744 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 99, 



their subject-matter by this attempt at self- 

 injection, and so destroy the peculiar ad- 

 vantage of the subject in intellectual train- 

 ing. If the proper intellectual result of the 

 humanities is appreciation, whose processes 

 demand self- injection, the proper and dis- 

 tinctive intellectual result of the sciences is 

 law, to obtain which there must be rigid 

 self-elimination. Any injection of self into a 

 scientific synthesis vitiates the result. The 

 standard is not a variable, an artificial one 

 developed from the varying tastes of man, 

 but absolute, founded upon eternal truth. 

 It is evident that this basis of distinction 

 will result in a classification of subjects dif- 

 fering considerably from the ordinary group- 

 ing under ' humanities ' and ' sciences,' but 

 I am convinced that from the standpoint 

 of mental development it is fundamental. 

 It would even result in the divorcing of 

 certain subjects now commonly included 

 under one head. For example, it would 

 certainly sharply cut off certain phases of 

 language-study from literature proper, a 

 fact which the universities have long recog- 

 nized. This further emphasizes the fact 

 that no hard and fast lines can be drawn 

 separating the specific effects of the various 

 studies. In our analysis we strip off the 

 flesh and lay bare the skeleton, and are apt 

 to lose sight of the fact that the contour is 

 a composite result. Although the skeletons 

 of the humanities and of the sciences may 

 differ from each other in the fundamental 

 way described, I cannot conceive of the 

 resulting contour of the one as distinct 

 from combination with the other. The self- 

 elminating result of science must be asso- 

 ciated with the self- injecting result of the 

 humanities, even though science alone be 

 studied ; and the power of appreciation 

 developed by the humanities must always 

 be tempered by the scientific instinct. And 

 yet the two processes and the two results are 

 so distinct and so complementary that any 

 system of education which does not provide 



for the definite cultivation of these two- 

 mental attidudes, and which leaves the 

 complementary part merely to the chancer 

 of teaching methods and mental structure, 

 is in constant danger of resulting in mental 

 distortion. 



John M. Coulter. 

 Univeesity of Chicago. 



THE FATE OF A EUROPEAN BISON HEED. 



In a paper entitled ' Das allmahliche 

 Aussterben des Wisents (Bison bonasu» 

 Linn.) im Forste von Bjelowjesha '* Mr. 

 Eugen Biichner gives a detailed history of 

 the bison herd in the Bieloviejsha (or Bia- 

 lowitza) forest. Province of Grodno, in Lith- 

 uania, Eussia, during the present century. 

 In his opening paragraph the author states 

 that his purpose is two-fold: to make a- 

 critical historical study of this herd during 

 the period for which the necessary data are 

 available ; and to find what light, if any^ 

 this history may throw on the general sub- 

 ject of the extinction of the larger mam- 

 malia. 



Up to the year 1832 the accounts of the 

 condition of the bison in the Bieloviejsha 

 forest are conflicting and untrustworthy, but 

 the number of animals in the herd during 

 that period is estimated at from 300 to 800. 

 Since 1832 a yearly census of the bison has 

 been taken by the government of the forest. 

 The count is made each winter immediately 

 after the first snowfall, but must necessa- 

 rily be only approximately accurate. The 

 figures show an apparent slow increase from 

 770 head, the number recorded in 1832, to 

 1,898 head, the maximum reached in 1857. 

 After 1857 there was a steady decrease 

 until the minimum of 380 head was reached 

 in 1889. During the three succeeding years 

 there appears to have been a slight increase. 



After presenting these figures the author 

 at once attacks the question as to the cause 



*Memoires de 1' Academie imp^riale des sciences de 

 St. Petersburg, Vol. III., No. 2, p. 1-30, 1895. 



