yuly 4, 1872] 



NATURE 



" If,'' said he, " I live to the ordinary age, I will gather a 

 nobler collection than we have lost." The Smithsonian 

 Institute, which from the first had been the generous 

 patron of the Academy, was ready to transfer to him 

 duplicates ; the Museum of Comparative Anatomy, at 

 Cambridge, through Ag;issiz, its director, had invited him 

 to go there and select from its ample stores what he 

 desired ; and learned societies at home and abroad, in 

 response to his appeals, were forwarding to his care copies 

 of their Transactions. Under such auspices, the members 

 of the Academy felt that its losses would soon be restored, 

 and that its prestige would be more commanding than 

 ever before. They now feel that in the death of their 

 secretary they sustain a loss which is irreparable. 



Dr. Stimpson had for some years the premonitions of 

 the disease to which he has just succumbed. Two years 

 ago he passed the winter on the Florida coast, making 

 extensive collections of the flora and fauna of that region. 

 The moist, warm breath of the ocean, he thought, invigo- 

 rated him. Last autumn he repaired, in company with 

 Dr. Veille, to the same region, embarking on board one 

 of the Coast Survey steamers to superintend the deep- 

 sea dredgings ; but he had returns of haemorrhage, which 

 so far prostrated him as to defeat his purposes. For 

 seventy days he remained onboard, with nothing but ship 

 fare to eat, at which his stomach revolted. Gaining the 

 land, he was transferred to a hotel, but his physical 

 powers were past the rallying point. Accompanied by 

 Dr. X'eille, he was at length placed on board a steamer, 

 which landed him in Baltimore, from which place, by a 

 short journey in a carriage, he was conveyed to Ilchester, 

 where reside his wife's friends. Here he lingered a few 

 weeks, dictating letters and pencilling short ones to his 

 most intimate friends. And now comes the intelligence 

 that the grave has closed over him, and that in his dying 

 hours his thoughts centred on the Academy. 



Dr. Stimpson had qualities which attracted, by the 

 strongest ties, all w'no had personal relations Avith him. 

 Modest and retiring in his disposition, the casual ac- 

 quaintance little kncu- the vast range and the minute 

 accuracy of his information — information gathered not 

 simply from books, but from personal observation in 

 every quarter of the globe. He has published enough 

 already to create for his name an honourable place in 

 the scientific opinion of the world ; but if the full results 

 of his labours could have been brought out, few scientific 

 men in the country would have occupied a more com- 

 manding position. "T , ./ J. W. F. 



THE CEYLON ELEPHANT AT 

 OXFORD MUSEUM 



THE 



THERE has just arrived at the Oxford Museum the 

 skeleton of a full-grown male Ceylon elephant. 

 During the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh to Ceylon 

 there were two elephant drives, or kraals, held, of which 

 full accounts were given in the daily papers at the time. 

 It may be remembered that at one of these kraals a large 

 male elephant, a rogue, was driven into the terminal 

 enclosure, together with several other smaller wild ele- 

 phants. The rogue charged the tame elephants introduced 

 amongst the wild ones, knocking them over repeatedly, 

 and effectually preventing the process of noosing. It was 

 at length found necessarj' to shoot him, in order that the 

 remainder of the elephants might be secured. 



The Governor of the island, Sir Hercules Robinson, 

 desired that the skeleton of the animal should be 

 preserved, and the Hon. P. C. Layard undertook 

 the task. The elephant was covered slightly with 

 earth, so as to protect the bones from rapacious birds ; 

 and the mound thus formed was fenced round to keep off 

 jackals, (S:c. As soon as the bones were cleaned, they 

 were collected and transported to Colombo. Mr. Layard, 

 with his well-known zeal for the promotion of science, 



took immense pains that the small bones should not be 

 lost, and the skeleton is wonderfully perfect considering 

 the great disadvantages under which it was prepared. 



The bones were presented by Sir Hercules Robinson 

 to the Oxford Museum, and all expenses of preparation 

 and packing were defrayed by the colony. The skeleton 

 was packed in two rum puncheons, under my superinten- 

 dence. In packing heavy bones such as these for a long 

 sea voyage great care must be taken, as, unless they are 

 securely wedged into their places, they will grind against 

 one another and get spoiled. There is nothing better 

 than a cask for packing bones. Straw bands should first 

 be wound round each of the large bones, and, the head 

 having been taken out of the cask, these large bones 

 should be jammed in as closely as possible. The 

 interstices should be filled with smaller bones and straw, 

 which latter should be rammed in tight with sticks. As 

 soon as the cask is quite full the head should be put in, 

 and that end strained up tight with its hoops. The other 

 end of the cask should now be turned uppermost, the 

 hoops knocked off and the bottom taken out. It will be 

 found that a good many more bones may now be intro- 

 duced from this end, which must be rammed quite full 

 like the other. By thus packing a cask from both ends, 

 almost absolute immobility may be secured for the con- 

 tents. The elephant's skeleton is a very fine one, and I 

 believe the only one in England of a wild specimen. The 

 ordinary museum specimens are all from menagerie 

 animals, the muscular ridges and tuberosities of the bones 

 of v.'hich are always badly marked. The elephant had 

 what is called a tush, /. e., a small short tusk on the left 

 side. This tush is in the collection of the Duke of 

 Edinburgh. 



With the elephant arrived a Dugong, also presented to 

 the Oxford Museum by Sir Hercules Ro'oinson. The 

 animal, which is a young one about 5 ft. long, was pro- 

 cured by Mr. Tvvinam, Government Agent at Jaffna. It 

 was filled with salt and packed in charcoal. It has re- 

 mained more than a year thus packed up, and is unfor- 

 tunately in a very pulpy condition, although its external 

 form is remarkably well preserved. Mr. Robertson hopes, 

 with care, to be able to make a skeleton of it. 



A case containing some human skulls, and the skeletons 

 and skulls of various smaller animals collected by me in 

 Ceylon, arrived at the same time ; and a fourth case, con- 

 taining skulls of all the non-European races now inhabit- 

 ing Ceylon, including some of undoubted jungle Weddo, 

 collected by Mr. B. Hartshorne, of Panwila, and late of 

 Pembroke College, Oxford, who has for a long time been 

 investigating the language and habits of this very interest- 

 ing race, and will shortly publish a paper on the subject. 



The shipping arrangements of all the cases except the 

 last, and their transmission through the Custom-house, 

 were carried out by Messrs. Green and Co., of Colombo, 

 who most liberally gave their services free of expense in 

 the cause of science. 



H. N. MOSELEY 



SUPERFLUOUS DEVELOPMENTS AND 

 HE TEROGENESIS 



THE remarkable and suggestive results of experimental 

 research obtained by Prof. Charlton Bastian, to- 

 gether with the no less striking arguments which he has 

 recently put forth in the pages of the Britisli Medical 

 Journal in favour of the doctrine of Evolution, appear 

 calculated to throw light on certain phenomena in Biology 

 which have hitherto received but scant attention. Even 

 if Dr. Bastian's views do not gain general acceptance, so 

 bold an enunciation of them can scarcely fail to be pro- 

 ductive of the very best results, since (as has ever been 

 held by philosophers) truth is only ehcited and advanced 

 by conflict of opinion. 



