SCIENCE 



Editoeial Committee : S. Newcomb, Mathematics ; R. S. Woodwaed, Mechanics ; E. C. Pickbeing 



Astronomy; T. C. Mendenhall, Physics; E. H. Thueston, Engineering; Iea Eemsen, Chemistry; 



J. Le Costte, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography; O. C. Maesh, Paleontology; W. K. 



Beooks, C. Haet Meeeiam, Zoology; S. H. Scuddbe, Entomology; N. L. Beitton, 



Botany; Hbney F. Osboen, General Biology; H. P. Bowditch, Physiology; 



J. S. Billings, Hygiene ; J. McKeen Cattell, Psychology ; 



Daniel G. Beinion, J. "W. Powell, Anthropology. 



Friday, Januaet 8, 1897. 



CONTENTS: 



The Smithsonian Institution and the National Mu- 

 seum 37 



27(6 Geology of Government Explorations {concluded): 

 S. F. Emmons 42 



Professor Eugen Baumann :' Lafayette B. Men- 

 del 51 



Alfred Tresca: E. H. T 53 



Current Notes on Anthropology : — 



Ancient Mayan History; Primitive Drills and 

 Drilling ; The State and its Soil : D. G. Beinton.. 53 



Seientijic Notes and News : — 



Tlie Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory ; The Ma- 

 rine Biology of Great Britain ; General 54 



University and Educational News 59 



Discission and Correspondence : — ■ 



Clouds over a Fire: E. DeC. Waed. Compli- 

 ment or Plagiarism : Beman AND Smith. Vol- 

 canic Dust in Southwestern Nebraska and in South 

 Dakota: J.E.Todd 60 



Scientific Literature : — 



Beat's Grasses of North America: F. LAMSON- 

 Sceibnee. Hoffmann on Bace Traits and Ten- 

 dencies of the American Negro : W J McGee. De 

 Ujfalvy on Les Aryens au Nord et au Sud de I'Hin- 

 dou-Kouch: D. G. Beinton 62 



Scientific Journals : — 



The Monist 69 



Societies and Academies : — 



The New York Academy of Sciences : — Section of 

 Astronomy and Physics : W. Hallock. Section of 

 Biology : C. L. Beistol. The American Chemical 

 Society : Dueand Woodman. Boston Society of 

 Natural History : Samuel Henshaw. The Ala- 

 bama Industrial and Scientific Society : Eugene 

 A. Smith 70 



Neio Books 72 



MSS. intended for publication and boobs, etc., intended 

 for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Prof. J. 

 McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. 



THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION AND THE 

 NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The great loss to science in the death of 

 George Brown Goode is becoming every 

 day more apparent and especially in view 

 of the difficulties by which the Eegents of 

 of the Smithsonian Institution must find 

 themselves confronted in the selection of 

 his successor as Assistant Secretary. 



Under the existing relations of the Insti- 

 tution and the National Museum, and the ac- 

 cepted traditions relating to succession, the 

 task must seem well-nigh impossible. 

 While the present situation may not be 

 considered as a crisis in the affairs of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, it cannot be im- 

 proper for Science to invite the attention of 

 its readers, and especially of the Eegents, 

 to a feeling on the part of a large number 

 of its friends that the time has come for a 

 more or less complete separation of the two 

 organizations and that such separation in 

 the near future ought to be assumed in se- 

 lecting a successor to Goode. 



The reasons for this are so numerous and 

 so convincing, when once the Smithson be- 

 quest and its interpretation by Joseph 

 Henry are considered, that argument seems 

 unnecessary. It may be well, however, to 

 refer to a few of the more important points, 



