570 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. N0..354. 



borne by a spring clip. On compressing its 

 projecting ends the clip no longer presses 

 against the rod, but may be moved from side 

 to side or revolved upon its axis. The elec- 

 trodes are made of potter's clay, skilfully 

 fired, and are unglazed except where they 

 are grasped by the spring clip. They have 

 the shape of a boot. By turning the leg of 

 the boot in the clip the foot may be brought 

 as near the foot of the neighboring electrode 

 as may be desired. On placing the boot in 

 normal saline solution the porous clay 

 rapidly absorbs the indifferent liquid. The 

 hollow leg of the boot is then half filled with 

 saturated solution of zinc sulphate and 



Fig. 4. The moist chamber, with spring clips and 

 unpolarizabie boot electrodes. 



placed in the clip. A thick wire of amal- 

 gamated zinc, provided at one end with a 

 hole in which a connecting wire may be 

 fastened with a set- screw, is placed in the 

 leg of the boot, and the other end of the 

 connecting wire brought to one of the four 

 binding posts shown in Fig. 4. These four 

 posts are in electrical connection with four 

 other posts beneath the porcelain plate. 

 The boot electrodes are unpolarizable. 

 They serve equally w^ell for leading off" the 

 nerve or muscle current to the electrometer 

 and for stimulation. They are easily 

 cleaned and are far more convenient than 

 the electrodes of glass and clay or plaster of 

 Paris. 



William Townsend Porter. 

 Hakvaed Medical School, 

 September 20, 1901. 



ANDREW ELL ICO TT DOUGLASS. 



Andrew Ellicott Douglass died on 

 September 30 in his eighty-second year. 

 Anthropological science has thus lost a 

 sincere friend. Mr. Douglass was born at 

 West Point, New York, on November 18, 

 1819. He was the son of Major David 

 Bates Douglass, and his mother was a 

 daughter of Andrew Ellicott, professor of 

 mathematics at West Point. 



Mr. Douglass graduated from Kenyon 

 College in 1838 and received the degree of 

 A.M. in 1841. On completing his under- 

 graduate course he engaged in business, 

 being connected with the firm afterwards 

 known as the Hazard Powder Company. 

 In 1867 he became president of the com- 

 'psiuj and retired nine years later from a 

 successful business career. 



Since 1876 Mr. Douglass devoted much 

 of his time to the study of the Indian arti- 

 facts of the United States. He spent ten 

 winters cruising along the Floridian coast, 

 locating over fifty Indian mounds, many of 

 which he excavated. For his study Mr. 

 Douglass brought together an excellent 

 library relating to American archeology 

 and made a synoptical collection of over 

 22,000 specimens, which latter he presented 

 to the American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory during the present year. This col- 

 lection of implements is arranged in various 

 special classes irrespective of geographical 

 distribution with the purpose of solving 

 the theory of their use. Mr. Douglass be- 

 lieved, however, in the geographical method 

 of arrangement, but that both methods 

 were necessary. A series of over a thou- 

 sand hematite objects in the collection 

 constitutes what is perhaps . a unique 

 feature. The collection is most carefully 

 catalogued and cross-referenced as might be 

 expected by those who knew Mr. Douglass's 

 painstaking business method. 



Mr. Douglass was a member of the Met- 

 ropolitan Museum of Art and a patron of 



