502 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



been dealt with, and strenuously urging the necessity of oyster-culture, 

 calls attention to the fact that " civilized races have long recognized 

 the fact that the true remedy is not to limit the demand, but rather to 

 increase the supply of food, by rearing domestic sheep and cattle and 

 poultry in place of wild deer and buffaloes and turkeys, and by culti- 

 vating the ground instead of searching for natural fruits and seeds of 

 the forests and swamps." 



Mr. Ernest Ingersoll,* author of the " Report on the Oyster-In- 

 dustry," tenth United States census, has, in an address before the 

 Geographical Society of New York, a striking sketch of the effect of 

 the white man on the wild animals of North America, showing that, 

 had the Indians remained in possession, little if any change would 

 have taken place. The Indian, like the predaceous animals, hunts only 

 for food, and shows even in this habit a wholesome self-restraint, never 

 killing wantonly. He called attention to the survival of a number of 

 small birds about the dwellings of man as the result of favorable con- 

 ditions, such as a constant supply of food, etc. He shows that the 

 contact of man in the main has been disastrous. His remarks on the 

 oyster are timely ; he shows its extermination along the coast by 

 man's agency. " Hardly more than a century has elapsed since men 

 believed that the oyster-beds of New York were inexhaustible, and that 

 a small measure of legal protection, feebly maintained, was quite 

 enough to sustain them against any chance of decay. So they thought 

 in Massachusetts, where the oysters have not only disappeared but 

 have been forgotten. So they think now in Maryland and Virginia, 

 whei'e their fond expectations are destined to equal downfall." 



Professor William H. Bi-ewer,f in a paper on the " Evolution of 

 the American Trotting-Horse," shows that the trotter is an American 

 product, and that it is still in process of evolution. He gives a column 

 of figures to show the speed that has been attained in this new form 

 of motion, from a speed of three minutes in 1818 down to two minutes 

 ten and a quarter seconds in 1881. The materials for a curve is offered 

 to mathematicians, and Professor Francis E. Nipher, J in a mathe- 

 matical article on the subject, shows that a definite time of ninety-one 

 seconds will ultimately be attained by the American trotter ! Mr. W. 

 H. Pickering, * however, urges some objections to the deductions of 

 Professor Nipher. 



In drawing to a close this very imperfect summary of what Amer- 

 ican zoologists have accomplished for evolution many other dis- 

 tinguished contributors might have been mentioned. The work of 

 eminent physiologists and paleontologists has hardly been considered, 



* " Bulletin of the American Geographical Society," 1885, No. 1. 

 f " American Journal of Science and Arts," vol. xxv, p. 299. 



X " St. Louis Academy of Sciences," May 7, 18S3; also "American Journal of Science 

 and Arts," vol. xxvi, p. 20. 



* " American Journal of Science and Arts," vol. xxvi, p. 3YS. 



