Mabch 30, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



213 



professors and specialists have been imported 

 from abroad, tliough not to the extent that 

 ■would have been expedient for some of the new 

 departments and for work new in the couutrj' ; 

 a geological surve}' was organized, though, be- 

 ing somewhat in advance of its time, it was, 

 from a spirit of short-sighted economj', sus- 

 pended after two j-ears of eiHcient work ; the 

 practice of attaching naturalists to engineering- 

 explorations has been adopted ; and in many 

 other waj-s scientific research is being promoted. 



At present the national museum and obser- 

 vatory in Eio, and the school of mines at Onro 

 Preto, are the principal centres of scientific 

 activit}-. The latter, being a comparatively 

 new establishment, remote from the central- 

 izing tendencies of the capital, organized on 

 European models, and controlled hy an able 

 corps of French specialists, has escaped manj' 

 of the vices of organization of the older in- 

 stitutions. The two former, although badlj' 

 handicapped 'by lack of means and defective 

 organization, have outstripped the other in- 

 stitutions that ought naturally to be important 

 scientific centres, because in them the reform 

 was more radical and complete, and, the work- 

 ing-corps being small and for the most part 

 new, the chances of filling the places with 

 competent specialists have been far greater 

 than in the medical schools of Rio and Bahia, 

 the polytechnic school and the Dom Pedro 

 Segundo college at Rio. In these a greater 

 number of the defects of the old organization 

 are still retained, and some of the new features 

 are of doubtful utility, while the whole organi- 

 zation is still too cumbersome and centralized 

 for efficient special work in imy department. 

 The system of filling the professorships by 

 competitive examination, as it has been con- 

 ducted, too often gives the show}' qualities of 

 rhetoric and smartness the preference o-s'er 

 solid merit as proved bj- original research ; and 

 the most competent often refuse to enter, or, if 

 thej' do enter, are beaten in a competition in 

 which a majority of the examining board has 

 only very superficial knowledge of the subject 

 of the chair to be filled. 



The national observatory, now under the 

 du'ection of Dr. L. Cruls, has of late j'ears 

 been completing its equipment, and has recentlj^ 

 commenced the publication in French of a 

 series of annals. Aside from its regular work, 

 it organized four parties for the observation of 

 the passage of Venus, two of which were out- 

 side of the limits of the empire. Astronomi- 

 cal work is also being carried on in a small 

 private observatory by Dr. Pereira Reis, the 

 former vice-director of the national observa- 



tor}', and by some of his colleagues of the 

 polytechnic school. The organi-zation and 

 equipment of this observatory by private in- 

 dividuals, assisted by voluntarj' contributions, 

 is one of the most hopeful signs of the new 

 scientific movement. 



The national museum commenced in 1876 

 the publication of its Archives, of which six 

 volumes have already appeared, containing 

 papers prepared in connection with the mu- 

 seum or with the extinct geological commis- 

 sion, the material of which is now incorporated 

 with the museum. Among these papers, those 

 of the late Professor Hartt on the arche- 

 ology and ethnology of the Amazonas, of 

 Drs. Lacerda and Peixoto on Indian crania, 

 of Dr. Ladislau Netto and Ferreira Penna on 

 Brazilian archeology, of Professor Derby on 

 geology, of Dr. Lacerda on the physiological 

 action of snake-poisons, and of Fritz Miiller 

 on insects and crustaceans, are worthy of 

 special mention. A splendid monograph on 

 the cretaceous invertebrate fossils, numbering 

 over two hundred species, mostly iiew, col- 

 lected by the geological commission, is now 

 being prepared for the Archivos by Dr. C. A. 

 White of the National museum of Washington, 

 and will probably be followed hy monographs 

 on the equally rich carboniferous and Devonian 

 faunas by Messrs. Dcrly and Eathbun, former 

 members of the geological commission. The 

 museum is at present devotiug special atten- 

 tion to anthropological researches ; to which 

 the director. Dr. Ladislau Netto, is giving a 

 large portion of his time, and lately' held a 

 very creditable exposition in this branch, by 

 means of which considerable pubhc interest 

 was aroused, and large additions to the collec- 

 tions secured. The botanical work of the 

 museum is under the direction of Dr. Nicolau 

 Moreira, assisted by Mr. Schwache, an able 

 German botanist. In the geological depart- 

 ment Messrs. Derb}- and Freitas are chiefly 

 occupied in the study, and preparation for 

 publication, of the rich material accumulated 

 hy the geological commission, and, as far as 

 circumstances will permit, in the prosecution 

 of the geological study of the empire. The 

 geological reconnoissauce of the great Sao 

 Francisco valley, and of the auriferous, and 

 diamantiferous belt of central Minas Geraes, 

 by Professor Derby, is the most important of 

 recent work done in this department. Under 

 the direction of Dr. Couty of the polytechnic 

 school, and Dr. Lacerda of the museum, a 

 laboratorj' of experimental physiology was 

 established some three years ago, annexed to 

 the museum. In this, carefully conducted in- 



