444 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 666 



or old books"; but they must wonder what 

 society is charged with the duty of "encoura- 

 ging " publishers to keep other books up to 

 date. Should we not have, a society expressly 

 devoted to the stimulation of lazy authors and 

 especially publishers? Any readers of the 

 weekly lists of new books and new editions 

 will readily see that the easy-going New York 

 publishers need to be reminded that they mtist 

 keep their books "up to date in all scientific 

 and pedagogical points." Those of us who are 

 interested in physiology and hygiene for 

 schools are so altruistic that we want some- 

 body to "encourage" the authors and pub- 

 lishers to keep other kinds of books up to 

 date. 



3. The note of approval by "some well- 

 known specialist in physiology and some well- 

 known educator" is a vast improvement over 

 the former " endorsement " by a committee 

 among whose members there were no well- 

 known specialists in physiology or education. 

 At first the change looks hopeful, for many 

 books published with the old endorsement 

 would never be approved by any well-known 

 specialist in physiology who was also an ex- 

 pert in public school education. But any 

 hopes of a new order of things which may be 

 raised by paragraph 3 in the letter above are 

 dissipated by the next paragraph, in which 

 publishers are definitely informed that "any 

 scientists or educators acceptable to Mrs. 

 Davis and her counsellors " may be considered 

 " well-known specialists in physiology " com- 

 petent to write an approving preface for new 

 text-books. This may work satisfactorily in 

 practise; but before becoming too optimistic 

 we want to see the list of specialists who 

 might be " acceptable " to Mrs. Davis. How 

 many members of the American Society of 

 Physiologists, the American Society of Zo- 

 ologists, and the American Society of Natural- 

 ists will be on the " acceptable " list, unless 

 they first pledge themselves to views also 

 " acceptable " ? Will members of these socie- 

 ties be able without special instructions to 

 judge concerning the " high and satisfactory 

 standard " so that publishers may be sure of 

 avoiding the financial loss and prestige which 

 will follow " public disapproval " ? It seems 



clear that publishers must make some careful 

 diplomatic moves before they venture to print 

 a manuscript under the advice of " well- 

 known specialists in physiology." They may 

 save themselves a lot of trouble by first getting 

 a list of the " acceptable " men of science of 

 the first rank. It can not be long enough to 

 be cumbersome for office use. 



The letter above is worth reading carefully. 

 It indicates that the old order of things in 

 " temperance physiology " still attempts to 

 continue. Probably most readers of this 

 journal believe in " presentation of the un- 

 biased truth " concerning alcohol and nar- 

 cotics and as teachers would insist upon hav- 

 ing books which tell the essential truth so 

 far as it has been demonstrated; but few in- 

 deed must be the readers who do not recognize 

 the brazen effrontery of the letter above. Be- 

 tween the lines it reads that our well-known 

 specialists in physiology and our educators 

 are such incompetents that their books and 

 even their written approval of books by oth- 

 ers must not be published before they have 

 been adjudged sane, satisfactory and accept- 

 able. Truly this is an interesting footnote 

 to the most astounding chapter in the history 

 of American education. 



M. A. BiGELOW 

 Teachers Coldege, 

 Columbia Univeksitt 



ti-ie types or the north american genera 



OF birds' 



Much of the chaos in generic nomenclature 

 which has become intolerable to the systema- 

 tist of to-day has been brought about by the 

 failure of many writers to explain by what 

 process they have determined the types of old 

 polytypic genera. Had they been more ex- 

 plicit upon this subject we should have been 

 able long ago to see the weaknesses in our 

 codes and should have abandoned methods 

 which were neither definite nor final in their 

 operations. 



The recent paper by Dr. J. A. Allen on the 

 " Types of the North American Genera of 



' Bulletin American Museum Natural History, 

 Vol. XXIII., Article XVI., pp. 279-384, April, 

 1907. 



