August 10, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



137 



mented upon aiiimals and produced the hoped- 

 for results. 



Under the direction of Dr. Roger Adams, of 

 the division of organic chemistry of the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois, a group of graduate stu- 

 dents is engaged in preparing chemicals that 

 are being sold to as many as fifteen different 

 university laboratories, to the Bureau of 

 Chemistry at Washington, to large distribu- 

 ting houses, and commercial firms. One 

 chemical, for which there has been a shortage 

 ever since the work began, is now being sup- 

 plied from this laboratory in sufficient quanti- 

 ties to meet all demands of the country. 



The annual meeting of the Incorporated So- 

 ciety for Extending the Rothamsted Experi- 

 ments in Agricultural Science was held on 

 N'ovember 6. According to the report in the 

 London Times Lord Crawford, president of 

 the British Board of Agriculture, moved a 

 resolution declaring that the work of the so- 

 ciety was a matter of national importance de- 

 serving wide public support. He said that 

 much would be expected from agriculture after 

 the war, and much more, therefore, would 

 have to be drawn from the knowledge, experi- 

 ence and guidance of such societies as that of 

 Rothamsted. It would be really deplorable if 

 any single branch of its activity had to be 

 dropped during the war. It was at Rotham- 

 sted that the first practical demonstration of 

 the value of artificial manures was consum- 

 mated. He was fully conscious of the urgent 

 necessity for the comprehensive treatment of 

 this great subject, but the time was not yet 

 ripe for any public announcement. Mean- 

 while, he trusted that the work of Rothamsted 

 would continue and, in spite of the war, ex- 

 tend in the sphere and scale of its operations. 

 In any future scheme he was certain that 

 Rothamsted would take a high and honorable 

 place, and would contribute to the research 

 which was essential to the future of British 

 agriculture. Dr. E. J. Russell, the honorable 

 secretary and director of the Rothamsted Sta- 

 tion, stated that the ordinary work at Rotham- 

 sted had been curtailed, but it was not being 



allowed to drop. "Women had been brought in, 

 and when peace came the men would come 

 back to find the experiments a stage more de- 

 veloped than when they left. They could see 

 the possibility of using to the great advantage 

 of agriculture some of the machinery which 

 was now being used for non-agricultural pur- 

 poses. They hoped for some well-considered 

 scheme for agricultural development in which 

 the research stations, colleges, agricultural in- 

 stitutes and similar organizations would play 

 a definite part. 



Nature remarks : " The science of economic 

 aviculture has probably reached a higher 

 standard in the United States than in any 

 other part of the world. This work is carried 

 on by the Department of Agriculture, which, 

 for years past, has spared no pains to enact 

 laws and formulate schemes for the conserva- 

 tion of bird-life, whether for purely economic 

 ends or for esthetic reasons. As a consequence, 

 it has now available a mass of evidence as to 

 the status and value of every si)ecies within 

 its realms. The latest evidence of its enlight- 

 ened policy takes the form of a bulletin — No. 

 465 — on the propagation of wild-duck foods. 

 The haunts and food values of no fewer than 

 nineteen groups of plants, comprising sixty 

 species, are here described, together with in- 

 structions as to stocking water in need of bait 

 for these valuable birds. The characteristics 

 of wild rice, wild celery, pondweeds, arrow- 

 heads, chufa, wild millet and water-lilies are 

 all carefully set forth, and this information is 

 accompanied by carefully collected data as to 

 their attractiveness in regard to particular 

 species of wild ducks. Had we followed its 

 lead years ago our own Board of Agriculture 

 would now be able to speak with authority 

 when called on to sift the value of the crudely 

 formed opinions of local agricultural cham- 

 bers as to the usefulness or otherwise of our 

 native birds in relation to our food supply. 

 The latter is of vital importance, and the 

 clamor for legislation is sometimes insistent. 

 This war has done much for us already; per- 

 haps it may yet bring into being a bureau of 

 ornithology, such as is to be found now in 



