388 
tions much as in 1914, although crop reports 
and similar data have been withheld by the 
Central Powers. 
The immediate result of the war upon the 
institute has been on the whole to increase 
and stimulate its activities. The need for 
accurate statistical data regarding the world’s 
food supply has never been so urgent. Infor- 
mation as to improved farm methods and 
economic measures has been eagerly sought 
for and with more prospect than ever before 
of its practical utilization. As regards tech- 
nical material, particular efforts have been 
made to render available data as to means of 
diminishing the impoverishment of the soil, 
overcoming the shortage of fertilizers and 
labor, and increasing the use of farm ma- 
chinery. A special function has been the 
answering of inquiries regarding agriculture 
in countries whose own agricultural and sta- 
tistical departments have been disorganized by 
the war. It is announced that these various 
efforts of the institute have met with unusual 
appreciation from the governing authorities of 
many nations. 
The officers of the institute are also looking 
forward quite optimistically to the future of 
the institution after the war. They believe 
that the return of peace will bring with it vast 
agricultural problems of international signifi- 
cance, and that during the reconstruction 
period the institute will have a specially im- 
portant function to perform. There will be a 
great demand for accurate information along 
statistical, economic and technical lines, much 
of it international in its scope, and for the 
collection and dissemination of which a central 
clearing-house, such as this, will have unique 
possibilities. The institute is already making 
plans for service in these directions, and more 
specifically in such projects as the control of 
locusts, the improvement of the economic 
status of the farmer, the establishment and de- 
velopment of small holdings, maritime trans- 
portation of farm products, the unification of 
methods for agricultural statistics, farm ac- 
counting, control of seed adulteration and con- 
centrated feeding stuffs, and the development 
of rural sociology. 
SCIENCE 
[N. S. Vou. XLVIII. No. 1242 
Despite the unexpectedly difficult problems 
it has encountered, the institute thus enters 
upon the second decade of its operations with 
its organization virtually intact, its publica- 
tions and other lines of work going on with 
little interruption, and an ambitious program 
being formulated for the future. 
THE MUSEUM OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 
PENNSYLVANIA 
Tue University Museum has entered upon 
an extension of its educational features by the 
addition of four women to its staff for the 
purpose of assisting visitors. There will also 
be an information desk near the entrance door 
for the accommodation of all comers. Every 
day, including Sunday, there will be present 
a professional artist to assist students, pro- 
fessional or designers, who may come to the 
museum to seek inspiration from its many art 
and ethnological treasures. A new curator 
has been employed to assist visitors In examin- 
ing the collections from Mesopotamia, Greece, 
Italy and Egypt. The curator of the Oriental 
Section and the curator of the American Sec- 
tion will be present at all times to assist those 
who desire to study these exhibits. While the 
University Museum has always laid stress on 
its educational features and it has been visited 
by artists and designers as well as by scholars 
and the public generally, the management be- 
lieves the time has arrived when very special 
efforts should be put forth, to make the 
museum a more integral factor in the com- 
mercial as well as the artistic and cultural life 
of the community. Its new assistants will de- 
vote themselves especially to this feature in 
the particular desire to aid those who are seek- 
ing new artistic designs. In explanation of 
its new work the University Museum makes 
the following statement: 
It is realized everywhere that this war is to 
have a profound effect upon the artistic and eul- 
tural world. Not only has much of the accumu- 
lated artistic beauty of the world been destroyed, 
but many of the creators of art have lost their lives 
in the struggle. Reconstruction is not likely to be 
along the same lines as formerly, for it is certain 
that there will be new ideals and new inspiration 
growing out of this war in all countries. 
