834 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 676 



of the article' on a " Census of Four Square 

 Feet," the writer desires to state that he had 

 hoped to anticipate such criticism by the 

 statement in the opening paragraph that the 

 results detailed are not held applicable to any 

 classes of surface other than those examined. 

 The scope of the article was further restricted 

 by noting that all of the material was collected 

 in winter months (November and March), on 

 the surface of the ground and in the ground 

 itself to the depth a bird can scratch. More- 

 over, the limits of the inquiry were again 

 emphasized in nest to the last paragraph, 

 where it is referred to as an investigation of 

 the surface fauna. In view of these facts, my 

 statement that the population of the meadow 

 is much more dense than that of the woods 

 should not have been misinterpreted. By 

 frequent reference to the special character of 

 the investigation it was intended to leave no 

 doubt that a survey was attempted of only 

 the surface life. Hence all of Mr. Banks's 

 comment on the fauna of above-ground 

 growths, while interesting as showing what 

 would be the nature of a census including 

 these objects, has no bearing on the subject 

 in hand. 



Mr. Banks says of meadows and woodlands : 

 "the two regions are so variable that a com- 

 parison from selected spots has little signifi- 

 cance." The use of the term " selected " here 

 is unfair, as it applies only in the sense that 

 necessarily some spot must be chosen (indeed 

 the plot of forest floor was designated by 

 another person), but it is not more unfair 

 than the efforts made to discredit the results 

 of the " census," by instances every one of 

 which in a very special sense is selected. Each 

 instance, moreover, characterizes the summer, 

 not the winter fauna, which alone was studied. 

 For these" reasons the writer fears that Mr. 

 Banks has a mistaken conception of the paper 

 he criticizes. W. L. McAtee 



PROFESSOR ANGELO HEILPRIN AS AH" ARTIST 



To THE Editor of Science: The Pennsyl- 

 vania Academy of the Fine Arts has at present 

 on exhibition eight oil paintings by the late 



^ScnsNCE, N. S., XXVI., pp. 447-449. 



Professor Angelo Heilprin. Their subjects 

 are : The Ash Cloud ; Mont Pele and the Ash 

 Cloud; Looking into the Crater, June 1, 1902; 

 The Tower of Mont Pele ; Mont Pele in erup- 

 tion with a graveyard in the foreground; A 

 View into the Crater; An Eruption; After- 

 glow on the Ash Cloud. 



Scientists undoubtedly know how much good 

 work Heilprin accomplished in exploration, in 

 natural history, in geography and in geology. 

 But few of them realize as yet that Heilprin 

 was a great landscape painter. 



His painting is distinctly art, the art of a 

 painter, not the art of a scientist. His pic- 

 tures are not diagrams, they are not illustra- 

 tions of any science — they are purely color 

 records, memory sketches of phases of nature, 

 which in the case of some of these Mont Pele 

 pictures, he saw at the risk of his life. 



He seems to have had the technique of oil 

 painting at his fingers' ends : his drawing is 

 good: values understood; gradation of light 

 and atmospheric perspective accurate: the 

 quality and handling of the paint masterly. 



These eight pictures, grouped together on 

 one wall, have a jewel-like glow of color. 

 They are all more or less in somber tones, ex- 

 cept the Tower of Mont Pele. Clouds, fire, 

 darkness, smoke, have never been so painted 

 before. And all of these pictures have the 

 first and underlying art requisite — beauty. 



It would be a boon to science and a boon to 

 art, if these pictures could be kept together, 

 and placed either in the American Museum 

 of Natural History or the United States 

 National Museum. Edwin Swift Balch 



Philadelphia, 



November 23, 1907 



BADGES at MEETING OF THE AMERICAN 



association 



To THE Editor of Science: The prospectus 

 for the forthcoming meeting of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science 

 is now out. Will you allow me a few words 

 in Science? 



To me^ and probably likewise to a large 

 part of the attendance, meeting friends and 

 seeing eminent men is very attractive. We 

 gather vei-y largely for this purpose — to see 

 and be seen. At the meetings in Indianapolis 



