arctic explorations favourably before the notice of geographers and naval authorities. With these considerations I shall conclude; merely remarking, that whatever force his views had when presented, they have greatly increased force now that an arctic expedition is in progress, the value of the results obtained by which would be far more than doubled by a successful antarctic expedition following close upon the successful issue of that which has lately set forth. "I have learned," he wrote to the President of the Geographical Society," through the public papers, the tenor of late discussions at the Royal Geographical Society in reference to a proposal for an expedition towards the North Pole. I gather from these that the object proposed, as bearing on science, is not so much specific as general; that there is no single point of very great importance to be obtained, but a number of co-ordinate objects whose aggregate would be valuable. And I conclude that the field is still open for another proposal, which would give opportunity for the determination of various results, corresponding in kind and importance to those of the proposed Northern Expedition, though in a different locality, and would also give information on a point of great importance to astronomy, which must be sought within a few years, and which it is desirable to obtain as early as possible. In the year 1882, on December 6, a transit of Venus over the sun's disc will occur-the most favourable of all phenomena for solution of the noble problem of determining the sun's distance from the earth, provided that proper stations for the observation can be found. (It will be remembered that it was for the same purpose that the most celebrated of all the British scientific expeditions, namely, that of Captain Cook to Otaheite in 1769, was undertaken.) For the northern stations there will be no difficulty; they will be on the Atlantic seaboard of North America, or at Bermuda; all very favourable and very accessible. For the southern stations the selection is not so easy; the observation must be made on the Antarctic Continent; if proper localities can be found there; and if the circumstances of weather, &c., are favourable, the determination will be excellent; if those favourable circumstances do not hold, no use whatever can be made of the transit. The astronomical object of a southern expedition is, I trust, sufficiently explained. In the event of such an expedition being undertaken, the precise determinations which I have indicated as bearing on the astronomical question must (from the nature of the case) take precedence of all others. But there would be no difficulty in combining with them any other inquiries, of geography, geology, hydrography, magnetism, meteorology, natural history, or any other subject for which the localities are suitable. And I have now to request that you will have the kindness to communicate

these remarks to the Royal Geographical Society, and to take the sense of the Society on the question, whether it is not desirable, if other scientific bodies should co-operate, that a representation be made by the Royal Geographical Society to Her Majesty's Government on the advantage of making such a reconnaissance of the Southern Continent as I have proposed; primarily in the interest of astronomy (referring to my official responsibility for the importance of the examination at this special time): but conjointly with that, in the interests, perhaps ultimately more important, of geography and other sciences usually promoted by the Royal Geographical Society."

278

WAS MAN A CONTEMPORARY OF THE MAMMOTH?

BY JAMES D. DANA.

THE

HE evidence of the contemporaneity of Man and various extinct Quaternary Mammals in Europe and Great Britain is complete: that is, it is beyond reasonable doubt or question; for (1) it has been gathered with great care by the best of geological observers; (2) it has been verified through the reexaminations of reported cases by other able geologists; and (3) it has been further verified by the special investigations of committees of scientific societies.

The North American facts thus far announced have not, unfortunately, the same broad basis for confidence.

66

Among the earlier of the reported discoveries are the two in Missouri, brought out by Dr. Koch. The account of them has often been cited by writers on the subject; and Mr. J. W. Foster, in his "Pre-Historic Races of the United States of America," prefixes to the citation the remark that Dr. Koch, at an interview with him, during the last year of his life, assured him, " in the most solemn and emphatic manner, that his statement was true." Mr. Foster also observes that "to deny the accuracy of his statement is to accuse him of having attempted to perpetrate a scientific fraud a decision not sustained by the ordinary rules or treatment of evidence; for science has constantly to guard itself against the assertions of men who are honest, but are not experienced in scientific investigation, and in all such cases rightly asks for corroborating testimony. Moreover Dr. Koch's statement of his facts may be true, and still his conclusion as to their proving the contemporaneity of Man and the Mastodon in North America be wrong.

The question which American Science should carefully consider-as carefully and guardedly as has been done for similar cases in Europe-is, whether Dr. Koch was a competent observer, and whether his observations are a sufficient basis for the conclusion that has been drawn from them.

I have before me four pamphlets by Dr. Koch, dated severally

1841, 1843, 1845, and 1853. They relate to his discoveries in this country-the first two of them to his Missourium, and the others to his Hydrarchos, or, as these publications call it, his Hydrargos, or species of Hydrachen. The following are copies of their title-pages, commencing with the earliest :

"Description of the Missourium, or Missouri Leviathan, together with its supposed habits; Indian traditions concerning the location from whence it was exhumed ; also, comparisons of the Whale, Crocodile, and Missourium with the Leviathan, as described in the 41st Chapter of the Book of Job; by Albert Koch. 16 pp. 8vo. St. Louis, 1841. [1840 on the cover, indicating that the copy is from a second edition.]

"Description of the Missourium Theristocaulodon (Koch), or Missouri Leviathan (Leviathan Missouriensis), together with its supposed habits and Indian traditions; also, comparisons of the Whale, Crocodile and Missourium with the Leviathan, as described in the 41st Chapter of the Book of Job; by Albert Koch. Fifth edition, enlarged. 25 pp. 8vo. Dublin, 1843. [A "third edition" of 24 pages appeared in London in 1841.]

"Hydragos, or Great Sea Serpent of Alabama, 114 feet in length, 7,500 lbs. weight, now exhibiting at the Apollo Saloon, 410 Broadway. Admittance 25 cents.-Description of the Hydrargos Sillimanii (Koch). A gigantic fossil Reptile, or Sea Serpent: lately discovered by the author in the State of Alabama, March, 1845. Together with some geological observations made on different formations of the rocks during a geological tour through the Eastern, Western and Southern parts of the United States, in the years 1844 1845; by Doctor Albert C. Koch, Corresponding Member of the Societies of Halle, and of Dresden, &c. 16 pp. 8vo. New York, 1845. [Following this, Dr. Koch published at Berlin, in 1845, a book of 99 pages, with eight plates, entitled 'Die Riesenthiere d. Urwelt,' giving an account of his Mastodontoid discoveries in America.]

"Description of the family of Animals now extinct, but known to the scientific world under the appellation of Hydrachen:* these animals, when living, were the most gigantic, powerful and horrible beasts of prey that ever ruled over and spread terror through the primitive Oceans; also

• In this change of name from Hydarchos, the Water-Chief (the suggestion, no doubt, of some friend, since he never wrote it right), to Hydrachen, a word that looks as if made up from the Greek word for water and the German for dragon, Dr. Koch evidently intended to adopt Müller's German term for the family, Hydrarchen.

an account of the discovery of the Zeuglodon Macrospondylus of Müller, and of the remains of Hydrachen in general; by Dr. Albert Koch, Corresponding Member of various Scientific Societies. 12 pp. 8vo. New Orleans, 1853."

The first of these pamphlets was printed when the Missourium was on exhibition at St. Louis in 1840-41; the second, when the skeleton was in Ireland, it having been taken to London in 1841; the third, when Dr. Koch's first collection of Zeuglodon remains was arranged and on exhibition as the "Hydrargos" in New York; the fourth, after his first Zeuglodon collection had been carried (in 1845) to Europe, and purchased (in 1847) for the Royal Anatomical Museum at Berlin (where it was studied by Müller); and after another "Hydrargos" had been obtained by Dr. Koch (in 1848), in the vicinity of "Washington Old Court House, Washington Co., Alabama," and had been transported (1) to Dresden (where, through "eight months' faithful labour," it was set up by May 6, 1849), and also (2) to Breslau, (3) to Vienna (1850), and (4) to Prague, and at each place put on exhibition; but not to Munich, because "the only saloon disposable was too small for the exhibition;" and, finally, had come back to its native country, "after it had established its just fame in Europe" as one of the "Hydrachen," and been put on exhibition in New Orleans.*

Still other accounts of earlier date are at hand in "Sill. Amer. Journal," vols. xxxvi. and xxxvii. of 1839; the first (vol. xxxvi., p. 198) cited from a newspaper article of January 1839, which was evidently written by Dr. Koch (then Mr., the title of Doctor appearing first in 1845); the second (vol. xxxvii., p. 191), signed "A. Koch, proprietor of the St. Louis Museum," and credited to the "St. Louis Com. Bulletin" of June 25, 1839.

Further, a note on the bones at St. Louis collected by Mr. Koch was presented to the American Philosophical Society, in October, 1840, by Dr. W. E. Horner, and an abstract from the Proceedings of that Society is cited in vol. xl. (1841).

It is evident from these documents that Dr. Koch was a man of enterprise, "an indefatigable collector." The credit is also due to him of having performed a great service to science by his collections; for these included one of the best skeletons of the Mastodon that has been unearthed, and two nearly complete

• The skeleton was on exhibition in St. Louis as early as 1855 or 1856, as stated in "Sill. Amer. Journal," II., xxi., p. 146, 1856; was there, as I learn from Dr. Lapham, sold to the Museum (Curiosity-shop); and thence, later, taken to Wood's Museum in Chicago, where it ended its remarkable career in the great fire of 1871.