the black-tailed deer have suffered great restriction in area of habitat, and have greatly decreased in numbers. The mountain sheep and mountain goat, delighting in the rocky fastnesses of alpine summits, well-nigh inaccessible to man, still bid defiance to human foes, although the former has been driven from much of its former range. At the present rate of destruction, only a remnant will soon remain of any of the ruminant tribe, even in the comparatively unsettled west, though formerly they overspread the greater part of the continent.

The larger carnivorous mammals-as the bears, the wolf, the coyote, the lynxes, and the panther, formerly so abundant throughout the parts of the country they respectively inhabited as to be at its first settlement obnoxious, and a serious detriment to the farmer and stock-raiser—are now practically exterminated east of the Rocky Mountains, and thence westward are rare in comparison to their former abundance. This is especially true of the wolves, the coyotes, and the panthers; the bears and the lynxes still maintain a foothold in the partially wilderness areas of the east.

The fur-bearing animals-as, notably, the beaver (formerly a nearly universal occupant of the continent), the otter, the sable, and the mink-have greatly decreased in numbers, all but the latter having been long nearly extirpated throughout all the more settled portions of the east. The sable, a northern species, never ranged over a very large part of the United States, but the others were spread southward to the Gulf. The squirrels, at times a scourge to the frontier farmer through their abundance, linger still in small numbers; while the smaller vermin of the fields have doubtless suffered but slight decrease in numbers.

The birds are variously affected, in accordance with their food and haunts. The larger foresthaunting species-as the birds of prey, the woodpeckers, and some of the grouse-have followed the forests in their downfall; the turkey, the prairiehen, and the aquatic game birds-as the ducks, geese, and a great variety of shore birds-have in places been extirpated, and, in general, are few in comparison to their numbers a century ago. The song-birds have doubtless held their own, and in not a few instances have certainly increased; the agricultural development of the country being, on the whole, favorable to their welfare, although they suffer at the hands of nest-robbing boys, and children of larger growth anxious to kill something, however slender the pretext. The graceful terns, or 'sea-swallows,' and the herons, especially the beautifully-plumed egrets, have fallen a prey to fashion and the hat trade' to such an extent, that where, fifty years ago, the terns fairly swarmed

along our Atlantic coast, they are now mainly conspicuous by their absence.

Batrachian and reptilian life has also greatly diminished; the former through the draining of ponds and marshes in the reclamation of waste lands, the latter through the almost universal inborn hatred of snakes.

The depletion of our inland streams and lakes and the larger rivers, of fish, is simply notorious, extending even to the marine species that enter the rivers merely to spawn. Nor has marine life fared better, as witness the decline of the lobster fisheries, the actual and very early extirpation of the oyster along our northern coasts, and the exhaustion of once famous clam-flats.

Much of this destruction of animal life was simply inevitable, since wild large game cannot exist in a densely-populated district. But extirpation has been in many cases needlessly hastened, as witness the preservation of deer by legislative enactments, in regions where they would otherwise have long since ceased to exist. The course of the pioneer has ever been marked by slaughter of animal life, too often recklessly, even for the mere sport of killing, and not merely from necessity or with utilitarian intent. Hundreds of thousands, probably millions, of bisons have been killed merely for their hides, and at seasons when they were nearly worthless, and their carcasses left to rot where they fell, and many thousands more merely for the sport of slaughter; while the different species of the deer tribe have suffered similarly, in less degree, consequent only upon their smaller numbers and greater difficulty of capture.

ADMIRAL BARON FERDINAND VON

WRANGELL.

FERDINAND VON WRANGELL was born near Werro in Liefland, December 29, 1794. His early years were passed on his ancestral estate, where his education in manly sports and the schooling of his time was carried on by a family tutor. At the age of ten he lost his parents, who died within a few months of one another. He entered not long afterward the school of naval cadets at St. Petersburg, with his cousin Wilhelm, and was graduated in 1815 with the highest honors. He was appointed to the post of Reval, where he was associated with his cousin and von Anjou, an intimate friend, later his companion in Siberian travel. Hearing that a Russian vessel was to sail for a voyage around the world in command of Captain Golofnin in 1815, he secured an appointment and formed one of the party on the naval sloop Kamchatka, which included the young and

afterward celebrated Lütke. The vessel sailed for Russian-America in 1817, and completed her voyage in two years, when he was promoted to a lieutenancy, after which, through the influence of Golofnin, he was appointed leader of the expedition for the exploration of the east Siberian coast and the lands believed to lie to the north from it. For this journey, which has become classical, he prepared himself by special study at Dorpat and St. Petersburg. He went out in 1820 and returned to St. Petersburg in 1824. In 1825 he took the brig Krotky on a voyage to Sitka and return, after which he was appointed to the command of a frigate, and in 1829 to be governor of the Russian colonies in America. He married the Baroness Elisabeth Rossillon, and the young pair started for his new post by the overland route across the whole breadth of Siberia. The journey, severe at the present day, was an extraordinary one for that time, and took a year and a half, during which time a daughter was born to them. Arrived at his post, Wrangell distinguished himself by the reforms he introduced into the colonial administration, and the wealth of scientific material which he gathered for students of geography and ethnology. They returned via Mexico and the United States in 1836. He was made a director of the Russian-American company, and advanced in the government to the post of director of naval construction and conservator of the imperial forests. In 1852 he lost his faithful wife. During the Crimean war he was made director of the hydrographic department, and in 1862 retired from active service.

His life thereafter was passed in the bosom of his family, either in his old home or in Italy, where he remained several years. He was made associate of the Institute of France as successor to De Candolle, and his latter days were passed in the study of art, science, and the promotion of the Lutheran communion, of which he was a devoted member. On the 25th of May, 1870, he died, his friend Lütké surviving hin eleven years. His services to science do not need to be recounted, his character was pure and elevated, and his executive ability remarkable. The sketch of his useful and honorable life' from which the above facts have been gathered, has been prepared as an introduction to a new edition of his Journey to the polar sea,' by his daughter, Lisa von Engelhardt. This publication, indispensable to all students of arctic matters, contains an excellent portrait and a new map of the region explored. It is well printed in Roman type, but contains no index. We note as a singularity that,

1 Ferdinand von Wrangel und seine reise längs der nordküste von Sibirien und auf dem eismeere. Von L. v. ENGELHARDT. Leipzig, Duncker & Humblot, 1885.

notwithstanding Baron Wrangell expressly authorized his associates, Baer and Helmersen, to print his name with the final consonant doubled, in this publication it is found without the final l.

A SEARCH FOR THE GIGANTIC BIRD OF MADAGASCAR.

GRANDIDIER has communicated to the Academy of sciences an interesting account of his search for remains of the gigantic bird of Madagascar, the Epyornis, supposed to be the original from which the fabled roc of the 'Arabian nights' was derived. The hope that the bird itself might still survive, according to Grandidier, is without foundation. A vast area of the interior south of Lat. 20° S., heretofore hardly visite 1, now proves to be an arid plateau with sparse desert vegetation, suitable perhaps for ostrich-like birds, but where they could hardly exist without being observed even by the scanty population of these wastes. These natives have neither knowledge nor traditions of any such creature, according to our author. Remains, chiefly of the eggs, have hitherto been found only between Cape St. Marie and Machikora on the southern coast, at Mananzari, Port Leven and St. Marie Island. The coast is bordered by immense sand dunes, only a few yards from the sea, which are constantly advancing in a southwesterly direction. The complete eggs have been found only where rain, flooding the ravines, has suddenly washed away large quantities of sand. It is probable that the bird covered its eggs in the warm sand like an ostrich, and that those found whole are such as failed to hatch. They are naturally rare, but fragments of the egg-shell are not uncommon and occur chiefly where the sand is sifted by the wind. On the dry plateau none were found. With the pieces of egg-shell, were found several species of Bulimus, Helix and Cyclostoma, one of which, Bulimus favanneus Fér., still retains part of its color marks, and is found living in some parts of Madagascar at the present day. The dunes appear to be formed largely of shell sand mixed with grains of quartz, and occasional concretionary balls of lime. The traveller was not fortunate enough to find any bones. He thinks the Æpyornis, like the moa of New Zealand, though now entirely extinct, eixsted during the present era, but was probably exterminated very soon after the advent of man in the region it inhabited.

Mr. Latchford of Ottawa recently discovered at Quebec, Helix cantiana Montague, hitherto unrecorded from America. It is doubtless an importation, but was abundant under the south wall of the citadel, showing that, like many other immigrants, it has found a congenial home.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1885.

COMMENT AND CRITICISM.

THE NATIONAL ACADEMY C SCIENCES is holding its autumn session at Albany as we go to press. The number of papers read at these autumn gatherings, which are held now in this city, now in that, is never so great as at the spring meetings held in Washington; but the quality if not the quantity of papers is apt to be equally good, since the session is called, except for specific reasons, for this purpose only. The session at Albany would seem to be no exception to the ordinary rule, and, although there is but a single member of the academy resident in the city,—the veteran geologist, Prof. James Hall, — the attendance has not been insignificant, nor the meeting lacking in good points. Besides the usual papers of only technical importance, there have been a number of very general interest, prominent among which are those of Prof. E. C. Pickering, opening what may fairly be looked on as a new and promising field in astronomy, that of stellar photography; the paper of Prof. S. P. Langley on obscure heat, a continuation of his remarkable researches with the bolometer; that of Dr. Graham Bell, recounting the first fruits of his investigation into the influence of heredity in deafness; and that of Prof. Simon Newcomb, discussing the vexed question at what hour the astronomical day shall begin. In our next issue we hope to present an account of the entire meeting.

THE REPLY of Director Powell, which we publish in another column, to the newspaper attacks on the geological survey, will strike the fairminded reader by its conclusiveness. It is true that the prosecution, if there were any, would still have the right to prove its allegations by rebutting evidence; but the very fact that the reply of the defence is couched in such terms as to make it easy to do this, renders it doubtful whether any such evidence will be forthcoming. The director does not enter into any long explanations, requiring an exhaustive inquiry into their validity, but in all the important cases interposes a direct denial that the allegations have any foundation. The

No. 145.1885.

issue is thus brought down to one of easily ascertained facts, which it would be impossible for the director to pervert without speedy exposure. For example, it was distinctly charged that he had paid salaries as high as $4,000 per year to state geologists. He replies that the name of every geologist employed by the survey is a matter of published record, and challenges the accuser to show that any one of them is a state geologist. For more reasons than appear on the surface, our government science is to be congratulated on the completeness of the defence.

The case has some peculiarities, which render it noteworthy that the director should have been able to vindicate himself so completely, in the face of such an attack. Rarely has a government officer been intrusted with so large an annual expenditure, so completely at his own discretion, as the officer in question. The organization, under which the work was to be done, was largely his own creation, and the funds had to be expended in distant parts of the country, through agencies not in personal contact with the supreme power. Just as the system has been got well into operation, searching investigation is commenced. The disaster which overtakes a sister institution, when exposed to such scrutiny, leads to the confident expectation that this one may also be found wanting in some point, when searched by eagle eyes. That some errors in detail would be found, might almost be taken as a matter of course, and in such a case the extraordinary character of the circumstances might have been plead as a valid excuse for many such errors. And yet the latest report is that the vigilant first auditor has found no fault in the legality of any of the expenditures of the bureau, and finds all the accounts in good shape.

THE CASES OF POISONING at Momence, Ill., recorded at length in a report just issued by the board of health of that state, are of great interest as bringing to light a source of danger hitherto but little regarded. In the course of the investigation it was found that the thirty-seven individuals affected had all eaten of dried beef purchased from the same butcher; of the number seized with the symptoms of poisoning, but one died. Although

trichinae, or some other form of parasite, was at first suspected, the microscope gave no clew to the cause of the sickness. Chemical search for the ordinary mineral and vegetable poisons was also fruitless, but further examination left no doubt in the mind of the investigators that ptomaines were responsible for the trouble. Ptomaines derive their name from ptoma ('a corpse'), and were so called because first discovered in a corpse. Selmi, in 1870, while examining the body of a man who was supposed to have been poisoned, found an alkaloid totally unlike any which had been described. Gautier and others, working on the same problem, have demonstrated that, during putrefaction, certain substances are formed, variously described as 'ptomaines' and 'cadaveric alkaloids,' which are peculiar in themselves, and which have poisonous properties. It is probable that the dried beef purchased in Momence had previously begun to putrefy, and these poisonous substances were formed. The fact that several of those affected noticed a bitter taste to the meat would confirm this opinion. It is a fact which has not received the attention it deserves, that in many of the reputed cases of poisoning from dietary articles, disagreeable, peculiar, or bitter tastes are often noticed by the patients, and that those who are wise enough to take the hint which nature thus gives them, and at once refuse to partake further of the article in question, usually escape; while the others, who neglect this warning, suffer. This has been noticed in poisoning by canned tomatoes and apples, as well as by meat.

THE RECENT STUDIES upon the movements of anadromous fishes in our Atlantic rivers and estuaries, the results of which are in part announced in another column, are of considerable moment from several points of view. Much has already been written in a theoretical way concerning the influence of temperature upon the migrations of fishes, upon their times of spawning, the period of hatching, and their rates of growth. The literature of the subject has not, however, been entirely satisfactory, since a definite correlation of observed fact with explanatory hypothesis has rarely been attempted. The same may be said of the literature of fish-culture, which has been to a considerable extent prophetic in character. One of the most important of recent conclusions is that fishes do not of necessity always return to

spawn upon the grounds where they themselves first left the egg, but that slight variations of temperature are sufficient to divert a school of fishes from any river-basin into another. An important practical conclusion is at once suggested; namely, that the success of fish-culture in any hydrographic basin is so dependent upon similar operations in adjoining waters, that co-operative action of the states is absolutely necessary, either through the agency of the general government or by combinations between the state commissions. It is gratifying to know that the mass of water-temperature records which has for fifteen years been accumulating through the labors of the United States fish commission, the signal service, and the lighthouse board, has at last become sufficiently great to afford data for the comparative study of periodical averages. All students of marine zoology will profit by the study of these temperature tables, which, we are informed, are soon to be published. The rapid advances which are now being made toward the elucidation of the life histories of American fishes lead us to hope that the time is not very remote when our knowledge of the phenomena of marine life shall be made more definite in character than at present.

THE ATTEMPT TO ESTABLISH a zoological garden in America after the plan of those already in existence in Europe was a novel and interesting one at the time that the Philadelphia zoölogical society was organized. The garden was opened under the most favorable circumstances. The popular sentiment was successfully appealed to, and during the centennial year the garden received a fair share of the public patronage. But the favor which attended the beginning of the enterprise has not continued. The society has been conducted at a loss for several years. The anticipated deficit for the current year is seven thousand dollars, an amount so large as to induce the directors to invite the citizens of Philadelphia to meet to hear a statement of the society's affairs, and to discuss measures for their relief. At a representative meeting of the citizens, held November 5, it was quickly discerned that the garden of the society had a firm hold on the affections of the people. There appears to be no doubt that a successful effort will be made to meet the year's deficit, and to devise means by which the society can be placed upon a permanent basis. The management of zoological gardens in America will be found to be

a different problem from that of their European progenitors. An interest in zoölogy is with us less diffused than is the case abroad, the climate is less favorable for out-of-door recreation, the gardens are at great distances from the centres of population, and the cost of securing many of the larger and more interesting animals is great in proportion as the gardens are removed from the chief places of traffic. The zoological garden in this country is not likely ever to be self-supporting. Whether or no the zoological garden should have a plan of organization distinct from that of the botanical garden is a mooted point. It would appear that there is nothing inconsistent with the idea that the plan of the learned society or the university might readily embrace that of the management of a collection of living animals. Were such an arrangement practicable, it would enable the garden to be benefited by the use of the general endowment of such bodies, while it would not interfere with the popular uses of the collection.

NOTWITHSTANDING THE FACT that the whole civilized world is interested in the subject of the transfer of ships across the narrow neck of land which separates the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by which the long voyage around Cape Horn would be avoided, yet there has been no project proposed or suggested which has met with less favor in the minds of engineers of high standing, at least in this country, than the Panama Canal. The magnitude of the enterprise, the formidable engineering difficulties to be encountered, the unhealthiness of the climate, and the fact that the undertaking is a private one, depending on private subscriptions, constitute obstacles which, when taken together, seem to render success almost hopeless. The recent call for more money to carry on the work, when the most costly and difficult portions have hardly been begun, and after vast sums have already been expended, must awaken grave apprehensions on the part of those who have already invested their money in the enterprise, that the project is beyond the financial abilities of the most powerful syndicates.

AS THE INCOME of the Elizabeth Thompson science fund is already available, the trustees desire to receive applications for appropriations in aid of scientific work. This endowment is not for the benefit of any one department of science, but it is the intention of the trustees to give the pref

erence to those investigations, not already otherwise provided for, which have for their object the advancement of human knowledge, or the benefit of mankind in general, rather than to researches directed to the solution of questions of merely local importance. Applications for assistance from this fund should be forwarded to the secretary of the board of trustees, Dr. C. S. Minot, 25 Mount Vernon Street, Boston, Mass., and should be accompanied by a full statement of the nature of the investigation, of the conditions under which it is to be prosecuted, and of the manner in which the appropriation asked for is to be expended. The first grant will probably be made early in January, 1886. The fund was originally given by Mrs. Thompson, as will be remembered, with the expectation that it would be administered by the officers of the International scientific association proposed at the Philadelphia meeting of the American association. This proposition was to have been brought up at the Aberdeen meeting of the British association; but, so far as known, no action was taken. The fund is now in the charge of the able body of trustees already named, (Science, vi. 144), and will doubtless prove a great aid to American science if the best investigators will ask for appropriations from the income. It is a severe comment upon the physicists of the United States that the income of the similar fund established by Rumford for investigations in light and heat should go begging as it does.

THE AGASSIZ MUSEUM AT CAMBRIDGE.

THE day after his twenty-third birthday, Agassiz wrote from Munich to his brother, "The thing I most desire seems to me, at least for the present, farthest from my reach; namely, the direction of a great museum." He lived to see the Museum of comparative zoology, which he founded on another continent, the largest collection, covering the whole field of natural history, ever brought together by the endeavors of a single individual. Reckoning from the inauguration of the first section of the building, to-day completes its quarter centennial, and renders appropriate a succinct account of its inception and growth, largely in the words of his son, Dr. Alexander Agassiz, when addressing, last spring, the friends of the institution at the opening of the latest extension of the building.

The recently published 'Life of Agassiz' shows us that his passion for acquisition was enormous from his youth. Wherever he went, his collections in natural history accumulated to a burdensome degree; and, although he left every thing behind him