66 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 1255 



the Emperor has made a gift of 1,000,000 yen 

 for promoting' the object of the institute. The 

 total fund, supposing that the public sub- 

 scription comes up to the expected sum, would 

 thus amount to 8,000,000 yen, of which about 

 2,500,000 yen has to be invested in land, build- 

 ings and equipment. But since the interest 

 accruing from the fund is calculated to exceed 

 the annual expenditure for the first six or 

 seven, or even more, years, when the activity 

 of the institute can not of necessity be very 

 great, it is expected that at the end of ten 

 years there will be left over a fund of about 

 6,000,000 yen, which, calculated at 5 per cent, 

 interest, would yield an annual income of 

 300,000 yen. To this extent, herefore, the in- 

 stitute would be self-supporting, and it is 

 roughly estimated on this basis that the ntim- 

 ber of staifs of all grades and of mechanics, 

 laiboratory boys, etc., would be between 100 

 and 120 in all. But it is evident that the in- 

 stitute must grow in both size and activity, and 

 that, therefore, the above income would soon 

 be found to be inadequate to meet the neces- 

 sary expenses demanded by this growth. As 

 the institute grows in activity, however, its 

 importance will be more and more evident, and 

 it is believed that there would then be no great 

 difficulty in obtaining more money. 



THE DEPLETED HEEDS OF ENGLAND, FRANCE 

 AND ITALY 



Larger importations of meat and pork prod- 

 ucts from the United States, thus lessening the 

 slaughtering of native animals, will be the 

 most effective means of restoring the depleted 

 animal herds of the United Kingdom, France 

 and Italy. This is the information recently re- 

 ceived from Dr. Vernon Kellogg, of the United 

 States Food Administration, while in France 

 on official business. Dr. Kellogg declares that 

 the losses in cattle in France and Italy are 

 especially serious, not only on account of the 

 meat and milk ordinarily dbtained from this 

 source, but also on account of the loss of the 

 services of cattle, through depletion, which are 

 used as work animals on farms in both coun- 

 tries. He writes : 



The most recent statistics on animal herds, indi- 



cating the number now existing in allied countries, 

 show a loss of cattle iu France of 17 per cent.; in 

 Italy of 14 per cent., with the United Kingdom 

 showing no loss; sheep and goats, France, 41 per 

 cent.; Italy, 1 per cent.; United Kingdom, 10 per 

 cent.; pigs, France, 49 per cent.; Italy, 12.5 per 

 cent.; United Kingdom, 25 per cent.; horses and 

 mules, France, 37.5 per cent.; Italy, 25 per cent.; 

 United Kingdom, not including animals not em- 

 ployed in agriculture, 4.5 per cent. 



The losses in cattle in France and Italy are not 

 only serious on account of the meat involved, but 

 are especially serious on account of milk and also 

 of work, as cattle are used largely in both coun- 

 tries as work animals on the farms. It is highly 

 important that the herds be restored as rapidly as 

 possible, which can be done most effectively by 

 larger importations of meat and pork products 

 from America to lessen the slaughtering of native 

 animals. 



The French and Belgian people now being re- 

 leased from formerly occupied territories are de- 

 manding and needing increased amounts of food 

 over the former relief ration in order to restore 

 health and strength so as to be able to work, thus 

 making larger demands on imports from America. 



I have now been in France three weeks, eating in 

 restaurants and hotels of all grades, and I have 

 had butter on the table once and a total of six 

 lumps of sugar. Saccharine is universally used in 

 coffee and tea. The smaller sugar ration is mostly 

 reserved for cooking. 



THE USE OF NITRATE DURING THE WAR 



Facts concerning the importation and use 

 of nitrate during the war period, hitherto sup- 

 pressed for military reasons, have been made 

 public by C. H. MacDowell, director of the 

 Chemicals Division of the War Industries 

 Board. 



In the fall of 1917 the Congress appropriated 

 $10,000,000 to be used by the Agricultural De- 

 partment in importing nitrate of soda to be 

 sold by them to the farmers at cost. This was 

 later made a revolving fund. Under this the 

 War Industries Board procured for the De- 

 partment of Agriculture some 109,000 long 

 tons of nitrate for shipment from Chile during 

 the winter and spring. Owing to disturbed 

 shipping conditions in the early spring, it was 

 impossible to bring in for February-March 

 arrival the tonnage expected, and with the 



