REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 133 



Mr. Soper, through his knowledge of photography and photographic 

 processes, has been extremely helpful to scientists on the island. It 

 is hardly necessary to point out here the difficulties, as well as losses, 

 incurred during the past war, because of the lack of previous studies 

 of this nature. It is to the point to emphasize the soundness of the 

 decision made to go to the humid Tropics to make these studies, rather 

 than to depend on tests made in the continental United States by 

 simulating conditions in the Tropics. It is possible to duplicate tem- 

 peratures and humidities, but it is not possible to duplicate the often 

 rapid changes, and certainly not the action of micro-organisms. 



The past war has shown the wisdom as well as the urgency for 

 conducting in the Tropics studies on corrosion, deterioration, packing 

 and packaging, and similar problems, and particularly the need to 

 study and test the great number of new materials which still lack suffi- 

 cient service tests to show the true limits of their best usage. 



Dr. Graham Beli^ Fairciiild, medical entomologist to the Gorgas 

 Memorial Laboratory, whose splendid work during the past war is 

 so well known, made several brief visits to the island in connection 

 with his entomological studies. 



Dr. Chas. F. Quaintance, spent a little over 8 months of his sab- 

 batical leave on the Isthmus, a few months thereof on the island. As 

 head of the biology department of Eastern Oregon College, his main 

 objective was to learn as much as possible about the plants and animals 

 of the Tropics, and particularly the environmental conditions. To 

 supplement his notes and collections, he also took a great number of 

 kodachrome photographs for use in his teaching. 



It is one thing to read about the Tropics and then pass on this 

 second-hand knowledge to students. But it is only when one sees, 

 feels, hears, tastes, and smells that which is the humid Tropics that 

 one is able to really teach about them. The past war emphasized the 

 paucity of men who have had actual experience in the Tropics. 



Dr. Thos. E. Snyder, senior entomologist of the Division of Forest 

 Insect Investigations, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, 

 United States Department of Agriculture, and one of our greatest 

 authorities on termites, came for a few weeks to discuss with the Resi- 

 dent Manager the extensive termite studies conducted on the island 

 since 1923. The clearing of a piece of the immediate forest just behind 

 the present laboratory buildings, to provide needed space for buildings 

 and for water storage, necessitates the removal of several thousand of 

 the termite exposure tests to a new area. 



During his stay he examined all the trail-end buildings, which are 

 also termite tests. A report on this is given elsewhere. The great 

 value of the island for such tests and studies has been attested and 

 emphasized so often that any repetition here becomes redundant. 



