68 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 993 



EXPEDITION TO THE AMAZON 



To THE Editor of Science: Mr. Algot 

 Lange, of New York, writes from the head- 

 waters of the Cairary and Moju in the Ama- 

 zon region, Brazil, as follows : 



I took my 6-maii canoe above 5 long and dan- 

 gerous rapids at the headwaters of the Moju and 

 Cairary rivers and after 15 days search I got in 

 touch with this virgin tribe. I use the term vir- 

 gin beeause, as I sit here alone (the only non- 

 savage man) among about 50 Indians, I see how 

 absolutely untouched and unspoiled this tribe is. 

 They use stone axes and I am now showing them 

 the use of steel axes. 



Their language is not Tupi. What stock can it 

 be, Arowak or Carib? They are agriculturists 

 and have felled about 30 acres of jungle, with 

 their stone axes — it looks to me as if they must 

 have chewed the trunks. They grow cotton. 



The men go nude absolutely. The women wear 

 a narrow, colored loin-cloth. 



I am received very hospitably. I am here in 

 commission by the government [of Brazil] to look 

 up the indigenous tribes and ascertain their differ- 

 ent social and economic possibilities and their most 

 urgent needs and the best way of entering into 

 friendly relationship. 



Some of the men have almost Hebraic features 

 with brown eyes. They are tall and muscular in 

 build. They have great skill with the bow and 

 arrow, one bow for tapir and jag^iar hunting be- 

 ing eight feet long. 



F. S. Dellenbaugh, 

 Secretary, Explorers Cluh 



November 5, 1913 



QUOTATIONS 



FREE speech and THE FACULTY 



If there is one place that freedom of thought 

 and speecTi should be safeguarded, it is in our 

 college and university faculties. Presumably, 

 no professor is obliged to wear the gag, yet it 

 is worth observing that members of the Politi- 

 cal Science Association have seen fit to ap- 

 point a committee " To examine and report 

 upon the present situation in American insti- 

 tutions as to liberty of thought, freedom of 

 speech and security of tenure for teachers of 

 political science." It may be that this measure 



is preventive rather than remedial. It may 

 be that these instructors in political sciences 

 apprehend pressure by means of the various 

 endowment, retirement and pensioning funds 

 and take this method of safeguard against a 

 possible dilemma arising therefrom. But it is 

 even more probable that the unpleasant experi- 

 ences of certain of their number who have 

 come into collision, by one means or another, 

 with sectarian prejudices, sinister interference 

 or powerful political rings have not been with- 

 out a prompting- effect. With the exception of 

 the state universities, most of our academic 

 institutions are, of course, dependent on the 

 liberality of private donors. It is well known 

 that the terms of these gifts are often embar- 

 rassing — half a million to build a museum for 

 the testator's collection of private hobbies, 

 when the institution needs a dormitory or a 

 library. The diiEculty is that a donor who is 

 placing an institution as deeply under obliga- 

 tion as may be represented by a gift of hun- 

 dreds of thousands would need to be a very 

 extraordinary and superior person not to con- 

 ceive that some sort of deference was due his 

 opinions in return. It speaks well for the 

 grade of men who have thus far endowed our 

 colleges that there has been comparatively 

 little interference with the truths they teach, 

 at least so far as the public has been informed 

 — what private griefs they have we know not. 

 But as lines of political cleavage grow more 

 distinct, as they promise to do, it will become 

 increasingly difficult to maintain this attitude 

 of non-interference, and it may be that this 

 action of the professors of political sciences 

 will yet prove to have been well-timed. 



The episode raises the whole question of 

 intellectual liberty. Each age has thought it 

 won, and each age has seen a new difficulty 

 arise out of the vanquishing of the old. The 

 vmiversities, whatever their faults, have always 

 been sanctuaries for independent minds. Un- 

 less they are so maintained, they will hardly 

 be worth the name. The distinction between 

 liberty and license in the citizen is recognized 

 and enforced. The same principle underlies 

 all academic independence. — Boston Trans- 

 script. 



