178 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. No. 554. 



there Megacerops,' by E. S. Lull, accompanied 

 by an illustration which differs from others 

 previously made in showing the animal with 

 a short, double na^al horn. This, it is argued, 

 was, like that of the rhinoceros, composed of 

 agglutinated hairs. We have another of the 

 ' Synopses of North American Invertebrates,' 

 this, No. XXI., by W. R. Coe, being devoted 

 to the Nemerteans, part I. W. B. Davis gives 

 the sixth paper on ' Studies of the Plant Cell/ 

 and the balance of the number is devoted to 

 reviews and correspondence. 



The American Museum Journal for July is 

 termed the Reptile Number, the major part 

 of its contents consisting of a synopsis of 

 ' The Reptiles of the Vicinity of New York 

 City,' by Raymond L. Ditmars, accompanied 

 by a key and numerous excellent illustrations. 

 The article is issued separately as Guide 

 Leaflet No. 19. 



The Zoological Society Bulletin for July is 

 as good as its predecessors. C. William Beebe 

 describes ' The New Bird House ' at length, 

 giving a number of fine illustrations of the 

 building and its contents. There is an excel- 

 lent article on ' Labeling Live Animals ' with 

 samples of the labels used at the New York 

 Zoological Park, one on ' Tree Planting at the 

 Zoological Park ' and another on ' Our Series 

 of Batrachians.' The illustrations are par- 

 ticiilarly good. 



The Museums Journal of Great Britain for 

 July completes the fourth volume of this val- 

 uable publication and includes the index. Its 

 leading articles are ' The New Local Museum 

 in Bad Bielohrad, near Jitschin, Bohemia,' by 

 Anton Fritsch, and ' A System for the Regis- 

 tration of the Contents of Museums,' by L. 

 Wray, of the Perak Museum. The interest 

 and value of the Journal, however, lie largely 

 in its numerous brief notes relating to many 

 museums. 



DTl^CUSSION AND GORRESPONDEyCE. 

 THE NEEDS OF SCIENTIFIC MEN. 



Much has been said recently about the de- 

 sirability of offering ' brilliant prizes ' to men 



who ' succeed ' in science. In Science of 

 July 7, p. 27, are some fresh remarks on this 

 subject, from the address of President Roose- 

 velt to the alumni of Harvard. The time has 

 come when the worm, with the kind permis- 

 sion of the editor, desires to turn. 



I write as an ordinary working naturalist, 

 and on behalf of my kind. We neither ex- 

 pect scintillating ' success,' nor do we look 

 forward to any prizes in the way of highly- 

 paid positions. Our needs are mainly two: 

 (1) adequate time for work and (2) a living 

 w^age. These are exactly the things we can 

 not have, in the present state of this country. 

 It is only necessary to make a few inquiries 

 among scientific workers, to find out that very 

 few, even among the most distinguished, can- 

 pursue their studies unhindered. A very short 

 time ago I had a conversation with one of the 

 most able naturalists America has ever pro- 

 duced, holding an apparently excellent posi- 

 tion, and he explained to me how he was ob- 

 liged to spend a large part of his time in 

 routine work, because of the lack of adequate 

 assistance. A day or two later I talked to a 

 man who has a most intimate knowledge of a 

 certain group of animals, and has discovered 

 many new facts; but few of his discoveries 

 will ever be put in print, because of the inces- 

 sant pressure of other duties. These men are 

 not part of the ' great unemployed ' ; they hold 

 positions most people would envy; and, more- 

 over, they are excellent samples of all the rest. 



The difficulty is intimately connected with 

 the other one, that of the living wage. There 

 is no living wage for research; research in 

 pure science is at present a parasitic industry, 

 to borrow a term from the economists. Both 

 of the men I have just referred to get their 

 salaries for doing economic work, and what- 

 ever they do in pure science is supported and 

 made possible by the other. A still larger 

 body of researchers lives upon the proceeds of 

 teaching, while those who actually get a living 

 hy research are very, very few. The experi- 

 ment stations, even, do not disobey the general 

 rule, for the demand for immediate results of 

 economic value is such that the workers are 

 almost obliged, in the majority of cases, to 

 desist from work of a broad and fundamental 



