Page Twenty-two 



I never saw fossils so luxuriously installed before. — At j)resent they are 

 in a very bad way. Schaffer told nie that for his department he had an 

 allowance of 700 kronen, equal to $20.00 at present exchange, for the 

 year, outside of salaries, and it is impossible to carry on the ordinary 

 running expenses on such a sum, and no prospect that the state will in- 

 cn^ase it. They have succeeded after great efforts in getting salaries 

 raised to equal $500.00 per year each for himself and his assistants, and 

 on that he says they can get along. But they must have aid to meet the 

 necessary maintenance charges. He thinks that with $480.00 per annum 

 for this purpose his department can keep up their work and keep the 

 collections in order, setting aside for the present of course all thought of 

 purchasing any new material. Five thousand a year would similarly 

 provide for the whole museum 



" 1 saw a melancholy example of the results of lack of funds in the 

 present condition of the magnificent meteorite collection (which they 

 regard as the finest in existence). Owing to the lack of coal for heating 

 the museum buildings last winter, the protective varnish covering all 

 their sectioned surfaces was badly checked, and the damp got in at the 

 iron and has rusted it very badly. All these sections wdll have to be re- 

 ground and polished at a heavy expense. Other damage by the cold to 

 alcoholic and other preparations is irreparable. 



''They have a new collection from Samos at the museum, i)urchased 

 shortly before the war, and none of it yet on exhibition. It is beyond 

 com})arison the finest Samos collection." 



Of the Munich Museum, Dr. Matthew writes: 



"In Munich I found the collections vastly increased from the old 

 Zittel days. I think one can say without question that it is the finest 

 museum for fossil vertebrata in Germany. There is a very fine series of 

 reptiles, and far more mammals than elsewhere. — The material is so 

 uniformly distributed that it is difficult to pick any one line for commen- 

 dation." 



Dr. Matthew spent the end of October in Italy. He visited the 

 museumat Padua, and made acquaintance with Professor Giorgio Dal 

 Piaz, head of the Department of Geology, who is doing active work in 

 collectingTertiary mammals, etc., has published a number of valuable 

 memoirs on the geology and palaeontology of Venetia, and has brought 

 together a small but valuable series of fovssil vertebrates, mostly Vene- 

 tian. From Padua Dr. Matthew w(Mit to Bologna, where he met Pro- 



