806 The American Naturalist. [October, 
Philadelphia in 1884 when the British Association met in Montreal. 
As the American Association knows its own mind, we may look for 
one of our largest meetings in Detroit in 1897. 
In our issue for October, 1895, we referred to the organization of 
the Field Museum of Chicago as having failed to furnish a successful 
basis of operations for the prosecution of original research. At that 
time most of the men who could give reputation to it had left, owing 
to the unsatisfactory positions in which they found themselves placed. 
Subsequently the establishment of publications of a very meritorious 
character induced us to believe that proper steps had been taken by 
the management to place the scientific men on such a basis as to insure 
the future prosperity of the enterprise. Authentic information recently 
received shows that this anticipation was premature. Other resigna- 
tions have occurred, and the institution is evidently destined to be a 
failure unless a reorganization is effected. 
Men who have spent their lives in mercantile pursuits are generally 
unacquainted with the conditions necessary to original research in 
science. The modus operandi in the two pursuits is fundamentally dif- 
ferent. An element of tentative experiment enters into the pursuit of 
science, which requires a degree of freedom on the part of the investi- 
gator which cannot be accorded to the regular employee, the results of 
whose work are always susceptible of full anticipation. The investiga- 
tor must have full control of material of research and of the ways of 
getting it. In fact no one else is likely to know how to get it. He 
alone knows the profitable lines of work ; hence he must be permitted 
to select his work. No one will secure a museum sooner than he, and 
it will be as much more valuable than can be created by any one else, 
as the work of an expert is necessarily more important than that of 
other persons. For these and many other reasons no museum can be- 
come great unless its administration is in control of scientific experts, 
who should be responsible to each other and to the trustees only, 
With an organization of this kind, composed of the class of men from 
whom it has already selected some of its aids, there is no reason why 
the Field Museum, under the liberal terms of its endowment, should 
not rival the greatest museums of the world. 
—WEeE must again remind contributors to the NATURALIST that 
proofs of all kinds and blocks of engravings must be sent to the pub- 
lishers and not to the managing editor. Failure to observe this rule 
often causes inconvenient delays. Manuscripts,on the other hand, 
should go to the appropriate editors, and not to the publishers. 
