566 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 302. 



needs to begin immediately preparations for 

 extension of its water-supply on an enormous 

 scale, if it is to be permitted to grow and to 

 remain a safe and wholesome place of residence 

 and a great business center. This fact has been 

 pointed out by authority frequently and for 

 years past, but no action has been taken by the 

 usually inefficient city government. The sup- 

 ply immediately available will be exhausted in 

 1903, at present rates of impairment of margin, 

 and by 1910 if the best methods are at once 

 adopted to reduce wastes to a minimum. 



The region of the Housatonic cannot be relied 

 upon, it being outside the jurisdiction of the 

 State. The Hudson may be availed of by 

 establishing pumping stations well up the river 

 and securing any needed filtration and purifica- 

 tion. A supply from the Adirondacks would 

 cost ten per cent, more but would be pure, or 

 might be made so. 



The Eamapo 'job' is discussed. The con- 

 tract was to compel the City of New York to 

 pay seventy dollars a million gallons for water 

 which is now, and can in any quantity later, be 

 had for thirty and less. The contract was to 

 continue in force for forty years, and the prop- 

 erty then still to i-emain in the hands of the 

 company. By 1937, were the city to do its own 

 work, its whole system would be paid for, prin- 

 cipal and interest. Under municipal owner- 

 ship there would be a cash profit over the con- 

 tract work up to 1945 of nearly fifty millions of 

 dollars. Under the Ramapo contract there 

 would be a net loss of sixty millions and the 

 total difference in favor of the City of New 

 York would be over one hundred millions of dol- 

 lars. 



What wonder that the Ramapo scheme was 

 so urgently and insidiously promoted ! 



The conclusions of the Committee are that no 

 contract should be made with the Ramapo or 

 other private parties ; that supply by contract 

 should be opposed by citizens of New York, in- 

 dividuallj', collectively and in their corporate 

 capacity, with the utmost energy of which they 

 are capable and by every possible means ; that 

 the Legislature should give the city power, if 

 further authority is needed, to provide itself 

 with a full supply of pure water, by condemna- 

 tion as far as required, and should protect the 



city against further assault by individuals, cor- 

 porations or traitorous officials. Steps should 

 be at once taken to check all wastes and to pro- 

 vide for a constant and large increase in the 

 supply of wholesome water. 



This report is exceptionally important and 

 every citizen of city or State should secure the 

 opportunity to read it from beginning to end. 

 Every good citizen will be glad to give credit to 

 the few intelligent, enterprising and liberal 

 citizens who have here struck hands in the en- 

 deavor to protect this national metropolis from 

 possible piracy in view of the proven stupidity 

 and worse of many of its own officials and of 

 other political leeches. 



R. H. Thurston. 



GENERAL. 



Professor William B. Scott, of Princeton 

 University, has in preparation an elaborate 

 work in seven volumes entitled ' Reports on the 

 Princeton Expedition to Patagonia in 1899.' 

 The work, which it is estimated will cost over 

 $25,000, will be published by Nageli, in Ger- 

 many, but arrangements have not yet been 

 made with an American publisher. The edition 

 will be limited to about 500 sets, and the cost 

 of the seven volumes, which will be subdivided 

 into separate books, will be about $100. It is ex- 

 pected that the volume on invertebrate fossils 

 by Dr. Ortman will be published early next 

 year. The subjects of the volumes and the 

 authors are as follows : 



Volume I. — ' Botany,' principally by Professor 

 George Macloskie, of the department of biology, of 

 Princeton. The 'Contributions on the subject of 

 Mosses,' by Professor Dusen, of Sweden. 



Volume II. — 'Eecent Mammals,' by Dr. Merriman, 

 of the Department of Agriculture in Washington. 



Volume III. — ' Birds,' by Professor William E. D. 

 Scott, of Princeton. 



Volume IV. — 'Zoology of the other groups,' by 

 Dr. Ortman, curator of invertebrate paleontology in 

 Princeton, and Dr. Eankin, of the department of 

 biology of the University. 



Volume V. — 'Invertebrate Fossils,' principally by 

 Dr. Ortman. 



Volumes VI. and VII. — ' VertebrateFosails,' princi- 

 pally by Professor William B. Scott, of Princeton, 

 ■with contributions by Mr. Hatcher. 



The preliminary autumn announcements of 



