DECEMBER 22, 1899. ] 
“©(2) The machine compels the deposit of a perfect 
and accurate ballot, of the form chosen by the voter. 
‘(3) It restricts the voter absolutely to the limits 
of the law and permits him freedom as absolute in 
voting within that limit. 
“*(4) Blank and defective ballots, the usual fault of 
ordinary methods of voting, are entirely done away 
with and no man loses his vote through defect of the 
system, or fault of his own, if he votes at all. The 
disfranchised voter becomes unknown. 
“*(5) Fraudulent voting is impossible as well as 
errors in voting. 
*°(6) The vote cast is registered, vote by vote, 
with absolute accuracy and certainty. 
““(7) The result can be declared immediately upon 
the close of the polls, having been already completely 
counted. 
“‘(8) The cost of the system isso much less than 
that of the old method that the machines usually pay 
for themselves in from three to seven years. 
“The whole case may be summarized in a sen- 
tence: ‘The machines retain all the virtues and 
exclude all the vices of the old methods of balloting.’ 
Their use would be entirely justified, even though 
they involve a more costly, rather than a much Jess 
expensive system. Their adoption is looked upon by 
your committee as promoting good politics, good 
morals and good finance.”’ 
The possible ultimate result of the gen- 
eral introduction of these new methods of 
election upon the freedom of the ballot and 
the honesty and accuracy of the count, and 
upon the future politics and economies of 
the state and nation, no one can probably 
quite realize or predict ; but that this insur- 
ance of a full vote and an honest one will tell 
for good government, and the purification 
of parties and their methods, no one can 
doubt. As the representative of the Patent 
Office said, in his testimony before the Com- 
mittee of Congress regarding the proposed, 
and later-enacted, measure legalizing the 
voting machine in federal elections we can- 
not doubt that “‘ It is the last and best con- 
tribution to the science of good govern- 
ment.” 
Judge Cooley said that, in his opinion 
such a method is a ‘ constitutional right’ of 
évery voter. The most surprising fact is, 
perhaps, that in the case above referred to, 
SCIENCE. 919 
there was but one protest, in the city of 
Ithaca, out of over 2500 voters. Every 
inspector of election signed a certificate to 
the effect that the experiment was abso- 
lutely satisfactory, and the only objections 
heard were from one ‘ party-leader,’ and 
the only adverse interests discovered were 
those affected by the abolition of ballot- 
printing, which is a much larger item of 
cost—at political prices—than is usually 
supposed. Each printed ballot costs from 
four to twenty cents, at the various elec- 
tions, municipal, state and general. 
R. H. THurston. 
IrHACA, December, 1899. 
A COMPLETE MOSASAUR SKELETON, OSSE- 
OUS AND CARTILAGINOUS.* 
In the spring of 1898, Professor 8. W. 
Williston’s fine memoir upon the Kansas 
Mosasaurs seemed to cover the subject 
completely, summing up all the facts de- 
rived from the great Kansas University 
collection, as well as many of the results of 
the labors of Cuvier, Owen, Marsh, Cope, 
Dollo, Baur, and others. But it appears 
impossible to say the last word in paleon- 
tology. Professor Williston himself has re- 
cently described a portion of the nuchal 
fringe of Platecarpus, as well as the epi- 
dermal fin contours. The remarkable 
specimen which has recently been mounted 
in the Marine Reptile Corridor of the 
American Museum throws new and wel- 
come light not only upon Tylosaurus, but 
upon the anatomy of the Mosasaurs in 
general. 
Together with the practically complete 
bony skeleton, are seen cartilages of the 
throat and chest, portions of the larynx, 
trachea, bronchi, the epicoracoids, as well 
as the suprascapule, the sternum and 
sternal ribs. Originally these parts were 
preserved entire, and we must deeply re- 
* Extract from Memoirs of the American Museum 
of Natural History, Vol. I., Part IV. 
