DECEMBER 17, 1897. ] 
G. Wilder, of Cornell University. The final 
paper will be on ‘Out-door Science Work in 
Secondary Schools,’ by Principal Frederick A. 
Vogt, of Buffalo Central High School. Discus- 
sion opened by Professor A. D. Morrill, of 
Hamilton College, Clinton; followed by Pro- 
fessor Chas. B. Scott, of Oswego Normal School, 
and Professor R. A. Surface, of Cornell Uni- 
versity. 
A NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. 
THE New York Board of Trade and Trans- 
portation has addressed a circular letter on 
public health and quarantine to the Governors 
of States, to the Mayors of all important cities, 
seaboard and interior, and to all State and 
municipal health authorities, physicians, and 
known experts on the subject, asking for 
opinions as to the desirability of creating a 
national department of health, and requesting 
suggestions as to the best method of protecting 
the public health, especially as the same affects 
interstate commerce, on the following lines: 
(1) Quarantine status and administration in for- 
eign countries as furnishing precedents for the United 
States. A, border; B, internal. ane 
(2) The present status of quarantine in the United 
States. A, border defence; B, interstate; C, state 
and local. 
(3) The existing system of quarantine administra- 
tion in the United States. A, cost; B, injury to and 
restrictions imposed on commerce and travel; C, se- 
curity afforded. 
(4) Legislation needed for lessening injury to and 
restrictions on commerce and travel, and to afford 
greater security to the country. A, increase power 
of Marine Hospital Service and how; or, B, create a 
national department of health; or, C, create a na- 
tional department of commerce, with a bureau of 
health; or, D, other suggestions. 
(5) The power of Congress under the Constitution 
to regulate matters affecting the health of the people. 
A, national; B, interstate; C, State and local. 
THE PROTECTION OF THE SEA OTTER. 
THE Treasury Department has recently issued 
an important and interesting ‘Report on.the 
Sea Otter,’ by Capt. C. L. Hooper, of the reve- 
nue marine, giving an account of its range, 
habits, method of capture and decrease under 
American rule almost to the point of extermi- 
nation. From 1873 to 1883 the annual catch 
SCIENCE. 
913 
increased from 2,265 to 4,152, and then, as the 
inevitable result of overhunting, rapidly de- 
clined, the catch for 1896 being only 724. So. 
sharp has been the pursuit of this valuable ani- 
mal that it has changed its habits, no longer 
coming on shore to feed, rest, or bring forth its 
young. As about 1,200 natives of the Aleutian 
Islands are almost wholly dependent on the sea. 
otter for the necessaries of life, itis highly im- 
portant to make some effort to preserve it, and 
to do so promptly. With this end in view, a set 
of regulations for 1898 are appended, intended 
to preserve the remaining sea otters for the use 
of the Aleut hunters and their families, in ac- 
cordance with the spirit of article 1,956, Revised 
Statutes. The Report isaccompanied by a map. 
showing the sea otter grounds, which lie mainly 
to the southwest of Kadiak and in waters con- 
sidered to be within the jurisdiction of the Uni- 
ted States. If so, the proposed regulations, 
properly enforced, will furnish ample protec- 
tion ; if not, an international agreement would 
be necessary and a limit of fifteen miles from 
shore. The remaining otter would then be 
protected, and hunting from schooners being 
prohibited, the natives would be compelled to 
hunt from the shore, and the otter would have 
some chance of increasing. 
GENERAL, 
WE record with regret the death of the Hon. 
Gardiner Greene Hubbard, at his residence near 
Washington, on December 11th, in his 76th 
year. He was President of the National 
Geographic Society, whose great success was. 
almost entirely due to his efforts, and was: 
prominent in all movements for the advance- 
ment of science at Washington. The first series 
of this JOURNAL was greatly indebted to him 
for his counsel and financial support, it haviug 
been established by him and Professor A. Gra- 
ham Bell. 
A Bust of Pasteur was unveiled on Novem- 
ber 28th at Melun asa memorial of his anti- 
anthrax vaccine. On the same day a memorial 
to him was also unveiled at Boulogne, an ad- 
dress being made by M. Gaston, Paris. 
At the anniversary meeting of the Royal So- 
ciety Lord Lister announced that Sir William 
Mackinnon, late Director-General of the Med- 
