July 17, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



67 



The new museum at the Jardin des Plan- 

 tes for comparative anatomy will have the 

 paleontological specimens placed on the 

 second floor. The fossils will be well ar- 

 ranged for study and the gallery is splen- 

 didly lighted. Immediately at the end of 

 the building is Prof. Gaudry's lecture room 

 and a working laboratory for students. 

 Here you have the ideal museum, well ar- 

 ranged specimens, not too many of them so 

 as to be a burden to the student's mind, a 

 laboratory for studying the objects, and 

 lastly, a well planned lecture room for the 

 ' cour.' 



Vertebrate paleontology has at least one 

 great advantage over recent mammalogy 

 and ornithology ; there is no danger of ex- 

 hibiting too many specimens of vertebrate 

 fossils, especially mammals, as these speci- 

 mens themselves are exceedingly rare and 

 very costly in procuring. In most museums 

 the hundreds of grinning owls and the forty 

 eleven species, illustrating the forms of the 

 Muridae for example, are only a hindrance 

 to the appreciation by the public of what 

 an owl or a mouse is. Synoptical collec- 

 tions, I believe, do a great deal more good 

 for general exhibition purposes than all the 

 species representing the numerous genera of 

 the animal kingdom. Let us have on exhibi- 

 tion the complete life-histories of a number 

 of well selected types of animals, as illus- 

 trated by the metamorphosis of an ar- 

 thropod or the changes in plumage of a 

 bird. I believe the beautifully arranged 

 collection of comparative osteology and the 

 cases illustrating adaptation of birds and 

 mammals to their environment in the 

 British Natural History Museum, London, 

 do more good in the way of educating the 

 public than miles of so-called species ar- 

 ranged in cases. I have always particu- 

 larly noticed, in passing through the cen- 

 tral corridor of that great Natural His- 

 tory Museum in South Kensington, that 

 many people were collected around the 



cases in this main hall, whose specimens 

 illustrate the structure and variation of the 

 animal kingdom. 



A great innovation was introduced in 

 biology by the publication of Huxley and 

 Martin's ' Practical Biology,' taking up the 

 the study of animal types, and placing aside 

 for the time being the old method of ham- 

 mering at species all the time, which leads 

 to small results in getting at the real 

 affinities of animals. I think if, in arrang- 

 ing museums, this idea of illustrating the 

 structure and life-history of animals were 

 more followed, better results in educating 

 the public would be attained. 



Chakles Earle.. 



New Eochelle, N. Y. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 THE IRON AGE IN AMERICA. 



In the American Anthropologist for June, 

 Prof. Otis T. Mason has a well-prepared 

 article on the introduction of the iron age 

 into America. Of course, this was post- 

 Columbian, but its history is important and 

 has never before been presented. The use 

 of the metal extended rapidly, and often 

 reached tribes long before the first white 

 men wandered to their abodes. The influ- 

 ence of this new material was felt imme- 

 diately, and not always to the best advan- 

 tage. '' The technique may be better, but 

 the motive, the underlying conception 

 and the composition may be incalculably 

 worse." The author most judiciously in- 

 sists on the truth that " the unadulterated 

 aboriginal product reveals to our gaze the 

 living processes by which men have always 

 progressed to higher life." 



The article closes with a strong and a 

 much needed appeal to those who have in 

 charge public and private collections to 

 cultivate codperation and to show greater 

 liberality to students in the same field. 

 Some very pointed statements of facts 

 could be made in this connection. There 



