December 7, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



731 



North America as indicated, have been under 

 way for several years, have been visited by 

 perhaps a dozen zoologists interested in prob- 

 lems of heredity as well as by a large number 

 of botanists. When the major purpose of the 

 cultures shall have been accomplished it will 

 be possible to publish the account of the whole 

 to some advantage. 



In re hybrids I venture to suggest that if I 

 were a ' Mendelist ' of the strictest sect I would 

 welcome a challenge to bring the oak and wal- 

 nut hybrids under the chess-board diagrams 

 for the exposition of the possible combinations. 

 The unflinching advocates of the Mendelian 

 formulas are confronted with much more seri- 

 ous difficulties than the examples in question. 

 The enormous accretions being made in the 

 range of authenticated facts of inheritance in 

 hybridization have thrown the whole subject 

 into a state of flux and not for a long time 

 may we hope to work under such simple gen- 

 eralizations as those which contented us a 

 decade since. 



It is not intended to maintain that the horse 

 has climbed up on his tiptoes, the bacterium 

 settled into its highly specialized medium and 

 that the orchids have come by their intricate 

 flower-mechanism by the same process. Selec- 

 tion undoubtedly plays an important part, al- 

 though we seem unable to agree upon the 

 manner in which it operates. One can not be 

 a field student of plants to any great extent 

 without coming upon striking facts in segre- 

 gation and isolation. This is found especially 

 in the studies now being made of the distribu- 

 tion of the components of the flora of the 

 Bahamas and West Indies. Until we see fur- 

 ther around the bend of the road, however, we 

 may make but futile guesses as to the direction 

 of the straight-away beyond. The great 

 amount of energy now being put on detailed 

 studies in this subject at the Desert Labora- 

 tory and elsewhere is yielding a great range 

 of diverse data, and affords the hope that some 

 definite conclusions may be expected, within 

 a time comparatively brief, when contrasted 

 with the long barren period in which nothing 

 of definite value as evidence in evolutionary 

 problems has been produced. 



In this and other phases of the subject we 



are confronted with the necessity of placing 

 ourselves alongside some of the organisms 

 which share the earth with us, in order to 

 follow with them along their devious trails 

 for what distance we may, and thus gain some 

 clue as to the rate, direction and character of 

 their movements. D. T. MacDougal. 



Depabtment of Botanical Research, 

 Carnegie Institution of Washington, 

 October 8, 1906. 



THE PUBLIC health DEFENCE LEAGUE. 



To THE Editor of Science: With the object 

 of devising ways and means for the preserva- 

 tion of the public health and morals there was 

 held in New York City on November 15, an 

 important conference, which should be of in- 

 terest to readers of Science. Several hundred 

 delegates from over a hundred well-known 

 organizations then gathered in the Hudson 

 Theater and launched the Public Health De- 

 fence League. The inclement weather with- 

 out did not in any way dampen the enthusiasm 

 of those who were enlisting themselves in a 

 fight to down quackery in any of its various 

 forms and to enforce existing laws for the 

 securing of pure food and drugs, for the sup- 

 pression of the criminal abortionist, and for 

 other lines of work of a similar nature. 



The conference committee consisted of: 

 Dr. Wendell C. Philips, Silas F. Hallock, Dr. 

 Floyd M. Crandall, Dr. Henry W. Cattell, 

 Walter F. C. Tichborne, Albert M, Austin, 

 Dr. Walter Lester Carr, Mr. Howard J. 

 Rogers, Dr. Ernest J. Lederle, Mr. J. M. Rice, 

 Harold P. Brown, Dr. Henry S. Stearns, Liv- 

 ingston Farrand, Rev. J. J. Wynne, Dr. Wil- 

 liam M. Polk, O. E. Edwards, Gaylor S. White, 

 Dr. Frank Van Fleet, Eugene O'Dunne, Rev. 

 Thomas R. Slicer, Dr. Thomas Darlington, 

 Austen G. Fox, Dr. William L. Browning, 

 Robert E. Belcher, John S. Cooper and 

 Champe S. Andrews, much credit being due 

 to the latter gentleman for his work in organ- 

 izing the meeting. 



Mr. Austen G. Fox, who did such good work 

 as attorney for the committee of fifteen some 

 years ago in regard to the social evil, presided 

 at the meeting. The delegates were welcomed 

 by President McGowan, of the Board of Alder- 



