October 15, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



337 



feated, when they see about five thousand pro- 

 fessors, doctors, and students, who gathered here 

 during the past week, all hale and hearty, al- 

 though many of ripe old age, all of whom drink 

 beer in larger or smaller quantities ; and as for 

 the statement that he who ' drinks beer thinks 

 beer,' it is a well-known fact that German thought 

 leads the world in more than one branch of science. 

 Every naturalist and every physician who has 

 published something in scientific or in medical 

 journals is eligible to membership on the pay- 

 ment of a certain fee : here in Berlin it was 

 placed at fifteen marks. Those who are interested 

 in science, but have not published any thing, can, 

 on payment of the same sum, become associates, 

 but not members ; i.e., they are entitled to attend 

 all meetings and entertainments, but are not 

 allowed to vote. No election of members is held : 

 only a simple announcement of the facts, and 

 payment of the fees, are needed to obtain a mem- 

 bership card ; and so great and so just is the con- 

 fidence which these gentlemen place in the ap- 

 plicants' honesty, that cases where membership 

 certificates have been obtained under false pre- 

 tences are so very few dui'ing all these years, that 

 they can be ignored entirely. 



The sections, to the number of thirty, have no 

 permanent officers. At every meeting a chairman 

 and a secretary are elected, although the latter 

 generally remains in office during the whole week, 

 because it is his duty to make the necessary re- 

 port, and collect the abstracts of the papers read 

 before the section, for the ' Tageblatt ' of the next 

 day. This Tageblatt is a very commendable in- 

 stitution, and takes the place of the ' Daily pro- 

 grammes ' of the American association in a very 

 decidedly improved form. It is issued every 

 morning, at about nine o'clock, and contains the 

 membership list, announcements, programme of 

 the day, and abstracts of all the papers read before 

 all the sections on the preceding day. This year's 

 Tageblatt forms a small quarto volume of four 

 hundred pages. 



The registry shows 3,314 members, 1,914 asso- 

 ciates, and 1,475 ladies, who are classed by them- 

 selves. The position of the ladies in the Associa- 

 tion of German naturalists and physicians can, 

 in part at least, be defined by the reproduction of 

 a short abstract from one of the numbers of the 

 Tageblatt : — 



"His majesty the emperor has been pleased to 

 order a special performance at the Royal opera, 

 as well as at the Royal theatre, exclusively for the 

 entertainment of the Association of German 

 naturalists and physicians. . . . Ladies abe not 



ADMITTED ! " 



In view of the large numbers present, there was 



nothing wrong in this decree, according to Ger- 

 man notions at least ; but in view of the fact that 

 at least one-third of the members were natives 

 of Berlin, who could have visited either of the 

 theatres at any other time, it would have been 

 more just if these gentlemen had been excluded. 

 But they were all there as ' invited guests of the 

 emperor ' (nothing small, indeed) ; and many of 

 those who had perhaps travelled from the farthest 

 point of Germany had to take a back seat, and, in 

 addition, leave their wives at the hotels or stay 

 away altogether. 



The large number of social entertainments fur- 

 nished by the local committee as weU as by the 

 city government were as complete and elaborate as 

 possible. Excursions, exhibitions, regattas, sup- 

 pers, balls, etc., gave an abundant opportunity to 

 comply with § 3 of the very short constitution : 

 "The aim of the association is to offer an oppor- 

 tunity to the naturalists and physicians of Ger- 

 many to form a personal acquaintance." 



POHLMAN. 



THE MOUNTING OF MUNGO. 



The common practice in mounting large mam- 

 mals is to first make the legs, and, having fastened 

 them secui'ely to a backbone of plank, to pack the 

 remainder of the body with loose filling. While 

 this does well enough for long-haired animals, 

 whose muscles are concealed, for those that are 

 scantily clad some other methods must be adopted 

 in order to reproduce correctly form and featm-es. 



To build up an animal that will be lank and 

 flabby is the height of taxidermic art, and a brief 

 description of the manner in which the elephant 

 Mungo was mounted at the national museum will 

 show the methods by which such results may be 

 obtained. 



Mango was an African elephant about six years 

 old, belonging to Forepaugh's menagerie, that 

 thoughtfully selected Washington as the place of 

 his demise. Mr. William T. Hornaday, the distin- 

 guished taxidermist, saw in this event an oppor- 

 tunity of putting the new principles of mounting 

 into practice. 



The first step in the process of mounting was 

 to take a series of careful measurements of the 

 body, showing its length, height, and girth at 

 various points, and the dimensions of the limbs 

 and the trunk. These were supplemented by 

 sundry drawings, and by plaster casts of the head 

 and of the Kmbs of one side. The more care was 

 necessary in this, owing to the fact that the entire 

 skeleton was to be mounted separately, and thus no 

 guide left to the position of the joints. This done, 

 the skin was removed, and transferred to a bath 



