June 6, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



899 



very short, i'ew journals printed it, and 

 when printed it appears that very few 

 read it carefully enough to understand its 

 real purport. The common belief seems to 

 be that for the sum of .$10,000 the State 

 Entomologist is to destroy all the mosqui- 

 toes in the state during the current season. 

 It needs only the most casual acquaintance 

 with the character of the problem to make 

 it obvious that any attempt to such an end 

 would be foredoomed to ridiculous fail- 

 ure; but it was just this misapprehension 

 that is accotmtable for such opposition as 

 the real scheme met with. The act is so 

 short and its objects are so briefly set out 

 that it is here presented in full. 



An Act to Provide foe an Investigation and 

 Report by the New Jersey Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, upon the Mosquito 

 Problem, in its Relation to the Sanitary, 

 Agricultural and Other Interests of the 

 State. 



Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly 

 of the State of Neio Jersey: 



1. That the New Jersey Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station be and the same is hereby em- 

 powered and directed to investigate and report 

 upon the mosquitoes occurring within the State, 

 their habits, life history, breeding places, relation 

 to malarial and other diseases, the injury caused 

 by them to the agricultural, sanitary and other 

 interests of the State, their natural enemies, and 

 the best methods of lessening, controlling or 

 otherwise diminishing the numbers, injury or 

 detrimental effect upon the agricultural, sanitary 

 and other interests of the State. 



2. The sum of ten thousand dollars is hereby 

 appropriated to the New Jersey Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station to be applied to and expended 

 for the purposes mentioned in section one of this 

 Act. Such expenditures to be made and accounted 

 for in the same manner as are the other moneys 

 appropriated to said Station. 



3. This Act shall take effect immediately. 



This act passed the House with little op- 

 position and by a good majority; but in 

 the Senate it encountered active hostility. 

 That body could not be persuaded that 

 there was a serioiis purpose behind the bill. 



Nevertheless it was favorably reported 

 from the committee to which it had been 

 referred, only to find a place in the pre- 

 siding officer's 'forgotten corner,' whence, 

 it was intended, it should never be re- 

 moved. But even Senators change some- 

 times and, for some reason, the bill was 

 resurrected, brought up for final reading 

 and lost by a tie, changed to a negative 

 vote by one of the advocates of the measure 

 who voted nay that he might move for a 

 reconsideration. The motion to reconsider 

 was made and tabled, leaving a chance for 

 life which was seized in the closing hours 

 of the session. 



Public opinion expressed by the news- 

 papers had been and continued to be almost 

 uniformly favorable to the measure and 

 this induced some of the opposition to 

 change their previous negative to affirma- 

 tive votes. 



Nominally therefore the Legislature of 

 the State of New Jersey had passed a bill 

 appropriating $10,000 for an investigation 

 and report on the mosquito question and 

 this act Avas approved by the Governor in 

 due time. 



A general State law requires that all 

 sums of money to be paid out by the Comp- 

 troller must be included in one of the regu- 

 lar appropriation bills. The regular appro- 

 priation bills, however, have been completed 

 and were upon final passage when the 

 mosquito bill passed. No mention of any 

 sum of money for this purpose appears in 

 either the supplementary or the regular 

 appropriation bill passed by the Legisla- 

 ture, consequently there was no money 

 available for the purposes of the act, which, 

 so far as the law-making body is concerned, 

 would have to remain inoperative until a 

 future session should see fit to provide the 

 necessary funds. 



The matter was presented to the Gov- 

 ernor of the State and he was asked to eon- 



