1142 The American Naturalist. [December, 
degree of Doctor of Medicine. After some time spent as an instructor 
at Ann Arbor, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Chemistry and 
Mineralogy in the Iowa State College. 
In 1875, Dr. Foote removed to Philadelphia. He was a life member 
of the Academy of Natural Sciences, of the New York Lyceum of 
Natural History, and of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science. Dr. Foote’s extended travels, both in this country 
and in Europe, made him particularly well known in scientific circles. 
His chief interest was in mineralogy. 
He was well known as one of the few professional dealers in objects 
of nature in the United States, and he made a financial success of it, 
leaving a competency to his family. As an antiquarian repository of 
works on natural history, Dr. Foote’s establishment is without a rival 
in America. 
EDITOR’S TABLE. 
—Some cultivators of the sciences occasionally complain that the 
meetings of scientific bodies are not well attended, and that they read 
_papers to too’ many empty benches. Moreover, even when they have 
a scientific audience they allege that very few of those present under- 
‘stand what they have to say. And they speculate on measures to be 
adopted to remedy this state of affairs. 
As the scientific investigator acquires years and experience, he recog- 
nizes that in the present state of human society he has no right to ex- 
pect that the situation can be very different. The number of serious 
cultivators of science in any community is not large, and the number of 
men engaged in original research in any given field is still smaller. 
Like the landed aristocracy of the old nations, the producers in each 
department of science are well scattered over a country, and it is only 
on national occasions that they gather in any considerable force. The 
situation as to the audiences who assemble to listen to papers of origi- 
nal value in pure science is therefore not likely to change for some 
years. In fact, the size of audiences may be set down as inversely as 
the rationality, and directly as the emotionality of the matter set before 
‘them. Such is the present state of the civilized nations of the earth, 
and it is not peculiar to any one of them. 
