February 3, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



129 



THE RUSSIAN BUREAU OF APPLIED 

 BOTANY 



To THE Editor of Science: It might be of 

 interest to the American scientific workers, en- 

 gaged along agricultural and botanical lines, 

 to know that Professor N. I. Vavilov, director 

 of the Bureau of Applied Botany of Petro- 

 grad, Russia, who recently visited this country, 

 has established a permanent New York office, 

 which represents the Bureau of Applied 

 Botany of the Agricultural Scientific Com- 

 mittee, and of which the undersigned is now 

 in charge. 



The object of this office is to secure seeds 

 and other material needed for the work of the 

 Russian Bureau of Applied Botany. We hope 

 to widen and permanently maintain the cordial 

 contact recently established with American 

 institutions and individuals in corresponding 

 lines of research work, as well as with the vari- 

 ous seed concerns. The oi3ice has already been 

 in existence for three months, and during this 

 short period was in a position to forward 

 nearly 5,000 packages of seeds to Russia for 

 the experimental stations; also, several boxes 

 of agricultural and scientific literature received 

 from various American institutions. 



Professor N. I. Vavilov expects to return to 

 Petrograd in February, 1922, after a brief visit 

 to England, Sweden and Germany. Since mail 

 is now being accepted for Russia, all letters to 

 Professor Vavilov may be addressed directly to 

 him at the Bureau of Applied Botany, 

 Morskaja, 44, Petrograd, Russia. Books and 

 parcels should be addressed to Mr. D. N. 

 Borodin, 110 West 40th Street (Room 1603), 

 New York City. 



D. N. Borodin, 

 Agricultural Explorer. 

 New York City 



MEMORIAL TO WILHELM WUNDT 



Peofessor Ppeifee, the sculptor, tells me 

 that the sum of Mk. 25,000 is still needed for 

 the execution in marble of his monumental 

 bust of Wundt. . Family and friends all 

 approve the bust, which was shown last June 

 • in the Aula of the University of Leipzig, and 

 hope that it may be transferred from plaster 

 to the more durable material and placed per- 



manently in the Psychological Laboratory. 

 Subscriptions (a thousand marks may now be 

 sent for about six dollars) will be received by 

 Professor Felix Krueger, Psychologisehes 

 Institut der Universitat (Johanneum), Leipzig, 

 Germany. 



E. B. TiTCHENER 



Cornell Uuiversity, 

 January 24, 1922 



THE RHODESIAN SKULL^ 



Of greatest interest was the discussion of 

 the recently unearthed Rhodesian skull at a 

 recent meeting of the Anatomical Society of 

 Great Britain. I do not know whether the 

 American papers or scientific journals have 

 published an account of it up to this time or 

 not. You have probably had some informa- 

 tion, but I thought j'ou might like to have 

 some first-hand, whether it be additional, or 

 merely a repetition of what you have read. 



The skull, along with some other human 

 bones and many bones of animals, and some 

 very crude instruments in flint and quartz, was 

 found by the miners of the Broken Hill Mining 

 Company in a cave which they unearthed some 

 60 feet below the surface in one of the mines 

 in southern Rhodesia. It finally found its way 

 into the British Museum here, and of course its 

 investigation became the happy privilege of 

 Dr. Smith-Woodward, who gave the descrip- 

 tion and showed the skull and other fragments 

 of bone found with it, to the Anatomical 

 Society. 



The skull is in some features the most primi- 

 tive one that has ever been found; at the same 

 time it has many points of resesnblance to (or 

 even identity with) that of modern man. 



Fortunatel}', the face is perfectly preserved. 

 The supra-orbital region is astonishingly 

 gorilla-like, in its enormous size and its im- 

 usually great extension laterally; the cranirmi 

 is almost flat on top, extending backward from 

 the huge supra-orbital ridges, rising only a 

 little above the level of their upper borders. 

 It is very broad in the back, however, so that 

 its total capacity is surprisingly large. At 



1 Extract from a letter written from England 

 to an American scientific man. 



