Museum Notes 



Since the last issue of the Journal, the 

 following persons have become members of 

 the Museum : 



Life Alemhers, Mrs. C. N. Dietz and 

 Messrs. Alfred I. duPont and Wm. M. 

 Kerr. 



Annual Members, Mrs. M. G. Justin Ash- 

 ton, Mrs. George H. Mayo, Mrs. Stella 

 Stern, Miss Valentine L. Chandor, and 

 Messrs. S. A. Goodman and Robyn Mac- 



FADDEN. 



The experiment of growing Mandan maize 

 in the tulip bed in front of the American 

 Museum during the past summer was suc- 

 cessful, although strictly test conditions were 

 not followed in its culture. Many different 

 colors were sown, and as the stalks were so 

 close together that the pollen of the tassels 

 intermingled, some of the new crop has pro- 

 duced ears in which all these colors are com- 

 bined. Other ears are entirely red, or blue, 

 or black, or white as the case may be. The 

 kernels are larger than the seed planted, 

 showing that if the Mandan maize were 

 grown in this part of the country it would 

 develop a high food value. Owing to investi- 

 gations made by the American Museum un- 

 der the direction of Dr. G. L. Wilson, by 

 which the method of cultivating this hardy 

 variety was learned, millions of bushels of 

 corn are now raised in the mountainous re- 

 gions of the West where previously none was 

 grown. Samples of the crop grown in the 

 tulip bed are displayed in a case in the foyer 

 of the Museum. 



At a meeting of the board of trustees, on 

 September 19, Mr. James M. B. Hard was 

 elected to succeed to the patronship of his 

 father, the late Mr. Anson Wales Hard, who 

 was a trustee and associate benefactor of the 

 American Museum. 



Dr. Thomas G. Hull, of the department 

 of public health, has been summoned to 

 Washington to act as Chief of the Division 

 of Exhibits of the United States Food Ad- 

 ministration. His duties will consist mainly 

 in preparing plans for food exhibits and in 

 furnishing information to various organiza- 

 tions that wish to install such exhibits. 



The Origin and Evolution of Life, on the 

 Theory of Action, Reaction, and Interaction 

 500 



of Energy, by Henry Fairfield Osborn, which 

 has just come from the press of Charles 

 Scribner's Sons, puts forward a new theory 

 or "energy concept" as a basis for the study 

 of the causes of evolution. The book repre- 

 sents the Hale Lectures delivered by Profes- 

 sor Osborn at Washington before the Na- 

 tional Academy of Sciences, in April, 1916. 

 It will be reviewed in a later issue of the 

 Journal. 



At the meeting of the executive committee 

 of the board of trustees of the Museum held 

 on October 17, Mr. W. Elmer Ekblaw of the 

 University of Illinois was appointed research 

 associate in geology for the years 1917 and 

 1918, this in recognition of his admirable 

 record and services on the Crocker Land Ex- 

 pedition during the years 1913 to 1917. 



A reception to the returned members of 

 the Crocker Land Expedition, together with 

 the first private view of the collections made 

 by the expedition in the Arctic, was held at 

 the Museum on the evening of October 10. 

 The attendance numbered about four hun- 

 dred. With the exception of one, all of the 

 members of the scientific staff of the ex|5edi- 

 tion were present. The exhibit includes the 

 tent and the camp fittings used by Mr. Mac- 

 Millan in the Arctic, various sledges and 

 kayaks, the eggs of the strange bird known 

 as the knot, Eskimo clothing of the eastern 

 Arctic type, skins of rare animals, and many 

 archaeological specimens. A series of draw- 

 ings by the Eskimo attracted considerable 

 attention. The large collections brought back 

 by the Crocker Land Expedition will remain 

 on display in the Philippine hall for a week 

 or more, thus enabling the public to exam- 

 ine them even before they have been installed 

 formally in the Museum. 



Many applications have been received 

 from educational institutions to borrow the 

 food exhibit which was displayed for several 

 months in the foyer of the American Mu- 

 seum. The exhibit has been transferred for 

 the present to the Washington Irving High 

 School, where it is now on view. This school 

 is ideally situated for such an exhibit, being 

 accessible to many thousands of people in 

 the community as well as to the nine thou- 

 sand girls who attend the sessions. 



