812 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 519. 



his sons. An original portrait has also been 

 discovered painted between 1795 and 1799. 

 A propos of the family of Lamarck, I noticed 

 that the library of the Institute has preserved 

 one of the annonces sent out by Lamarck on 

 the occasion of the wedding of his son, the 

 engineer, Auguste de Lamarck; and that, in 

 another file, a nephew, Auguste de Longs- 

 champs, is mentioned (1825) as having been 

 given the privileges of the librar.y. The ar- 

 chives of the Institute, however, I am sorry to 

 say, fail to show the unpublished portion of 

 Cuvier's eloge of Lamarck : this we hope may 

 still be forthcoming among the extensive pa- 

 pers of Cuvier which the library has recently 

 acquired. The missing portion of the eloge, 

 it need hardly be mentioned, is of special in- 

 terest, since it will probably throw light on a 

 side of Lamarck's life and work which must 

 to no little degree have been responsible for 

 his neglect. For. the rest I may quote an ex- 

 planation of the contemporary Jack of appre- 

 ciation of Lamarck which was made by an 

 eminent professor at the Jardin. " Lamarck," 

 he said, " was found to be lamentably weak in 

 the facts upon which he based his theories, 

 geological, chemical and meteorological: and 

 as an immediate result his views in these 

 fields came in course of time to be regarded 

 as chimerical. Was it not natural, therefore, 

 that both his friends and foes should query 

 whether his evolutionary doctrines were bet- 

 ter founded? His methods were thus known 

 to be in strong contrast to those of Cuvier, 

 who, whatever were his limitations, had at 

 least a thoroughly modern spirit in his labor- 

 ious quest for facts with which to test the 

 relation between cause and effect." 



A final item is the installation in the 

 Jardin "des Plantes of a Lamarckian museum. 

 This has been brought together during the 

 past year by Professor Joubin and placed 

 appropriately in a room adjoining the mala- 

 cological collection. It aims to include all 

 specimens which are known to have passed 

 through the hands of Lamarck. The identi- 

 fication of this material, which thus far con- 

 sists entirely of invertebrates, has proven by 

 no means an easy task, for original labels have 

 frequently been displaced or lost, or covered 



liy later labels. It is to be hoped that the 

 authorities may see fit to extend the scope of 

 the museum in many directions. 



B. D. 



THE TOTAL ECLIPSE OF SEPTEMBER 9, 

 1901 



A TOTAL eclipse of the sun occurred on Sep- 

 tember 9, 1904. The shadow path crossed the 

 central Pacific Ocean from west to east with- 

 out touching known land, except that it reached 

 the coast of northern Chile six or eight min- 

 utes before sunset. Astronomer William H. 

 Wright, in charge of the D. 0. Mills expedi- 

 tion from the Lick Observatory to Santiago, 

 Chile, states that Dr. Obrecht, director of the 

 National Observatory of Chile, established an 

 observing station at Taltal, but that the sky 

 was cloudy at the time of totality. At San- 

 tiago the sun set, partially eclipsed, on a fine 

 horizon. W. W. C. 



Lick Observatory, University of California, 

 November 29, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF VERTEBRATE 

 PALEONTOLOGISTS. 



The American Society of Vertebrate Pale- 

 ontologists will hold its second annual meet- 

 ing in Philadelphia on December 28 to 30. By 

 arrangement with the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science the meetings 

 of the Zoological Section of the association 

 will be held in the mornings while those of 

 the Paleontological Society will be held in the 

 afternoons at the same time that the Zoolog- 

 ical Society is in session. Thus it is under- 

 stood that the meetings of both societies will 

 not conflict with the morning sessions of the 

 American Association section, in which the 

 papers will be of a general character. 



For the Paleontological Society papers are 

 already promised by Messrs. Osborn, Scott, 

 Sinclair, Matthew, Merriam, Loomis and Hay. 

 The presidential address by Professor Osborn 

 will be entitled ' Ten Years' Progress in Mam- 

 malian Paleontology,' including a resume of 

 the principal discoveries of the past ten years 

 and their bearing upon present and future 

 problems. There will also be a discussion on 

 the evolution and classification of the Peptilia, 



