6 THE BUREAU OF SCIENCE 



the type of its species or that has been labeled by a specialist is 

 somewhat similar to that which takes place in a meter rod when 

 it is compared with the standard meter measure now kept at 

 Sevres, France. The collections of the Bureau are very valuable 

 on account of the high percentage of its types, cotypes, and 

 compared specimens. 



Prior to 1900 practically no botanical work of importance had 

 been accomplished in the Philippine Islands. Systematic work 

 had to precede all other lines of botanical investigation. For 

 example, without such work the present cqmmercial classification 

 of Philippine timbers would have been absolutely impracticable. 

 The botanical material of the Bureau of Science has been turned 

 over for identification to specialists wherever they could be 

 found willing to work on the material. The lichens have been 

 sent to a man in Finland, the mosses to another man in Finland, 

 the hepatics to one in Germany, the orchids to one in America, 

 and so on for a score of groups. Thus the Philippine Govern- 

 ment has had the benefit of the trained services of numerous 

 specialists in England, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Holland, 

 Denmark, and the United States merely by sending a set of 

 duplicate specimens. Only those groups for which no specialists 

 could be found have been worked in Manila. 



PUBLICATION 



The publication of the results of the study of a collection of 

 biological specimens and of all other investigations is absolutely 

 necessary. In my last annual report I pointed out that high- 

 grade character in publication could not be maintained by bulletin 

 issues. For the same reason, among others, the Philippine 

 Journal of Science was started in 1906. The United States 

 Department of Agriculture followed the example of the Bureau 

 of Science when it established the Journal of Research in 1914. 

 Besides improving the character of the work and avoiding the 

 confusion that results from a multiplicity of series of publi- 

 cations, there are many reasons, any one of which justifies the 

 publication of the Philippine Journal of Science, as follows : 



1. The larger part of the current serial literature in the 

 Bureau of Science library has been received in exchange for the 

 Philippine Journal of Science. The value of these publications, 

 together with the cash sales of the Philippine Journal of Science, 

 makes the latter practically self-supporting. A series of bulletins 

 issued either free or at cost has very little exchange value and is 

 not acceptable to many institutions. 



2. If there were not a single advantags to the public in having 



