SCIENCE 



OCT 4 1920 



V 



"-'^Jonal Mus6^ 



Friday, October 1, 1920 



CONTENTS 

 Scientific Besearch in Relation to Agricul- 

 tural Problems: PKorESSOR W. P. Thomp- 

 son 301 



Limitations of Bxperiment in explaining Nat- 

 ural Habit, as illustrated by the Diurnal 

 . Migration: Dk. Calvin O. Esterlt 307 



Scientific Events : — 



The British National Physical Laboratory ; 

 The F airport Fisheries Biological Station; 

 Expeditions of the British Museum 310 



Scientific Notes and News :U1 



University and Educational News 313 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



Electricity and Gravitation: De. H. Bate- 

 man. Protozoa in Sawdust for Class Work : 

 Dr. C. W. Stiles 314 



Concerning Diastrophism : Professor Edward 

 W. Berry 315 



Special Articles: — 



The Influence of Dry versus Fresh. Green 

 Plant Tissue on Calcium Assimilation: Drs. 

 E. B. Hart, H. Steenbock and C. A. Hop- 

 pert 318 



The American Chemical Society: Dr. Charles 

 L. Parsons 319 



MSS. intended for 'publication and books, etc., intended for 

 review Bbould be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 

 Hudeon, N. Y. 



SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN RELATION 

 TO AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMSi 



I AM proud of having an opportunity to as- 

 sist at the birth of this new society. In this 

 case it seems that parturition has been long 

 overdue — perhaps, owing to the size of the em- 

 bryo, if one may judge by the secretary's state- 

 ment of membership. At any rate it proves 

 to be a very vigorous healthy youngster and 

 since it will be watched over by all these ex- 

 perts in nutrition, diseases, etc., one can 

 safely predict for it a rapid grovrth and active 

 maturity. 



I must ask you not to estimate my modesty, 

 by the title of my remarks, which appears on 

 the program — " Scientific research in relation 

 to agricultural problems." This very large 

 subject has been assigned to me by your com- 

 mittee and one consents to discuss it on the 

 present occasion only because the relationship 

 of scientific research to the industries in gen- 

 eral has recently been thoroughly discussed 

 and forcibly brought home to every one. The 

 relationship of scientific research to agricul- 

 ture is only a particular phase of this general 

 question which has been frequently and ably 

 discussed from many quarters. It would serve 

 no useful purpose to point out particular agri- 

 cultural examples of principles which should 

 be familiar to all scientists. It will, therefore, 

 not be necessary to attempt a comprehensive 

 treatment of the subject. It will be sufficient 

 to point out certain resjjeets in which the re- 

 lationship is peculiarly important to agricul- 

 ture, or in which agriculture differs from the 

 other industries. In accordance with the de- 

 sire of your committee, I shall speak largely 

 from the standpoint of the so-called pure 

 scientist. 



Agricultural scientific research suffers more 



1 Address delivered at the organizing convention 

 of the Canadian Society of Technical Agricultur- 

 ists, Ottawa, June 3, 1920. 



