250 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 294. 



these, in connection with the Orcutt and 

 La JoUa localities, to quote the comments 

 of Dr. White,* 'seem to represent the 

 fauna of a cretaceous formation, which has 

 not heretofore been recognized,' though 

 Dr. Trask's assignment of his species of 

 ' Plagiostoma' to the Cretaceous should be 

 borne in mind. 



Examples of Radiolites Hamlini have also 

 been met with in the Broadway tunnel exca- 

 vation. These tunnels which are several 

 blocks apart, run in dififerent directions ; 

 that on the line of Third street being an 

 east-and-west tunnel, while the Broadway, 

 follows a northerly and southerly course ; 

 both penetrate the high ridge overlooking 

 the city, known as Fort Hill, the site of the 

 earthworks thrown up by Fremont at the 

 time of the ' conquest ' of Southern Cali- 

 fornia. 



The clays excavated on Shatto Heights 

 in the preparation of a site for the Shatto 

 mansion on Orange street are perhaps of a 

 later age than those of the tunnels. The 

 Shatto clays contained shells and sharks' 

 teeth ; the former were not saved by Mr. 

 Shatto, and were covered up by the graders 

 just before my visit in 18S7. 



Eob't E. C Steaens. 



Los Angeles, June 12, 1900. 



THE BOYAL COLLEGE OF SUMGEONS.j 

 This year marks the completion of a cen- 

 tury since the Eoyal College of Surgeons 

 received its Eoyal charter of incorporation 

 from George III.; and the centenary of 

 that event, which, to be precise, happened 

 March 22, 1800, has just been celebrated. 

 But, though the present corporation can 

 only claim a lifetime of 100 years, it can 

 count its descent in a direct line back to a 

 much more remote antiquity, for a Guild 

 of Surgeons, whether technically incorpor- 



*Vide Bulletins 15 and 18, U. S. Geological 

 Survey. 



t From the London Times. 



ated or not, seems to have been in existence 

 in London more than six centuries ago, and 

 to have existed ever since in one form or 

 another. In 136S mention occurs of the 

 surgeons as a distinct body ; and the license 

 without which they could not, apparently, 

 pi'actice in the City of London enjoins upon 

 them, among other things, that they serve 

 the people well and truly in their cures and 

 only charge reasonable fees. The associa- 

 tion of barbers and surgeons also dates from 

 the same early times, and seems to have 

 been a result of ecclesiastical influence. It 

 would naturally be supposed that the 

 Church would be the repository of the sur- 

 gical knowledge of the day, just as it was 

 of other science and art, and such indeed 

 appears to have been the case until Inno- 

 cent III. forbade priests to perform surgical 

 operations, on the ground that the Church 

 ' abhoret a sanguine.' But the prohibition 

 was not sufficient to make them give up 

 all attempts to control surgical practice, 

 and when they were shut off from em- 

 ploying direct methods they had recourse 

 to indirect ones. They began to ' push ' the 

 barbers — a class of men of whose services 

 they had, of course, constant need, and who 

 were in the habit of performing minor 

 surgical operations — and gradually erected 

 them into a fellowship of barber-surgeons, 

 a Barbers' Guild being referred to as early 

 as 1308 in the records of the City of Lon- 

 don. As may easily be imagined, the cry 

 of unqualified practitioners soon made itself 

 heard, and various regulations were asked 

 for to prevent unskilful persons from prac- 

 ticing the art both by the surgeons and by 

 the better sort of barber-surgeons, who evi- 

 dently became differentiated from the others 

 who were barbers pure and simple. 



Among the most important events in the 

 history of this Guild of Surgeons were its 

 combination with the physicians and the 

 incorporation, about 1423, of the two into 

 one distinct body to control all persons en- 



