1895.] Editor’s Table. 347 
climatic conditions that prevail there, is less than on any equal area of 
the arii s quias, they must be nevertheless considerable. But the 
which will accrue to geology and the climatic history 
of the oak in past ages cannot be overestimated, and the probability 
of important additions to our knowledge of ancient life is great. It 
is to be hoped that the projects now on foot in this country and else- 
where for Antarctic exploration will be sustained in such a way as to 
insure their success. An Antarctic expedition should be furnished 
with every facility for collecting on land and sea, including apparatus 
for deep sea dredging. 
In his account of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, published in 
the last number of the NaruraList, Professor Conn seems to mistake 
the field and purpose of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Wood’s 
Holl. From the first, instruction has been encouraged as much as 
investigation, and in any year the number of students receiving instruc- 
tion will far exceed those carrying on independent research. The 
Marine Biological Laboratory is for the diffusion as well as for the in- 
crease of knowledge, and the fact that it trains many of those who come 
to it for elementary instruction, to become, eventually, investigators, 
does not in the least invalidate its claim to be considered an institution 
for instruction. 
In the editorial columns of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, of 
March 21st, appeared a quotation of remarks made by the Secretary of 
the Academy of Natural Sciences with reference to the Peary Relief 
Expedition. These remarks are to the effect that the Academy will not 
subscribe to the expedition which is to start shortly to bring Lieutenant 
Peary back from the Arctic regions; and the reason given is that the 
results obtained by the Peary Expeditions are not of sufficient scientific 
importance to warrant the Academy in making the subscription. As 
this is the second time within the last few months that persons in au- 
thority in that institution have expressed such sentiments regarding the 
Peary Expeditions, there is probably some truth in the statement that 
the Academy will not subscribe to this enterprise. It is to be hoped, 
however, that the real reason for this action is financial inability, 
rather than that which has been given by these self-constituted mouth- 
pieces of the Academy. It should not be necessary to repeat, at this 
day the importance of such expeditions to science. There is no doubt 
that if the Academy can stand this kind of talk, Lieutenant Peary can- 
