278 KANSAS CITY J? E VIEW OF SCIENCE. 
The financial condition of the Institute, generally speaking, is far from satis- 
tory, and its work, the carrying on of which is largely due to the self-sacrificing 
spirit of its agents, will have to be suspended unless there is a heartier response 
to the appeals for money. The committee state that "they are unwilling to 
repeat such appeals, and they have resolved that this shall be the last, at least 
until a considerable period of years shall have elapsed. ***** 
It cannot but be felt as a matter of reproach to a community so wealthy and so 
generally intelligent as our own, that, after the Institute has shown itself capable 
of conducting investigations so interesting and so successful as those which it 
has directed in this country and in Asia Minor, it is left without the means to 
carry out new designs of a similar nature, and is compelled to withdraw from 
fields in which so much still remains to be discovered, and to leave others to 
reap a harvest the fruits of which America ought to be desirous to secure, at 
least in part for herself." 
The membership of the Institute consists at present of ninety-four life mem- 
bers, who pay $ioo upon admission, and 251 ordinary members, whose dues are 
$10 a year. The list of foreign honorary members contains some of the names 
best known in the fields of classical archaeology and history. The number of 
ordinary members has been considerably increased during the past year, especially 
in New York. The address of the Secretary, Mr. E. H. Greenleaf, is care of 
the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass. 
PREHISTORIC REMAINS FROM SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. 
Hon. Wm, McAdams, the geologist, has just returned from a sojourn of 
several weeks in southeast Missouri, and brought with him a large number of 
geological specimens and prehistoric remains, some of which are remarkable. 
He was camped a good part of the time at the Salt Springs on the Saline Creek, 
Mo. These curious salt springs seem to have been a great resort for prehistoric 
animals, such as the mastodon, mammoth and other curious creatures now 
entirely extinct. The vicinity for a circuit of several miles is cut up by deep 
ravines, the remains of the trails and paths of the animals in olden times going to 
the salt deposits. Besides the huge bones of mastodons, we were shown the 
portion of a jaw containing four perfect teeth, belonging, the gentleman thinks, to 
some extinct carnivorous animal much larger than our greatest bear. Other 
teeth of curious shape were shown. One of the most interesting specimens 
found on the SaUne in connection with the remains of the mastodon, is a mass of 
singular substance known as adipocere, which seems to be tallow or fatty matter, 
assuming a peculiar form like hard castile soap. Under certain conditions fatty 
matter has been found, after great lapse of time, to have taken on a mineral 
character, and we have in this instance portions of the body of the animal pre- 
served. Prof. Mars, the chemist, after analyzing portions of this singular sub- 
stance, pronounces it adipocere, and most probably the mastodon's fat. 
