Januaby 10, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



45 



Relative to the National Bureau of Edu- 

 cation, the following resolution was pre- 

 sented from Section L and adopted: 



Whereas, The National Bureau of Education 

 has for forty years rendered a much-needed service 

 to tne educational interests of the country, and 



Whereas, Owing to inadequate support its 

 growth has for many years lagged far behind the 

 general educational gro'i^'th of the country at large 

 and far behind the gro-vrth of the needs for such 

 service as it can render, and 



Whereas, It is undertaking to meet the new 

 demands of educators by the publication of bulle- 

 tins, by the reorganization of its library and bib- 

 liographical service, and by providing a national 

 clearing house for all kinds of needed educational 

 information; therefore, be it 



Resolved, That the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science earnestly recommends 

 to Congress the enactment of legislation in regard 

 to the National Bureau of Education that will: 



1. Foster and encourage its work and enable it 

 to expand in such a manner as to render its 

 services to American education increasingly effect- 

 ive and scientific. 



2. Strengthen it by additions to its present staff 

 of specialists. 



3. Enable it to secure quarters adequate for its 

 new work and in keeping with its dignity and use- 

 fulness. 



4. Provide it with means to render more com- 

 plete service as a distributing center for such in- 

 formation as is currently needed for the improve- 

 ment of education in all its grades and enable it 

 to include the collection and dissemination of in- 

 formation needed in the further development of 

 professional and technological schools and the 

 graduate departments of our universities. 



5. Raise the salaries of the commissioner and 

 staff of experts to such a point as will enable the 

 bureau not only to secure men of the highest 

 grade, but to retain them permanently in its 

 service. 



Relative to research in tropical medicine, 

 the following resolution was adopted: 



Whereas, There exists at the present time in 

 Panama an extraordinary opportunity for research 

 work in certain phases of tropical medicine, 

 through the existence there of well-equipped hos- 

 pitals and well-trained medical men under the 

 supervision of an expert sanitarian, himself a 

 member of the Isthmian Canal Commission, and 



Whereas, The solution of problems connected 

 with this subject is of the highest importance to 

 the welfare of this and other countries, be it 



Resolved, That it is the sense of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science that 

 Congress at its present session should appropriate 

 funds for the purpose of establishing a research 

 laboratory at the Isthmus which shall devote 

 itself to the solution of existing problems in 

 tropical disease. 



Relative to public health there was 

 adopted the following: 



Whereas, The American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science has appointed a Commit- 

 tee of One Hundred on National Health, and this 

 committee is performing a work of great impor- 

 tance for the welfare of the nation, be it 



Resolved, That all members of this association 

 are urged to cooperate with the committee in its 

 efforts to conserve and improve the health of the 

 people and especially in its plans to increase the 

 efficiency of the national government in dealing 

 with the problems of public health. 



The following resolution was adopted on 

 the recommendation of Section F: 



Realizing that the work in the Panama Canal 

 is changing biological conditions in Panama and 

 that the completion of the canal will enable the 

 fresh-water faunae of the two slopes to mingle 

 freely and that many marine animals will suc- 

 ceed in passing the completed canal, the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science urges 

 upon the President and Congress to make pro- 

 vision for a biological survey of the Panama 

 Canal zone. 



Since the conditions will be permanently changed 

 as soon as the canal is completed and the work 

 can not be satisfactorily done after the completion 

 of the canal, there is great urgency that provisions 

 for the work be made at once. 



Resolved, That the permanent secretary be in- 

 structed to send copies of this resolution to the 

 President, the Vice-President, the Speaker of the 

 House and the Secretary of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution. (Signed) C. H. Eiqenmann, 

 C. C. Nutting, 



Committee 



On recommendation of Section F the As- 

 sociation endorsed as its own the follow- 

 ing resolution : 



Resolved, That the American Society of Verte- 

 brate Paleontologists will aid in any way practic- 



