September 29, 1911] 



SGIENCU 



4a 



have more or less responsibility resting upon 

 them for whatever may be properly criticized 

 in the governmental scientiiic corps. Efforts 

 the corps itself may make for betterment are 

 liable to the charge of seK interest. The 

 " outsiders " can help, if they will, to promote 

 the ideal service. For such help no one will be 

 more grateful than the members of the corps 

 concerned. 



A long dissertation illustrative of the state- 

 ments above made might easily be written, but 

 space requirements forbid it here. 



In conclusion the writer is confident that 

 neither in this country nor elsewhere is to be 

 found a body of men of science more devoted 

 to their work, more self-sacrificing in their 

 devotion to it, and with a more honorable 

 record, than the scientific corps of the gov- 

 ernment service, however, in the human way, 

 it may fall short of the ideal. 



Washingtonian 



To THE Editor of Science : The publication 

 in Science, of September 8, 1911, of a request 

 that you " refuse to print any communication 

 in which the adjective ' due ' appears in any 

 way except as agreeing . . . with some noun 

 or pronoun " leads me to refer to the advertise- 

 ment on page 1, of the same number, which 

 gives, under six heads, a list of educational 

 books for sale, one of the heads, " Biology," list- 

 ing texts on " Laboratory Zoology," " Mamma- 

 lian Anatomy " and " Zoology " ; another head 

 is " Botany," listing a " Guide to Laboratory 

 and Field Studies," " Flant Anatomy " and 

 " Vegetable Physiology." 



After we have decided what the difference 

 is between water-vapor and steam, and why 

 the ether can not be made of electrons, will 

 you please allow space for replies to the fol- 

 lowing question : What is there more " biolog- 

 ical " about laboratory zoology than about 

 laboratory and field studies in botany, about 

 mammalian anatomy than about plant anat- 

 omy, or about a text-book on zoology than one 

 on vegetable physiology? 



Will not Science hereafter please refuse to 



publish any communication or advertisement 

 in which the word biology is used as synony- 

 mous with zoology? Zoological journals 

 please copy! 



C. Stuart Gager 

 Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 

 September 11, 1911 



HOUSE AIR 



To THE Editor of Science: Before the last 

 echoes of the discussion as to indoor and out- 

 door air, humidity and so on die away I 

 should like to add a word as to the general ne- 

 glect on the part of doctors and nurses to look 

 carefully into the nature of the air supply. 

 There is an increasing tendency to prescribe 

 life out of doors, even in bad weather, as al- 

 most a specific for many pathological condi- 

 tions, from incipient tuberculosis to weak 

 heart action. But after all, most sick people 

 are indoors during the greater part of the 

 twenty-four hours, at most seasons of the 

 year. And yet it is rare indeed to find even 

 an exceptionally intelligent physician who 

 knows in detail at what rate the air of the 

 patient's room is being changed, what is its 

 origin, or its relative humidity. Physicians 

 rather commonly and nurses almost always 

 ignore the difference in ventilating effect be- 

 tween furnace or indirect steam heating and 

 hot water or steam pipes in the rooms of the 

 house. I have heard an unusually intelli- 

 gent nurse, a woman with years of thorough 

 training in her calling, argue for a half hour 

 that no change of air could be accomplished 

 by an open furnace register — she doubted 

 whether any air came into the room from 

 that source at any time. 



As a matter of fact the ventilation from a 

 register of ordinary size (say 9J X l^i 

 inches) in freezing weather, with a reasonable 

 fire in the furnace, is much better than can 

 ever be obtained in summer by opening a 

 single window to its full height. There is no 

 other simple way of securing cold weather 

 ventilation in ordinary houses so certain to 

 act efficiently as heating with a furnace pro- 

 vided with a capacious cold air duct. Still 



