December 2, 1904.J 



SCIENCE. 



76y 



planation why this construction was so often 

 made. I had ascribed it to savage fetish, but 

 is there not a better reason for it? I suspect 

 that the film acts as a sympathetic drum, like 

 that of the nyasataranga of India, the onion 

 flute of Europe, and its late reproductions in 

 the kazoo and zobo. In that case, it increases 

 the volume of sound and adds a different 

 timbre to the marimba, as it does to the other 

 instruments mentioned. The same reasons 

 may also be ascribed for the use of the mem- 

 brane over a lateral hole of the Chinese flute 

 (ti-tzii) and other flutes of the far east. 



E. H. Hawley. 

 U. S. National Museum, 

 November 15, 1904. 



QUOTATIONS. 



SCIENCE IN THE BEITISH WEST INDIES. 



The American Consul at Bermuda de- 

 scribes in a United States Consular Report 

 the steps which have been taken to establish 

 there a biological station which will be to 

 North America what the Naples station is to 

 Europe. Eor several years American nat- 

 uralists have carried on investigations of the 

 natural history of the Bermudas and the sur- 

 rounding sea, and have made efforts to estab- 

 lish a biological station in these islands. 

 Upon the advice of the Royal Society, our 

 government has given its assent to the project. 

 The Colonial Government has expressed its 

 willingness to purchase the land and erect the 

 building, and grants toward equipment and 

 support of tables have been made by the Royal 

 Society and the Carnegie Institution. Har- 

 vard University and New York University, in 

 connection with the Bermuda Natural His- 

 tory Society, have already commenced work 

 in a temporary laboratory close to what will 

 be the permanent quarters of the station, and 

 the United States Government has been asked 

 to give generous support to the station. 

 America has already founded a tropical botan- 

 ical laboratory in buildings of the govern- 

 ment of Jamaica at Cinchona, and has now 

 secured a biological station, so that it appears 

 as if the Americans are rapidly getting the 

 control of the scientific interests of our west- 

 ern tropical possessions. While we can not 



but admire the interest shown in the establish- 

 ment of these stations by universities and col- 

 leges in the United States, it is impossible not 

 to regret the apathy with which our home and 

 colonial governments regard such matters. 

 Surely it is the duty of the state to encourage 

 the pursuit and cultivation of natural knowl- 

 edge throughout the Empire, and to realize 

 the richness of its possessions in material for 

 scientific study as well as in precious minerals. 

 It is a reproach to our nation that a biological 

 station has not been established by us in the 

 Bermudas; for now, instead of American in- 

 vestigators carrying on their work in a British 

 station, we have to face the fact that, though 

 the station will be on British soil, it will be- 

 long to the United States, and our own coun- 

 trymen will be guests in it. So far as the 

 interests of science are concerned, probably 

 this does not matter; for, as Mr. Balfour 

 wrote a few days ago to the translator of his 

 British Association address, community of 

 aim ' binds together the scientific men 

 throughout the world into one international 

 brotherhood." But it should be evident to 

 some of our ministers, at least to Mr. Balfour, 

 who has often expressed sympathy with scien- 

 tific progress, that it can not be to the ad- 

 vantage of the state for another nation to 

 accept responsibilities which belong to us. 

 Mr. Balfour is gratified at the success of the 

 translation of his address into German, but 

 apparently he does not consider that the 

 interest shown in scientific matters in Ger- 

 many is due to the active and practical part 

 played by the state in helping scientific edu- 

 cation and research. What we want here and 

 in all parts of the Empire is more practical 

 help of the kind given by the United States 

 and Germany to save us from the future re- 

 gret of lost opportunities. — Nature. 



ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY AT THE WORLD'S 

 FAIR. 



Theee prevails in Europe a very proper 

 idea that the United States takes the lead in 

 economic entomology. It must, therefore, 

 have been somewhat surprising to our foreign 

 friends, upon visiting St. Louis, to have found 

 our station collections of insects so poorly 



