July 23, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



127 



Some of the portions of the leaves and stems 

 clipped from the plants dropped upon the soil 

 of the pots and were allowed to remain there. 

 Some days later it was found that a number of 

 these fragments had put out roots from the cut 

 surfaces and were developing into healthy 

 shoots. As the plant under consideration is of 

 great economic importance, a further experi- 

 ment was tried in order to see if the regenera- 

 tion of shoots from cut fragments of alfalfa 

 is easily induced. A handful of fragments 

 cut from an entirely different group of alfalfa 

 plants was scattered loosely over the surface 

 of a pot of well-watered soil. The fragments 

 were watered from day to day, care being taken 

 to avoid altering their positions. After a 

 week it was found that fragments of several 

 descriptions had rooted firmly and were devel- 

 oping into healthy shoots. The regenerating 

 fragments included portions of stems, portions 

 of petioles, petioles with blades attached, leaf- 

 lets without petioles attached, and even small 

 portions of the leaf blade. 



So far as the writer has been able to learn, 

 multiplication by this vegetative method has 

 not been reported of alfalfa previous to this 

 time. Under favorable conditions, such regen- 

 eration might assume considerable importance 

 in the field. Especially suggestive is the pos- 

 sibility of strengthening a stand in an irri- 

 gated district by an early cutting followed by 

 free watering. The cut portions might be left 

 where they fall, or collected and scattered over 

 areas where the stand is thin. 



Orville T. Wilson 



TjNn^RsiTY OF Wisconsin 



QUOTATIONS 



THE ORGANIZATION OF SCIENCE IN GREAT BRITAIN 



At last, on all sides, it is being recog- 

 nized that we should organize our scientific re- 

 sources. Had the suggestion which I made to 

 this effect on January 20 been acted on — that 

 is to say, if the Royal Society had grouped the 

 whole body of its fellows (mainly according to 

 subjects) in grand committees and set these to 

 work — we should have been many months in 

 advance of our present position, and not a lit- 

 tle might have been done to apply science to 



the numerous problems which are only now 

 being hinted at in public. In view of our 

 scientific conservatism, it is impossible to 

 blame the uninstructed masses and difficult to 

 find much fault even with our rulers. 



It is well known that the men who are versed 

 in the chemistry and properties of explosive 

 materials and who might, during all these 

 months, have rendered the greatest service in 

 perfecting their production and in improving 

 them have not been consulted. One of the two 

 men to whom the service ammunition of all 

 the armies of to-day is due is still with us and 

 an active scientific worker ; in no other country 

 would it have been possible that such a man 

 should not have been called into consultation. 

 Many of us might have been of assistance if 

 only as foremen in works — technical foremen 

 have been badly needed. 



It is imperative that the strongest body of 

 technical opinion that we can bring together 

 should be behind the War Office and the autho- 

 rity that is charged with the supply of explo- 

 sives. It is to be hoped that Mr. Lloyd George 

 is now alive to this need and of the deadly 

 peril in which we stand if it be neglected. 

 The suggestion has been made that Lord Hal- 

 dane should be invited to preside over a com- 

 mittee of concentrated scientific intellect to 

 deal with war problems. But Lord Haldane, 

 as a lawyer, would be entirely out of place as 

 chairman of such a body; it must be in expert 

 hands to be of service. The government is 

 not competent to select the members of such 

 a commission. I believe the Royal Society to 

 be the only competent advisory body under 

 the circumstances — it is our scientific House 

 of Peers, and if it can not either itself furnish 

 sufficient competent men or provide them from 

 the junior ranks of science, the sooner it is 

 declared defunct the better. 



I would again urge that the society be or- 

 ganized forthwith as a whole; not only is this 

 the only way of eliminating personal differ- 

 ences, but it is the only way of getting at the 

 ideas latent in our scientific community. No 

 half-dozen or so persons, at the present time, 

 have the right to assume that they can do all 

 that is required in any branch of science; no 



