228 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1443 



to the fresh mounts commonly used. The 

 writer has found this damp chamber especially 

 well adapted to the study of the relationship 

 of fung-ous hyphse to roots, both in the study 

 of tropisms and in the actual observation of 

 root-hair infections. 



Clifford H. Faee 

 The State Univeksity of Iowa 



THE COST OF GERMAN PUBLICATIONS 



To THE Editor op Science: Apropos of 

 the cost of German publications to Americans, 

 it may be interesting to note the cost of mem- 

 bership in the Deutsche Chemische Gresellschaft 

 (including subscription to the Berichte and 

 ZentralUatt) to Germans and to others. The 

 figures are computed on to-day's exchange rate : 



"United States $23.00 



England 115 shillings 25.56 



France 305 francs 25.28 



Belgium 316 francs 24.74 



Italy 536 lira 24.55 



Norway 176 kroner 28.09 



Sweden 104 kroner 27.14 



Denmark 124 kroner 26.60 



Holland 69 gulden 26.71 



Switzerland 91 francs 17.47 



Germany 370 marks 81 



It will be noted that Americans fare better 

 than any other nationals except the Swiss. It 

 might be added that in 1921 the subscription 

 for Americans was $16.00. 



But do the Germans expect us to believe 

 that the disparity between the cost to them- 

 selves and to others is, as was stated by the 

 president of the Gesellschaft, due to the low 

 value of exchange? 



Jas. Lewis Howe 



Lexington, Virginia 



QUOTATIONS 



SCIENCE AND THE TROPICS 



From the late Mr. Chamberlain onwards, 

 successive colonial secretaries have shown a 

 far-sighted appreciation of what science may 

 do for the tropics. The London School of 

 Tropical Medicine, inaugurated and fostered 

 by the Colonial Office, is now a world-center 

 of research and education in the diseases prev- 

 alent in warm climates and the measures for 



resisting them. In another column Sir Arthur 

 Shipley, now happily restored to economic 

 zoology from his arduous and successful tenure 

 of the vice-chancellorship of Cambridge, de- 

 scribes the work of the Imperial Bureau of 

 Entomology, a product of a research committee 

 appointed by the Marquess of Crewe when 

 colonial secretary, and fii-mly established 'by the 

 late Viscount Harcourt and Viscount Milner. 

 Its local habitation is rightly placed at the 

 Natural History Museum, which contains the 

 finest collection of insects in the world. It is 

 in close touch with every part of the empire, 

 receives, examines, and identifies specimens 

 sent to it, and acts as a general headquarters in 

 the war against insects, whose successful prose- 

 cution is almost a condition of human existence. 

 A third very practical application of science 

 to the needs of the empire, due to the initiation 

 of Viscount Milner when colonial secretary, 

 applies specially to the tropics. A College for 

 the Study of Tropical Agriculture is to open 

 its first session at St. Augustine, Trinidad, this 

 autumn. Last year we were able to welcome 

 the constitution of a governing body to carry 

 out the details of the scheme. Sir Arthur 

 Shipley, chairman of the governors, and his 

 distinguished colleagues have selected a com- 

 petent staff and devised practical courses ex- 

 tending over three years for a diploma, and 

 shorter periods for training in special subjects 

 or for postgraduate research. The island of 

 Trinidad has provided the site and a handsome 

 grant towards the erection of the buildings, 

 which are now complete. Private persons and 

 commercial companies interested in tropical 

 produce have made benefactions, and other 

 West Indian islands are to contribute towards 

 maintenance. But the benefits of the college in 

 Trinidad will radiate far beyond the Antilles. 

 The conditions of soil and climate which favor 

 the luxuriant growth of tropical fruits, vege- 

 table oils, rubljer, and woods also favor the 

 growth of animal and vegetable pests. Insects 

 and moulds which no more than maintained 

 existence in the jungle proliferate under the 

 conditions of cultivation. Much can be done 

 towards identifying and studying these in the 

 museums and laboratories at home, and some- 

 thing also towards the devising of treatment. 



