POPULAE SCIENCE i^^EWS. 
[January, 1891. 
©he ©ut-©©oP (a^opld. 
Edited by HAKLAX H. BATJ.ARD, 
Pke^idkxt ok the Agassiz Association. 
[P. O. Address, Pittsfield, Mass.] 
AiuiAXGEMEXTs liavo been made Ijy wliich "The 
Out-Door AVorld,'' the Agassiz Association depart- 
ment of POPCLAK Science News, will be con- 
tinued during 1891, and enlarged from two pages 
a mouth to three. This gives us nine columns 
devoted to our special interests. The whole paper 
admirably meets the needs of our nieml)ers, and 
we hope and believe that the PoruLAU Science 
News will now receive from the Association a 
support so generous that the publishers jiiay feel 
justified in making our department a permanent 
feature. To insure this result we must get three 
hundred new suljscribers within the year. Is 
there any member of tlie Agassiz .\ssociatiou who 
cannot afford eight cents a month for so excellent 
a papery Tlie information eoutaiueil in a single 
article is often worth more than the price of the 
papei- for the whole year. We suggest that each 
Chapter and member maj' well take enough 
interest in our paper to secure a few subscriptions 
— one at least — to inclose w-ith his own. 
The new Chapters that have been organized 
during the past two months have all been of an 
unusually promising character. They have started 
with an average of twenty members, are well offi- 
cered, and have t)egun work with carefully-i^on- 
sidered constitutions and well-drawn by-laws. 
Sche<lules for the winter have been thoughtfully 
planned and neatly printed, and everything indi- 
cates that the work of the Agassiz Association for 
1891 is to be of a higher order tlian ever before. 
It is an excellent time to organize new Chapters, 
either in colleges, schools, or private families. 
We have on hand a large variety of printed mate- 
rial illustrative of our methods of organization 
and work, which we will gladly send to any who 
may wish to learn more of the practical woi-king 
of the Agassiz Association. This includes our 
eoustitutiou and historj-, the constitutions and 
by-laws of various local Chapters, schedules of 
study in difterent branches of science, programmes 
and hints for field-meetings, descriptions of our 
courses of lal)oratory work directed by corre- 
spondence, accounts of our charters, hand-book, 
badges, visiting cards, and official organ, and a 
fine wood-cut of Professor I.,ouis Agassiz, from 
whom we d(!rived both our inspiration and our 
name. These papers will be sent free upon appli- 
cation until the supply is exhausted. We invite 
the correspondence and cooperation of all who are 
interested in the best practical education of young 
men and women. 
CORRESPONDEXCE AMONG CHAPTERS. 
Many of our local societies wish to correspond 
with others with a view to mutual improvement 
and the exchange of specimens. They finil great 
advantage in becoming acquainted with those who 
in distant States are interested in like studies. 
Tliere are, however, not a few- Chapters that 
prefer to confine their attention to their own 
homes. They do not care to spend the time 
involved in writing letters. Some of them even 
refuse to answer letters at all. From this diflfer- 
ence of feeling one of our most serious difficulties 
has arisen. It is well Illustrated in the following 
extract from a letter recently received from one 
of (.ur most earuest Canadian members: "Our 
Chapter decided to sever its connection with the 
A. A., and remain under the title under which we 
started. The motives of so doing were as follows : 
We had received no help from the A. A., either iu 
the way of letters or exchange sheets. We lorote 
to several Chajyters, but received no answers. We 
had no practical link to connect us with the rest 
of the Chapters. ■■ 
Now this was entirely wrong. It is the plain 
duty of any Chapter or member to answer promptly 
every courteous letter that is received. If corre- 
spondence is not desired, that fact may be i)olitely 
stated, but some answer is due to every letter. 
The grievance of this Canadian Chapter is a real 
one. But the remedy is so simple that the only 
wonder is that no one has ever suggested it before. 
nie remedy is this : We will make a list at 
once of all those Chapters that do wish corre- 
spondence with others, together with a memoran- 
dum of the subjects on which they prefer to 
correspond. Let every Chapter that will engage 
to send a prompt reply to every communication 
received, send me its address, and indicate the 
subjects in which it is especially interested. We 
will then publish the list for the benefit of all. It 
is no discredit to any Chapter that it does not feel 
willing to enter into correspondence, but it will 
be an advantage to have a list of C^hapters on 
whom we can always depend. 
The same is true of individual members. We 
have never printed tlu; addresses of those who 
joined us by themselves — partly because we felt 
that some of the)n might object, and partly because 
we could ill aft'ord the space. But now, at the 
beginning of a new year, we will make the experi- 
ment. 
The following form may be used l)y all who are 
willing to unite in tliis plan : " We agree to 
answer all letters or postal-cards sent to \is by 
Chapters or members of the Agassiz Association 
during 1891, or until we give notice to the con- 
trarj-. The subjects in which we take most 
interest are," etc. Letters should be answered 
whether postage is inclosed or not, but it is proper 
for the one making the first advances toward a 
correspondence to inclose a stamp in the first 
letter. 
We ni'.iy note that, as a rule, all new Chapters 
are glad to receive letters from those already 
organized. The list may well be headed by the 
following regular Corresponding Chapters, which 
are always glad to receive and answer communica- 
tions from anyone interested in their specialties. 
LIST OF chapters THAT WILL ALWAYS ANSWEK 
LETTERS. 
119, Isaac Lea Memorial Chapter of Conchology; Profes- 
sor Josiah Keep, Mills College, Cal. 
833, Massachusetts Archaiological Chapter; Lynward 
French, 23 Winter St., Fall Elver, Mass. 
aiS, Wilson Ornithological Chapter; .1. B. Richards, Box 
333, Fall Kiver, Mass. 
2, Gray Memorial Chapter of Botany; G. H. Hicks, Box 
176, Owosso, Mich. 
551, Corresponding Geological Chapter, Amadeus Grabau, 
Boston Society Natural History, Boston, Mass. 
To this list we shall add from time to time the 
addresses of all such Chapters and individual 
members as may request it. Meanwhile the Presi- 
dent will continue to send personal answers to all 
who may address him in any manner regarding 
the Agassiz Association, whether postage is in- 
closed or not, and we shall soon have a large 
circle of those who can be absolutely depended 
upon to answer every communication promi)tly. 
If parties failing to obtain prompt replies from 
any Chapter included in this list will notify the 
President, the matter shall be immediately investi- 
gated, and, unless a satisfactory explanation is 
secured, the delinquent will be stricken from the 
list. 
***■ ' 
CHAPTEI? ADDRESSKS. XEW AN'l) 
HK VISED. 
No. of 
No. Name. Members 
357 Litchfield, Conn. B 5 
D. N. S. Barney. 
3«6 Minneapolis, Minn. C 17 
Edwin P. Bacon, 1512 Harmon Place. 
374 Westfleld, Mass. A 22 
Arthur N. Burke. 
GEOLOGICAL IXFORMATIOX AVAXTED. 
Mejibers of the A. A. will greatly aid me In 
my present work if they will send me : 
1. Written or printed accounts of artesian or 
other wells : noting the temperature of the water, 
character and dip of suiTOunding rock and soil, 
depth of boring, etc. 
2. Mines : depth, temperature at bottom, char- 
acter of rock, etc. 
3. Boulders : kind of rock, geographical posi- 
tion, direction of train, marks of glacial action, 
dimensions, etc. 
4. Tides : noting the height along the coast, in 
estuaries, on promontories, etc. 
a. Caves : depth, character of rock, and other 
details. 
6, Earthquakes : particularly the Charleston 
earthquake. 
1 wish to collect as much iufonnatioii-as possible 
ou these jjoints, and in return I will give all the 
aid I can in this line to any desiring it. I should 
like drawings when convenient. I hope to givo 
the results of my investigations in a future report. 
Herbert X'^. .Johnson. 
Waterbury, Conn. 
FAILX'RE OF SAXTA CLAUS. 
It is with regret that we have to chronicle the 
failure of the publishers of Santa Clans, the bright 
Philadelphia weekly in which we had a depart- 
ment until August last. Our first thought on 
receiving the news might have been expressed in 
the language of tlie \\ell-known epitaph on the 
baby that lived only a week : 
*' If it was so soon to be done for. 
What on earth was it ever begun for! " 
But the fact is that to establish a new periodical 
for the young at this day requires a greater ex- 
penditure of money, time, wisdom, and energy 
than can easily be commanded. Popular Sci- 
ence News generously filled free of cost unex- 
pired A. A. subscriptions to Santa Claus in all 
cases where the Santa Claus subscriber was uot 
already a reader of this paper. On many accounts 
we are sorry to lose our department in Santa 
Claus, but there are advantages in having all our 
interests united in one journal, especially when 
that one is so well conducted, so long established, 
and of so low a price as Popular Science X'ews.- 
which now becomes our "official organ." 
In this connectiou we must notice a curious 
inquiry just now received regarding the Stoisn 
Cross. The curious part of tlie question is that it 
relates to "the Swiss Cross before that was merged 
in Science." We do not understand that. Tlu' 
Swiss Cross was never merged in Science. Science 
has not now, and never had, the remotest connec- 
tion with the Agassiz Association. The Swiss 
Cross was merged in Santa Claus, and, since Santa 
Claus is dead, it now reappears as "The Out-Door 
World " in this A. A. departmeut of the Popular 
Science News. 
By the way, there are only half a dozen com- 
plete flies of the Swiss Cross reuiaiuing, and these 
will soon be gone. They will be sent to any 
address, express paid, for five dollars a set. 
