EDITORIAL, 523 



This was determined upon at a recent meeting of the board of trustees 

 of the Pennsylvania State College, and will be put into effect at an 

 early date. A> an outgrowth of experiment station work the matter 

 is of unusual interest, and as indicating a determination to make the 

 investigation in this line an even greater feature at the Pennsylvania 

 Station it is matter for sincere congratulation. 



The institute will correspond in organization and general character 

 to the institutes common at European universities. The action is in 

 effect the elevation of this important departmentof research toa posi 

 tion coordinate with that of the experiment station itself, and in a 

 sense independent of it. It will he conducted as a department of the 



college and will he presided ovei by a separate director responsible 

 to the college authorities, hut will he affiliated with the station in 

 its work. The organization, therefore, is different from anything we 

 have had in the past. 



Dr. II. P. Armsby, who has been since L888 director of the Penn- 

 sylvania Station, has been indicated as the director of the new institute. 

 As such he will he relieved of all duties relating to the general adminis- 

 tration of the experiment station, and will be left free to confine 

 himself to his special lines of research. Coming as it does at the 

 close of a long period of service, in which Doctor Armsby has displayed 

 high ability as a research worker in this field, this action of the hoard 

 is to be regarded as a marked compliment to him and a declaration of 

 confidence and appreciation. It is a decided promotion, carrying with 

 it greater freedom and opportunity, and is understood to he entirely 

 in accord with Doctor Armsby's tastes and wishes. 



There would seem to he great opportunity for an institute of this 

 character. Its work will he of interest and value to all the stations 

 and to the science of animal nutrition. It will conduct investigations 

 which very few stations are in position to undertake on account of the 

 expense involved, the intricate apparatus and • equipment required, 

 and above all the indispensable special training. The work is not 

 Spectacular and not likely to appeal so strongly to men looking for 

 immediate practical ends. Support for it must come mainly from 

 investigators and others who appreciate its importance. It calls for a 

 patient investigator, who is a thorough scholar in disposition and 

 temperament, and is content to make haste slowly. In all these 

 respects Doctor Armsby will be recognized as preeminently qualified. 



A point has been reached in the feeding studies where further knowl- 

 edge of the physiology of nutrition is indispensable if progress is to 

 he made in working out the laws which underlie practice. The more 

 superficial work has been done. The composition and digestibility of 

 all the principal feeding stuffs have been determined, as well as their 

 general effects when fed. The practical feeder has been overtaken 

 and his empirical rules largely mastered. But to build up a science of 



