824 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 595. 



deaths recorded as belonging to London dur- 

 ing the year 1905 numbered 70,442, and were 

 equal to a rate of 15.1 per 1,000 of the esti- 

 mated population ; this is the lowest death rate 

 in London since civil registration was estab- 

 lished. It was 1.0 per 1,000 below the corre- 

 sponding rate in 1904, and no less than 2.7 

 per 1,000 below the corresponding average rate 

 in the ten years 1895-1904. 



TBE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



May 11. — Mr. Smith, of California, intro- 

 duced a bill (H. E. 19,234) for the protection 

 of animals, birds and fish in the forest re- 

 serves of California. Referred to the House 

 Committee on Public Lands. 



Mr. Campbell, of Kansas, from the Com- 

 mittee on the District of Columbia, to which 

 was referred the Bill of the House (H. R. 

 13,193) to prohibit the killing of wild birds 

 and other wild animals in the District of Co- 

 lumbia, reported the same with amendment, 

 accompanied by a report (No. 4,207) ; which 

 were referred to the House Calendar. 



TEE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The most serious loss sustained by science 

 in many years is the destruction of the Cali- 

 fornia Academy of Sciences by the recent 

 earthquake and fire in San Francisco. Two 

 letters recently received from officers of the 

 institution giving interesting details regarding 

 the destruction of the academy are worthy of 

 record as a part of the history of scientific 

 work on the Pacific Coast. In addition to 

 their general interest, they will appeal partic- 

 ularly to those who have enjoyed the hospi- 

 tality of the academy which for years has 

 been the gathering place and headquarters of 

 scientific men visiting the west coast. 



The first is from Mr. Leverett Mills Loomis, 

 director of the academy, to whose initiative, 

 energy and devotion were largely due its in- 

 creasing growth and activity during the last 

 few years, and upon whom now largely de- 

 volves the important duty of reorganizing and 

 placing it on a sound working basis. Mr. 

 Loomis was living within the burned area not 

 far from the academy and in addition to his 



efforts for that institution was obliged to 

 rescue from the advancing flames a helpless 

 invalid father. He writes : 



I got down to the academy about 7 a.m. and 

 found the bridge connecting the two buildings 

 gone and the museum stairs badly wrecked. I 

 managed to climb up to the top floor and got all 

 the records together, and began to get them down 

 when Miss Hyde [the librarian] came to my aid. 

 Together we saved all the records. Miss Hyde 

 also saved the MS. of Mr. Hittell's history of 

 the academy. Later Dr. Van Denburg [curator of 

 reptiles] came and got out most of the reptile 

 types. Then Miss Eastwood came with a friend 

 and saved the greater part of the plant types. 

 Miss Hyde also saved most of the insect types. 

 Meanwhile the fires started by the earthquake 

 were closing in on the academy. The pioneer 

 building and the Emporium [both buildings joined 

 the academy] were burning when I paid my visit 

 to the Department of Ornithology. As a starter 

 for the bird collection, I secured the type of 

 Oceanodroma macrodactyla, and as the beginning 

 of the bird library I took Des Murs' Iconographie. 

 As I wanted to be the first donor to the academy's 

 ornithological library, I put Brown's illustrations 

 under my arm as I passed the store room where 

 my books were kept. So you see we had made a 

 beginning before the end had come. The work 

 accomplished by the Galapagos expedition has ex- 

 ceeded our most sanguine expectations. Among 

 the treasures are a series of Darwin's rail and 

 tortoises from islands where they were supposed 

 to be extinct. The Galapagos collections will 

 form a foundation of our new museum of the 

 greater academy. Our plan of action is fully 

 worked out. The library is the hardest thing to 

 replace; the books will come slowly, but they 

 will come. Have found good quarters and am 

 now pushing the reorganization. 



The other letter is dated Berkeley, Cali- 

 fornia, May 1, 1906, and is from Miss Alice 

 Eastwood, curator of botany of the academy. 

 Miss Eastwood has been in charge of the 

 academy herbarium for the last twelve years. 

 Her devotion to the work has been shown in 

 many ways, even to the extent of using a large 

 part of her salary as curator in the employ- 

 ment of assistants. The collection contained 

 a considerable number of plant types and 

 during the past year Miss Eastwood had been 

 segregating them from the general collection 



