SCIENCE 



Friday, May 5, 1911 



CONTENTS 

 Besearch as a Financial Asset: De. Willis 



E. Whitney 673 



Beclamaiion of the Arid West: Db. F. H. 

 Newell 681 



The St. Louis University Expedition to Colo- 

 rado : Professoe A. M. Schwitalla 684 



Besolutions on the Death of Professor Charles 

 Otis Whitman 684 



Scientific Notes and News 685 



University and Educational News 688 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



The Beform of the Calendar: J. BintKiTT 

 Webb, Wm. Kent, J. M. Cliffoed, Je. 688 



Quotations : — 



The Government of Universities 692 



Scientific BooJcs: — 

 Bea's Directory of American Museums: Ds. 



F. A. Lucas. Stapes and Fujii on the 

 Structure and Affinities of Cretaceous 

 Plants : De. F. H. Knowlton 694 



Becent Advances in Fluorescence and Phos- 

 phorescence: Peofbssoe E. L. Nichols ... 696 



Notes on the Preliminary Beport of the Com- 

 mittee on the Teaching of Mathematics to 

 Students of Engineering : William Kent . 700 



Special Articles: — 



A Strength and Endurance Test: C. F. 

 Langworthy. The Use of Acid Soil for 

 Baising Seedlings of the Mayflower: Dr. 

 Frederick V. Coville 708 



Societies and Academies: — 



The Torrey Botanical Club: B. O. Dodge . 712 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended toe 

 Teviev sliould be sest to tbe Eldilor of Scibkcb, Gariison^if 

 HndaoB, N. Y. 



BESEABCE AS A FINANCIAL ASSET ^ 

 It is only in our century that there 

 could be much significance to such a title 

 as "Eesearch as a Financial Asset." This 

 is an industrial century, and, whether we 

 are proud of it or not, we are an industrial 

 people. For some reasons it may be 

 thought unfortunate that so large a pro- 

 portion of man's energies should be de- 

 voted solely to the industries. In some eras 

 we find that there was a predominance of 

 art over industry ; in others literature was 

 predominant, in still others war and eon- 

 quest. Once territorial discovery and ac- 

 quisition predominated, and now, in our 

 own times, the principles of community 

 interest have so greatly developed that we 

 are accustomed to seeing many people who, 

 instead of directly producing their own 

 necessities of life, are more generally 

 producing some one little article which 

 contributes in the lives of others. This 

 we recognize as a natural tendency 

 to a higher efficiency. Our intricate and 

 delicately balanced system of work is 

 becoming continually more complex, but 

 is certainly still covered by the ele- 

 mental laws of demand and of survival. 

 New discoveries in our day are largely 

 mental, instead of geographical, and the 

 old battles of conquest have become wars 

 with ignorance. They are struggles to 

 overcome inefficiencies, attempts to broaden 

 the common mental horizon, as our ancestors 

 broadened their physical horizon. Very 

 few people realize the rapidity with which 



' Presented before the Congress of Technology 

 at the fiftieth aimiversary of the granting of the 

 charter of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 

 nology. 



