286 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1420 



tion are being carried out. These countries are 

 employing systematic cooperative effort of 

 industries functioning tlirougli national indus- 

 trial associations, technical societies and gov- 

 ernment bureaus. 



It behooves mauagers of American industries to 

 intensify their efforts toward standardization or 

 they will be left behind in the competition for 

 world commerce. It is not enougli that there be 

 standardization work done by sections of indus- 

 tries and by individual firms, although such work, 

 prior to the war, made possible a considerable 

 amount of mass production, which attracted the 

 attention of European industrialists. 



To reap the full benefits the work must be 

 broadened and intensified, and made national in 

 its scope. This requires the joint effort of man- 

 ager and engineer, of producer, distributor, con- 

 sumer and independent specialist, all speaking 

 through the organized bodies which represent 

 their interests. 



The many benefits of standardization are by no 

 means limited to the production side. In the long 

 run standardization is bound to be of even 

 greater importance in the reduction of distribu- 

 tion and selling costs, — perhaps the most import- 

 ant problem of our economic system. A compre- 

 hensive program of standardization planned and 

 carried out by our great national industries will 

 mean the saving of hundreds of millions — even 

 billions of dollars. 



The American Society of Mechanical Engi- 

 neers will take up the question of standardiza- 

 tion and researeli at a five-day meeting to be 

 held in Atlanta, Ga., beginning on May 8. The 

 society in its statement on German progress 

 says: 



The standardization movement in Germany is 

 particularly significant, since Germany is one of 

 the three leading industrial countries. The indus- 

 tries of Austria, Holland, Sweden and Switzer- 

 land are so intimately related to those of Ger- 

 many on account of geographical and other rela- 

 tionships that they are necessarily affected very 

 largely by developments in Germany. 



It appears that the work is being woven very 

 intimately into the industrial fabric. The very 

 large number of standards purchased by the 

 industry, and the fact that the central organiza- 

 1 tion has 5,000 firms which are cooperating mem- 

 bers, are a sufficient indication of this. 



There seems to be a striking analogy between 

 the present standardization movement in Ger- 



many and the research movement developed there 

 a. generation ago. Whatever estimate one may 

 place upon the role it played in German industries 

 generally, everj- one agrees that research was 

 fundamental in the development of their great 

 chemical industries. The role which the Germans 

 are expecting standardization to play in all their 

 industries would be not unlike the role which 

 research has played in their chemical work. 



MORE "GLASS FLOWERS" AT HARVARD 



The Harvard Alumni Bulletin states that 

 Rudolph Blasehka, the artist who, at Harvard, 

 with his father, modelled the famous "glass 

 flowers" in the Botanical Museum at Harvard 

 University, has begun work on a supplementary 

 collection of glass models of grasses and sedges, 

 which will be displayed on their completion in a 

 room adjoining the Ware collection of glass 

 flowers. Walter Deane, 70, formerly president 

 of tlie New England Botanical Club, has con- 

 sented to aid in providing Herr Blasehka with 

 American material for the construction of the 

 new models. 



The Ware collection now on exhibition will 

 l)e practically complete when twenty models and 

 fifty magnified anatomical details, now in the 

 artist's studio in Germany, have been trans- 

 IJorted to this country. It is unsafe to transport 

 them under existing conditions, especially since 

 their removal to Boston cannot yet be secured 

 '■in bond." Up to the time of the war the glass 

 flowers were shipped direct to Boston and then, 

 by the courtesy of the Custom House of&cials, 

 were carried directly to the Museum in Cam- 

 bridge and were unpacked safely at the 

 University. 



The collection now illustrates 160 families of 

 flowering plants, 540 genera, and 803 species, 

 and there are more than 3,200 analytical magni- 

 fied details. The range of the exhibition is 

 sufficiently extensive to give a clear idea of the 

 relations of these important families and species 

 to each other. The skill which has copied in 

 glass every minute detail of structure of the 

 plants has been devoted solely to Harvard Uni- 

 versity. All of the specimens which have been 

 made since 1895 are the artistic handiwork of 

 Rudolph Blasehka, who has carried on all of 

 his study and his modelling single-handed in 

 his studio in Germany. 



