876 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 701 



ecological factors may be already imprac- 

 ticable, but the academy may well have in 

 mind the establishment of a state garden 

 of the native plants. 



Fresh acres in garden and field will be 

 given each year to the new experiments in 

 plant breeding, and here, too, the amateur 

 may well lend a hand, though our agronom- 

 ical friends may question whether such a 

 suggestion is pertinent among points for 

 amateur botanists. 



In closing, I beg to submit a definite 

 suggestion for which I must again seek 

 excuse in that incontestable statement of 

 our president this morning, that in lack of 

 clean truth there lies national peril. 



Nowhere in our educational literature is 

 the absence of clean truth more conspicuous 

 than in the nature-study boote which are 

 in common use in the graded schools. No- 

 where has the unauthorized word had wider 

 play or more credulous following. Un- 

 trained teachers have had nature study 

 thrust upon them and have turned with 

 avidity toward whatever seemed to offer 

 help. Composites of sentiment and inac- 

 curacy have been liberally supplied as 

 ' ' supplementary reading. ' ' 



The suggestion is that there be issued in 

 the name and under the direct auspices of 

 the academy a series of leaflets upon science 

 topics suitable for use as material in natuj-e 

 study and geography. Such topics should 

 be treated especially from the standpoint 

 of the state in so far as they lend them- 

 selves suitably to such treatment. Such 

 leaflets should be available to the public 

 schools at low cost. An educational editor, 

 perhaps a member of the standing com- 

 mittee upon publication, might have in 

 charge the apportionment of topics to mem- 

 bers willing to cooperate, and ample dis- 

 cretion in editing to suit the educational 

 needs in view should be allowed such an 

 editor. 



In objection, the point may be raised 

 that in its very infancy the academy would 

 be rash to venture to finance such a scheme. 

 It may be confidently stated, however, that 

 funds sufficient for such purpose would be 

 at the disposal of the academy in case such 

 proposal meets its good will. 



A similar service has been and continues 

 to be rendered by the Cornell Nature Study 

 and Agricultural Leaflets. 



John G. Coulter 



OPENINGS FOB CHEMISTS 

 Eighteen years ago, as I was sitting in 

 a cafe in Munich one evening, talking to 

 a yoimg Englishman, he said to me " Eng- 

 land has the present but America has the 

 future." He meant, of course, that while 

 England at that time stood in the fore- 

 front of progress, industrially as well as 

 politically, the conditions were such in 

 America, both in our command of natural 

 resources and in the character of our 

 people, as to make it practically certain 

 that the lead in both respects must go to 

 America in a not far-distant future. 



In the years which have passed since 

 that time, this prophecy has been going 

 on toward a rapid fulfillment. As an 

 illustration, we may take the manufacture 

 of iron. At that time, more iron was 

 manufactured in England than in any 

 country in the world, but within a few 

 years afterwards the production in 

 America exceeded that in England, and it 

 is now very much greater here than there. 

 In this increased industrial activity in 

 America, chemists have played and are 

 playing a very important part. In this 

 very industry of the manufacture of iron 

 and steel, twenty-five years ago very few 

 chemists were employed in this country, 

 but to-day chemists are required not only 

 in the large establishments where steel is 

 produced, but in foundries and factories 



