SCIENCE able persons will consider the progress of man- of the demands of the farm for the summer kind, not by the years of generations merely, 1 months. The boy very early displayed an in but by centuries or millenia. We may learn tense love of nature and a keen interest in by the history of mankind in the last 20,000 all its manifestations. While this did not years how near it has come to extinction; and meet with the wishes of his father there was we must recognize that it will take only a no active or unkind opposition, and from his little interference with natural instincts and mother he met only sympathy. a little interference with natural selection Dependent at first solely upon his own ef- during a few generations to bring the species, forts, without the aid of books or the ac- or one race of it, rather abruptly to an end, quaintance of naturalists, the boy showed :i just as other human races have come to an end great determination to interpret the life about in historical times. The human species must him. Later, when his attendance at Wilbra- eventually go the way of all species of which ham Academy led up to Cambridge and the we have a paleontological record; already there opportunity of studying under Louis Agas- are clear signs of a widc-spread deterioration in siz, he was prepared to make the most of this most complex and unstable of all animal every opportunity. 'IIowever, this zeal for types. A failure to be influenced by the find- tho constant study of nature, in addition to ings of the students of eugenics or a continu- the work necessary in helping on the farm, ance in our present fatuous belief in the resultcd in the overtaxing of his strength and potency of money to cure racial evils will the impairment of his health, a condition hasten the end. But if there be a serious sup- which gave him much trouble throughout port of research in eugenics and a willingness his lifetime and finally put an end to all to be guided by clearly established facts in this field work. field, the end of our species may long be post- IIis association with hgassiz began when poned and the race may be brought to higher he entered Cambridge as a special student levels of racial health, happiness and effective- and lasted until the latter's death. Among ness. his associates in these classes conducted by Crra~t~esB. L)~vt;:r;~o~vrthe great teacher, were men destined to be- come famous, authorities in their special JOEL ASAPH ALLEN fields. The names of Alpheus IIyatt, E. S. THROUGHthe death, on August 29, 1921, of Morse, A. S. Paclrard and A. E. Verrill are Dr. Joel Asaph Allen, science has lost a to be found on the rosters of those days at pioneer and a most devoted servant. A Cambridge. memorable career, filled with achievement and The story of his schooling at Wilbraham marked by years of unflagging apylicatim Academy and later at Cambridge is that of and energy, has been closed in its eighty- a young man anxious for knowledge, but es- fourth year. pecially eager for the subjects bearing upon Joel Asaph Allen was born in Springfield, the natural sciences. With an ardent desire Massachusetts, July 19, 1838, of New Eng- to do editorial work, young Allen found dif- land parentage. Through his father, Joel ficulty in composition and set himself to ac- Allen, ho traced his descent back to an Allen quire this facility by keeping a daily journal, who came to the Colonies about 1630, while among other items making note of current the maternal line of descent was from John weather conditions. When a summary of Trumbull who settled in .Massachusetts in these weather reports were handed in as a 1639. The eldest of five children, his early composition at the academy, the boy was de- life was spent on the paternal farm in an lighted to discover that Professor Marcy, his atmosphere of puritanical strictness. IIis instructor, thouglit them worth publication. schooling bcgan with attendance at the rural The summary came out in the New England school, generally in the winter only, because Farmer and was the first of a long series from [N. 5. VOL. LIT. N& 100 the young naturalist, then about eighteen or seum of Comparative Zoology and returned nineteen years of age. Thus was begun the to the farm, but, with the partial return of literary career that has produced such bounti- strength, found the call of nature to be ir- ful results and the youth who forced himself resistible and made a collecting trip into the to acquire facility in a daily journal de- Middle West, 1867. This trip was successful veloped into the editor of not one, but several, in every way and when a summer had been of the foremost publications of natural sci- spent out of doors and Allen felt equal to ence. museum work once more, he wrote to Agas- At the Lawrence Scientific School, at Cam- siz, who welcomed him back. The next bridge, Allen was the pupil of men whose eighteen years were spent at Cambridge, names stood high-Louis Agassiz, Asa Gray, where he was in charge of the department Lovering and Wyman. At this school his of mammals and birds. curriculum was heavily inclined toward the The winter of 1868-1869 was spent in East natural sciences and he learned the value of Florida where valuable material and experi- accura,tc and painstaking observation. Be- ence was gained. Nine months were spent on cause of poor health and weak eyes, the stu- a collecting trip to the Great Plains and the dent was compelled to talie instruction ir- Rocky Mountains, in 1871-1872. Work was regularly and to suffer many obstacles in his begun at Leavenworth. At this time there was struggle for education. trouble with the Indians and the small party In 1865, Agassiz invited Allen to accomp- had to exercise caution in their movemenb. any him on a collecting trip to Brazil. The Near Fort Hays they went on a buffalo hunt, party numbered sixteen and all during the and Allen had his first extensive experience voyage south Professor Agassiz gave a series with the mammal which was to be one of his of lectures to the members of his party. They favorites and the subject of a large mono- landed at Rio de Janeiro and different trips graph. Their itinerary took them through were planned. Allen was assigned to a party Denver and South Park, Cheyenne, Green which was to visit the northern provinces. River and Fort Fred Steele. The results of They set out on June 9, and after delays and the expedition were most satisfactory and a difficulties with their native assistants reached large numbcr of specimens were secured. Lagoa Santa on July 13. This is the locality The next year, 1873, Allen made his last made fardous by the researches of Lund and important field trip. He accompanied a party the scientists explored the caves of the region of railroad surveyors who were to locate the for several days. The route necessitated long Northern Pacific Railroad westward from hard travel, partly by river, partly by pack Bismark. It was during a period of Indian train. Allen's health had broken down by troubles, and a large military escort under the end of the third month of this trying life, General Custer went with the party. This and he was forced to leave the others and was a historic trip, marked by skirmishes strike out for Bahia, which he reached by the with the Indians, and by many other novel end of November, after an overland journey experiences. While opportunities for collect- of nearly 600 miles. His voyage northward ing specimens were not of the best, much of was not soon to be forgotten, because his ship the territory traversed was zoologically un- which ran into gales off Cape Hatteras, was known and much valuable information was driven off her course and only narrowly brought back. esoaped foundering. Approaching the Cape From 1876 to 1882, Dr. Allen served as a a second time, she was again met with storms special collaborator of the United States and eventually reached Boston ninety days Geological Survey, devoting most of his time out from Bahia. to original research, publishing among other In the attempt to build up his constitu- papers, ('The American Bisons, Living and tion, Allen severed connections iith the Mu- Extinct," and monographs of various families of the North American Rodentia, the latter Coincident with the vast accumulation of in cooperation with Dr. Elliot Coues. At research collections, which grew from prad- this time his interest was drawn to marine caIly nil, in 1885 when the new curator took mammals and after he published a '(History charge, to a total of about 50,000 specimens of North American Pinnipeds" he took up of mammals in 1981, there has been a cor- the Cetaceans, but illness checked the work responding increase in the number of mam- before it was finished and the results never mal groups placed upon exhibition in his de- were printed. A short trip to Colorado was partment. There has been a transition from taken, upon the advice of a physician, in the the hall filled with a heterogeneous assem- attempt to throw off this illness, but a nerv- blage of mounted individuals to halls given ous breakdown resulted and it was months over to carefully planned habitat groups before active work could be resumed.