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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



trustees on October 28. On October 31 

 there was a university convocation, 

 when President Butler made a commem- 

 orative oration and degrees were con- 

 ferred on distinguished alumni. There 

 was a banquet of the alumni in the 

 evening and various other gatherings. 

 Perhaps the most interesting event, as 

 witnessing the continual growth of the 

 university, was the dedication of the 

 building for physical education of 

 Teachers College, erected and furnished 

 at a cost of $400,000 and the laying of 

 the cornerstones of a chapel, of a school 

 of mines building and of two dormi- 

 tories. The school of mines is built 

 in the same general style as the four 

 buildings for the sciences already 

 erected. The dormitories must be ad- 

 justed to a city environment, where 

 land is expensive, the two city blocks 

 on the side of which they stand having 

 cost $2,000,000. In connection with 

 the celebrations, there has been pub- 

 lished by the Columbia Press a history 

 of the university prepared by Dean 

 Van Amringe and other authorities, 

 which is a work of interest not only 

 to alumni, but also to all who are 

 concerned with the history of higher 

 education in the United States. 



THE FORESTS OF THE HAWAIIAN 

 ISLANDS. 

 Me. William L. Hall, in charge of 

 forest extension of the Bureau of For- 

 est ry, has drawn up a report on the 

 forests of the Hawaiian Islands which 

 is of some general interest. The for- 

 ests are of two entirely different kinds, 

 which in no case meet. Those near 

 the sea-level consist of a single species, 

 now covering at least fifty thousand 

 acres, all of which sprang from a 

 single algaroba tree, which grew from 

 a seed planted in 1837. These forests 

 have considerable economic value. 

 They supply cord wood and posts, and 

 live stock feed on the pods. The land 

 occupied by these trees is mostly worth- 

 less for any other purpose; they are so 

 hardy and so fully appreciated by the 

 people that they will be cared for with- 



out any special action on the part of 

 the government. 



The conditions are different in the 

 case of the native forests, which cover 

 or formerly covered the mountains of 

 the islands. These forests, which con- 

 sist of lehua, koa and other native trees 

 are tropical in character, containing 

 none of the familiar trees of the north 

 temperate zone. The trees are not 

 very valuable commercially, but the 

 forests themselves are said to be of the 

 utmost value in conserving the water 

 supply of the islands. There is an 

 abundant and luxuriant undergrowth 

 with a great quantity of humus, pos- 

 sessing an enormous capacity for hold- 

 ing water. When the forests are 

 cleared, either purposely or by accident, 

 there is danger that there will not be 

 enough water conserved to supply the 

 sugar plantations. These supply the 

 chief industry of the islands, the ex- 

 ports of sugar being valued at some 

 $25,000,000, ninety-six per cent, of the 

 total exports of the islands. The for- 

 ests have in part been destroyed in a 

 curious way. Cattle were introduced 

 into the islands in the eighteenth cen- 

 tury and Avere turned out to run at 

 large. They trampled down and ate 

 the undergrowth, without which the 

 ground dries up and the shallow-rooted 

 trees die. Goats, pigs and deer also 

 run wild in the forests. In view of 

 the conditions cooperation of some 

 character is essential, and the people 

 of Hawaii have through their legis- 

 lature passed a bill creating a forest 

 reservation, and appropriating $28,000 

 annually for its\ support. A trained 

 forester has been appointed, and the 

 work is being carried forward with the 

 cooperation of the Division of Forestry 

 of the Department of Agriculture. 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS. 

 Professor Clemens A. Winckler, 

 the eminent chemist, died at Dresden 

 on October 8, at the age of sixty-six 

 years. — Professor Nils Finssen, of 

 Copenhagen, known for his discovery of 

 the light cure for lupus, died on Sep- 



