96 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1152 



and the Education of Toimg "Women." She em- 

 phasized the necessity for sex-differentiation in 

 education, for the teaching of mothercraft, and 

 described her own work in this connection. 



Professor Eoswell HiU Johnson, of the Univer- 

 sity of Pittsburgh, discussing "The Eugenie As- 

 pect of Sexual Immorality," pointed out that sex 

 offenders, for a variety of reasons, have a lower 

 birth-rate than do moral people. Further, he 

 argued that the sexually immoral as a class are 

 eugenieally inferior to the more sociaUy-miaded 

 part of the population. It f oUows that sexual im- 

 morality is a eugenic agency, tending to reduce the 

 racial contribution of an inferior olasa Cam- 

 paigns for sex-hygiene, then, can not be consid- 

 ered directly eugenic; on the contrary, they will 

 have some dysgenie result, which should be coun- 

 teracted by appropriate eugenic measures. 



Professor Robert DeC. Ward, of Harvard Uni- 

 versity, considered "The War in Eolation to Eu- 

 genics — a Problem for the United States." He 

 expects a large immigration of an imdesirable 

 class after the war, and described the need for 

 some such law as that now pending in Congress, to 

 shut out such arrivals as are biologically inferior. 



Arthur H. Estabrook, of the Eugenics Eecord 

 Ofiace, told of "A Field Survey of Mental Defec- 

 tives in Two Counties in Indiana." Only the 

 feeble-minded, insane and epileptic were consid- 

 ered; in one county the proportion of defectives 

 was found to be 19 per 1,000 population, and in the 

 other 11.4. 



As vice-chairman of the committee on research 

 in plant-breediiig, G. N. Collins, of the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry, presided over the third meeting. 

 Adolph E. WaUer, of Ohio State University, ex- 

 plaining "2enia and Other Influences Following 

 Fertilization, ' ' showed that xenia, properly de- 

 fined, was limited to the result of triple fusion in 

 the endosperm of angiosperms. He suggested the 

 name ectogony to cover the various other phenom- 

 ena now wi'ongly included imder the name of 

 xenia — such phenomena as are represented by the 

 common belief that the sugar content of water- 

 melons is reduced if the flowers have been polli- 

 nated by pimipkins. 



Donald F. Jones, of the Connecticut Experiment 

 Station, reported on "The Effect of Heterozy- 

 gosis upon the Time of Maturity." As one ex- 

 pression of hybrid vigor, he cited a cross of two 

 varieties of tomatoes which showed a constant 

 small difference in time of production of fruit dur- 

 ing four years in which they were grown. Four 

 Fj generation crosses between these varieties 

 grown during four different years with their par- 



ents and compared with them had approximately 

 the same time of production as the earlier parent. 

 The same condition was observed in a cross be- 

 tween an early and a late variety of sweet corn. 

 In a large number of crosses between inbred 

 strains of dent maize there was a tendency to 

 hasten the average time of flowering and matur- 

 ing of the crosses as compared with their parents. 

 The conclusion was drawn that heterozygosis may 

 not only increase size but also permit of the pro- 

 duction of that increased size in less time, hence 

 greatly increasing the rapidity of growth. In re- 

 spect to the time to complete growth, heterozygosis 

 does not effect a result comparable to that pro- 

 duced by environmental factors, since, usually, ex- 

 ternal conditions which result in an increase in 

 growth tend to delay maturity. 



C. W. Moore, of Cornell University, described 

 some ' ' Studies in Semi-steriUty ' ' on Tradescantia, 

 Alsike Clover, Alfalfa and Shirley Poppy. Re- 

 sults favored Compton's hypothesis that self -ster- 

 ility in plants is analogous to rust-immunity in 

 wheat. By this view it is supposed that the pollen- 

 tube in a cross continues to grow in order to get 

 adequate food supply; while in self -pollination the 

 nutritive conditions are more favorable, the pollen- 

 tube does not have to elongate much, and it there- 

 fore does not grow enough to permit fertilization. 



J. B. Norton, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 described 10 years of asparagus breeding on Cape 

 Cod, disease resistance being the primary object. 

 Eemarkable success has been secured, by hybridi- 

 zation and selection, in getting disease-resistant 

 and highly productive varieties. 



Professor C. E. Myers, of Pennsylvania State 

 College, reported on "Some Preliminary Experi- 

 ments in Cabbage Breeding. ' ' All characters 

 hitherto tested in cabbage have appeared to blend 

 in heredity, but it is believed that this is due to 

 the mongrel nature of the stocks. When varieties 

 were inbred for a few generations, and then 

 crossed, segregation was observed. 



Professor H. H. Love, of Cornell University, 

 spoke on "Some Results obtained from Certain 

 Crosses of Avena." One probable case of linkage 

 has been found. 



Five papers were read by title only. The last 

 session of the association was a joint one with the 

 Botanical Society of America. The next meeting 

 will be at Pittsburgh, December 28-30, in accord- 

 ance with the plans of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science. 



PAUIi POPENOE, 



Secretary pro tern. 



