178 



SCIENCE 



[X. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 814 



to accept the appointment of clinical professor 

 in Leipsie, as successor of Ourselunann. To 

 understand the sensational effect of this de- 

 cision, one must understand that Striimpell 

 had been won for Vienna only with great 

 difficulty, and that promises had been made to 

 him, which if fulfilled, would have enabled 

 him to develop the third Vienna medical clinic 

 according to his ideas. When he took over 

 this present oifice a year and a half ago, as 

 successor of Schrotter, he was received with 

 the greatest pleasure by the students, who 

 wanted to obtain a first-class teacher. Numer- 

 ous bureaucrats and professors who thought it 

 unnecessary to call another man from Ger- 

 many were less pleased with his appointment. 

 And von Striimpell always found that he was 

 regarded as an outsider by many men. Among 

 the students, however, he was much beloved 

 and respected, and his patients always praised 

 his kind and benevolent manners. Striimpell's 

 idea was to make Vienna a Mecca of first-class 

 clinical teaching. Instead of being assisted 

 in every possible way by the authorities, he 

 has been hampered all along. Naturally, he 

 lost all pleasure and seized the first oppor- 

 tunity to leave'a place where his abilities were 

 not regarded as sufficient to warrant a little 

 disregard of routine and red tape in monetary 

 questions. His loss is another sign that sci- 

 ence can not hope to progress if bureaucracy 

 is prevalent. 



The anatomic institute has been left with- 

 out director by the death of Professor Zucker- 

 kandl, but his successor will be soon appointed. 

 Out of all the men able to fill the post, only 

 three are actually eligible at present. They 

 are Rabl, in Leipsie, Grosser, in Prague, and 

 Tandler, in Vienna. It is the custom in this 

 country, whenever a new medical teaching ap- 

 pointment has to be made, for the senate of 

 the university to call the attention of the 

 ministry of education to at least three men, 

 named in order of preference. Very seldom 

 is one man recommended as the first and only 

 candidate. This has been the case just now, 

 when Professor Tandler has been presented by 

 the senate. He has been for the last four 

 years locum tenens for Zuckerkandl, who was 

 obliged by illness to abstain from all but very 



slight work. Tandler has gained the esteem 

 and the attention of students and scientists 

 alike during the time he has been active in 

 the anatomic department. It is not impos- 

 sible, however, that some outsider will be ap- 

 pointed, for it has happened sometimes that 

 influences more powerful than scientific re- 

 quirements have been able to outweigh the 

 recommendation by the senate. — Journal of 

 the American Medical Association. 



8GIEVTIFIG BOOKS 

 The Mammals of Colorado: an account of the 

 several species found within the boundaries 

 of the State, together with a record of their 

 habits and of their distribution. By Ed- 

 ward Royal Warren, S.B., Director of the 

 Museum of Colorado College. With three 

 maps and a full series of illustrations re- 

 produced from photographs taken from na- 

 ture. New York and London, G. P. Put- 

 nam's Sons. The Knickerbocker Press. 

 1910. 12mo, pp. xxsiv -j- 300, 3 maps and 

 84 test-cuts. $3.50. 



In the matter of local manuals of the mam- 

 mals of North America, the supply is far be- 

 hind that available for birds. Of the half- 

 dozen that have thus far appeared, the latest, 

 Mr. Warren's " The Mammals of Colorado," 

 is easily one of the best. It is thoroughly 

 scientific in spirit, and yet not too technical 

 for a popular hand-book. The large number 

 of text illustrations comprise one or more 

 views of a skull of some representative species 

 of nearly every genus, with many others from 

 life, showing the characteristic external fea- 

 tures of the species, while others illustrate the 

 nests of various rodents, and the work of the 

 beaver. The maps include a contour map of 

 the state, and maps showing the distribution of 

 the prairie dogs and of three species of striped 

 squirrels. The introduction contains instruc- 

 tions for skinning and measuring mammals 

 for scientific purposes, a chapter on the life 

 zones of Colorado, and ten pages of bibliog- 

 raphy. The book appears to have been first 

 projected by Mr. William Lutley Sclater, the 

 author's predecessor as director of the Mu- 

 seum of Colorado College, who, on being 



