THIRTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT 55 



work. To attract and hold good men, opportunities for con- 

 structive work must be presented; no scientific man is willing 

 indefinitely to devote the bulk of his time to purely routine work. 

 The routine Work in certain sections of the Bureau of Science 

 is overwhelming our depleted force, rendering it difficult or 

 practically impossible to attain constructive results. If the work 

 is to progress at all, it is necessary that additional employees be 

 added to the staff. The present appropriation to the Bureau of 

 Science is the basis of retaining that which we have already ac- 

 complished rather than being sufficient as a basis of progressive 

 work. In view of the decreased revenue of the Government, this 

 is satisfactory as a temporary measure, but if the Bureau of 

 Science is to lead the industrial development of the Philippine 

 Islands as it should do in order to prevent extensive duplication 

 and waste, a larger appropriation should be made. 



Renewed recommendation. — Time has made no less desirable 

 many of the things recommended in my annual reports for the 

 last two years. A new wing is urgently needed to provide ad- 

 equate quarters for the testing of cement, reenforced iron, steel, 

 rope, wire, road materials, tiles, cement pipes, concrete, mortar, 

 building blocks, bricks, stone, and cloth, and to supply other addi- 

 tional room. Attention has repeatedly been called to the 

 desirability of protecting the exceedingly valuable herbarium 

 of the Bureau of Science against possible destruction by fire. 

 The main building of the Bureau of Science is far from fireproof, 

 and fires are notoriously common in buildings in which chemical 

 investigations are carried on. The number of fires that have 

 occurred in the Bureau of Science is considerable, and one during 

 the last year was serious. In its present location, the herbarium, 

 in case of fire, would be a total loss, especially should the fire 

 gain headway in the attic of the building. Ordinary libraries, 

 scientific instruments, etc., can be replaced in case of destruction. 

 Scientific collections, such as herbaria, if once destroyed can 

 never be replaced. Other collections can be built up, but new 

 collections can never have the same value, scientific or otherwise, 

 as older ones, like that of the Bureau of Science herbarium which 

 contains a high percentage of types and cotypes. 



As already pointed out, funds for a soil survey, the investiga- 

 tion of the subject of animal diseases, of insects injurious to 

 agricultural products, a water survey, the purchase of books 

 necessary to complete sets now in the central scientific library, 

 reissuing of exhausted editions of certain publications, and en- 

 larging the scope of our present work on the fish and fisheries 

 of the Philippine Islands are needed. As heretofore, I heartily 



