March 9, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



155 



Messrs. Ward & Howell. 4°. Collection of animals 

 especially illustrative of geology. 5°. Large slabs of 

 Laurentian limestone, with Eozoon canadense. 



The whole of these are labelled ' Logan memorial 

 collection,' and a large commemorative inscription is 

 attached to the support of the skeleton of Megathe- 

 rium. 



Carpenter collection of Mollusca. — This magnifi- 

 cent collection now appears with all the advantages 

 of ample space and light; the four table cases oc- 

 cupied in the old museum having been increased to 

 eight, with upright cases for the larger specimens and 

 alcoholic preparations. In the process of removal, 

 the arrangement has been carried out in tlie manner 

 originally contemplated by Dr. Carpenter; and all the 

 tablets have been carefully gone over by Mr. Curry, 

 and cleaned, and loose specimens re-cemented; while 

 additional species have been mounted or removed 

 from the drawers to the glass eases, so as to render 

 the exhibited collection more complete. The collec- 

 tion is now in excellent condition, and thoroughly 

 available for scientific use, and, it is hoped, is so pro- 

 tected that it will remain free from dust or other 

 injury for an indefinite period. 



Collections of Principal Dawson. — These include: 

 1°. Specimens of Eozoon canadense and illustrative 

 forms, as Stromatopora, etc. 2°. Cambrian fossils 

 from New Brunswick, etc. 3°. Upper Silurian fossils 

 from Nova Scotia, Gasp^, etc. 4°. Devonian plants 

 and fishes from Gasp^, New Brunswick, Maine, etc. 

 .5°. Carboniferous reptiles, fishes, insects, millipedes, 

 crustaceans, shells, etc., mostly from Nova Scotia. 

 6°. Carboniferous plants, principally from Nova Sco- 

 tia and New Brunswick. 7°. Post-pliocene fossils of 

 Canada, with additional specimens from the United 

 States and Europe. 8°. Recent shells dredged in the 

 Gulf and Kiver St. Lawrence, illustrating the mod- 

 ern fauna and the post-pliocene fossils. Also collec- 

 tions of Canadian crustaceans, hydroids, bryozoons, 

 sponges, etc. 0°. Miscellaneous collections of Cana- 

 dian and foi-eign fossils, rocks, etc. 



The whole of these specimens are disposed in their 

 places in the general collection, with the exception of 

 the fossil plants and recent shells, which are in sep- 

 arate cases. They include the greater part of the 

 types of the species described or catalogued by Dr. 

 Dawson, and many of the specimens are unique. 



Ulinois state laboratory of natural history, Normal. 

 Distribution of school collections. — This institu- 

 tion, which seems to be unique in some of its charac- 

 ters, makes regular provision for the supply of small 

 synoptical collections in zoology to the public high 

 schools of the state. A distribution recently closed 

 includes 10,170 specimens of pinned insects, repre- 

 senting 529 species, belonging to all the orders except 

 Diptera; 2,350 alcoholic specimens of Illinois fishes, 

 belonging to 71 species; and 890 echinoderms, coe- 

 lenterates, and other aquatic invertebrates in alcohol. 

 Similar collections were issued two years ago, the 

 present distribution completing the supply of all the 

 public high schools of Illinois in which zoology is 

 taught as a regular study of the course. It is inter- 

 esting to note that the number of high schools in 

 which this subject is systematically studied is be- 

 tween seventy and eighty. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 — The treasurer of the Balfour memorial fund ac- 

 knowledges the following subscriptions: Thomas J. 

 Clarke, New York, $2; Henry Sewall, Univ. Michi- 



gan $15, ; C. V. Riley, Agric. Dept., Washington, $5; 

 C. E. Hanaman, New York, $25; Dental classes 1883 

 and 1884, Univ. Michigan, $fi; O. C. Marsh, New 

 Haven, $25; Alex. Agassiz, Cambridge, $50; Henry 

 Holt, New York, $10; previously acknowledged, 

 $247. 



— Peter Merian died last month at Basel, his native 

 town, at the age of eighty-seven, having been born in 

 1795. After studying at Paris from 1817 to 1819 under 

 Cuvier, Brongniart, and Geoffroy St. Hilaire, Merian 

 returned to Basel, and began at once the study of the 

 geology of the Swiss Jura, and the formation of one 

 of the best collections of fossils now in existence. 

 Attached to the university of his native place as pro- 

 fessor of physics and chemistry, then as rector, and 

 finally as professor of geology, he devoted nearly all 

 his time to the development and progress of the 

 museum of natural history, which is mainly his 

 work. There he first classified the large and impor- 

 tant family of Ammonites, separating them into 

 groups according to their external forms. During a 

 visit from Leopold von Buch (the great Prussian 

 paleontologist and geologist, engaged then on his 

 monograph of the Ammonitidae), this savant was 

 not a little impressed to find that Merian had antici- 

 pated his classification in all the main points. From 

 that time a most intimate friendship existed between 

 the two men until the death of von Buch in 1853. 

 By its central position in western Europe, Basel was 

 a place of necessary detention for all travellers, espe- 

 cially before the construction of railways; and few 

 travelling geologists have passed through it without 

 visiting the museum of Peter Merian. Rarely absent, 

 very hospitable, having inherited a large estate, he 

 gladly received at his table in town or at his country- 

 place all who called on him. Scientific men certainly 

 are not always rich, nor always most particular in 

 their dress or manners; yet all, rich or poor, well or 

 shabbily clothed, were received with equal cordiality. 

 His wife, however, somehow came to the conclusion 

 that all scientific men were a ragged or extraordinary 

 set, even the rich ; ?uch, for instance, as Leopold von 

 Buch, always so odd, the absent-minded Charles 

 Lyell, the original Ami Bou6, or the stiff and formal 

 Elie de Beaumont. One day, in 1846, a young geol- 

 ogist presented himself at the museum, taking notes 

 of all the fossils. Merian, struck by the application 

 and good air of the foreigner, asked him to dine with 

 him; "because," said he, " Madame Merian is always 

 reproaching me for bringing home the most indeco- 

 rous and rough-looking set of fellows ; and I shall be 

 glad to show her one man at least on whom she will 

 look without contempt." 



Merian never published much; but all his memoirs 

 are very suggestive and important. The first was 

 on the Jurassic formation in the canton Basel. It 

 appeared as long ago as 1821, and was completed in 

 1826 by a new survey of the cantons of Basel and 



