746 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 436. 



synonymy of the species mentioned, Mr. 

 Fowler has committed an assault upon typo- 

 graphical custom which ought almost to have 

 caused a strike among the printers and must 

 have excited the disgust of the proof-reader. 

 Such a monstrosity as ' C .{ephaloptera) vam- 

 pyrus/ or even '{Raja.) Manatia,' unhappily, 

 is not unparalleled, but because it is not, and 

 a bad example had been set before, a protest 

 now is all the more timely. Some deference 

 should be paid to the reader, and if he is not 

 intelligent enough to know that C\_eplialop- 

 iera] vampyrus is the full expression of C. 

 vampyriis, and that the bracketed letters were 

 substituted for the period, indicating abbre- 

 viation, he certainly would not be intelligent 

 enough to appreciate any part of the article 

 in question. Such flagrant abuses of typo- 

 graphical methods should not be tolerated. 

 The first volume of an otherwise excellent 

 work by a distinguished naturalist was re- 

 cently published marred by similar blemishes, 

 but the author relieved himself of such eccen- 

 tricities in the succeeding volume. It is to 

 be hoped that Mr. Fowler will profit by the 

 later example in the same measure as he was 

 misled by the former. 



It is proper to add that Mr. Fowler and his 

 predecessor were simply actuated by a laud- 

 able desire for perfection of quotation in their 

 strange tj^pographical devices, but surely 

 there should be some limit to deviation from 

 customary methods and to pandering to ignor- 

 ant and incompetent students. 



Theo. Gill. 



Cosmos Clxjb, Washington. 



the new mexico normal university. 

 The whole faculty of the New Mexico Nor- 

 mal University resigns at the end of the pres- 

 ent school year, under circumstances which 

 should be widely known. Predatory organi- 

 zations of a political character exist in New 

 Mexico as elsewhere, and it is in the nature 

 of things that they should interfere in various 

 ways and degrees with educational institu- 

 tions. During my connection with the New 

 Mexico Agricultural College (1893-1900) I 

 had many opportunities for learning the char- 

 acter and motives of this interference, and 



the time may come when it will be expedient 

 to tell the story in some detail. Some idea 

 of the prevalent conditions may be gathered 

 from the fact that within a period of eight 

 years (1894r-1901) the college had five succes- 

 sive presidents, namely, Hadley, McCrea, 

 Jordan, Sanders and Foster. In spite of 

 everything, a great deal of good and useful 

 work was done; but it was lamentable to see 

 the waste of opportunity, time and money 

 resulting from the actions of self-interested, 

 ignorant and prejudiced people. I have be- 

 fore me copies of the letter of Dr. Sanders, 

 fourth president of the college, to his board 

 of regents, and of his second annual report, 

 both written in 1901. In these carefully pre- 

 pared and exceedingly outspoken documents 

 the case against the politicians is presented 

 in the clearest manner, with abundant details ; 

 but they are too voluminous to be published 

 in Science. 



The Turkish have a proverb : ' The fish 

 stinks from the head.' It can not be over- 

 looked that the governors of New Mexico, who 

 appoint the regents of the higher institutions, 

 are responsible for the generally unsatisfac- 

 tory character of these bodies. It is pertinent 

 to ask why the presidents of the United States 

 have not, at least within recent years, seen it 

 possible to give us even tolerably good gov- 

 ernors. The explanation lies, of course, in 

 the so-called policy of home rule, which in this 

 case results in practically giving the appoint- 

 ment of the chief executive into the hands of 

 the then dominant predatory organization. It 

 would seem more logical either to make us a 

 state and let us make our own muddle, or 

 treat us as a child-commonwealth and pro- 

 vide us with competent rulers. 



The New Mexico Normal University, which 

 opened its doors five years ago, has had until 

 now a most fortunate immunity from political 

 interference. In spite of its rather ridiculous 

 name, it has prospered under the guidance of 

 men who understood its proper aims and needs. 

 This has been principally due to the wisdom 

 and influence of Mr. Frank Springer, the well- 

 known authority on crinoids, who has been 

 president of the board of regents. Mr. E. L. 

 Hewett, the president of the school, is a well- 



