November 17, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



711 



some cases specially well attended even by any 

 standard. It is a fair inference that many of 

 the absentees were such as do not usually 

 attend the section, preferring the lighter enter- 

 tainments of the meeting. At Newcastle there 

 were no general excursions, though the anthro- 

 pologists made a sectional excursion to the 

 Roman Wall; and there were no entertain- 

 ments beyond a thoroughly enjoyable recep- 

 tion by the Lord Mayor on one evening, and a 

 very pleasant garden party given by Miss 

 Noble and Mrs. Cochrane. There is no need 

 to determine now whether the severe economy 

 in general gatherings need be permanent: in 

 our present mood we naturally regard their 

 more frivolous characteristics with disfavor. 

 But such general gatherings, where those 

 usually separated in calling and locality may 

 meet for interchange of ideas, have an un- 

 doubted value which may be trusted to re- 

 assert itself when the time comes. At present 

 we have neither much inclination nor much 

 time for them, seeing that the whole meetings 

 have been reduced in length. 



Further, in estimating the success of the 

 meeting, we must remember the actual diffi- 

 culties to be overcome, especially by the city of 

 Newcastle, and all who worked so devotedly in 

 its interests. The invitation was given before 

 the war, and it would have been quite rea- 

 sonable to withdraw it under the entirely un- 

 foreseen conditions, even in the interests of 

 the guests themselves, who might not have 

 cared to visit an east coast "fortified town" 

 just now. But in March last, after the neces- 

 sary limitations and modifications had been 

 frankly stated, and a courteous enquiry had 

 been made and answered, the invitation was 

 cordially confirmed; and from that moment 

 no more was said of the heavy load of anxiety 

 which those responsible for the success of the 

 meeting must have carried with them continu- 

 ously until the concluding words were spoken. 

 — From an Oxford Note-book in The Observa- 

 tory. 



THE STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AT 

 CORNELL UNIVERSITY 



That the State College of Agriculture at 

 Cornell University is successfully solving the 



great problem of agricultural education is 

 visibly evident from the fact that in a dozen 

 years the enrollment of students in the college 

 has increased ten-fold. Already the college of 

 agriculture is the largest college in Cornell 

 University, and the authorities and friends of 

 the university share the hopes of the faculty 

 of agriculture for a continued increase in the 

 attendance and steady improvement and 

 growing success in its work. 



The motive force behind this great move- 

 ment for a more satisfying country life and 

 a better agriculture is the conviction that 

 properly trained men and women must be 

 placed on the farms and in the rural commu- 

 nities. Education and science are the hope 

 of the farmers as they have already proved 

 the boon of manufacturers and transporters. 

 Men and women of vision and well-disciplined 

 minds are the prime agents in accomplishing 

 progress in every field of human activity 

 whether intellectual, economic or material. 



Under the terms of the Smith-Lever Bill 

 New York state will in 1923, and annually 

 thereafter, when the appropriations provided 

 for will have reached their maximum, receive 

 from the federal government $170,000 on con- 

 dition that the state of New York provide an 

 equal amount for cooperative extension work 

 among the farmers of the state. Cornell Uni- 

 versity being the federal land grant college 

 of New York is the agent by which this ex- 

 tension work is to be carried on. 



While the federal government has thus gen- 

 erously encouraged education and investiga- 

 tion in agriculture and the extension of the 

 results of scientific investigation to farmers 

 on their own farms, many of the state govern- 

 ments have shown no less zeal for the better- 

 ment of the farmers and the improvement of 

 conditions of farming within their own bor- 

 ders. Among these states New York stands 

 conspicuous. The State College of Agricul- 

 ture and Veterinary Medicine at Cornell Uni- 

 versity as well as the state experiment station 

 at Geneva are visible evidences of the wisdom 

 with which, in this respect, the state has been 

 governed. 



Briefly and broadly expressed, the State 



