The morning call., 1892-02-15
N 1NsrIruTIoN no BE FosTEEED.

The Trustees of the Academy Of Sciences
are getting their collection into order, and
though the upper galleries are still unten-
aated. and are closed to the public, there IS
much in the main hall-which IS open To
visitors-to repay more than one call. Inc
skeleton Of the sea-cOw, which was lately
fouud on Commander Island in the ATctlc'
and was brought from that SPOT, at an eX-
pense Of some $500, and presented to the
academy bv the Alaska Commercial Com
psnv. is alone worth the VISIT. The AMI
nal is extinct, and only three skeletons are
known 20 exist. In some Of the deserip-
lions which have been published it has been
COMPOUNDED with the manstee, which IS
much smaller aud is an existing species; IL
was in fact Il Thytina, a sort OF cross be-
tween the cetacean and the phoca, and
gvauiverous.
The academy has inherited the Croker
Stanford collection of casts made by Ward
Of Rochester, which used 70 occupy the
basement in the old Mercantile Library
Building. Every school should be taken to
see il. As matter of fact, Nard's repro
duction Of the Stuttgart mammoth is as
instructive as a genuine skeleton could be;
the Inference between them is mere mat
ter OF Imagination. So with the mastodoD,
tie me1atherium and other monstrous
uraIrupeds and reptiles Of the prehistoric
age. Wards casts are exact as to SIZE and
aspect. and the real skeletons could teach
nothing more than they do. Studied in the
light # the mOnSlrouS vegetation which
covered tile earth when they lived, and Of
which our seQuoia is the only survivor, they
enable an alert mind 10 picture a world
Setthing under tropical heat and covered,
except as To the mountain tops, with endless
morass ard swamp, inhabited by uBcouth
sauriaus and here and there tenanted IN
isolated spots by primeval man.
Tie natural purpose Of the academy
should be TO 40 for the west coast u the
Americas and the lands opposite them
across tie ocean what tie British Museum
las done and is doing for Europe, Africa,
and Eastern Asia. Everything that IS
strange, every thing that is new, everything
that sheds light on ancient history or mod
eru science should find some representa-
ton within its walls. 1t would not cost
very much to import one Of the tall statues
from Easter Island, with the hieTogyphic
slabs which have been found IN the same
locality. An Eastern professor, now con-
neC,ed with the Museum Of Natural History
in Central PARK, New York, lately dis
covered some human skulls in Oregon
which approach much more nearly e. The
smian type than any Of the skulls when
have been found in the caves or drifts
In Europe. On his recent voyages Captain
Tanner Of the Albatruss is understood 10
lave found fish and other marine forms
which are quite new in ichthyological
science. Conn anious 10 the Calaveras
skull have been found, and in some Of the
southern counties viue-gTOWeTS are con-
stauty turning mp with the plough speci-
mems Of ancient pottery which may be
Coeyai with tie earliest mOuBd-buiders.
When a Californian wants to study these
ancient relics or these new discoveries, he
finds that G must 20 to New York or
Philadelphia, or London or Paris. Every
specimen was carried away as soon Is It's
value was ascrrtaiued.
II Is about time that we kept some of cur
coed things at hCme, ard the Academy OF
Sciences IS the place 10 store them. If such
a thorough scientist and energetic student
as George Davidson we're at lis hea4 and q
moderate appropriation We're made cut Of
tie funds Of tle academy 10 pay for Speci-
mems, collection could IN q Few years be
AitAE " men ~ -AIl uttloCL men t4 cGlCtlNc
ana learning from al PARTS Of the world,
and would enable our young p.oule to COM
J. etc I'D imp rtaut branch OF their educa-
tion. As it is. If i were not fer Professor
Davidson ana rsfrssOE Na.tHey We would
know next 20 nothing about cur own State
Is it tue, Is n l8le leading authority states,
that there never was an Ice age IN Califor-
MAP II 81, human beings may have lived
here when they were rX.erminated in the
East by the march OVERWHELMING glaciers,
and if so they must have left some trace.
The Coast aUouud5 in kitchen-mCddugs
and tie fields are full Of objects Of rude
pottery and stone tools. 1t has been the
custom TO regard bOth as products Of a COM
paTativeiy recent epoch. but we shall not
know whether they were not older than tie
flint arrow beads Of The Delaware until they
are collected and subjected to study by men
Of modern science.