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��servstory which our Good Samaritan has aeen fit to establish; and only then shall the dis- coverer make hia observation generally known, when he shall have i-eceived aukuowledgraeut from the director mentioned. Now, it is im- portant for the proper observation of any new wanderer that the news of it should be sent about the world withont delay. The earUeat observatioDS of a comet are of especial value in fixing its orbit, and may, with had weather or other mishap, be the only ones. A well-organ- ized system for the collecting and transmitting of such information exists, and il is surely to be regretted that any condition should be at- tached to a reward which shall interfere with the benefits to be derived from the success of the worthy investigator. Such a condition ia that which requii-ea the comiwtitof for a War- ner prize to send word to Rochester before he can give the information to the International Association of observatories.

EvERr woBKKR iu a special field of scientilic or technical study must from time to time feel depressed under the difficulty, indeed too often the impossibility, of keeping himself well in- formed on what the world is accomplishing even in his own naiTOw department; so rapid is the succession, and so wide the separation. of papei'a and books treating of hia subject. At such times he can appreciate the value of well-prepared current bibliographic records. The geographer turns to the monthly lists in Petermann's mittheilutigen, or to the annual one pnblislie<l by the Berlin geographical so- ciety; the geologist has the Neuea jahTbiieh, and would gladly refer to the Geological record if it would only continue to appear in as good form as it began a few years ago; the zoologist has his Ameiger, Record, and Jah- resberichl; and the ciiemist and the physicist are equally well cared for. But these esctended lists are matters of provocation to uany jier- sons who cannot reach the books they name: for them a record is better suited that limits its selections by place instead of hy subject, and gives a list of all kinds of publications on a certain gec^aphic field. Two of these are

��mentioned in our notes, and both suggest the vftlne of a similar work for our own country. The scope of such a volume would be sufficient for the purposes of many of our readers, if it included a record of the title, and a brief men- lion of the contents, of every thing written con- cerning our physical and nntui'al history year ' by j-ear. If undertaken by a number of spe- cialists, the work would not be too laborioua, and it would sui-ely find publisher and pur- chasers. Why should not the Smithsonian institution undertake it?

��LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

,*• CorTftpoutifntf ayti^quettril lobrmbri'/aapottiblt, 7%« vjrHer't name It inaU caneu mjuirrd air of my references, hw retreslicil his memory on de Mortillet, He will not!U(aln confound the age of Su Aclieul wiLh ilio kxc of St. Aclieiil; and ha ajid other readera of Science will now be Aware that de Mortillet teaches that not man (tli« anthroptMt), bnt the mau-ape (the anlhropopithtcut], was the rapre- sentatiTB of uur specieB during most of the piJMi- lithic period.

' But why does the leunied reviewer confine him- self to the pataages I pointed out to him? Why did he not turn to de Mortillel's work (p. KM), where he says, " L'homme qiiatsrnnlre anden n'£tait pas le meme que rhommo autuel "? And wherein theseo- logit; horixon does de Mortillet place the arrival of Vhomme acluelt Let any reader turn to the table of contents of the volume, and he will And Uiat it Is divided into three parts: 1. L'liomme tertlalre: 2. L'homme quatemaire; 3. L'homme actuel. The last mentioned arrived, say* the author, after a long and unexplatDed hiatus, with the period qf Hobenhauiex (p. 4«5). Only in Litat period dues de Mortillet conoeoe to man his distinctive paychologiea! traits at a lan- guage and a religion. Speaking of the very last of the Magdalenian period, he aaja, "L'homme quater- naire ^tait complfitement depnurvu dtt sentiment de la religiosity." D. G. BBi.vro.y, M.D.

Dr. Brinton seems to be unfortunate in under- Bltuidlns de Mortlllet's oplniona, as well as in quot- ing hia language correctly. Owing to lite eKlgencIe* of space, ' the readers of Seifure' must be referred to the book itself, where they will find It stated that lliere is no conclusive proof that funeral practices prevailed In western Eurojte in quaternary limes, and thai such iiaages came into vogue there in the neolithic period, //i^'^ illae lacrj/mae! This is tbc sole fouudatlon for Dr. Grinton's monstrotis assertion "that de Mortillet teaches that not jnan, but the man-ape, was the representative of our species during most uf the paleolithic period." De Mortillet's rejil views will be found summed up on the last page of his work. In twelve 'general conclusions.' so clearly and tersely > that he who runs mny read.'

HKSjir W. Haynks.
 * A translation nf this summary will appeal in our

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