OOTOBBB 30, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



599 



its valuable treasures illustrating the in- 

 dustries and arts of the middle ages. 



The general impression left by the con- 

 gress in regard to the local status of anthro- 

 pological studies in Vienna is encouraging. 

 The valuable material contained in the Im- 

 perial Museum, so far as it is accessible, is 

 well arranged, and a healthy growth of the 

 museum in every direction is apparent. It 

 is particularly worth remarking that the 

 study of the prehistoric remains of Austro- 

 Hungary and that of the folk industries 

 and customs of the empire are closely con- 

 nected, and that both seem to be pursued 

 with wisdom and energy. The wealth of 

 material exhibited in the Museum fiir 

 Volkerkunde is a proof of the interest 

 excited by this subject. As in all ethno- 

 graphical museums of Europe, the room 

 for additional space is keenly felt, and it is 

 understood that a new ethnographical 

 building will be provided in the near 

 future. 



Considering the amount of work done in 

 all these directions, it is surprising that the 

 university has not seen fit yet to establish 

 a chair of ethnology and of physical 

 anthropology. It would seem that in a 

 country like Austria, where the problems 

 arising from the conflicting interests and 

 diversity of characteristics of nationalities 

 are ever present, the need of university 

 instruction in the science of ethnology 

 would early be felt, and it seems difficult to 

 understand, at least from the point of view 

 of American university organization, why, 

 in the largest university of Austria, the 

 whole field of anthropology should still be 

 unrepresented. 



The program of the congress shows that 

 the restriction of its field of work to 

 America hampers its usefulness to a certain 

 extent ; and the question may well be asked, 

 whether the time has not come to expand 

 the program of the Congress of Ameri- 

 canists in such a way as to make it the 



starting-point for an International Ethno- 

 logical Congress. The number of students 

 of America is limited, and many of the 

 problems with which we are dealing can be 

 understood only from a wider ethnological 

 point of view. For this reason the meeting 

 of Americanists conjointly with students of 

 Africa, Polynesia and other countries in- 

 habited by primitive people, and arranged 

 in sections analogous to sections of other 

 large congresses, would seem to become a 

 necessity. 



The next congress will be held in 1910, 

 the centennial of the establishment of the 

 Argentine Eepublic and of Mexico. For 

 this reason the congress has deemed it wise 

 to accept the urgent invitations of these 

 two countries, and to have two meetings in 

 1910— in May, in Buenos Aires; and in 

 September, in Mexico. In order to pre- 

 serve the continuity of organization, 

 Buenos Aires has been selected as the cen- 

 ter of organization of this session. 



Franz Boas 



THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL FISHERY 

 CONGRESS 



The Fourth International Fishery Congress 

 met in Washington on September 22, 1908, in 

 response to an invitation extended by the 

 Bureau of Fisheries on behalf of the United 

 States government; the American Fisheries 

 Society also joined in the invitation. The 

 official auspices under which the meeting was 

 held were further shown by an appropriation 

 made by congress for defraying the legitimate 

 expenses of the gathering. This series of con- 

 gresses was organized and inaugurated at 

 Paris in 1900, the intervening meetings being 

 held in St. Petersburg (1902) and Vierma 

 (1905). 



The foreign delegates gathered at the De- 

 partment of State on the morning of the 

 twenty-second, and were greeted by the acting 

 secretary, Mr. Adee. The opening meeting 

 was held at the hall of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society, Hon. George M. Bowers, U. 

 S. Commissioner of Fisheries, presiding. Ad- 



