Notes

Abstract

WE regret to see what we must characterise as an unwarranted attack made upon Sir Wyville Thomson in the current number of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, as to the disposal of the specimens obtained by the Challenger Expedition. Dr. Martin Duncan appears to have taken for granted that an extract of a private letter which some indiscreet friend of Mr. Alexander Agassiz published in Silliman's Journal, and which then found its way into the English journals, is “official,” He would have done well to have ascertained whether this was really the case before allowing himself to comment on Sir Wyville Thomson's proceedings in such severe terms. So far as we are aware, out of the many naturalists actually engaged to work out the results of the Challenger Expedition, only three are not Englishmen, two being Americans, and one German. These three gentlemen are of the very highest repute in their respective branches, and Sir Wyville Thomson has, in our opinion, done well for science to secure their services.