66 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXII. No. 548 



superiority soit numerique, soit sociale ? et parait elle le fruit du 

 genie de la race? Question dfilicate, car il faut juger d'apres 

 des probabilites soulement, mais a laquelle il est permis de repon- 

 dre oui. 



Quel a ete le berceau de la race dolichocephale blonde? Ques- 

 tion d'archeologie prehistorique et de physiologie. Reponse: c'est 

 la region ofl le type osteologique le plus voisin du type dolicho- 

 cephale blond s'est trouve soumis aux conditions lueteorologiques 

 nfecessaires pour le reduire a un etat voisin de I'albinisme. 



Ou doit etre localise ce berceau ? le type dolichocephale blond 

 se rattachant par le squelette aux raceS quaternaires et neolitb- 

 iques de I'Europe occidentale son berceau ne peut etre cherche 

 qu'en Europe, les conditions necessaires d'inactinisme et d'humi- 

 dite permanente qui ont determine sa decoloration ne se sont 

 trouvees realisees que dans la region voisine de la Mer du Nord, a 

 la fin du quaternaire, et mieus encore dans la partie de oette mer 

 alors exondee. 



On arrive ainsi aux propositions suivantes: — 



Le type polichocephale blond, H. eiiropceus, Linne, abusive- 

 ment appele aryen, s'est developpS dans le N. O. de I'Europe, 

 telle quelle etait a la fin des temps quaternaires, par Taction des 

 milieux sur les races dolichocephales indigenes, ou sur une seule 

 de ces races. II s'est fixe par un long sejour dans ces regions. II 

 en est sorti par des emigrations successives a mesure que le sol 

 s'engloutissait sous ses pieds. 



Les langues et les institutions indo-europeennes se sont formees 

 quelque part en Europe sous Taction du genie de la race blonde. 

 Cette formation est de date relativement recente, et si les blonds 

 ont apporte de leur primitive patrie une langue proto-aryenne, 

 elle etait a un stade d'evolution qui ne perniettrait probablement 

 pas d'en reconnaitre la nature. On salt la rapidite avec laquelle 

 varient les langues non ecrites. L'etat des langues indo-euro- 

 peennes prouve d'autre part leur origine recente. 



Les langues et les institutions indo-europeennes ont ete ensuite 

 implantees dans les deux tiers de I'Europe et dans une petite partie 

 de TAsie, par les conquetes des peuples qui en faisaient usage. 

 Un peuple passe probablement d'Europe en Bactriane par la nier 

 Caspienne, ou Asiatique mais conquis par des Europeens a porte 

 les langues et les institutions indo-europeennes dans TInde. A ce 

 rameau seul appartient le nom d'Aryen. 



Tout s'eclaircit done des qu'on n'embrasse plus ensemble la 

 question d'origine des langues aryennes et celle de la race blonde, 

 des qu'on ne confond plus les peuples indo-europeens avec les 

 blonds, conquerants d'abord, puis absorhes et devenus classe diri- 

 geante chez des peuples de race dififerente. 



TBE SCIENTIFIC ALLIANCE OF NEW YORK. 



BY JOSEPH F. JAMES, M. SC, WASHINGTON, D.C. 



The "Scientific Alliance of New York " is composed of the 

 following societies : New Yorlj Academy of Science, Torrey Bo- 

 tanical Club, New York Microscopical Society, Linnajan Society 

 of New York, New York Mineralogical Club, New York Mathe- 

 matical Society, New York Section of American Chemical So- 

 ciety. 



Two meetings have been held, of which the proceedings have 

 been published, and as the scheme seems to mark an era in sci- 

 entific matters, especially in New York City, and as it is one that 

 is likely to result in permanent benefits to science, a notice of it 

 does not seem out of place. 



The council of the Alliance is composed of the president and 

 two members of each of the component societies. Its president 

 is Charles F. Cox, and its secretary and treasurer N. L. Britton. 

 The first meeting was held on November 1.5, 1893, and at it ad- 

 dresses were made by various prominent men. Hon. Seth Low, 

 President of Columbia College, spoke upon the advantages to the 

 city of New York of the Alliance, and he was followed by Mr. 

 C. F. Cox with an address on the advantages of the alliance to 

 the scientific societies. Mr. Cox pointed out the necessity of co- 

 operation by the various organizations if the best results are to 

 follow. He referred to the fact that the real materialists of the 

 world are the so-called practical men, who measure scientific 

 knowledge by commercial standards and in whose eyes science 



"is worth only what it will bring when offered in the form of 

 dynamos, telephones, electric lights, dye stuffs, mining machin- 

 ery and other merchantable wares." The object of the Alliance 

 he held to be to furnish a sort of common ground (may we call it 

 a clearing house?) where knowledge of what is being done in one 

 society is conveyed to all the rest, and in this way all are kept 

 posted in regard to what is going on and duplication of work is 

 thereby avoided. 



The third address was by Hon. Addison Brown on the need of 

 endowment for research and publication. He referred to the ex- 

 ample set by Professor Tyndall, who established three scholar- 

 ships with .$30,000 received by him from a series of lectures de- 

 livered in this country. He has been followed by others with 

 equally munificent gifts. He pointed out the necessity to the 

 loractical man of work in the region of pure science, but as the 

 workmen in this region are generally those who have neither the 

 time nor the means for original research, the necessity for an en- 

 dowment to enable them to continue their work is evident. Ref- 

 erence was made to the difference between the German universi- 

 ties, where the professors are expected to do original work, leav- 

 ing the teaching for instructors, and the American so-called 

 universities and colleges where the professors seldom have the 

 time to devote to anything outside of mere routine work. He 

 mentioned the humdiating fact that at the Zoological Station at 

 Naples, where Germany and Italy each maintain eight tables, 

 Russia, Spain, Austria, and England three each, and Switzerland, 

 Belgium and Holland one each at a cost of $500 per annum, the 

 United States had none, and has been dependent heretofore upon 

 the generosity of foreign nations for the occasional use of a table. 

 This loss is not compensated for by the fact that there are several 

 small laboratories along the Atlantic coast of this country. The 

 endowment of research through fellowships in colleges was also 

 considered, and lastly a detailed reference to scientific societies in 

 this country and England. The comparison is not flattering to 

 our pride. In England the property, funds and equipment of the 

 societies is nearly ten -fold greater than in America. The publi- 

 cations are double. No laboratories and no professors are main- 

 tained here for original research. " The English societies," he 

 said, "distribute yearly from |35,000 to $35,000 for from sixty to 

 seventy-five different scientific purposes, while ours make no 

 such appropriations imply because there are no funds." 



Dr. H. Carringlon Bolton, in his plea for a library of science in 

 New York, gave many interesting facts relative to libraries of 

 New York and its sister cities, arguing in favor of bringing to- 

 gether under one roof all the libraries of the societies in the Alli- 

 ance. These libraries aggregate 13,700 volumes and would form 

 an excellent nucleus for a scientific hbrary. Reports received 

 from sixty libraries of New York and its vicinity show that there 

 are 1,916,000 volumes in them, the scientific books varying from 5 

 to 100 per cent. Fifteen of the libraries have over 40.000 volumes 

 each. To house the libraries Professor Bolton outlined apian. He 

 advised having a building 100 x 120 feet square, four stories high 

 in front, with a lecture room, in the rear, large enough to seat 

 1,000 persons. The library room should have shelves to accom- 

 modate 800,000 volumes. There should be an office for general 

 business, several small rooms for ordinary meetings of the sepa- 

 rate societies, photographic and microscopic laboratories and a 

 general reception room. The plan is extensive, but let us hope 

 that some wealthy New Yorker may make it feasible. 



The second joint meeting of the Alliance was held on March 37, 

 1893, in memory of Dr. J. S. Newberry. The important business- 

 transacted after the reading of a memoir by Professor H. L. Fair- 

 child, was a report of a committee recommending the establish- 

 ment of an endowment fund of $25,000 for the purpose of en- 

 couraging original research. The fund is to be known as the 

 John Strong Newberry Fund, and is to be administered under 

 the direction of the Council of the Scientific Alliance. Blank 

 forms for subscriptions of any amount will be cheerfully furnished 

 by Dr. N. L. Britton, Columbia College, New York. The money 

 will be used for furthering researches in geology, paleontology, 

 botany and zoology, in all of which subjects Dr. Newberry was 

 interested. About |600 in sums varying from $5 to $100, had 

 been subscribed about a month ago. 



