NOTES 



315 



st'uiii in the liall assigia'd to birds ol' tlu' 

 world. The hornbill in appearance, as well 

 as in habit, is distinctive, the huge bill with 

 its high casque giving to tlie head a gro- 

 tesque appearance. Thei-e are seventy spe- 

 cies, widely distributed over the warmer 

 parts of the Old World. The Museum group 

 has been pre])ared under the supervision of 

 Mr. Herbert Lang, whose article in the ])rcs- 

 ent number of the Journal describes in de- 

 tail the nesting habits of this particular 

 African species. 



At a recent meeting of the New York 

 Academy of Sciences, the effect of heavy 

 shell fire on the human ear was described by 

 Professor J. Gordon Wilson, of Chicago Uni- 

 versity. Complete deafness often is caused 

 by the rupture of the tunnel of Corti in the 

 inner ear, but in many cases temporary deaf- 

 ness may be cured or improved by a graded 

 series of sound exercises, tuning forks being 

 ])laced against the mastoid bone to stimulate 

 the inner ear; later on, resonating boxes are 

 used in the treatment. The speaker exhib- 

 ited an improved instrument to be worn in 

 the ear which protects it against shell shock 

 without preventing ordinary sounds from 

 being heard. 



The American Museum War Eelief Asso- 

 ciation, which has been an active factor in 

 the Museum since June 1, 1917, reports to 

 date a very considerable amount of work 

 accomplished through its various branches. 

 Knitters for the Red Cross, Navy League, 

 and for Museum men in the service have 

 turned out 650 garments; sewers have made 

 for the Eed Cross 215 surgical shirts and 

 209 suits of pajamas; while the surgical 

 dressings class, which meets once a week, 

 reports an output to date of 10,000 pieces. 

 In addition, during the recent Red Cross 

 drive for garments to send abroad, energetic 

 workers collected, sorted, and packed for 

 shipment to headquarters one ton of clothes 

 which were turned in at the Museum station. 

 It is the aim of the Association to keep in 

 touch as far as possible with the American 

 Museum men who are in the service, and 

 thus far twenty-two of these have Ijeen fur- 

 nished from time to time with comfort kits, 

 knitted garments, candy, and tobacco, as 

 well as with reading material and letters. 

 Money for carrying on the work of the or- 

 ganization is raised through monthly sub- 

 scriptions obtained from members of the 



MuscuiM stall', and through the generosity 

 of Mrs. Henry Faiifield Osborn. 



TiiK Mii.scHni News Letter, a small pub- 

 lication which had its inception at the 1917 

 meeting of the American Association of Mu- 

 seums, supplies an actual need in the way of 

 furtluM'ing cooperation between educational 

 institutions of this character, keeping them 

 alive to one another's activities, and promul- 

 gating new methods of work. The leaflet is 

 edited by Mr. Harold L. Madison, curator of 

 the Park Museum, Providence, Rhode Island. 



Dk. IIkkbert J. Spinden, assistant curator 

 in the department of anthropology at the 

 American Museum, is on his way to Colom- 

 bia, South America, to make a general ar- 

 chaeological survey of that little-known 

 country. It is a curious fact that since the 

 time of Ihnnboldt no one has advanced our 

 knowledge of prehistoric Colombia. While 

 on the whole we know very little about some 

 sections of South America, Colombia is the 

 one part about which we know least. Dr. 

 Spinden plans to visit the more promising 

 regions and to gather data upon the distri- 

 bution and forms of archaeological objects. 

 This will give a basis for future intensive 

 work on the prehistoric culture of that 

 country. 



A BROXZE bust of the late Dr. Daniel 

 Giraud Elliot, mammalogist and ornithologist, 

 is installed on the second floor of the Ameri- 

 can Museum, in the hall devoted to birds of 

 the world. The bust, which is the work of 

 Mr. Chester Beach, is the gift of Miss Mar- 

 garet Henderson Elliot, daughter of Dr. 

 Elliot. 



A VERY rare specimen of sea otter spear, 

 formerly used by the natives of the Aleutian 

 Islands, has been presented to the depart- 

 ment of anthropology of the American 

 Museum by Lieutenant George T. Emmons, 

 of Princeton. 



Two canvases bearing realistic representa- 

 tions of the Dakota Sun Dance may be seen 

 in a case in the southwest hall of the Ameri- 

 can Museum. These paintings, which are 

 about six by two and a half feet in size, are 

 the work of Short-bull, a famous chief of the 

 Oglala Dakota (Sioux) Indians, now at Pine 

 Ridge Reservation, South Dakota. Short- 

 bull was one of the leaders in the Ghost 

 Dance outbreak in 1893 and fought an en- 



