bEPTEMBER 12, I907J 



NA 1 UKh 



497 



meri-Amen setep-en-Ra. "' This find is a second dis- 

 covery of Tell el-Aniarna letters, and may prove 

 equally important ! 



In connection with the relations between 

 Rameses II. and the Hittites, an interesting little 

 discovery may be chronicled. Last year Prof. 

 Breasted, copying the inscriptions of the temple of 

 Abu Simbel in Nubia, read through again the inscrip- 

 tion which records the marriage of Rameses with the 

 daughter of the Hittite king, contracted in order to 

 cement their alliance. In the course of reading he 

 came across a new word, which he identified as the 

 Egyptian expression for snow; this word reads selg, 

 which is evidently the Semitic Iclg, " snow " or 

 "ice," which we have adopted to express the sub- 

 stance talc. Rameses is speeding the Hittites on 

 their homeward way, and hopes that they will not 

 be troubled by snow in the Lebanon passes. Hot 

 Nubia was a curious place in which to find and first 

 identify the hieroglyphic word for " snow " ! 



SCIENCE AND GOVERNMENT. 



THEORETICALLY at least most observers admit 

 that the adoption of the scientific method in the 

 management of the affairs of State is a preliminary 

 necessity if national efiticiency is to be secured. The 

 .Secretary of State for War notably has urged again 

 and again that we cannot expect as a people to com- 

 pete successfully with other nations, whether in peace 

 or war, unless like them we learn to take advantage 

 of the assistance which science and men of science are 

 able to offer. 



It is only in recent years that it has begun to be 

 understood in how many directions the methods of 

 science are applicable. No longer is it imagined that 

 the plan of inquiry which has proved so successful in 

 probing the mysteries of the material universe is 

 suitable only in the laboratory and observatory. The 

 adoption of similar lines of approach in the study of 

 history, language, economics, education, and other 

 subjects at one time thought to have nothing in com- 

 mon with science has resulted, indeed, in unprecedented 

 progress in all of them. So, too, in recent times in- 

 dustry and commerce have come under the same 

 influence with beneficial results. The spirit of scien- 

 tific research, in fact, is beginning to dominate most 

 forms of intellectual activity. 



There is growing evidence, also, that politicians in 

 most countries are beginning to realise that statesman- 

 ship is no exception to this rule, but, like other skilled 

 labour, is most satisfactory when conducted on scientific 

 principles. But whether British statesmen appreciate 

 this truth to the same extent as those of other great 

 nations is a matter of grave doubt. Their education 

 generally has been of such a character as to leave 

 them with a colossal ignorance of science and 

 scientific methods ; and it is only by overcoming the 

 bias received at the public school and university that 

 most of them come to understand the modern outlook. 

 One of the results of the regard in which science is 

 held by legislators is to be found in the amount of 

 money they vote from the public funds for scientific 

 purposes, and it is consequently possible to institute 

 a comparison between the importance attached I0 

 scientific investigation by statesmen in the United 

 States on one hand, and in the United Kingdom 

 on the other. 



" The Digest of .Appropriations for the Support of 

 the Government of the LTnited States for the Service 

 of the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 190S," recently 

 published in Washington, provides detailed inform- 

 ation as to the amounts voted by Congress to enable 

 American statesmen to secure the best scientific assist- 



ance in the different Government departments. Simi- 

 larly, the various estimates — for the .'\rmy. Navy, Civil 

 Services, &c. — ordered to be printed by the House of 

 Commons, and procurable from Messrs. Wyman and 

 .Sons, Ltd., give full particulars as to the provision 

 made by the House of Commons, at the suggestion of 

 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for similar help 

 during 1907-8 for the British Government. 



In the following comparison no reference is made 

 to educational establishments for the technical train- 

 ing of soldiers and sailors or to the grants made to 

 colleges and universities. This subject has been ex- 

 haustively treated in these columns on more than one 

 occasion. The intention here is to compare the 

 amounts set aside in the two countries for scientific 

 investigation with a view to the application of the 

 results to matters of national importance. Some 

 amounts may have been overlooked, but it is believed 

 that every sum of importance, so far as the comparison 

 is concerned, has been included. 



To begin with the United States, it will be best first 

 to state simply, under the headings as they occur in 

 the official volume from Washington, the amounts 

 voted for various purposes, and then to explain more 

 fully the specific purpose of the grant in cases where 

 it seems necessary. 



Table I. — United States. 

 Under Smithsonian Institution. 

 International Exchanges 

 American Ethnology 



Astrophysical Observatory 



International Catalogue of Scientific 



Literature ... 

 Building National Museum 

 Preservation of Collections 

 National Zoological Park ... 

 Navy Department. 



Hydrographic Office... ... ... ... 27,900 



Naval Observatory ... ... ... ... 12,540 



Nautical Almanac ... ... ... ... 4,250 



Surveying Public Lands. 



Surveying Public Lands 

 Geological Survey 

 Surveying Forest Reserves... 

 Analysing and Testing Coals, &c. 

 Testing Structural Materials 

 Department of Agriculture. 



Salaries, Library, Contingent Expenses. 

 Bureau of Animal Industry 

 Eradicating Cattle Ticks ... 

 Bureau of Plant Industry : 



General Expenses... 



Grain Investigations 



Distribution of Valuable Seeds... 



Cotton Boll-weevil Investigations 

 Forest Service : 



General Expenses ... 

 Bureau of Chemistry 

 Bureau of Soils 

 Bureau of Entomology : 



Entomological Investigations ... 



Cotton Boll-weevil Investigations 



Preventing Spread of Moths 

 Bureau of Biological Survey : 



Biological Investigations... 

 Bureau of Statistics : 



Collecting .Agricultural Statistics 

 Office of Experiment Stations : 



Agricultural Experiments... ... ... 213,400 



Nutrition Investigations ... ... ... 1,000 



Irrigation Investigations ... ... ... 30,000 



Weather Bureau ... ... ... ... 280,710 



Department of Commerce and Labour. 



Coast and Geodetic Survey ... ... 198,000 



Bureau of Fisheries ... ... ... ... 134,000 



£ 



6,400 

 8,000 

 2,600 



1,000 

 250,000 

 38,000 

 22,000 



87,000 

 83,000 

 20,000 

 50,000 

 20,000 



206,900 

 189,400 

 30,000 



117,000 

 8,000 

 47,600 

 22,000 



351,400 

 130,000 

 34,000 



22,800 

 8,000 

 30,000 



44,580 



NO. 1976, VOL. 76] 



... 2,740,360 



