490 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 743 



ference in the work of the kidneys. It 

 should also be pointed out that even 

 though arterial pressure is subnormal, yet 

 a weakened heart working against com- 

 paratively low pressure may be in as great 

 danger as a strong and fresh heart work- 

 ing against high pressure. The condi- 

 tions may, it is true, be only transitory; 

 they may pass away without lasting ill 

 effects; but they are all distinctly unfav- 

 orable conditions in the organism, and we 

 are not justified in looking upon them as 

 other than warnings which must be heeded 

 in formulating proper systems of physical 

 training for the masses. 



It is, of course, easy to exaggerate these 

 dangers and it is difficult even to state 

 them clearly and fairly without running 

 the risk of being misunderstood. I should 

 be the last man in the world to advocate 

 the banishment of athletic activities from 

 college life. I would not be understood 

 to discourage new forms of physical exer- 

 cise merely because they are new and have 

 not formed part of the ancestral activities 

 to which the adaptation of the organism is 

 most perfect. I believe in the active life, 

 in the cultivation of greater physical 

 strength and endurance with all classes 

 and all ages; but let us do this with full 

 understanding of the risks involved, al- 

 ways with due reference to securing in 

 each individiial the maximal efficiency in 

 subsequent life, and above all with the de- 

 termination to provide for the masses the 

 best possible physical training. 



Theodore Hough 



University or Virginia 



CURRENT PROGRESS IN CONSERVATION 

 WORK 



The Proceedings of the Conference of 

 Governors on the conservation of the nat- 

 ural resources of the country, held in the 

 "White House, Washington, May 13-15, 

 1908, have just been issued in a volume of 



XXXV + 451 pages. The bulk of the edi- 

 tion is distributed by senators and repre- 

 sentatives; the smaller portion designed 

 for distribution by the President among 

 the governors and other conferees is in 

 course of distribution under the direction 

 of ex-President Roosevelt by the Joint Com- 

 mittee on Conservation (Hon. Gifford 

 Pinch ot, chairman). 



The National Conservation Commission, 

 appointed by the President on June 8 last 

 pursuant to action at the Governors' Con- 

 ference, held a working session during the 

 first week in December last, at which an in- 

 ventory of the resources of the country 

 was discussed and a report adopted; dur- 

 ing the second week in December the in- 

 ventory and report were considered at the 

 Joint Conference of State and National 

 commissions and commissions or commit- 

 tees appointed by national organizations. 

 The Joint Conference approved and sup- 

 plemented the papers, which were duly 

 submitted to the President and were by 

 him in January transmitted to Congress 

 with an approving message. The inven- 

 tory is the most complete quantitative 

 statement of natural resources ever pre- 

 pared for any country. After some delay, 

 publication was authorized by Congress, 

 and the matter is now in type and under- 

 going proof revision. It will form two 

 volumes, aggregating some 1,700 pages. 

 Provision has not yet been made for ade- 

 quate distribution. 



The complete preliminary Report of the 

 Inland Waterways Commission (which 

 body arranged for the Governors' Confer- 

 ence and the subsequent steps in the con- 

 servation movement) has been in the hands 

 of the printer for several months, com- 

 pletion being delayed by extensive proof 

 revision, especially of the extended sta- 

 tistical matter prepared in the office of 

 Hon. Herbert Knox Smith, Commissioner 

 of Corporations. The matter is now on 



