March i8, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



16- 



What can the specialist in physiology do without some 

 knowledge of physics aud chemistry ? Geology, zoology 

 and botany are hedged with problems whose solution are in- 

 terdependent. If the sciences are united as with a networli, a 

 specialist in any one of them must have some knowledge of 

 those whicli claim near kinship with his own. 



But the specialist is accused of couching his discoveries in 

 language which is unintelligible, of being unpractical; of 

 trying as it were to hide his light under a bushel. Are these 

 accusations well-founded ? Are they true ? Is it reasonable 

 to suppose that one who studies in nature's laboratories a 

 lifetime should think it desirable to erect a wall about science 

 lest it become popular ? Are not specialists numbered among 

 the worid's great leaders ? To whom is due the great ad- 

 vancement in medical science but to specialists, who in their 

 laboratories patiently sought for answers to problems of 

 whose importance the common mind has no conception ? A 

 few years ago a war of words waged high over the theory of 

 spontaneous generation; who but the specialist was able to 

 settle forever this formidable question. Did the world 

 imagine for one moment that the investigations which re- 

 sulted in the establishment of tbe '' germ theory " would lead 

 to practical results ? Physicians, surgeons and boards of 

 health but apply the principles elucidated by the specialist. 

 Enter a laboratory and behold a specialist in the midst of 

 his bacteriological investigations. Would the observation 

 be likely to call forth predictions of practical results ? You 

 would see " cultures " under bell-jars, microscopes, and vari- 

 ous apparatus; " but," you exclaim, " what bearing do they 

 have on human welfare ? " Under the supervision of the 

 bacteriologist they touch the. very heart of humanity, bid- 

 ding it look to its drains and sewers, to its drinking water, 

 to the air it breathes and the purity of its food. Our knowl- 

 edge of disinfection comes from the same source; who can 

 measure tbe practical results ? Practical applications of in- 

 vestigations iu fungi reach out to the horticulturist and the 

 farmer, who anxiously look to the specialist for remedies 

 against their microscopic enemies. When the results of the 

 investigations of specialists radiate like the rays of the sun 

 to all humanity, offering balm for its wounds, remedies for 

 its ills, shall they themselves be deemed unpractical, having 

 no concern for human welfare ? When they stand face to 

 face with nature and read the histories she has written on 

 shell and stone, on land and sea; when they recognize the 

 bond of union in the division of labor, shall they be charged 

 with " deliberately planned mystiScation " of the truths they 

 would gladly sow broadcast over the land ? Specialization 

 is a law of nature which is stamped on every blade of grass, 

 and on every flower that blooms. Heredity emphasizes this 

 law iu every phase and form of life. If it were not so, no 

 individual'ty would exist. The oak tree does not take upon 

 itself the production of roses, apples or grapes, nor does the 

 rose ever dream of producing acorns or of elaborating materi- 

 al which will ultimately form an oak tree. Each individual 

 cell in every plant contributes to the building up of its own 

 special tissue. 



Suppose we take the musical notes of some grand sym- 

 phony, and scatter them at random on the musical staff; 

 rendition would create but jarring discords. Let a Mozart 

 or a Beethoven place each note where it belongs, and the re- 

 sulting harmony " wakens in the soul a feeling earthly 

 speech can ne'er declare." May not mankind be compared 

 to these musical notes, creating discord in society because 

 the individuals are not so placed as to enable them to gratify 

 their best and highest aspirations, to do their special work ? 



Is it Utopian to hope that each individual, like each note in 

 a musical conception, may some day swell the grand choral 

 of the universe ? Mrs. W. A. Kellekman. 



Columbas, O. 



ON A RECENT DISCOVERY OF THE REMAINS OF 

 EXTINCT BIRDS IN NEW ZEALAND.' 



A DEPOSIT of moa bones, larger than has been found for 

 many years, has just been discovered near the town of 

 Oam.aru, in the province of Otago, in the South Island of 

 this colony. Their presence was indicated by the disinterring 

 of a bone during the ploughing of a field, by the -proprietor 

 of which the circumstance was communicated to Dr. H. de 

 Lautour of Oamaru. This gentleman, who is well known 

 through his papers on the diatomaceous deposits discovered 

 by him in his district, at once inspected the spot. Finding 

 that the deposit was large, he first secured, through the kind- 

 ness of the proprietor, the inviolability of the ground, and 

 then telegraphed the information to the Canterbury Museum. 

 I lost no time in proceeding to Oamaru with one of my as- 

 sistants, and superintended the digging out of the bones in a 

 systematic manner. The site of the deposit was at Enfield, 

 some ten miles to the north-west of the town, on ground ele- 

 vated several hundred feet above the level of the sea, in a 

 shallow bayleted hollow, into which the unbroken surface of 

 the expansive slope gently descending from the Kurow hills 

 to the open vale of the Waireka (a stream that rises further 

 to the west) has sunk here for some seven to eight feet below 

 the general level, and which, proceeding with a gentle 

 gradient valleywards, becomes a ditch like conduit for a 

 tributary of the Waireka. In the centre of this depression, 

 which does not exceed ten or twelve yards in width; the 

 ground was of a dark brown color, damp and peaty. On 

 removing the upper layer of soil for a depth of three to four 

 inches round where the bones had first been brought to the 

 surface, and whereon was strewn abundance of small crop- 

 stones, a bed of very solid peat was reached, and firmly im- 

 bedded in it were seen the extremities of numerous Dinornis 

 bones, most of them in excellent preservation, though dyed 

 almost black. Further digging showed that certainly many 

 of the skeletons were complete, and had been but slightly, if 

 at all, disturbed since the birds had decayed. Owing, how- 

 ever, to the close manner in which they were packed to- 

 gether, and especially in which the limbs were intertwined, 

 it was rarely possible to extricate the bones in the order of 

 their relations, or to identify with certainty the various bones 

 of the same skeleton, each bone having to be extracted as 

 the circumstances of the moment directed. In many cases, 

 again, only the pelvis and femora could be traced in situ, 

 the vertebrae and remaining leg-bones being indistinguishable 

 in the general agglomeration. It seemed evident that the 

 birds had not died in an erect posture, but more probably 

 with their limbs bent under them or in the same plane with 

 the body. In some instances, beneath the sternum were 

 found, lying quite undisturbed, the contents of the stomach, 

 consisting of .more or less triturated grass mingled with crop- 

 stones. The quantity of these smooth, rounded (chiefly white 

 quartz) pebbles — in size from that of a bean to that of a 

 plum — mingled with the bones was enormous, and would, 

 if collected, have formed more than a cart-load. Except 

 where the bones were, there" were no pebbles of any sort, no 

 small stones, nor even sand, anywhere around. The nearest 

 place where pebbles of the same composition are to be found 

 is, I was informed, several miles distant. 

 ' From Nature. 



