1898] NOTES AND COMMENTS 5 
which is very tiring; a perpendicular dropped from the hip should 
pass through the centre of the pedal, and with the feet 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.” It 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 
Dr Ballantyne is a man, it is unlikely that he has ever ridden “ ina 
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 1896, which we received a short 
time ago, receives considerable interest from the out-spoken remarks 
of the curator, Mr R. 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 apples to the assistants applies also to the mechanics, whose 
work 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 
