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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. 885 



34 acres, and more space would make many 

 improvements possible. 



A very large increase of space, however, is 

 not necessary. If the government departments 

 concerned would allow the society to use an- 

 other 20 or 30 acres of the park on lines sim- 

 ilar to those suggested in the columns of The 

 Times in July last, there would be ample space 

 for the exhibition of animals on the most 

 modern lines. It is impossible to combine 

 satisfactorily an exhibition ground with a 

 place for the breeding or recuperation of 

 animals. For the convenience of visitors, and 

 children especially, the total area of a zoolog- 

 ical garden should not be too great; and, if 

 animals are to be seen satisfactorily, they 

 must not be placed in enclosures large enough 

 to let them retreat from the public gaze. On 

 the other hand, for breeding, acclimatization 

 and the recuperation of animals at all out of 

 health, large secluded areas away from the 

 smoke and fumes of a great city are necessary. 

 An ideal menagerie, whether placed in Re- 

 gent's Park or at the Crystal Palace, should 

 have also a much larger station in the country 

 where visitors are not allowed. 



The cost of installing the Zoological Gar- 

 dens on a new site would be very great. Even 

 if the provisions of the London Building Act 

 could be got over, and the designs for new 

 Zoological Gardens made simple and suitable 

 with regard to structure and material, the total 

 cost of installation, apart from the cost of the 

 animals and the cost of the ground, would 

 reach at least a quarter of a million pounds. 

 Then there is the question of revenue. 

 Regent's Park, it is true, has been rather 

 passed by in the recent changes that have 

 taken place in London passenger traffic; but 

 even with this disadvantage the average an- 

 nual gate-money now exceeds £20,000, while 

 the income from the subscriptions of fellows 

 approaches £10,000, and is increasing yearly. 

 Access to the Crystal Palace has certainly 

 been much improved, but it is still difficult to 

 get there by rail, while the roads leading to it 

 are among the most congested in London. 



Finally, neither the proprietors of the Crys- 

 tal Palace nor the Zoological Society of Lon- 



don can consider the finances entirely from 

 the point of view of a public menagerie. The 

 Crystal Palace would require a large income to 

 meet interest on capital and various expenses, 

 and it would look for assistance from the 

 revenue earned by the menagerie. In the case 

 of the Zoological Society, the maintenance of 

 a popular collection of living animals, al- 

 though the chief source of revenue, is only a 

 part of the duty of the society. The introduc- 

 tion of animals of interest only to maturalists, 

 the encouragement and direct assistance of 

 zoological exploration throughout the world, 

 the maintenance of a magnificent zoological 

 library, and holding of meetings for the dis- 

 cussion of technical zoological subjects, and 

 the publication of memoirs containing the 

 results of zoological investigation are an es- 

 sential part of the operations of the society, 

 and one very difficult to combine with a place 

 of general popular entertainment. — London 

 Times. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, the great Eng- 

 lish botanist, has died in his ninety-fifth year. 



Dr. George Davidson, eminent for his con- 

 tributions to geodesy, geography and astron- 

 omy, emeritus professor in the University 

 of California, has died at the age of eighty- 

 six years. 



Funeral services of the late Surgeon-Gen-, 

 era! Walter Wyman, TJ. S. Public Health and 

 Marine Hospital Service, were held in St. 

 Louis in the First Presbyterian Church on 

 November 24. On December 3, there were 

 memorial exercises in San Francisco. A 

 special memorial number of the Weehly Bul- 

 letin of the St. Louis Medical Society is to be 

 issued in memory of Dr. Wyman. 



The Nobel prizes were awarded by the 

 King of Sweden on November 10. The three 

 recipients in the sciences, Mme. Marie Curie, 

 of the University of Paris ; Professor Wilhelm 

 Wien, of the University of Wiirzburg and 

 Professor Allvar Gullstrand, of the University 

 of Upsala, were present to receive them. 



Professor John Henry Comstock, head of 



