedal,and with the feel at the lowest 

 point the knee should be slightly bent. Most saddles have been 

 made too narrow, the cyclist thus being compelled to ride on the 

 perineum instead of the ischial tuberosities, and in many instances 

 the pommel or peak has been too high." Tt is obvious to any 

 cyclist that all these points refer with equal force to the male sex. 

 So also does the advice that the cyclist should not ride to the point 

 of exhaustion, should not have the gearing too high or the machine 

 too heavy, and should ride in a suitable dress. With regard to the 

 last -mentioned point the only question is, what is suitable ? Since 

 1 )r Ballantyne is a man, it is unlikely that he has ever ridden " in a 

 shortened skirt, with modified corset," until he has attempted this, 

 especially in a wind, we cannot consider his advice on the matter of 

 the smallest value. Many of the points in the paper are of con- 

 siderable interest, but hardly to be dealt with in the pages* of this 

 Review. We can, however, strongly recommend it to any who 

 may have thrown upon them the professional duty of advising lady 

 cyclists. 



The Australian Museum 



The Report of this Museum for 180G, which we received a short 

 time ago, receives considerable interest from the out-spoken remarks 

 of tin; curator, Mr IJ. Etheridge, junior. For one thing, Mr 

 Etheridge complains justly and forcibly of the inadequate scale 

 of remuneration received by the staff individually in comparison 

 with that prevailing in some of the service departments ; although, 

 as he points out, the scientific assistants are, by educational status 

 and scientific attainments, entitled to rank as professional men. 

 What applies to the assistants applies also to the mechanics, whose 

 wmk is undoubtedly of a skilled and special character. Even the 

 attendants of a scientific museum are put off with less pay than 

 those of an art gallery. Not only is this the case, but the Museum 

 remains much undermanned. Of course all museums are under- 

 manned, just as in most countries museum assistants are underpaid : 

 but certainly the Government of New South Wales asks a little too 

 much when it expects even a person of such energy as Mr Etheridge 

 to combine the functions of curator and those of sole palaeontologist. 

 Mr Etheridge says, and most people will agree with him, " I regard 

 the position of curator of such an institution as this as one carrying 

 with it the necessity of engaging in original research. As matters 

 are at present constituted this is an impossibility." 



Among the difficulties under which our Australian colleagues 

 labour, not the least is the destruction constantly effected by the 

 white ants. We have already alluded to the ravages committed by 

 them in the Australian Museum, but it appears that these were 



