May 14, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



429 



living, is without parallel, and there is no indica- 

 tion that the climax has been reached. It is not, 

 indeed, improbable that our age may come to be 

 looked upon as plodding and unprogressive. 



It is not, however, to the development of the 

 world's resources to which I would direct atten- 

 tion, but to some of the effects impending from 

 the ascendency of many, and the duty of zoolo- 

 gists in connection therewith. 



Some of the great changes in the zoological con- 

 dition of the globe, incident upon the increase of 

 human populations, the extension of railroads 

 and the introduction of steam-power and horse- 

 power, agricultural machinery, and the general 

 use of perfected fire-arms, are familiar to every- 

 body. The existence of vast herds of bison on the 

 western plains of North America has become a 

 matter of history. The aurochs, the bison's Euro- 

 pean cousin, is likewise menaced with destruction. 

 "It no longer exists," says M. de Tribolet, "but 

 in the condition, as one may say, of a living zoo- 

 logical specimen." Similarly the bands of destruc- 

 tion are daily tightening about the wapiti, the 

 moose deer, the antelope, the manatee, and the 

 mountain sheep and mountain goat, in North 

 America ; the chamois, the wild goat, the beaver, 

 and the stag, in Europe ; the kangaroo, in Aus- 

 tralia ; the elephant, the gorilla, and the chim- 

 panzee, in Africa ;. and a score of other mammals, 

 as well as birds and reptiles, in different parts of 

 the world. 



The reckless slaughter of some of these animals 

 is painful to contemplate. "Some years ago," 

 writes the author from whom we have just quoted, 

 "a little family of beavers was discovered on an 

 island in the Rhone ; it was a happy accident, 

 there was hope that we should see the revival of 

 a species well-nigh extinct. All have been slaugh- 

 tered without pity, — a folly which one could not 

 have supposed possible, except among a non-civil- 

 ized people, where the culprit is unconscious of 

 his guilt." Words cannot entirely express the sor- 

 row with which the true lover of nature witnesses 

 the wanton annihilation of so many of the greatest 

 and most interesting of living creatures. 



But there is room for more than sorrow. There 

 is good cause to fear, that, unless anatomists bestir 

 themselves, many large species of vertebrates now 

 existing will become extinct before their structure 

 is at all thoroughly known. Gosse's dictum, that 

 " it is better to err on the side of minuteness than 

 of vagueness," should be applied to this matter. 

 It would be best to lay aside thesis and hypothesis, 

 and to record facts, — as many and as much in 

 detail as possible. From the stand-point of to-day, 

 rudimentary, defective, and 'nascent' structures 

 attract an inordinate amount of attention, because 



of the light they shed upon the theory of evolu- 

 tion. But ten or twenty centuries hence a new 

 theory may dominate, a new stand-point be taken, 

 and a new standard adopted. Then the anatomi- 

 cal details we ignore may perhaps be diligently in- 

 quired into. We do not find fault with the early 

 historians because they recorded so many facts, 

 but because they recorded so few, and these so im- 

 perfectly. It may be that the fool collects facts, 

 while the wise man selects them ; but the wise 

 man — the supreme genius — is one man of a 

 million, and the fools had best content themselves 

 with piling up the store of truths against his 

 coming. 



But whether fools or wise, posterity will cer- 

 tainly charge us w T ith slothfulness if we fail to 

 record, so far as our opportunities and appliances 

 and the condition of zoological knowledge permit, 

 the last details of the structure of those species of 

 animals we know to be about to become extinct. 



A work similar in character to this is being 

 carried on at the present time by the Smithsonian 

 institution's bureau of ethnology, the Davenport 

 academy, and other similar organizations. Ameri- 

 can ethnographers have awakened to the fact that 

 the study of the aborigines is becoming every 

 day more difficult, and with most commendable 

 zeal have set to work to record all that can be 

 learned regarding the history, languages, religions, 

 and customs of our Indian tribes. Let anatomists 

 in all parts of the world follow the example of 

 these investigators. In the case of vanishing 

 peoples and species of animals, what the ethnog- 

 rapher and anatomist of to-day fail to record, the 

 future archeologist and paleontologist can never 

 find out, or can only guess at. F. W. True. 



THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 



The American historical association held its 

 third annual meeting at Washington on Tuesday, 

 Wednesday, and Thursday, April 29-May 1. The 

 venerable George Bancroft presided at all but two 

 sessions, when the first vice-president, Mr. Justin 

 Winsor, librarian of Harvard college, took his 

 place. The sessions were held in the large hall of 

 the Columbian university, and were well attended. 

 Mr. Bancroft's address of welcome was very well 

 received. It will be printed in the next number 

 of the Magazine of American history. Gen. J. G. 

 Wilson of New York followed with a paper on 

 Columbus, advocating an international celebra- 

 tion of the discovery of America by the great ex- 

 plorer. At a subsequent meeting a committee 

 was appointed to wait on the President, to ask 

 him to call the attention of congress to the matter. 

 It is understood that the President received the 



