374 
Ar a meeting of the Section of Biology of 
the New York Academy of Sciences in the 
American Museum on October 11, Dr. A. J. 
Goldfarb, of the College of the City of New 
York demonstrated his theory of the physio- 
chemical origin of certain abnormal forms. 
Dr. Goldfarb showed on the screen his pro- 
duction of double sea-urchin embryos by 
placing their eggs in certain chemical solu- 
. tions, which dissolved the fertilization mem- 
brane and permitted the eggs to adhere to 
one another. His experiments would indi- 
cate that metabolic derangements may be the 
cause of the occurrence of similar abnormal- 
ities in higher species. He found that the 
extent of the derangements following partial 
or complete fusion of eggs was roughly pro- 
portional to the area of the surfaces brought 
into contact. 
In the death of Dr. Charles F. Holder, in 
Pasadena, California, on October 11, this 
country loses one of its older marine natural- 
ists. Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, August 
5, 1851, he early evinced an interest in 
natural history, and in 1871 was appointed 
assistant curator at the American Museum of 
Natural History, to assist his father, who had 
been associated with the Museum since its 
inception. Dr. Holder in speaking of his 
work there said a few years ago: ‘‘I remember 
the opening of the Museum distinctly. I 
had been on the Florida reefs with my father 
for years, and had a practical knowledge of 
marine zodlogy which had whetted my appe- 
tite for science, and the gradual unfolding of 
the collections was a delight.” Dr. Holder 
resigned his position in the Museum in 1875 
and soon afterward accepted the chair of 
zoology at Throop College, Pasadena. At 
the time of his death he was honorary curator 
of its museum. Dr. Holder was the author 
of many books and a member of many dis- 
tinguished scientific societies. 
Tue annual Autumn show of the Horti- 
cultural Society of New York was held in 
the American Museum of Natural History 
November 4 to 7 inclusive. Chrysanthe- 
mums were the feature of the exhibition and 
among them the enormous bush plants shown 
by Mr. Adolph Lewisohn of Ardsley, New 
York, made a striking appearance. One of 
these, a yellow R. F. Felton seventeen feet in 
diameter and with fifteen hundred blooms, is 
the largest ever grown. 
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
Mr. Grorce C. Loncury has presented to 
the Museum the collections of his last winter’s 
archeological work on the Island of Jamaica. 
They contain two human skulls from lime- 
stone caves, and a large number of stone 
celts, potsherds, and bird, fish, and animal 
bones. This gift has been added to the very 
large collection previously presented by Mr. 
Longley, and will be found on exhibition in 
the South American gallery. 
THE collection of fossil mammals, obtained 
in Alberta by Mr. Barnum Brown, associate 
curator of vertebrate paleontology at the 
American Museum, was shipped from Sweet- 
grass, Montana, on October 27 and is expected 
to reach New York in November. 
A Mortorr skull, recently purchased by 
the Museum, has just arrived from Australia. 
The Morioris are an aboriginal race from the 
Chatham Islands, and are spoken of as an- 
cestors of the Maoris. 
Miss Mary Cyntruta DiIcKkERSON, curator 
of woods and forestry and associate curator 
of herpetology at the American Museum, 
attended the celebration of the fiftieth 
anniversary of the opening of Vassar College 
as the delegate of the Museum. The in- 
auguration of Henry Noble MacCracken, 
Ph.D., L. H. D., as President of the College 
was the occasion for notable addresses by 
Dr. John Huston Finley, commissioner of 
education for New York, Dr. George Lyman 
Kittredge, of Harvard University and Presi- 
dent Henry Noble MacCracken. The Pag- 
eant of Athena, composed by students of the 
College and presented under the direction of 
Miss Hazel Mackaye in Vassar’s new out-of- 
door theatre, represented a very high stand- 
ard of achievement. A series of moving 
tableaux pictured phases of the development 
of woman’s intellectual life in the past, “‘the 
web of Athena’s weaving,” from Sappho in the 
sixth century before Christ to Eleva Lucrezia 
Cornaro of the seventeenth century after 
Christ, who was elected to the doctorate of the 
University of Padua. At the close, after the 
procession across the stage of the several hun- 
dred actors representing the past, there fol- 
lowed many hundred Vassar girls of to-day — 
presaging woman’s intellectual life of the future. 
Proressor C.-E. A. Winstow has taken 
up his new work as professor of public health 
