July 2, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



25 



iarity with botanical literature than with other 

 fields of work, and it is not to be presumed 

 that botanists alone among the staffs of experi- 

 ment stations have offended science and the 

 Queen's English. It is felt that the inclu- 

 sion, in circulars and bulletins, of statements 

 of this sort is due entirely to a lack of criticism 

 in the preparation of manuscripts. It is per- 

 haps not fully realized that publications are 

 permanent records which are to be regarded 

 as the product of the institution as well as of 

 the author, and that the character of the pub- 

 lication, for which the several oiScers of the 

 station are jointly responsible, therefore re- 

 flects their joint ability. 



In order to learn how much editorial and 

 censorial supervision manuscripts receive and 

 to what extent the individual members of the 

 station staffs are actually responsible for the 

 character of the publications, a questionnaire 

 was sent to the director of each of the agri- 

 cultural experiment stations. Forty-six replies 

 were received. Five of these report that a 

 special officer, known as publicist or editor, 

 censors all manuscripts submitted for publica- 

 tion with respect both to form and to content, 

 and that he, together with the directors, has 

 the power to withhold or to reject any manu- 

 scripts submitted. In eighteen of the stations 

 the director alone exercises this censorship. 

 In twenty-three the manuscripts for all bul- 

 letins and circulars are submitted to an edi- 

 torial committee. This committee is variously 

 constituted but in conjunction with the di- 

 rector it exercises all the powers and preroga- 

 tives of a board of editors. Certain stations 

 have a standing committee who edit all manu- 

 scripts, and others a special committee whose 

 personnel consists of those officers most inter- 

 ested in the particular subject concerning 

 which a publication is desired. 



It is realized, of course, that there is a 

 greater complexity of organization in the 

 larger experiment stations than in the smaller. 

 It might be granted too that there is a greater 

 need for the organization of editorial com- 

 mittees in the larger institutions with their 

 greater number of projects for investigation 

 and consequently their greater number of pub- 



lications. Naturally the officers in the several 

 different departments will be less closely asso- 

 ciated with each other and consequently less 

 familiar with the nature of the various prob- 

 lems under investigation in the larger stations. 



There are those, not in every station per- 

 haps, who, through lack of ability to express 

 themselves or through lack of training and ex- 

 perience in their own or related fields, would 

 be spared the caustic criticism of their col- 

 leagues and of the reading public if their 

 manuscripts had been subjected both to a con- 

 structive and to a destructive criticism prior 

 to publication. Too much emphasis can not be 

 placed on the fact that much of the value of 

 a piece of work is lost if it is not carefully 

 written both with respect to syntax and to the 

 employment of such words as convey the 

 author's intended shades and tints of meaning. 

 One does not credit experimentation which is 

 inaccurately reported. It only reflects dis- 

 credit on the institution, on the author, and 

 on the other members of the station staff. 

 Experiment station publications can not attain 

 the high standard of merit maintained by the 

 scientific journals until a means is provided to 

 secure adequate, critical, editorial supervision 

 of all manuscripts. Frederick A. Wolf 



Alabama Polytechnic Institute, 

 Auburn, Ala. 



a simple technique for the bacteriological 

 examination of shell eggs 



The eggs are first immersed in a strong 

 soap solution (the standard soap solution used 

 in water analysis has been found to be very 

 satisfactory) and scrubbed with a small brush 

 to remove any adherent dirt and hen feces; 

 then they are thoroughly dried in a clean towel 

 and immersed in a mercuric chloride solution 

 (1 : 1,000) and allowed to remain about five 

 minutes. 



The egg is now removed from the mercuric 

 chloride solution, care being taken to handle 

 it by the small end, and without drying it is 

 put into 60-70 per cent, alcohol, where it is 

 allowed to remain a few minutes. 



Again handling the egg by the small end it 

 is placed upon a three-inch clay triangle (which 



