September 22, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



373 



these can be most effectively furnished by 

 mathematical societies. The new Spanish so- 

 ciety has an unusually large amount of virgin 

 soil, and the very rapid recent mathematical 

 advances of Italy may inspire the hope that 

 "nascitur non fit" may be applicable to this 

 new society, and that it may have a healthy 

 and rapid growth. 



G. A. Miller 



AGEICULTUBAL BESEABCE IN 6BEAT 

 BRITAIN '■ 



The British Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries has been in communication with 

 the Development Commissioners with a view 

 to the formulation of a scheme for the pro- 

 motion of agricultural research and local in- 

 vestigations in England and Wales, and the 

 treasury, on the recommendation of the com- 

 missioners, has sanctioned the allocation of 

 funds to be distributed by the board in ac- 

 cordance with the general principles set out 

 below. The total maximum sum which will be 

 expended when the scheme is in full operation 

 will be about £50,000 per annum. 



The scheme provides for: (1) A system of 

 agricultural research which will secure for 

 each group of the problems affecting rural in- 

 dustry a share of attention roughly propor- 

 tional to its economic importance. (2) The 

 concentration of the scientific work on each 

 group at one institution or at institutions 

 working in combination. (3) Grants for spe- 

 cial investigations for which provision may 

 not otherwise be made. (4) The grant of 

 scholarships with a view to the increase of the 

 number of men fully qualified to undertake 

 agricultural research. (5) The carrying out 

 of investigations into problems of local im- 

 portance, especially those involving the appli- 

 cation of modern research to local practise, 

 and the provision of scientific advice for 

 farmers on important technical questions. 



In making arrangements for the separate 

 investigation, as far as possible, of each group 

 of allied subjects the commissioners and the 

 board have been impressed with the impor- 

 tance of securing continuity in work which is 



' From the London Times. 



necessarily of considerable duration, and at 

 the same time of providing staffs of special- 

 ists and experts who will be permanently en- 

 gaged on work arising from the investigation 

 of the same group of problems. By this 

 means concentration and economy of effort 

 will be better secured than it would be if a 

 number of institutions were dealing at the 

 same time with the same group of problems. 



It is neither desirable nor possible to pre- 

 vent all overlapping or duplication of work, 

 but it is obviously necessary to proceed on a 

 plan by which research work subsidized from 

 public funds will not be unnecessarily dupli- 

 cated. It is also desirable to arrange that 

 each problem shall be undertaken by the insti- 

 tution best fitted to deal with it, and usually 

 by the institution which has specially devoted 

 its attention to problems of an allied nature. 

 It is also important to avoid the giving of un- 

 due attention to one part of the field of agri- 

 cultural research, to the exclusion of other 

 parts which are of equal scientific and eco- 

 nomic importance. 



With these considerations in view, it has 

 been arranged that grants should be made for 

 research in the following groups of subjects: 

 (1) plant physiology; (2) plant pathology and 

 mycology; (3) plant breeding; (4) fruit grow- 

 ing, including the practical treatment of 

 plant diseases; (5) plant nutrition and soil 

 problems; (6) animal nutrition; (7) animal 

 breeding; (8) animal pathology ; (9) dairying; 

 (10) agricultural zoology; (11) economics of 

 agriculture. 



TBE AMERICAN MINING CONGRESS 

 The fourteenth annual session of the Amer- 

 ican Mining Congress will be held at the 

 Hotel La Salle, Chicago, BL, October 24, 25, 

 26, 27 and 28. The original intention was to 

 have the convention September 26 to 29. 

 President Taft, however, found it would be 

 impossible for him to attend and there arose 

 the possibility that neither Secretary Fisher 

 nor Director Holmes, of the Bureau of Mines, 

 would reach Chicago by that date. The 

 Alaska branch of the congress asked for a 



