SCIENCE. 



FEIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1885. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 



There was a report last summer in the foreign 

 journals that the Portuguese government had 

 bought twelve hundred slaves of the king of 

 Dahomey. It was expected that this report would 

 be met by a prompt denial. The PortugTiese 

 jomTials admit the pui'chase, but state that these 

 slaves were prisoners of war taken by the sover- 

 eign of Dahomey, and were about to be put to 

 death on the occasion of a grand fete prepared by 

 the king; that, when the Portuguese heard of this 

 projected hecatomb, they sent a ship with agents 

 to Dahomey, as a philanthropic act, and for the 

 benefit of the blacks ; that by appealing to the 

 cupidity of the king, they purchased them, not as 

 slaves, but as free men, to work under a contract, 

 for a period of three years, in the cultivation of 

 the coffee plantations on the Island of St. Thomas, 

 after which they wlQ receive regTdar wages. The 

 continental journals reply that this is only another 

 name for slavery, and will be the most effectual 

 means of perpetuating the traffic in Africa; that if 

 there are no buyers, there will be no slaves ; that 

 the African regards the slave as m.uch an article 

 of commerce as ivory, india-rubber, or palm-oil, 

 but prefers the slave as acquired with greater 

 ease; that the king of Dahomey will at once send 

 his warriors into the interior of Africa, to capture 

 more slaves in the place of those that are sold, and 

 if Portugal wiQ buy these, a perpetual traffic in 

 slaves will be estabhshed; that this will put an 

 end to all hope of the civihzation of Africa, as it 

 must lead to a constant state of war, the trade in 

 slaves paying better than any other. 



The comng meeting of the American public 

 health association in Washington, Dec. 8-11, prom- 

 ises to be one of unusual interest. When it adjourned 

 last year at St. Louis, it was expected that the 

 principal subject for consideration this year would 

 be cholera; but fortunately the anticipated epidemic 

 has not ajjpeared, and other topics will therefore be 

 discussed. The leading feature will be the award 

 of prizes for the best essays on the following sub- 

 No. 146. — 1885. 



jects : Healthy homes and foods for the working 

 classes. The sanitary conditions and necessities of 

 school-houses and school-life, Disinfection and 

 individual prophylaxis against infectious diseases, 

 and The preventable causes of disease, injury, and 

 death in American manufactories and workshops, 

 and the best means and appliances for preventing 

 and avoiding them. The prizes amount to .$2,800 ; 

 $500 for the first, and $200 for the second. The 

 money is the gift of Mr. Henry Lomb of Roches- 

 ter. For these prizes fifty-two essays have been 

 presented. 



To ANY ONE NOT FAMILIAR with the history of 

 the Smithsonian institution, and the manner in 

 which its natural history collections were admin- 

 istered in the days before the national museum 

 was adopted by congress, it seems almost incredible 

 that there should not have grown up under its 

 care an extensive collection of insects. Still more 

 strange must it appear that an establishment so 

 rich as is the national museum in other branches 

 of zoology should have been up to this time with- 

 out a regularly organized department of entomol- 

 ogy. The reasons for this it seems unnecessary 

 to discuss in this place, further than to remind 

 our readers that until very recently all collections 

 and plants received by the Smithsonian institu- 

 tion have been turned over to the department of 

 agriculture for administration. When it is re- 

 membered that the national museum was never 

 recognized by that name in any act of congress 

 until 1877, and that its present organization dates 

 back only four years, some deficiencies may well 

 be overlooked. The lack of a department of 

 insects, estabhshed upon a j)ermanent basis, has 

 from time to time been made the subject of remark 

 in the columns of Science, and it gives us pleasure 

 to announce that steps have been taken toward 

 the stable organization of such a department. 

 It has already assumed an importance not un- 

 worthy of the dignity of a national institution. 

 The gift by Dr. Riley of his fine private collection 

 affords a nucleus around wliich materials will 

 rapidly accumulate, and the appointment of a paid 

 custodian of the collection will cause entomolo- 

 gists to feel that their specialty is to be properly 

 represented in Washington. 



