THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURXAL 



brightly colored coral reef fishes, the north- 

 ern Pacific, viviparous surf fishes. 



The Eilucation Act passed by the closing, 

 1918, parliament of England is in a way an 

 epochal piece of legislation for the United 

 Kingdom. The selection of men for the 

 army has revealed the need for greater at- 

 tention to the physical well-being of the 

 country's youth so this feature has received 

 special attention. Special provision is also 

 to be made for the physically inferior as it 

 has previously been made for the feeble- 

 minded. All fees are abolished and school 

 attendance is made compulsory Vjetween the 

 ages of five and fourteen. Although secon- 

 dary schools are not established by the Act, 

 their growth is encouraged and the central 

 schools are extended, providing for higher 

 studies than those of the elementary schools. 

 The bill is a recognition of the liberal 

 aspects of education and the place that these 

 have in the welfare of the people. A notable 

 feature of the Act is that it places the con- 

 trol of child labor in the hands of the edu- 

 cational authorities so that there is hope that 

 this evil is finally settled. 



To quote from Nature, November 7, the 

 measure provides "not only for a fairly ade- 

 quate training in literature and in science, 

 but also for effective, practical instruction 

 for both eye and hand, as well as for the 

 physical health and training of the child, 

 and that at just the period of his life when 

 he is most susceptible of treatment and of 

 the permanent effect of such training. Few 

 Acts have been subjected to so large a 

 measure of public discussion as the Educa- 

 tion Act of 1918, or have won so general an 

 api^roval. Its chief purpose, whilst pro- 

 viding for the general well-being of the 

 childhooil of the nation, so vital a matter in 

 present circumstances, is to give full oppor- 

 tunity for those who are naturally gifted to 

 share in the highest educational advantages 

 which the nation can offer. . . . And there 

 is abundant testimony ... to the wonder- 

 ful initiative and intelligent grasp of the 

 young men trained in the elementary schools 

 who, in their scores of thousands, joined the 

 national forces in 1914. The crux of the 

 success . . . lies with the teachers, who must 

 now, whatever the cost, alike in respect of 

 payment, prospects, and pensions, be at- 

 tracted to the most vital and worthy of the 

 national services." 



The annual report of the Secretary of 

 Agriculture for 1918 reveals the fact that 

 very satisfactory results have come from the 

 farmers' response to the world's unusual de- 

 mand for food. Although 1918 is not in 

 every respect a record year for production, 

 it is so far above the 1910-14 average that 

 it stands favorable comparison with the four 

 years that have witnessed intensive war 

 cultivation. While the yield of crops is a 

 result of climatic conditions as well as of 

 industry and acreage, and these conditions 

 were very adverse in 1917 and especially for 

 corn in 1918, the production of cereals dur- 

 ing these two years has been exceeded only 

 by the record year of 191.5. The acre- 

 age planted in cereals, tobacco, and cot- 

 ton in 1918 exceeds by more than five and 

 a half million the acreage of the record 

 year. 



With regard to monetary value, the Secre- 

 tary estimates that the value of all crops for 

 1918, together with that of all live stock on 

 farms, is somewhere around $24,700,000,000 

 as compared with $21,325,000,000 for 1917 

 and $11,700,000,000, the annual average for 

 the five year period 1910-14. This does not 

 mean that the country's wealth has increased 

 to that extent, but rather that the financial 

 returns to farmers have increased propor- 

 tionally with those to other producers and 

 their purchasing power has kept pace with 

 the general rise of prices. 



Owing to the retirement of Mr. Wallace 

 Goold Levison from the American Mineral- 

 ogist, Dr. Edgar T. Wherry, Bureau of 

 Chemistry, Washington, D.C., will assume 

 the duties of editor-in-chief, with the fol- 

 lowing associate editors: George F. Kunz,- 

 president of the New York Mineralogical 

 Club; Herbert P. Whitlock, American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History; Alexander H. 

 Phillips, Princeton University; Waldemar T. 

 Schaller, U. S. Geological Survey ; Edward 

 H. Ivraus, University of Michigan ; Austin 

 F. Rogers, Leland Stanford .Junior Uni- 

 versity; Thomas L. Walker, University of 

 Toronto, Canada; and Samuel G. Gordon, 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 



A coLLECTiox of valuable archaeological 

 objects from Oncion, Santo Domingo, has 

 been acquired by the department of anthro- 

 pology in the American Museum through the 

 gift of Mr. E. J. Valeur, of New York City. 



