206 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. S15 



tions of bees from the British and Berlin 

 Museums. When I have finished working on 

 them there will be more than a hundred 

 types of new species, and all of these must 

 go back to London and Berlin by express. 

 Owing especially to the carelessness of cus- 

 tom-house officials, there is a genuine enough 

 risk of damage. These very collections were 

 injured on the way here, because the officials 

 in New York unpacked them, and repacked 

 them carelessly, so that the sides of the insect- 

 boxes rested against those of the outer cases. 

 Nevertheless, it seems that the whole tran- 

 saction is worth while. The damage, if any, 

 will not be great, and the museums in question 

 will be enriched by a large amount of type 

 material. 



My own collection of bees, containing hun- 

 dreds of tjTJes, is in a good but not fire-proof 

 building. When I die, it is intended to trans- 

 fer it to the National Museum. Some years 

 ago I sent most of my types to Philadelphia 

 and Washington, where they now are. Re- 

 cently, I have refused to part with any, con- 

 cluding that the material is safer and more 

 useful in my own custody, where it is con- 

 tinually being studied. There is some risk 

 here, but with apparently adequate compen- 

 sating advantages. 



In the case of the types which I have 

 loaned, it may be plausibly argued that I 

 should not take the risk of having them re- 

 turned by mail or express. I am so far con- 

 vinced by this that some of them, which are 

 in trustworthy institutions, will be permitted 

 to stay where they are. Others, now in pri- 

 vate hands, may be placed in such institu- 

 tions. One word may be added concerning 

 the purchase of types by institutions. The 

 natural outcome of the work of the proposed 

 committee will be to make it more or less 

 obligatory for students to leave their type 

 material to the larger museums. Many will 

 do this in any case. Unfortunately, these 

 museums will usually take every advantage 

 of this condition, and will either expect to re- 

 ceive the material gratis, or pay as little as 

 possible for it. Naturalists are commonly ill- 

 provided with convertible riches, and often 



their collections, the work of their lives, are 

 their most valuable assets. It is not fair that 

 they should be virtually compelled (as in a 

 number of actual cases I could cite) to give 

 them away to the public, without any pretense 

 of an adequate return. Possibly a special 

 type fund might be raised to meet this con- 

 dition, but there might be some danger that if 

 describing became too profitable (through the 

 sale of t,ypes) it would become commercial- 

 ized, with results awful to contemplate ! This 

 difliculty could be overcome, no doubt, by 

 keeping the prices at an optimum which 

 would avoid both extremes, and by the vigor- 

 ous condemnation of reckless work. Prices 

 might also vary according to the character of 

 the work represented by the collections. 



T. D. A. COCKERELL 



University of Colobado, 

 June 9, 1910 



MEDICAL EDUCATION 



To THE Editor of Science: The teaching of 

 medicine in the United States is notoriously 

 antiquated, ill-organized and open to commer- 

 cial influences. To most doctors concerned 

 for the future the publication of " Bulletin 

 No. IV." of the Carnegie Foundation for 

 Teaching is an occasion of importance and 

 the precursor of great things. It is a pity 

 then that the editor of the New York State 

 Journal of Medicine should have conceived 

 such a distaste for the authoritative style of 

 the writer of the bulletin as to limit his praise 

 to an acknowledgment in ten words that 

 " much useful information and valuable criti- 

 cism " are contained in it, and to abuse it in 

 four columns. 



Mr. Flexner's conclusions are hardest for 

 the editor to accept because presented with 

 vigor and finality. But this is as it should 

 be : a work for the reform of established abuses 

 can not proceed with apology or hesitation. 

 If the author observe fairly and judge impar- 

 tially, he must drive home his conclusions 

 with all the weight that conviction can give 

 them — and this is what the bulletin does. 

 There are many who have a direct interest 



