November 14, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



455 



revenue and tariff matters until after tlie 

 treaty of peace had been acted upon. 



During the hearings on the bill the Tariff 

 Commission prepared a report entitled In- 

 formation concerning scientific instruments, 

 which has been recently published. The re- 

 port brings together a large number of 

 opinions and arguments concerning the tariff 

 on scientific supplies, received from various 

 sections of the Bureau of Standards, from 

 manufacturers and instruments of all kinds 

 and from universities and organizations. 



Tveo distinct questions are involved: (1) 

 Should Congress repeal the privilege, now 

 granted to institutions of learning, of im- 

 porting supplies free of duty? (2) Should 

 the present rates be increased and imported 

 articles now on the free list be taxed? 



The opinions quoted are not analyzed in 

 the report, but the following brief outline 

 will indicate that those interested are still far 

 from being in agreement. (Definite recom- 

 mendations only are counted.) 



1. Of eleven university professors quoted, 

 one favors and ten oppose repeal of the duty- 

 free clause. Of twelve opinions from the 

 Bureau of Standards, five favor and seven op- 

 pose repeal. Of seven manufacturers quoted 

 on this subject sis favor and one opposes 

 repeal. The Council of the American Chem- 

 ical Society is quoted in favor of repeal of 

 the duty-free clause, " for a reasonable period 

 of years, at least." 



2. Opinions on the subject of the im- 

 position and increase of tariff rates on sci- 

 entific supplies are quoted as follows: Ten 

 manufacturers, all in favor of higher tariff; 

 eleven sections of the Bureau of Standards, 

 seven in favor and four against. The com- 

 mission believes that "the extremely diverse 

 nature of the products falling under such a 

 general designation as ' scientific instru- 

 ments ' renders general statements concerning 

 the entire group of little value for the pur- 

 pose of deciding on any rates of duty related 

 to the competitive conditions which affect in- 

 dividual instruments." 



The report also discusses in a general way 

 the status of the domestic industry, imports 

 and exports, tariff history, competitive condi- 

 tions and war developments. 



THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



There was formally opened at the New 

 York Botanical Garden on November 8 a new 

 Central Display Greenhouse, the gift of Dan- 

 iel and Murray Guggenheimer, erected at a 

 cost of $100,000. The gift includes, besides 

 the maiij, house, an adjoining orchid house. 

 The main building is approximately 140 feet 

 long, forty-five feet wide and thirty-five feet 

 high. Among its new features is the glass, 

 which is frosted, thus doing away with the use 

 of screens, previously considered necessary in 

 glasshouses, although more or less of a dis- 

 figurement, as they become quickly defaced. 

 The new building has an open concrete floored 

 center, where lectures are to be given. 



The central display house will contain plants 

 from South Africa, the southern part of Ja- 

 pan, from South America and from some of 

 the southern states in this country, A special 

 exhibition of plants and flowers was shown. 

 The Horticultural Society of New York held a 

 large flower show in the new greenhouse which 

 is now open to the public. It is on the eastern 

 end of the grounds, near the Allerton Avenue 

 Bubway station, and will aid in distributing 

 the crowds visiting the gardens, the other 

 group of greenhouses being at the western end 

 of the grounds. 



W. Gilman Thompson, president of the board 

 of directors of the garden, opened the exer- 

 cises and told of the educational work of the 

 garden, a part of which will now be done in the 

 new building. The gift of the greenhouse, he 

 said, with the exception of one by Mrs. Eussell 

 Sage, was the largest ever made to the gar- 

 den. Dr. N. L. Britton, director of the 

 Botanical Garden, and Dr. D. T. MacDougal, 

 director of botanical research, Carnegie In- 

 stitution of Washing-ton, formerly assistant 

 director made addresses. 



GIFT TO THE ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE FOR 

 MEDICAL RESEARCH 



Announcement is made that Mr. John D. 

 Eockefeller has added $10,000,000 to his 

 previous endowment of the Rockefeller In- 

 stitute for Medical Research. This gift, the 

 largest made by Mr. Rockefeller at one time 

 to the institution, is to meet rapidly growing 

 needs in its many lines of research and in 



