THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



history of an incident connected with the organization of the Ex- 

 pedition which is barely touched upon in the narrative. The 

 incident, furthermore, shows the friendly feeling of the Russian 

 Government toward the United States and links the jMuseum 

 with the educational work and policy of the Czar. Dr. Laufer's 

 home was in Cologne, Germany, but he came to New York en 

 route to the Amur River region by way of Vancouver. It was 

 necessary to have his passport viseed by the Russian Consul 

 General in New York before he could enter Siberia, but that 

 official refused to give his certification. President Jesup carried 

 the matter to the Russian Ambassador at Washington, who, 

 however, declined to reverse the ruling. The Department of 

 State at Washington then was asked to intercede with the Russian 

 government through Mr. E. A. Hitchcock, the United States 

 Ambassador at St. Petersburg, but the Russian Minister of the 

 Interior declined to interfere in the matter. Then were enlisted 

 the good offices of Professor Radloff, Director of the Ethno- 

 graphical Museum in St. Petersburg and also a prominent member 

 of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, and through him the matter 

 was brought to the personal notice of the Grand Duke Constan- 

 tine Constantino^'itch, President of the Academy, who conveyed 

 President Jesup's request directly to Emperor Nicholas II. His 

 Imperial Majesty overruled the preceding decisions and granted 

 Dr. Laufer permission to carry on the proposed investigations 

 "as an act of courtesy to the Government of the United States, 

 as well as in the interests of ethnological research." 



The Guide Leaflet issued with this number of the Jourx.a.l 

 is a general introduction to the study of the collections on exhi- 

 bition in the halls of the Department of Vertebrate Palaeontology-. 

 During the past summer the exhibition collections of this depart- 

 ment have been entirely rearranged and have been brought into 

 accord with the advances made in the science up to the present 

 time. This has rendered necessary the entire re-writing of the 

 Guide Leaflet which was issued in January, 1902. Guide Leaf- 

 lets to special portions of the exhibit have been prepared or are 

 in course of preparation. One of the series, that on the Evolu- 

 tion of the Horse, was issued in January, 1903. 



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