808 



SCIENCE, 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 282. 



science, as well as the obvious advantages 

 to itself, demaaded that some scientific 

 publication should be begun. Publications 

 were commonly considered invariable con- 

 comitants of Museum life. The Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology, under Louis Agas- 

 siz, began its important series of Bulletins 

 in 1863, and later enlarged the work of in. 

 vestigation by instituting the Memoirs, be- 

 gun in 1864. The Bulletins were largely 

 at first devoted to systematic work but this 

 was soon gradually invaded and partially 

 displaced by biological studies and such ad- 

 mirable geological and physiographic papers 

 as E.. T. Hill's Geology and Physical Geog- 

 raphy of Jamaica. A. Agassiz's study of 

 the Fiji Islands and the Three Voyages of 

 the Blake appeared. 



The Museum of Comparative Zoology 

 boasted of an extraordinary group of stu- 

 dents, and the inception of a bulletin or 

 some other form of publication was in- 

 evitable. Here A. E. Verrill, S. H. Scud- 

 der, J. A. Allen, Jeffries Wyman, "Wm. 

 Stimpson, A. S. Packard, J. G. Anthony, 

 Alpheus Hyatt, W. H. Niles, A. Agassiz, 

 F. W. Putnam, 0. St. John, C. F. Hartt, 

 L. F. de Pourtales, Theodore Lyman, P. R. 

 TJhler, U. S. Shaler, Horace Mann, W. H. 

 Dall, A. S. Bickmore were likely, from 

 their superabundant enthusiasm and in- 

 dustry, as well as the unflagging zeal of 

 their leader Louis Agassiz, soon to demand 

 a printed page for their results in various 

 fields of natural science. It is in much 

 more recent years that these splendid pub- 

 lications have been continued on a biolog- 

 ical line, by Folsom, Bouvier and Fischer, 

 Mayer, and A. Agassiz, Hamaker, Gallo- 

 way, Bancroft, Parker, Gerould, Wilcox, 

 Vennings, Meyer, and Neal. 



Yet, under the most favorable conditions 

 for the supply of material, the early volumes 

 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology did 

 not equal in size the first Bulletins of the 

 American Museum of Natural History. 



The Memoirs of the Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology embodied more elaborate 

 contributions to science in the form of 

 quarto volumes, in which such notable 

 studies as Allman's Hydroids, Agassiz's 

 Echini and Acalephs, Faxon's Stalk-eyed 

 Crustacea appeared. 



The Peabody Museum of American Arch- 

 aeology and Ethnology publish Annual Re- 

 ports embracing some scientific information, 

 miscellaneous papers, and Memoirs. The 

 Peabody Museum of Yale University pub- 

 lishes Memoirs, the Field Museum of Chi- 

 cago engages in the publication of papers in 

 its various departments. In New York, 

 the Reports of the Regents of the Univer- 

 sity of the State of New York, on the con- 

 dition of the State Cabinet of Natural 

 History, had been long established. This 

 last important series had been the deposi- 

 tory of scientific papers and afforded an 

 outlet for Professor Hall's paleontological 

 studies which otherwise would have suffered 

 partial suppression. These Reports have 

 been succeeded by the Reports of the Mu- 

 seums, filled with useful and often elab- 

 orateand comprehensive treatises on ques- 

 tions in State Geology, Paleontology and 

 Botany. 



The Smithsonian Institution and the Na- 

 tional Museum have been prolific sources of 

 published material, and the Museums in 

 Europe have issued numerous studies and 

 periodical papers. 



It would indeed be very obvious to any 

 thoughtful mind that the Museum could 

 not long maintain a self-respecting attitude 

 towards the world of science, nor bring 

 itself into correlation with its own expecta- 

 tions if it did not have a s^entific publica- 

 tion. Besides, there were substantial ben- 

 efits of another sort to be secured. The 

 Bulletin or whatever other publication was 

 finally decided upon would be the means 

 of bringing the Museum into correspond- 

 ence with societies, institutes, museums, ly- 



