590 
of the Geological Magazine, an office which he 
held until his death 
Among his lines of research other than those 
on sponges may be mentioned those on the 
fossil radiolaria from the rocks of Central 
Borneo, on the borings in the Funafuti Atoll, 
on the Cretaceous entomostraca of England 
and Ireland, and on the annelid remains in the 
Silurice of Gotland and in numerous other for- 
mations of the New and Old World. But de- 
spite the value of these investigations, Hinde’s 
name will always be most closely associated 
with the development of the science of palao- 
spongiology. What Zittel did for fossil sponges 
as a group, Rauff for the Paleozoic species of 
the world, Poéta for the Cretaceous sponges of 
Bohemia, Kolb for the Jurassic and Schram- 
men for the Cretaceous of Germany—all this 
Hinde undertook and largely completed for 
paleospongiology in Great Britain. His death 
not only deprives England of an eminent 
paleontologist, but it takes from the science 
of paleospongiology one of its founders—a man 
who for four decades devoted his time to the 
elucidation of the diverse problems connected 
with the anatomy, taxonomy and geologic oc- 
currence of a group of fossils of which prac- 
tically nothing was known fifty years ago. 
Marsorm O’ConneLL 
AMERICAN MusEuM or NaturAL History 
i 
INQUIRY OF THE AMERICAN GEO- 
GRAPHICAL SOCIETY FOR THE 
INFORMATION OF THE PEACE 
COMMISSIONERS 
In September, 1917, as a result of confer- 
ences between Colonel E. M. House and Presi- 
dent Wilson, Colonel House was authorized to 
organize forces to gather and prepare for use 
at the Peace Conference the most complete 
information possible, from the best and latest 
sources, for consideration by the Peace Com- 
missioners. 
The expenses were provided for from the 
special emergency fund placed by Congress at 
the President’s disposal. 
Colonel House held preliminary conferences 
with Dr. S. E. Mezes, president of the College 
SCIENCE 
[N. 8. Vou. XLVIII. No. 1250 
of the City of New York; Professors James T. 
Shotwell, of Columbia University, and Archi- 
bald C. Coolidge, of Harvard University, about 
the broad lines of the work, and its organiza- 
tion, which, after a time, became Inown 
officially as “The Inquiry.” 
It was soon evident that the scope of the 
inquiry would demand not only a personnel 
of size and quality hitherto unknown in any 
such work but headquarters where safety from 
enemy activity of records and secret documents 
could be assured. ‘‘ The Inquiry ” has worked 
in the closest touch with the Military Intelli- 
gence Division. There was also needed an al- 
ready established organization for many kinds 
of research, mapmaking, etc., which could be 
immediately utilized. This problem was finally 
solved when the American Geographical So- 
ciety placed its building, at 156th Street and 
Broadway and a part of its staff, including its 
director, Dr. Isaiah Bowman, at the disposal 
of “ The Inquiry ” without cost. 
The work from that date, November 10, 
1917, got really under way, and has proceeded 
under careful guard night and day. Such 
measures were considered vital, owing to ex- 
periences at other peace conferences, notably 
that after the Franco-Prussian war. It was 
considered necessary, too, to abstain from pub- 
lication of details of the work of “The In- 
quiry ” until its results were safely on ship- 
board. A large part of them are now on the 
way to Europe, and by the time the President, ~ 
the other peace commissioners and their staffs, 
together with the twenty-three members of 
“The Inquiry,” arrive in France, the material 
used will be ready for them. The main body 
of it left the building of the American Geo- 
graphical Society in three army trucks on 
Monday, December 2. Other results of the 
work are already in Paris, where Colonel 
House has been arranging the preliminaries 
of the forthcoming conference. 
Similar inquiries have been in progress 
abroad, notably in France and England. 
There have been frequent conferences for de- 
livery of material and exchange of views, 
marked by a spirit of friendly cooperation 
