414 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. i 



The aid of science is necessary to make the 

 tropics habitable and productive. Academic 

 as well as applied science has in the tropics 

 an open field. But we need organization and 

 systematic work, instead of haphazard skim- 

 ming of the surface of the scientific treasures 

 of the tropics. 



Where the problems are legion, and where 

 the material is as abundant, and the oppor- 

 tunities as frequent as they are in the tropics, 

 it is a general failing of the scientific worker 

 that he becomes interested in too many fea- 

 tures to be able to do his best. This must be 

 avoided. 



With the exception of the botanic gardens 

 ^t Buitenzorg there are no scientific institu- 

 tions in the tropics adequately equipped or 

 properly manned. The usual small institution 

 ■with a staff of two or three scientific men, 

 ■often hampered by demands on their time for 

 "work in applied science, can accomplish but 

 little. The need of a large institution for the 

 investigation of tropical America becomes 

 apparent when we take into consideration a 

 few of the scientific and practical problems, 

 which in thousands are waiting to be solved 

 ■in the tropics. 



The riches of tropical countries were the in- 

 centive which led to the great discoveries of 

 unknown lands. They furnished the principal 

 motive for the travels and discoveries of Co- 

 lumbus, of Balboa, of Vasco di Gama, of 

 Dampier and Captain Cook, of Bougainville. 

 Humboldt made his most acute observations 

 while following the Cordillera through the 

 American tropics. Darwin and Wallace col- 

 lected their most important evidence in trop- 

 ical countries for the theory of natural selec- 

 tion. Huxley, and Agassiz, father and son, 

 acknowledged the value of their tropical 

 Journeys for their work. 



The educational value to the young nat- 

 uralist of tropical travel is now well recog- 

 nized. It is to be hoped that an American 

 institution for tropical research will make it 

 possible for every young scientist of this 

 great country to study for some time at least 

 the peculiar conditions of the tropics and to 

 contribute to the knowledge of tropical phe- 

 nomena, by travel and investigation. 



The conditions of life in the tropics as far 

 as prevailing external conditions are con- 

 cerned, are favorable to the development of a 

 multitude of individuals, and consequently 

 there is such a severe struggle for existence 

 as is entirely unknown in more temperate 

 climates. The many problems arising from 

 this fact can not be studied to better advan- 

 tage elsewhere. 



There is no better place for a study of plant 

 geographical problems than in the undisturbed 

 regions of the tropics. 



Systematic observations of the phonological 

 stages and similar features of tropical plants 

 in their natural surroundings have yet to be 

 undertaken. 



Very little work on the ecology of tropical 

 plants has so far been done. This should be 

 undertaken in the tropics. The hothouse 

 method of studying plant phenomena is not 

 reliable. Instead of showing the development 

 of the tropical plant in its natural surround- 

 ings, it rather indicates the adaptability of 

 the plant to unusual conditions and the possi- 

 bility of acclimatization. The plants can not 

 be placed under natural conditions in artifi- 

 cial temperatures. 



The plant pathologists will find the tropics 

 teeming with lower forms of life preying upon 

 vegetation, and work on these lines is in 

 great demand and of immense practical value. 



The relation of plant life to geological con- 

 ditions, the work of plants in changing the 

 topography of the earth's surface, are equally 

 interesting to the botanist and the geologist, 

 and very little is so far known upon these 

 questions from the tropics. 



While in cold regions there is a retardation 

 of development of plant life caused by low 

 temperatures, in the tropics the same effect is 

 caused by variation in moisture. The latter 

 factor controls plant life in tropical regions, 

 while in temperate portions of the earth heat 

 is the principal factor influencing vegetable 

 phenomena. Thus the dry season in the trop- 

 ics corresponds to the winter in other parts; 

 it is the time of rest and death. These rela- 

 tions are as yet but little understood in the 

 tropics. 



While light and the incident sunshine fur- 



