February 26, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



205 



may well be concluded with a few pertinent ex- 

 tracts from the article in question. 



"So long as demand continues, the supply will 

 come. Law of itself can be of little, perhaps of 

 no ultimate, avail. It may give check ; but this 

 tide of destruction it is powerless to stay. The 

 demand will be met ; the offenders will find it 

 worth while to dare the law. One thing only 

 will stop this cruelty, — the disapprobation of 

 fashion. It is our women who hold this great 

 power. Let our women say the word, and hun- 

 dreds of thousands of bird-lives every year will 

 be preserved. And, until woman does use her in- 

 fluence, it is vain to hope that this nameless sacri- 

 fice will cease until it has worked out its own end, 

 and the birds are gone. ... It is earnestly hoped 

 that the ladies of this city can be led to see this 

 matter in its true light, and to take some pro- 

 nounced stand in behalf of the birds, and against 

 the prevailing fashions. 



"It is known that even now birds are not worn 

 by some, on grounds of humanity. Yet little is 

 to be expected from individuals challenging the 

 fashion : concert of action is needed. The senti- 

 ment of humanity once widely aroused, the birds 

 are safe. Surely those who unthinkingly have 

 been the sustaining cause of a great cruelty will not 

 refuse their influence in abating it, now that they 

 are awakened to the truth. Already word comes 

 from London, that women are taking up the work 

 there. Can we do less? It needs only united 

 action, sustained by resolution and sincerity of 

 purpose, to crush a painful wrong, — truly a bar- 

 barism, — and to achieve a humane work so far- 

 reaching in its effects as to outsweep the span of 

 our own generation, and promise a blessing to 

 those who will come after." 



There are already in England, it may be added, 

 two societies organized expressly in aid of the 

 preservation of birds ' in Great Britain and all 

 other parts of the world." The Selborne society, 

 originated by George Arthur Musgrave of London, 

 appeals to Englishwomen "to forswear the present 

 fashion of wearing foreign or English bird-skins. 

 Our countrywomen are asked to inaugurate a return 

 to a mode which, though half forgotten now, is 

 assuredly more becoming to the wearer than tro- 

 phies of robins and sandpipers." Lady Mount 

 Temple is not only a member of the plumage sec- 

 tion of the Selborne society, but has written a vigor- 

 ous protest against the fashion of wearing dead 

 birds on dresses, bonnets, and hats. The section is 

 under the patronage of her Royal Highness the 

 Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, and 

 numbers among its membership twenty ladies of 

 title, and also Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, 

 Sir Frederick Leighton, and Rev. F. O. Morris. 



THE AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION 

 COMMITTEE ON BIRD-PROTECTION. 



The American ornithologists' union committee 

 was recently organized in New York city with the 

 following membership : Mr. George B. Sennett, 

 chairman ; Mr. Eugene P. Bicknell, secretary ; 

 Mr. William Dutcher, treasurer ; Mr. J. A. Allen, 

 Dr. J. B. Holder, Dr. George Bird Grinnell, and 

 Mr. L. S. Foster, all of New York city ; Mr. 

 William Brewster, Cambridge, Mass. ; Mr. Monta- 

 gue Chamberlain, St. John, N.B. ; Col. N. S. Goss, 

 Topeka, Kan. 



The committee is desirous of collecting facts and 

 statistics bearing upon the subject of the destruc- 

 tion of our birds, and will welcome information 

 from any source. It also extends the promise 

 of its hearty co-operation to all persons or 

 societies who may be interested in the protection 

 of birds. 



The headquarters of the committee are at the 

 American museum of natural history, Central 

 Park, New York city, where the officers or any of 

 the members may be addressed. 



The Third report of the Cornell university 

 experiment-station, 1883-84 and 1884-85 (Ithaca, 

 N. Y., Andrus & Church, 1885, 39 p., 8°), con- 

 tains an account of work done in the years 1882- 

 85 chiefly by Professors Roberts and Caldwell. 

 Although the experiments are comparatively sim- 

 ple, and show plainly that they were made in the 

 intervals of other duties, they still show a de- 

 gree of insight and accuracy in plan and execu- 

 tion, and are reported with a clearness of state- 

 ment which we sometimes look for in vain in 

 more pretentious reports. We may mention par- 

 ticularly Professor Roberts's determinations of 

 the value of stable- manure, and Professor Cald- 

 well's comparisons of the chemical composition 

 and nutritive effect of certain rations for cattle. 

 The subject of the first-named experiment is one 

 which has usually been treated deductively, and 

 hence these experiments are of interest not only 

 in their direct application to farm practice, but 

 because they serve to a certain extent to justify 

 the deductions of science. The feeding-experi- 

 ments show the uncertainty attaching to the use 

 of the so-called ' feeding-standards ' or ' standard 

 rations ' which have been somewhat widely recom- 

 mended by writers on agricultural science. Evi- 

 dence seems to be accumulating that these stand- 

 ards, in then present form, are very uncertain 

 guides, and that, even if not based on false prem- 

 ises, they require great modifications before they 

 can be made of much use to those most needing 

 the information. 



