Febkuaey 1, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



195 



QUOTATIONS 

 THE BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 



What Representative Wadswortli of New 

 York, chairman of the House Committee on 

 Agriculture, hopes to do by striking out from 

 the agricultural bill before it is reported to 

 the House the provisions for the maintenance 

 of the biological survey is not clear. If this 

 menace is agreed to by the House it will 

 only serve to add to Mr. Wadsworth's un- 

 popularity with the farmers of his section of 

 the state. On the face of it, the plan to 

 abolish the biological survey is an utterly 

 foolish thing to do. 



Because no reason is apparent for the 

 hostile action of Mr. Wadsworth's committee, 

 some persons have suspected a personal ani- 

 mus back of the move. If the appropriation 

 for the support of the survey is allowed to be 

 stricken out on the grounds of economy it is 

 a policy of penny wise and pound foolish. It 

 costs only about $55,000 to do the work of the 

 survey. Naturalists, bird lovers, and all 

 others interested in game protection say that 

 the work of the bureau is done efficiently. 



Dr. O. Hart Merriam, the chief of the 

 biological survey, is a New York physician, 

 who gave over a large practice in order to 

 take up the government work at a small salary 

 because of his love for natural science. He is 

 one of the noted ornithologists and mam- 

 malogists of the world. Dr. A. K. Fisher, 

 assistant in charge of economic investigation, 

 is also a physician who dropped his practice 

 and went in to the government service for 

 reasons akin to those which moved Dr. Mer- 

 riam to the same course. Dr. T. S. Palmer 

 has direct charge of the enforcement of the 

 game laws and is the chief adviser on game 

 and song-bird protection matters for the game 

 protection officials of the different states. 

 Tinder Dr. Palmer's direction within the last 

 few years the work of protecting the game 

 birds and game mammals of the country has 

 been put upon a plane of efficiency. 



The present expectation is that the usual 

 appropriations for carrying on the work of 

 the survey will be put in while the bill is 

 under consideration in the House. Even 

 should representatives support their com- 



mittee, not much doubt is expressed that the 

 senate will do what is necessary. President 

 Roosevelt is not loath to take a hand in legis- 

 lative enterprises, and he would certainly not 

 be backward in coming to the assistance of 

 the chief of the survey should his assistance 

 be necessary. — New York Evening Post. 



LECTURES ON PROBLEMS OF INSANITY 

 The Psychiatrical Society of New York has 

 arranged for a series of four lectures on prob- 

 lems of insanity, to be held under the auspices 

 of the Academy of Medicine at 17 West 43d 

 Street, on Saturdays, January 19, February 

 2, February 16 and March 2, 1907, at 8 :30 p.m. 

 The purpose of these lectures is to put within 

 the reach of the medical profession and also 

 of the non-professional leaders of sociological 

 interests a program of work and facts for 

 orientation, with a view to the organization of 

 a movement towards prophylaxis and the de- 

 velopment of sound interests in this eminently 

 important topic. 



The first lecture will be given by Dr. Adolf 

 Meyer, on Modern Psychiatry, its possibilities 

 and opportunities; the second lecture, by Dr. 

 August Hoch, discusses the manageable 

 causes of insanity, exclusive of heredity; the 

 third lecture by Dr. 0. L. Dana, the data of 

 heredity and their application in psychiatry; 

 and the fourth lecture by Dr. Allan McLane 

 Hamilton, the development of the legal regu- 

 lations concerning the insane. 



Encouraged by the welcome which the 

 broad movement against tuberculosis has re- 

 ceived, the society considers a public discus- 

 sion of the facts of insanity of fundamental 

 importance for a natural development of 

 public and personal hygiene, and the only way 

 to replace the traditional horror and disregard 

 by a profitable interest on the part of the 

 thinking and active citizens of the com- 

 munity. Where general cooperation is so 

 much needed as it is in the handling of ab- 

 normal mental developments, it is especially 

 necessary to bring together the many in- 

 terests which now work independently in 

 social reform, schools, hospitals, courts and 

 institutions. O. Macfie Campbell, M. B., 

 Secretary 



