SCIENCE 



FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, li 



We called attention a few weeks ago to the beginnings of 

 a zoological garden at Washington. It now appears that plans for 

 a similar undertaking have been in progress for some time in Bos- 

 ton, and are now made public in a correspondence between the 

 park commissioners of that city and the Society of Natural History. 

 Although only preliminary steps have yet been taken, the outcome 

 appears to be that the park commissioners have agreed to place in 

 reserve, and lease the society on a nominal rental for a long term 

 •of years, several pieces of land under their control, to be developed, 

 under the auspices of the society, as natural-history gardens 

 and aquaria, if the friends of the society will raise a fund of 

 two hundred thousand dollars as a foundation for the enterprise. 

 The society proposes to interest the general public in the matter by 

 ■creating a new body of members, to be called ' garden members,' 

 paying a certain annual sum for the support of the enterprise, and 

 in return presumably receiving certain entrance privileges. In their 

 reply to the proposal made by the Natural History Society, the park 

 commissioners call attention to the peculiar situation of Boston, in 

 that its territory is greatly divided by bodies of water and marsh, 

 and its dry land by rocky ridges, causing the city to extend itself in 

 a very irregular manner. This prevents the possibility of finding 

 any one piece of land large enough for the proposed natural-history 

 park, and leads the commissioners to suggest to the society the 

 advisability of occupying several distinct pieces of land ; so that the 

 plan as developed includes a diversified but unwatered portion of 

 Franklin Park, next the future pleasuring-ground of Boston, a sec- 

 tion of the park below Jamaica Pond, and a salt-water basin, 

 perhaps a quarter of a mile long, at City Point, South Boston. 

 Such a division has never before, we believe, been attempted in a 

 zoological garden, but, though obviously requiring a larger staff to 

 operate it, has some advantages which should not be overlooked. It 

 is thus possible to obtain for aquatic animals places specially suited 

 to them, and to select ground of a very varied character for other 

 parts of the garden without feeling dependent upon a great water- 

 supply ; while the establishment of the large marine aquaria at the 

 very edge of the harbor has obvious advantages. Moreover, it 

 brings all the citizens into near proximity to some part of the 

 ground occupied. Another distinct feature in the plan is a most 

 commendable one, though its advantages are not so apparent on 

 financial as on educational grounds. The committee points out 

 that the society has long developed its museum with the distinct 

 purpose of making it auxiliary to the general scheme of education in 

 the State, and within a recent time has given special attention to 

 exhibiting the animals, plants, and minerals of New England, be- 

 lieving that its position as the leading natural-history society of this 

 group of States imposes such a duty upon it. This same idea it 

 would carry out in the proposed garden by making it in an especial 

 way a reproduction of the true indigenous fauna of New England. 

 For it is to be borne in mind, say the memorialists, " that with the 

 increase of population, and the concomitant decrease of the indige- 

 nous wild animals ; above all, with the modern excessive growth of 

 city life, — the percentage of city children (and hence of all) who 

 may ever hope to see, and still less to observe at their leisure, the 

 living objects of their native State or country, is rapidly growing 

 less. At the same time the importance of such observation and 

 study, instead of decreasing in like proportion, is greatly enhanced. 

 To the country boy it is of comparatively little moment whether he 

 observes this bird or plant, or that, since he has usually definite 



ideas of all, drawn from frequent observation of many. But to the 

 city lad it is of the utmost consequence that he shall be able to cor- 

 rect his less definite ideas — formed for the most part by hearsay, 

 by books, or by pictures — by observation of the object itself." 

 The enterprise now plainly depends on the public spirit of the 

 citizens of Boston. It is the natural and proper outcome of the 

 admirable park system of that city. The Natural History Society 

 has had the plan in view for twenty years, and believes the time is 

 now ripe for developing it. Surely no such scheme has ever been 

 proposed in this country under more favorable circumstances, or 

 with the promise of so powerful and substantial support. That 

 the park commissioners perceive this, is evident from the readiness 

 of their response to the application of the society's committee, and 

 we shall look with confidence to a generous response from a city 

 that has already done so much for science and education. 



The most important question discussed by the Department 

 of Superintendence of the National Educational Association at its 

 meeting at Washington last week was, ' How and to what extent 

 can manual training be ingrafted in the public-school system ? ' 

 It occupied the entire morning of the first day's session ; and after 

 the reading, by Mr. Charles H. Ham of Chicago, of a very thought- 

 ful and eloquent paper, the discussion was taken up by a number 

 of gentlemen, some of them the most prominent and influential 

 educators of the country. Of all who participated in the discussion, 

 only one, Mr. Marble of Worcester, — a gentleman whose idiosyn- 

 crasies on this subject we have lately criticised (^Science, No. 257), — 

 opposed manual training, he even going entirely beyond the limits of 

 the question at issue in order to ventilate his views. The reports 

 of the meeting which reach us go to prove that our previous judg- 

 ment, that Mr. Marble knows nothing about manual training or 

 the argument for it, was correct. We regret to understand, how- 

 ever, that at Washington he surpassed his previous efforts, and 

 considerably exceeded the bounds of courtesy in his treatment of 

 those who favor manual training. The consciousness that one 

 stands alone in the wrong of so great a question as this, must be 

 irritating, but it can hardly be offered as an excuse for the con- 

 duct in question. Argument by invective is becoming far too com- 

 mon in this country, and it is our duty to protest most emphati- 

 cally against its introduction into educational discussions. The 

 advance of a great educational movement is not to be checked by 

 abusing either it or those who regard it with favor, and it was this 

 abuse, without a line of argument, which made up Mr. Marble's 

 fifty-minute harangue. President Butler, Dr. Beltield, and Mr. 

 Newell very easily and briefly showed how entirely aside from the 

 question it all was. The result of the discussion was the appoint- 

 ment of a committee of seven to draw up a course of study in man- 

 ual training, and to report at the next meeting. 



THE MISSISSIPPI PROBLEM. 



The improvement of the Mississippi River, on a large scale and 

 systematic plan, enjoyed, from its inception to the last session of the 

 Forty-eighth Congress, a most enthusiastic support. From the 

 outset, the theories proposed as the basis of the work undertaken 

 have been criticised and contested, but for a considerable time no 

 opposition was directed to the constructions actually undertaken. 



Happily all who had addressed themselves to the problem had 

 been, so far as concerns the works in the bed of the river, substan- 

 tially in accord as to the projects for the immediate application of 

 the appropriations, while differing somewhat as to the reasons for 



