EDITORIAL. 425 



The preparation of the calcium cyanamid is comparatively simple 

 and cheap. A company has been org-anized in Berlin for the manu- 

 facture of nitrogenous compounds by this process, and if further 

 experience fulfills the promise of the earlier work, it seems (juite 

 probable that this new source of nitrogen for fertilizing- purposes will 

 soon lind its way into the markets, and the experiment stations will 

 be called upon to definitely determine its agricultural value. 



It is worthy of note that Dr. Remsen, in his presidential address 

 before the Association for the Advancement of Science at St. Louis 

 last month, referred at considerable length to this new discover}^ in its 

 relation to the nitrogen supply of farm crops, and pronounced it to be 

 " full of promise." 



The list of grants made ])y the Carnegie Institution for research 

 during the past year affords little ground for congratulation to those 

 interested in the promotion of agricultural science. The great field 

 of agriculture has no representation in this list, and the grants made 

 to the related sciences are, from the nature of the subjects to be inves- 

 tigated, of onl}" remote and indefinite application to agriculture. 



In all fift3"-five separate grants were made, aggregating $147,670, 

 and in addition the sum of $25,000 was set aside for research assistants. 

 Of these grants botany, zoology, and physiology received a total of 

 $41,200, and the physical sciences over $64,000, while engineering 

 received $8,620, anthropology and exploration $6,500 each, psychology 

 $3,600, history $2,000, and bibliography $15,000. 



These grants were mainly for research in the domain of theoretical 

 and pure science, rather than for investigations bearing directly on 

 any phase of science as applied to the arts and industries. This is 

 true of the investigations provided for in the biological sciences, as 

 well as in chemistry, astronomy, geology, etc. In botan}^, for example, 

 the work authorized is mainly systematic and cytological, and for the 

 maintenance of the desert botanical laboratory at Tucson, Arizona; 

 and the two grants under physiology are for researches in connection 

 with human nutrition. Zoology received the largest number of grants 

 among the biological sciences, aggregating $18,000, none of which was 

 for economic work. Among the principal topics in zoology are a 

 study of recent and fossil corals, the blind fishes of Cuba, a mono- 

 graph on American mosquitoes, investigations in experimental embry- 

 ology, morpholog3^ and classification of deep sea sponges, and $11,000 

 for the maintenance of twenty tables at the Marine Biological Labora- 

 tory at Woods Hole and two at Naples. 



The foundation of the composite science of agriculture is so wide 

 that in a broad sense nearly all progress of general knowledge in the 

 natural sciences may ultimatel}' contribute toward the advancement of 



