604 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 407. 



labor and effort, amassed collections which 

 are determined with absolute scientific cor- 

 rectness, and which contain the 'types' 

 upon which he has founded his published 

 descriptions, these collections become at 

 once classic as a court of last appeal in all 

 cases of doubt. The retention of such col- 

 lections, especially when they relate to the 

 mineralogy, botany and zoology of a 

 country, within easy access of the students 

 of that country, is a matter of incalculable 

 importance. American science has suffered 

 severely in past years because of the fail- 

 ure of American institutions, often because 

 of lack of money, to keep within the limits 

 of the United States scientific collections, 

 reference to which on the part of the stu- 

 dent is necessary. The most eminent stu- 

 dent of certain groups in entomology in this 

 country a number of years ago was Alex- 

 ander R. Grote, to-day connected with the 

 Roemer Museum at Hildesheim. Mr. Grote 

 was the first man who began systematically 

 to study the moths of America and to name 

 and describe them. His 'types' were con- 

 tained in his collection for the most part. 

 Pressed by financial necessities, Mr. Grote 

 sold this collection to the trustees of the 

 British Museum. The consequence of this 

 fact is that to-day pilgrimages are annually 

 performed across the Atlantic Ocean aj 

 considerable expense of time and money 

 by American students in order to consult 

 this classic^ collection. The trustees of the 

 British Museum, I believe, paid something 

 like three thousand dollars for the collec- 

 tion. I am aware that American students 

 of entomology have already spent out of 

 their private purses many times this 

 amount in traveling across the seas to con- 

 sult it. A few years ago the great collec- 

 tion of William H. Edwards was on the 

 point of going in the same way. Personally 

 I determined to save it for the students of 

 America, and I purchased it myself, and 

 it is to-day accessible in the Carnegie Mu- 



seum. One function of the Carnegie In- 

 stitution, it seems to me, might well be to 

 aid the great reference museums of Amer- 

 ica to retain within easy reach of our scien- 

 tific workers collections of this character, 

 the loss of which to the land is practically 

 irreparable. As a rule such collections are 

 not vastly expensive, but their loss to the 

 American student is a positive calamity, 

 and I trust that the trustees of the Car- 

 negie Institution will make it a point to 

 cooperate with the heads of our great 

 museums in preserving for the students of 

 American science the types of all Ameri- 

 can species. Nothing more positively bene- 

 ficial in the direction of the advancement 

 of science could be done than this, as I am 

 sure all botanists and zoologists will agree 

 with me in unanimously declaring. 



Finally, I wish to assert my unqualified 

 subscription to your statement that the 

 Carnegie Institution should do only that 

 which will not conflict with existing insti- 

 tutions, but aid them, and secondly, should 

 aim to improve the condition of men of 

 science, working with them and through 

 them. The only men in this connection 

 whom we have to fear are, I think, the class 

 whom I am pleased to call the 'political 

 scientists,' the men who look upon scien- 

 tific positions as 'jobs.' There are a few 

 such men, to the honor of science be it 

 said not many. 



W. J. Holland. 



Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, 

 September 23, 1902. 



To THE Editok of Science : It may as 

 well be conceded first as last that the Car- 

 negie Institution will have a definite loca- 

 tion. However much any of us might wish 

 to see the experiment made of a great insti- 

 tution managed from an obscure little office 

 on a side street, it is extremely unlikely 

 that any such thing will be done. The 

 Institution must have office and other 



