992 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 756 



indebtedness in 1900 represented borrowed 

 money to pay accumulated deficits. Since the 

 new policy went into effect the annual deficits 

 have necessarily been larger than they were 

 before, and have been incurred with the au- 

 thority of the board of trustees, in the belief 

 that the improvement of the educational 

 standards and work, with the increased num- 

 bers of students coming in upon higher en- 

 trance requirements would so demonstrate the 

 needs of such a university in this district that 

 broad-minded and beneficent men would come 

 to its aid and support the movement. It had 

 been demonstrated by numerous efforts that 

 no money could be obtained for the old uni- 

 versity. 



We need to secure for the expenses next 

 year, 1909-10, $55,000 to keep the university 

 going on its present plans. This budget has 

 been approved by the board, and if the money 

 is not provided it will again have to be paid 

 out of existing assets. It is apparent that this 

 process of meeting annual -deficits out of the 

 assets can not go on very long. The univer- 

 sity must have financial support. If congress 

 will give to the District of Columbia the same 

 consideration that it gives to every state and 

 territory and Hawaii and Porto Rico, by ex- 

 tending the benefits of the Morrill act to this 

 district, and designating this university to 

 receive the money, the approp:?iation would 

 pay a little over one half of the deficit next 

 year. We are doing the work required under 

 the Morrill act in the mechanic arts to justly 

 entitle us to the benefits of this fund. There 

 is no other institution in the district that is 

 carrying on work of university grade in the 

 mechanic arts. If the citizens of the District 

 of Columbia will do as Baltimore did for 

 Johns Hopkins when it was in financial straits 

 and what has been done in other cities for 

 other institutions, raise by subscription a fund 

 of $200,000, payable in five annual install- 

 ments of $40,000 each, this, with the benefits 

 of the Morrill act, would enable the university 

 to go forward on its present plans and do its 

 work for the district. With five years free 

 from financial anxiety we could hope to thor- 

 oughly establish the university upon its new 



basis, by appeals to the country at large for 

 adequate endowment. 



Charles W. Needham, 

 President 

 The George Washington University, 

 Washington, B. C, June 21, 1909 



PRESENTATION OF A BUST OF DARWIN 



At the Darwin celebration held in Cam- 

 bridge, England, from June 22 to 24, a bronze 

 replica of the bust of Darwin, by Mr. William 

 Couper, which was presented by the New York 

 Academy of Sciences to the American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History in February last, 

 was presented to Christ's College by the Amer- 

 ican delegates on behalf of those who recognize 

 the influence of Darwin on American thought 

 and science. A letter recently received from 

 Professor Shipley states that the acceptance 

 of this bust would take place at the time of 

 the garden party on June 23. 



The American institutions and individuals 

 that have voluntarily contributed towards de- 

 fraying the expense of this gift, its transporta- 

 tion and its erection in Cambridge (about 

 $1,000) are as follows: 



Ann Arbor — Research Club of University of 

 iMichigan. 



Cambridge — Dr. Alexander Agassiz, Dr. Theo- 

 bald Smith. 



Chicago — University of Chicago. 



Cold Spring Harbor, L. I. — Dr. Charles B. 

 Davenport. 



Ithaca — Cornell University. 



New Haven — Connecticut Academy of Arts and 

 Sciences, Professor Tracey Peck, Professor Russell 

 H. Chittenden. 



New York — Columbia Uniwrsity, Dr. E. B. 

 Wilson, Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn, Mr. 

 Charles F. Cox, Mr. M. Taylor Pyne, The Amer- 

 ican Museum of Natural History, Dr. Hermon C. 

 Bumpus, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. 



Pasadena — Dr. George E. Hale. 



Philadelphia — University of Pennsylvania, Phil- 

 adelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. 



Pittsburgh — Carnegie Institute. 



Princeton — Princeton University, Professor W. 

 B. Scott, Professor 0. W. Richardson. 



Washington — Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Rob- 

 ert S. Woodward, Washington Academy of Sci- 

 ences. 



