164 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1155 



The governor of Minnesota has recom- 

 mended to the legislature that $25,000 be ap- 

 propriated at the present session for the use 

 of the state entomologist in combating white 

 pine blister rust in Minnesota. As arranged, 

 the plant pathologist of the experiment sta- 

 tion and the state entomologist will work in 

 cooperation the coming season; the plant 

 pathologist to have charge of scouting and 

 eradication along the eastern border of Minne- 

 sota in the St. Croix Valley; the state ento- 

 mologist, by virtue of his office as nursery 

 inspector, will take care of inspection and eradi- 

 cation in nurseries, parks, cemeteries and pri- 

 vate plantings. It is expected that the state 

 of Wisconsin will cooperate energetically on 

 its side of the St. Croix Eiver. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 



NEWS 



Theough the generosity of a friend of Har- 

 vard University, who prefers to remain un- 

 known, there has been established an assistant 

 professorship of bacteriology in the Harvard 

 Medical School, to be known as the Silas Ar- 

 nold Houghton Professorship. In the words 

 of the donor, the gift is made "in grateful 

 memory of Dr. Houghton as a physician and 

 a friend." 



M. G. EIains, professor of horticulture and 

 horticulturist at the Pennsylvania College and 

 Station, has resigned and has been succeeded 

 by Dr. S. W. Fletcher, formerly director of 

 the Virginia Station. 



Dr. H. B. Fantham, of Christ's College, 

 Cambridge, has been appMDinted to the pro- 

 fessorship of zoology at the South African 

 School of Mines and Technology, Johannes- 

 burg, and Dr. C. E. Moss, of Emmanuel Col- 

 lege, has been appointed professor of botany 

 to the same institution. 



At London University Mr. James John 

 Guest, B.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, 

 has been appointed to the university reader- 

 ship in graphics and structural engineering, 

 tenable at University College, in succession to 

 Dr. "W. H. Eccles, reader in graphics, who has 

 been appointed professor of applied physics 

 and electrical engineering at Finsbury Tech- 

 nical College. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



THE SLIDES OF THE PANAMA CANAL 



To THE Editor of Science: In view of the 

 fact that portions of the annual report of the 

 governor of the Panama Canal for the fiscal 

 year ending June 30, 1916, containing criti- 

 cisms of the writer's views of the canal slides 

 have been published recently in many news- 

 papers throughout the country, the writer is 

 impelled to make the following statement. 



The governor implies in his report that the 

 sole basis for the writer's expressed opinion 

 that " practically all of Gold Hill and much 

 of Zion Hill must be removed " " before the 

 Canal can be said to be completed and per- 

 manently opened to traffic " was, as he states, 

 an investigation of " fully three or four hours " 

 and says that he (the writer) stated that he had 

 made a " thorough examination." In the first 

 place, the writer did not state that he had 

 made a " thorough examination," these words 

 being used without the writer's knowledge. 

 Whether the examination was sufficiently thor- 

 ough and enough information obtained to 

 justify an expression of opinion may be deter- 

 mined from the following statements. 



It is doubtful whether any other activity of 

 the government has ever received equal public- 

 ity through the press, official reports, lectures 

 and descriptions of returned visitors and em- 

 ployees as has the Panama Canal during its 

 construction, so that there has been no excuse 

 for any interested person not having exact 

 and detailed information concerning the canal 

 project. 



The writer, as well as most geologists, had 

 his interest aroused several years ago, by the 

 unexpected difficulties encountered by the 

 Panama Canal engineers. This was especially 

 the case because it was evident that the com- 

 bination of geological and climatic conditions 

 prevailing there were mainly responsible for 

 the troubles. From careful studies of much 

 published and unpublished data the writer 

 was fairly familiar with the situation long be- 

 fore the opportunity came to visit the region. 

 On returning from an extensive trip through 

 the South American continent, the writer 



