FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



57i 



four were strongly in favor of outdoor exer- 

 cise, or a combination of calisthenics and 

 the old-fashioned recess. While wide diver- 

 gence of opinion marked the answers of fifty- 

 three educators and thirty-four physicians 

 concerning the effect of home study, all in- 

 sisted that the work should be carefully 

 guarded and not carried to extremes, and 

 that the health should be properly looked 

 after at the same time. Some thought it did 

 no more harm than attending parties and 

 keeping late hours socially. 



Cereal Foods. — In a recent bulletin of 

 the agricultural experiment station at the 

 University of Wyoming there is an interest- 

 ing examination into the composition of pre- 

 pared cereal foods, whose results are summed 

 up as follows: "Leaving aside the custom- 

 ary claims of each food to be the best in the 

 market, and considering only the more spe- 

 cific statements of composition, food value, 

 etc., it may be said that these are in many 

 instances entirely unreliable and misleading 

 as to the real character of the food. . . . 

 If purchasers of goods in packages and cans 

 would always note the brand, and afterward 

 buy according to the quality, it would be an 

 encouragement to honest manufacturers, and 

 the gi ade of such foods would no doubt be 

 raised. There is more variation in price than 

 in composition, and there is no discoverable 

 relation between quality and price. Some ar- 

 ticles are four or five times the cost of others 

 of the same class, and apparently of the 

 same merit. . . . The oatmeal sold in bulk 

 is practically the same in composition and, 

 so far as can be judged by personal taste, in 

 quality and flavor as that sold in packages 

 for several times the price. . . . The claims 

 made for quick cooking are generally falla- 

 cious. Almost all such preparations should 

 be cooked for at least half an hour, and usu- 

 ally longer, to insure the complete digestibil- 

 ity of the starch." 



Value of Disinterested Science. — The ad- 

 dress of President F. M. Webster before the 

 sixth annual meeting of the Association of 

 Economical Entomologists, on The Past and 

 Future of Applied Entomology in America, 

 contains an earnest argument in favor of in- 

 dependent investigation as against work in 

 official bureaus and an emphatic denuncia- 



tion of attempts to harness science to utility 

 as "the worst of all the ill-matched and mis- 

 mated combinations possible." The author 

 regrets that the mass of mankind can not 

 seem to comprehend that the naturalist, in 

 order to secure results of value, " must work 

 out his problems in a natural way. and not 

 as a part of a machine, and that this con- 

 dition is universal and one which no power 

 on earth can change." In illustration of the 

 value of international work in entomology, 

 the author refers to the monetary value of 

 the benefits this country has derived from 

 the work of two entomologists who were sent 

 several years ago to Australia, one of whom 

 at least " has been able to serve his country 

 and State better since his return," and adds 

 that an American expert is now the official 

 entomologist of Cape Colony, South Africa, 

 and another is in the Argentine Republic, 

 engaged in the investigation of some inju- 

 rious insects in that country. The author 

 sees that public opinion regarding the ento- 

 mologists and their work has been changing 

 for the better ; but if this change is to con- 

 tinue they must do better work, the results 

 of which will be far reaching and permanent. 

 " The ' powers that be ' over and among us 

 must be brought to understand that science 

 is truth and not something that is to be tri- 

 fled with and debauched, or made to answer 

 for cheap advertisements, or used for the 

 purpose of paying political indebtedness." 



Flora of the Sandwich Islands. — Iso- 

 lated from a continental area, and almost 

 equally so from the other islands of the 

 Polynesian system, says Mr. A. A. Heller, in 

 Minnesota Botanical Studies, Hawaiian vege- 

 tation has developed independent of extrane- 

 ous modifying conditions. That it has done 

 so in a satisfactory way is evinced in the 

 enumeration in Hillebrand's Flora of 999 

 species of phanerogams and vascular crypto- 

 gams, of which 139 are introduced and C53 

 are endemic, leaving 297 species found else- 

 where. Of the 053 endemic species, 250 be- 

 long to 40 endemic genera ; and these are 

 found principally among the Rubiaceoe, Com- 

 positce, Lobeliacece, and Labiatce. Besides 

 these larger genera, there are smaller ones 

 which have representation only on the north- 

 ern islands. The great number of ferns ap- 

 peal to the eye of the botanist. Omitting 



