APRIL 19, 1901.] 
fulfilled that function, remaining as associate 
editor. 
In a reprint of articles on early American 
ballads, contained in Nos. 47 and 49 of the 
same Journal, Mr. W. W. Newell traces the 
history of certain ballads produced in Massa- 
chusetts. One of these, called ‘Isaac Orcutt,’ 
and belonging to the end of the eighteenth 
century, recited the manner in which that 
youth met his death from a falling tree; the 
piece was sung as a dirge at the funeral, being 
chanted by six young women dressed in white. 
Similar was the origin of ‘Springfield Moun- 
tain,’ produced in 1761, in memory of the son 
of a Lieutenant Merrick, of Wilbraham. The 
ballad attained extraordinary popularity in the 
United States, being sung with numerous vari- 
ations ; it abdicated its local character, took on 
a love situation, and survives as a comic song. 
These examples are the more curious inasmuch 
as the custom of chanting dirges over the dead 
seems not to be recorded in English folk-lore. 
The Popular Science Monthly for April opens 
with a sketch of the work of ‘ Malpighi, Swam- 
merdam, and Leeuwenhoek,’ by William A. 
Locy. Paul H. Hanus discusses ‘Two Con- 
temporary Problems in Education,’ What shall 
we do about the elective system of studies and 
how shall we bridge the gap between the high 
school and the lower grade? Incidentally Pro- 
fessor Hanus advocates studying some modern 
language for two or three years before com- 
mencing Latin. Havelock Ellis continues ‘A 
Study of British Genius,’ this instalment be- 
ing devoted to heredity and parentage, and the 
favorite topic of ‘Suicide and the Weather,’ is 
treated in some detail by Edwin G. Dexter. 
Charles H. Cochrane gives a résumé of ‘ Recent 
Progress in Aérial Navigation,’ and ‘ The For- 
eign Trade of the United States,’ is treated 
at some length by Frederic Emory, who, while 
noting its recent great- increase, calls attention 
to the fact that in the near future we may be 
obliged to struggle to retain it. Finally Solon 
I. Bailey tells of ‘The Planet Eros,’ which for 
various reasons, among them its importance for 
determining the solar parallax, is for the mo- 
ment of more interest to the astronomical 
world than the greatest planet. The var- 
SCIENCE. 
623 
ious departments contain articles of interest 
and the number contains the index for Vol. 
LVIII. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
SECTION OF BIOLOGY OF THE NEW YORK 
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
AT a regular meeting of the section held on 
March 11, 1901, the following program was 
offered : 
H. F. Osborn : ‘Systematic Revision of the Amer- 
ican Eocene Primates and of the Rodent Family 
Mixodectidex.’ 
O. P. Hay : ‘ The Composition of the Shell of Tur- 
tles.’ 
_ M. A. Bigelow : ‘Some Comparisons of the Germ- 
Layers in Entomostraca Crustacea.’ 
Professor Osborn stated that the only fossil 
primates at present known are those in the 
Eocene. The supposed Oligocene genera de- 
scribed by Marsh and Cope have proved to be- 
long to the Artiodactyla. Associated through- 
out with the discovery and literature of the 
primates is the family Mixodectide, including 
Mizxodectes of the basal Eocene or Torrejon . 
beds; Mathews has suggested that this animal 
is a rodent. Careful comparison of this type 
with the supposed primates Cynodontomys of the 
middle Eocene and Microcyops of the upper 
Eocene proves that these animals also belong 
probably with the rodentia; they represent a 
primitive stock with strong affinities to the 
Tillodontia, which are thus brought nearer to 
the ancestral rodents. This conclusion removes - 
all these animals from the primates where they 
have hitherto been placed. This leaves three 
families of monkeys, as follows: Hypsodontide, 
including Hypsodus and Sarcolemur, animals of 
medium size, retaining the typical series of 44 
teeth ; asecond family, the Notharctide, includ- 
ing Pelycodus and Notharctus, animals of larger 
size, with teeth reduced to 40 by the loss of 4 
incisors, and like the foregoing comprising long- 
jawed types; and a third family, the famous 
Anaptomorphidze of Cope, short-jawed, very 
progressive types, with 36 to 32 teeth, the pre- 
molar series being reduced. The identification 
of these families with the Hocene Adapidis or 
with Necrolemur of Europe is not sustained. 
The Hypsodontide and Notharctide are well 
