JtfAHCH 6, 1885. 



SCIENCE. 



187 



this class of practitioners do so out of pure ig- 

 norance, and the} 7 have a right to ask that the 

 law shall give them some protection against too 

 gross imposition. Those who object that this 

 bill imposes the very minimum of qualification 

 (and any who know how brief a study and how 

 limited knowledge a diploma from a ' legally 

 qualified medical college ' may testify to, will 

 be very apt to make this criticism) may be 

 reminded that beginnings must be small ; that 

 the public is not yet educated in this intel- 

 ligent state of Massachusetts to believe that 

 the ignorant patients are entitled to any protec- 

 tion, or that the ignorant doctors are not en- 

 titled to the same recognition as any other 

 business-man pursuing his calling under the 

 disadvantages of the lack of early education. 



It will be noticed that after 1886 the board 

 will examine all applicants ; and, although it 

 cannot purify as much as might be desirable the 

 present bod}' medical, yet it can then guard the 

 gates against future intrusions of ignoramuses. 

 The strength of different ' schools ' of medicine 

 will undoubtedly compel some distasteful asso- 

 ciations upon the board of examiners ; but the 

 importance of the interests to be served ought 

 to stifle jealousies, and override etiquette. 

 Purification of the profession can but tend to 

 its unification and to the development of the 

 truth. If we can be assured of a competent 

 knowledge of the fundamental medical sciences 

 in all who undertake to practise it, mere 

 ' pathies ' and fads must inevitably die out 

 within the profession, and outside of it can 

 have little practical weight. 



Judging from what the honorary curator of 

 the insect-collections of the national museum 

 writes in to-day's issue, there is no important 

 difference between his views and those to 

 whose words he has objected. All agree that 

 collections of insects need vigilant and unre- 

 mitting care, and that any museum which does 

 not guarantee that care is no fit depository of 

 valuable collections. The question whether 

 the national museum practically offers such 



guaranty is a nice one. Judging from the 

 past history of the national collections in 

 general, one would unhesitatingly say it did 

 not. Judging, further, from Mr. Riley's own 

 statements of the present condition of things, 

 the same answer may fairly be given ; for a 

 large and growing collection, already one of 

 the most important in the country, with no 

 person in charge, or working under direction, 

 whose services the museum can command, is 

 plainly not a place which has any right to 

 invite the deposit of unique objects. Not- 

 withstanding this, the recent growth of the 

 museum gives large, one is tempted to say 

 abundant, hope that what has been accom- 

 plished means not only permanence, but prog- 

 ress ; that, dependent as it is absolutely upon 

 annual congressional appropriations, these will 

 not entirely fail, since its hold upon both popular 

 and congressional favor is such as to command 

 respect and a certain amount of support. 

 Though it may suffer temporary curtailment at 

 times, it is already too strong to suffer long 

 neglect or to be overthrown. 



Nor must we forget that it shows hereby its 

 very right to exist. In no country, more than 

 in a republic, have institutions been more 

 severely subjected to the law of ' the survival 

 of the fittest.' With rare exceptions, all the 

 scientific bureaus of the government are 

 dependent for very life, from year to year, on 

 the will of the people. The coast-survey 

 even, with its extensive corps of picked men 

 and all its refinement of work, unsurpassed 

 by that of any similar body elsewhere, exists 

 by virtue of an annual appropriation. How- 

 ever foreign this may be to the administrative 

 ideas of European nations, it is thoroughly 

 ingrained in our policy, a piece of the unwrit- 

 ten law of the land, a substantial part of 

 democratic life. If through its agency the 

 scientific bureaus of our government have 

 reached their present status, and their work 

 has received such generous praise abroad, 

 even to self-reproach, to what may we not 

 look forward when we consider that they have 

 gained their present standing through the 



