Februaey 20, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



311 



other sources of evidence that the margin of 

 consciousness carries the meaning. Disturb- 

 ances of apperceptive functioning in apraxia 

 and sensory aphasia form a basis for a theory 

 of apperceptive degrees which may explain the 

 different meanings which at different times 

 may be read into the same complex of sensa- 

 tions. Flechsig's researches on the functions 

 of the 'silent areas' of the cortex furnish a 

 psychophysical basis for this position. The 

 kinfpstlietic theory of meaning is, in general, 

 confirmed by genetic studies of language and 

 by the data of anatomy, especially those facts 

 concerning the increase in the diameter of the 

 pyramidal tracts and the increased differen- 

 tiation of the muscular system in the higher 

 orders. 



The following were read by title : 



' Vertical Movements of Entomostraca,' M. 

 J. Elrod. 



' The Eeduction of Nitro Compounds of 

 Benzole,' W. D. Harkins, University of Mon- 

 tana. 



'Volcanic Ash Beds of Montana,' J. P. 

 Rowe. 



' Caves in Montana,' J. P. Rowe. 



J. P. Rowe, 

 Secretary pro tern. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 

 smithson's remains. 

 • To THE Editor of Science : James Smith- 

 son, the founder of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, is about to be turned out of his grave in 

 Genoa, Italy, to make room for a quarry ! Why 

 should not the United States Government 

 bring his body to this country and give him 

 a permanent resting place in the grounds of 

 the institution which he founded? 



Smithson left his entire fortune ' to the 

 United States of America ' to promote ' the 

 increase and diffusion of knowledge among 

 men.' Congress accepted the trust and estab- 

 lished ' The Smithsonian Institution ' which 

 has done so much to advance science during 

 the last fifty years. Now let the nation that 

 has benefited by Smithson's generosity show 

 its appreciation and gratitude. He left no 

 descendants to care for his remains; let us 



accept them, too, as a sacred trust and bring 

 them to the United States to be deposited with 

 all reverence in the Smithsonian Institution 

 at Washington. Gilbert II. Grosvenor. 

 Washington, D. C. 



THE destruction OF FROGS. 



To THE Editor of Science: The Erie Rail- 

 road, near Meadville, Pa., runs parallel to 

 and near French Creek. In the early spring 

 of 1901, at about the time when the frogs 

 were becoming active after their hibernation, 

 I noticed, 'while walking along the tracks of 

 the above railroad, a number of frogs that 

 had been crushed by the passing trains. I 

 counted no less than thirty-six frogs that had 

 been killed on half a mile of single-track 

 road. One fact noticed was that nearly 

 every frog had been cut across the middle 

 line, so that the hind legs lay on one side 

 of the rail, and the fore legs and head on 

 the other side. The rails were the heavy T 

 rails ordinarily used on such roads. At 

 about the same time I noticed on one of the 

 streets of Meadville that was near the creek, 

 a great number of frogs that had been sim- 

 ilarly crushed by the electric cars that ran 

 on that street. As the rails of the street rail- 

 way were laid flush with the level of the 

 street, it was not so surprising that many 

 frogs were crushed, since they were very nu- 

 merous in that part of town ; but how so many 

 of them should be caught on top of a six- 

 inch T rail, and why they should practically 

 all be cut in two, transversely, is not so easy 

 to explain. Albert M. Reese. 



THE GREAT AUK. 



To THE Editor of Science : Permit me most 

 emphatically to dissent from the deduction of 

 Professor Hitchcock ' that the great auk was 

 once a resident of Florida, and presumably 

 of the whole Atlantic coast.' This deduction 

 is based on the finding at Ormond, Fla., of two 

 humeri of the great auk in one section of a 

 large shell heap. This is a small basis for so 

 sweeping a generalization, and it is all the 

 smaller in the light of the fact that these two 

 humeri are the only traces of this bird that, 

 so far as I am aware, have come to light south 

 of Block Island, although scores of shell heaps 



