has peculiar gifts, who can say of nature, "Her priest I am, her holy fillets wear," has any right to turn aside from this call of God. That self-abnegation is not a virtue which urges the nearest, and, on the whole, the easiest, rather than the highest duty. The woman who has a definite line marked out for her in her natural gifts has a duty as imperative as that which the family tie imposes.

For these cases of rarely gifted souls, we should care.

Does any one suppose that any woman in all the ages has had a fair chance to show what she could do in science? Let me bring before you two cases-one that of Tycho Brahe of the sixteenth, the other that of Caroline Herschel of the eighteeenth century.

Tycho Brahe. King Frederic, of Denmark, gave him a delightful island for his habitation, large enough for him not to feel imprisoned (the circumference being about five miles), yet little enough for him to feel as much at home as in a highwalled park. He built a great house in the midst of the isle, a palace of art and science. Uniting the ease of a rich nobleman's existence with every aid to science, he lived far enough from Copenhagen to enjoy the most perfect tranquillity, yet near enough to escape the consequences of too absolute isolation. Aided in all that he undertook by a staff of assistants that he himself had trained, supported in his labor by the encouragement of his sovereign, he led the ideal intellectual life.” From the Journal of Caroline Herschel :

At fourieen years. With my constant attendance at church and school and, besides the time I was employed in doing the drudgery of the scullery, it was but seldom I could make one in the group when the family were assembled together.

At twenty years. For my brother I knit as many cotton stockings as would last two years.

At thirty-seven years. A salary of £50 a year was settled on me as assistant to my brother, and in October I received £12.10s, being the first quarterly payment, and the first money I ever in all my life-time thought myself to be at liberty to spend to my own liking.

For a certain class of students there are the summer schools, like that of Penikese; and there is the "Society to Encourage Home Studies," at present almost entirely literary in its aims. For a smaller and more decided type of women, we should become a Bureau of Advice, and also originators of ways and means. Young women should be encouraged to state their case, and our committee should be able to suggest methods--ways of increasing facilities-perhaps to find opportunities for work in science. But what a scientist most needs is leisure,--time to think. We ought to be able to give aids, in the shape of a year's residence near large libraries, museums, laboratories, or observatories. How eagerly such opportunities would be sought, we all know.

The laws of nature are not discovered by accidents; theories do not come by chance, even to the greatest minds; they are not born of the hurry and worry of daily toil; they are diligently sought, they are patiently waited for, they are received with cautious reserve, they are accepted with reverence and awe. And until able women have given their lives to investigation, it is idle to discuss the question of their capacity for original work.

OUR MUSEUMS AND OUR INVESTIGATORS.

BY SARAH P. MONKS.

IN EVERY important city, from Boston to San Francisco, there is a Scientific Museum or Academy of Natural Sciences. These vary in contents from the promiscuous collection of stuffed skins, stones and curiosities brought home by sailors, to the valuable array of type specimens and representatives of all branches of the animal kingdom, stored in the rich cabinets of Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington.

The chief museums, founded many years ago,-that of Philadelphia dating back to 1812-have accumulated materials which naturalists from all parts of the world are eager to see and study.

All these museums, I believe, are open to the public, most of them freely, very few charging any admittance fee; and they are generally under the control of a society which meets regularly and publishes scientific papers and periodicals.

The good influence of such institutions cannot be calculated, and every year increases their value by adding to their collections. The item of instruction and amusement which the general public gets, would be sufficient warrant for their support and continuance without considering the amount of knowledge given to the world through their proceedings.

The collections are generally contained in fine buildings, the specimens are beyond price, many of the members of the societies are able and earnest; still, very grave fault can be found with our museums. They are at a stand still. They are behind the age they are huge giants stupefied, not able to do to the fullest extent the great work of which they are capable. They are not educational enough. Either from fault of management or want of means their influence is very limited. Too much space is taken up for exhibition, and none is left for work-rooms. Connected with our museums, there are no organized classes, no instruction, no lectures, and in many cases no facilities for study except from books. There are no study or dissecting rooms where the vast collections can be freely examined and studied; or, if there are a few unsuitable rooms, there is no provision made for such study, and no professor to aid the student. There are no endowed professorships, and, as far as I know, only one scholarship, and that yields four hundred dollars a year and supports two students. In fact, our museums are brilliant in negative virtues.

For the student, especially the young student, they are places of longing and inspiration, not of work. The cases are closed. If a member of the society, or very much in earnest, he may get permission to examine the specimen under the eye of an officer. If he has done good scientific work, or brings good credentials, he may have the specimens taken out for sketching and examination, for the officers generally, as far as they can be, are helpful and generous. But, it is rare that a student begins scientific studies with a full-blown scientific reputation, or is born with accurate anatomical knowledge, so that, too often, his " open sesame" to the museums is too late and of little benefit. And the good the public gets is only a half-way good, for, many times, the specimens are not named, and rarely is there an attempt made to educate by teaching general facts, even in our most popular museums. They are found wanting as educators of the people, and sadly wanting in furnishing advantages for the special student.

These places wherein are stored the riches of nature from all lands, should be centers for the radiation of scientific knowledge-places where investigators could spend their whole lives, if need be, in the discovery of truth.

Every encouragement to original research should be given in the way of rooms and apparatus. Germany and England can afford to pay investigators,-why cannot America?

Were our museums of more use, we would not have to look in vain for an American Darwin, Huxley, or Herbert Spencer. True, we need not be ashamed of such names as Cope, Leidy, Draper, and a host of others, who stand fair as scientists; but who is to be praised for it? Only the men themselves, not our museums for offering opportunities; not our government for encouragement; not our society for saying "seek for us, for you are worthy."

Connected with all the scientific societies are men who are true investigators; who are so "infested" with what Huxley calls "the endless malady of thought" that without aid they have made themselves famous. They have found ways and means, but the world has lost so much in actual results as they have expended in overcoming obstacles. These men give freely with a generous hand to the young student. Never have I found a scientific man who has not been kind, polite and helpful, and never have I met one who has not cheerfully given me abundant aid and information. But the work they have done is often the result of hours snatched from the duties of a busy life. Our best workers cannot choose. They must do as they can. The work at hand must become the pleasantest. And “virtue is its own reward;" but often the virtuous would feel happier if, in addition, he was not compelled to wear a rusty coat.

When a person has the ability and range of experience necessary for correct investigation of nature, it is waste of time and talent that he must, for bread-and-butter reasons, drudge in the college, or university, or the ordinary routine of professional service. Other men could do that as well. He should be devoted to an original research and to helping others to investigation.

There should be endowed life-professorships for those who are worthy. It is useless to try to enumerate the many ways that are open for investigation.

The solving of those purely practical questions of fungoid growth in vegetables, diseases of domestic animals, as “pip" and "gapes" in chickens, and cattle epidemics; and the so-called malaria or miasma that devastate certain regions; and of countless other common plagues, whose causes are unknown, would save the nation millions of dollars yearly. Then, too, there are those studies and experiments in pure science, so dear to the heart of the worker, which bear no immediate practical result, but which, sooner or later, send down their golden roots of life into the heart of everyday affairs.

There is an abundance of work—more than can be exhausted by many workers. Our houses are badly built and ventilated; our cities are badly drained; we are a scientific people, and still our waste products are causing death and disease instead of adding to our wealth.

We suffer countless ills because of our ignorance. We shut our eyes, or give our pittance to avoid some ugly fact, and wonder at the mysterious ways of Providence, when the whole trouble might be removed by the application of scientific knowledge. The United States Government is doing some good for science in developing its territorial resources. Much more could be done if, each year, sums were appropriated for the discovery of some useful and important fact. Mediocrity would not compete for the prize. Compel good work and pay a good price, and the successful competitor would be no charlatan. Aid should be given in the way of ample paying of expenses during the experiments and a suitable reward if the results were commendable.

Aside from the giants, who are bound to progress from their own vis viva, there are many others who need the advantages which museums should provide. Those living in the country or in country towns have limitless chances for the study of nature, but they do not know how to work. A few months' study and work under the direction of a master would give them a start, and, apart from training up a class of scientific workers, many would be taught habits of accurate and intelligent observation of ordinary phenomena.

Elementary instruction in science can be gained in schools and colleges. Something further is needed, and we look to the museums to supply the demand. It is time they were a more active power.

At present there is a superficial stratum of science over all society, deposited by the popular writings of English and German scientists. There never was a better time to fix a permanent interest in its benefits. All museums should be free, and there should be free popular lectures, interesting ones too, on science; but, besides these, let there be rooms, specimens, apparatus and encouragement for the student, whether he be fresh college-graduate or grey-headed worker in the field of science.

In the appreciation of scientific discoveries to the useful arts America has much to be proud of, but it has given very little encouragement to the pioneer and quiet student.

Private beneficence has done much, and perhaps from that source will come the greatest help for many years, still, it would seem as though state and general government might aid scientific investigations. It is far from commendable in the city and state governments of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania that they have neither given, nor granted on petition, any aid to their grand Academy of Natural Sciences, except the remission of taxes. Society pays men for fighting battles, making laws, and teaching religion. It is heavily taxed for political freedom and slavery, but for that which advances and elevates a nation faster than anything else, would pay nothing.

It may be that the want of interest in and the stagnation in regard to museums comes more from an ignorance of their condition and possibility, than from any undervaluing of scientific research. Those who have money to bestow do not care to offer it to institutions that seem wealthy and flourishing, nor do they know in what manner to give it so that society may be most benefitted. Sinking part of a fortune in the common funds of a society is not pleasant for a man who has worked hard to earn it. The endowing of professorships and scholarships, which might forever bear the name of the founder, and do endless good, would obviate this difficulty. The Academy at Philadelphia has made a step in the right direction by arranging for professors to care for its collections, and to give lectures and limited instruction.

But at present there are no endowments, and until there are means to pay the professors they must be volunteer workers. Would that some of the many women of means would be pioneers in the good work of endowing professorships and scholarships in the museums of Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington; but may no woman limit her gift to women. They should be first to do away with the narrow-guage principle of restricting any good gift to one sex only. I speak of foundations for the museums of these four cities, because they are older and richer in specimens, and their libraries are furnished with rare and valuable works. Already these cities are scientific centers. Let it become known that there are abundant opportunities for study, and but slight government aid in the way of prizes, and a few scholarships in their museums, and the impulse given to science in this country

would be marvellous. The story of Penikese tells something of the hunger among students.

That our museums are destined to become more useful is abundantly shown by the dissatisfaction of many of the members of the societies concerning their present status; but, very little can be done while the only feeling of society towards them is one of ignorant curiosity. Something is needed to put them nearer on an equal footing with European museums, and that something is endowment.

How long must we wait? In this country society gives voluntarily what in older countries is given by the government and the people are taxed for, so that no fair comparison can be made between them.

Our churches, colleges and asylums are generously supported; why should not our museums be also?

If it could be fully understood that they have other uses besides those of showrooms and architectural monuments, there is no doubt that abundant money would be furnished for their uses; and society, needing just such opportunities as the museums could give, would supply means for making those opportunities available.

Mrs. Julia Ward Howe spoke briefly on the topics suggested by the preceding papers. She made an eloquent plea for the higher education of women, and deprecated the levity which greeted girls who had studied the ". ologies" when they left school. She believed that girls should not give themselves up to the frivolities of modern society, but should have a higher motive, and should, having gained a school knowledge of higher studies, pursue them further in after life.

DISCOVERIES MADE IN THE LAST TWENTY YEARS IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HUMAN VOICE.

BY EMMA SEILER.

THE causes of the decline of Vocal Art have been frequently discussed, and the conclusion has been reached that our advanced civilization and advanced mode of life have exerted a deteriorating influence upon the voice.

Some singing teachers and scientists, however, have refused to accept this convenient theory, rightly ascribing the decline of Vocal Art to an improper treatment of the voice.

Up to within a comparatively recent date nothing definite was known of the origin and development of the sounds of the human voice, and the most conflicting views have been held in regard to this phenomenon. The first attempts to bring light into this chaos by means of science were ridiculed by most of the musicians, for they had been accustomed to keep only to the ideal view of art, and had considered science as opposed thereto. But to repeat what I have said in my book, "The Voice in Singing," we must admit that everything spiritual, everything ideal, as soon as it is to be made present to the perception of others, requires a form which, in its material as well as in its structure, may be more or less perfect; but it can never otherwise than submit to those eternal laws, to which all that lives, all that comes within the sphere of our perception, is subject.

To discover and establish the natural laws which lie at the basis of all our forms of art, is the office of science.