JuL-s 2a, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



75 



pass tlirough the Straits of Magellan, and for 

 nearly four months subsequent to November 

 28, 1520, sailed over what seemed to him the 

 quiet waters of an unknown ocean, which he 

 accordingly named the Mer Pacifico. The 

 Hawaiian Islands were, however, not dis- 

 covered until 1778, by the world navigator. 

 Captain Cook, who landed on Kauai. In the 

 spring of 1820 a small sailing ship landed a 

 Tmmber of New England missionaries in 

 Hawaii, and from that time began the mod- 

 ernization of human culture on the eight in- 

 habited islands of the group. Thus arose the 

 dominancy of the United States in these 

 islands, which were formally annexed in 1898 

 and constituted the territory of Hawaii in 

 1900. 



Mr. Charles Eeed Bishop, of New York, 

 married Princess Bernice Paualii, the great 

 grand-daughter of the Moi of Hawaii at the 

 time of Cook's visit. She died in 1884, leav- 

 ing her estate to establish " schools for the 

 youth of her race"; she is often referred to 

 as the " mother of Hawaiian industrial edu- 

 cation." In 1889 Mr. Bishop founded in her 

 memory the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, 

 and the following year Dr. William T. Brig- 

 ham was chosen as its curator, becoming 

 director six years later. The government of 

 the museum is in the hands of a board of 

 seven trustees. The original museum was a 

 small stone building, but two large additions 

 have been made and now it is the leading 

 storehouse of information relating to things 

 Pacific, and more especially to the ethnology 

 of the Polynesian people. The Hawaiian 

 Hall opened in 1903 is tmique among mu- 

 seums. This privately endowed institution 

 has made good use of the capital left it. Di- 

 rector Brigham having twice visited the mu- 

 seums of the world in his endeavor to find 

 the best methods of caring for the collections 

 in his charge. Mr. Bishop died in 1915, in 

 his ninetieth year, and Dr. Brigham became 

 director emeritus in 1917. At this time the 

 staff consisted of five curators and eight 

 assistants. 



In 1898, the Bishop Museum began the 

 publication of two serials, the smaller Oc- 



casional Papers, of which there are now six 

 volumes, and the quarto Memoirs, now in the 

 seventh volume. In looking through these 

 publications, one is impressed by the high 

 scientific character of the studies and the 

 splendid dress of the memoirs. The credit 

 is all the greater, since the publications are 

 not only written by the staff of the museum, 

 but printed by its own presses. The results 

 naturally bulk largest in ethnology, since this 

 was the primary wish of Mr. Bishop. More- 

 over, the Hawaiian people are no longer living 

 in their original culture, Christianity and the 

 ways of the white man having completely 

 changed their modes of life. The volmnes 

 by Dr. Brigham treating of the wonderful 

 feather work done by the Hawaiians, the 

 making of bark cloth, mat and basket weav- 

 ing, the houses of the natives, their wood 

 carvings and stone implements, are a revela- 

 tion of the skill of this primitive folk. The 

 director has also interested himself in differ- 

 ent lines of study, as is apparent from the 

 titles of others of his works which are of 

 great value: "Index to the Islands of the 

 Pacific," " The Volcanoes of Kilauea and 

 Mauna Loa " — and some of the volcanoes of 

 Hawaii rise to nearly 14,000 feet above sea 

 level — and " A Journey around the World to 

 Study Matters relating to Museums." There 

 is no more interesting account of the world's 

 natural history museums than this one pub- 

 lished by Dr. Brigham in 1913. 



Most interesting are the three quarto 

 voltunes on Hawaiian antiquities and folk- 

 lore, gathered and written in the native lan- 

 guage by Abraham Fornander and translated 

 into English by Thomas G. Thrum. Another 

 native manuscript on Hawaiian antiquities 

 by David Malo is translated by N. B. 

 Emerson. 



A large monograph of the flowering plants 

 of the family Lobelioidese by Joseph F. Rock 

 is a thorough piece of work, while Charles N. 

 Forbes describes in the Occasional Papers 

 many new species of indigenous plants. 



The volumes also include a " Key to the Birds 

 of the Hawaiian Group," by W. A. Bryan, and 

 many smaller papers on birds by the same 



