802 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 54.3. 



A Pica for Governmental Supervision of 

 Posts Necessitating Normal Perception 

 of Color: Dr. Charles A. Oliver, of 

 Philadelphia. 



The Present Status of the International 

 Catalogue of Scientific Literature: Dr. 

 Cyrus Adler, of Washington. 



The Composite Character of the Baby- 

 lonian Creation Story: Professor Morris 

 Jastrow, Jr., of Philadelphia. 

 In the course of his address on 'The 

 Composite Character of the Babylonian 

 Creation Story,' Professor Jastrow re- 

 ferred to the progress made in recent years 

 in the interpretation of the Babylonian 

 creation tale, thanks chiefly to the dis- 

 covery of new fragments of the story in 

 the remains of the famous Assyrian library 

 of Ashurbanapol, at Nineveh. 



"We now know," he said, "that the nar- 

 rative in the form of a poem consisted of 

 about 1,000 lines, of which three fourths 

 have been found. The version of the story 

 which we have is the one that was produced 

 in the city of Babylon by the priests of 

 Marduk, the chief god of the later Baby- 

 lonian Pantheon. This god is, therefore, 

 introduced as the creator and as playing 

 the principal part in the struggle between 

 the gods and an army of monsters led by 

 Tiamar. 



"The 'Babylon' version of the creation 

 story rests on an older tale, which origin- 

 ated in Nippur, and in which the chief god 

 of that city, who was called Bel, is the 

 hero. When the 'temple library' of Nip- 

 pur shall be discovered, or if it has been 

 discovered, we may expect to find this older 

 version. At present we may conclude from 

 the 'Babylon' version that an earlier 'Nip- 

 pur' version existed. There was, however, 

 also a third version, which originated in 

 Eridu, one of the most ancient religious 

 centers of Babylonia, and in which the god 

 Ea played the chief role. 



"In the 'Babylon' version the two older 

 versions, that of Nippur and that of Eridu, 

 have been combined to form the INIarduk 

 epic. Bel's name and role are transferred 

 to Marduk, and, likewise, Ea's preroga- 

 tives. A trace of the three versions is to 

 be seen in the opening lines, which desig- 

 nate three beings, all synonyms of one an- 

 other, as the symbol of the water chaos 

 which preceded the organization of the 

 regular workings of nature." 



The English Masque: Professor Felix E. 



ScHELLiNG, of Philadelphia. 



The English masque is a by-form of the 

 English drama which flourished between 

 the years 1597 and 1658, and is absolutely 

 definite in its nature and characteristics, 

 and to be defined as that species of the 

 entertainment, the nucleus of which is a 

 dance. The masque was usually presented 

 at court as the setting of a ball and the 

 actors in its serious parts were the nobles 

 and ladies attendant on royalty. The 

 masque is based on the revels, disguisings 

 and maskings popular in England and, es- 

 pecially at court, from time immemorial. 

 It is in no wise a derivative in any essen- 

 tial feature of similar festivities of Italy 

 or France ; but was developed as a definite 

 product of literary and histrionic art 

 chiefly in the reigns of King James and 

 King Charles I. Thomas Campion, the 

 musician, and Samuel Daniel, the court 

 poet, wrote its earliest forms; but it was 

 perf-ected mainly in the hands of Ben Jon- 

 son, who added the antimasque, or con- 

 trasted comedy element ; while Inigo Jones, 

 the royal architect, brought its costuming, 

 scenic features and mechanical devices for 

 stage effect to a surprising degree of per- 

 fection. The list of less than sixty masques 

 within this period is surrounded by many 

 dramatic compositions of a character more 

 or less similar. But even Milton 's Comus, 



