JnLY 18, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



75 



The effect of forests upon climate, if 

 viewed as a local influence, must necessar- 

 ily be insignificant. First we must not for- 

 get that whenever we compare a forest with 

 an open field adjoining it, the open field 

 itself is under the influence of the forest 

 and can not give a proper conception of the 

 true effect of the forest. 



Such a meteorological authority as 

 Lorenz Liburnau, at the end of his monu- 

 mental work on "The Results of Forest 

 Meteorological Observations, ' ' remarks that 

 his data and conclusions apply only to the 

 influence which the forest exerts while it 

 exists, but do not extend to conditions 

 which may rise upon its complete destruc- 

 tion. "If, for instance, according to our 

 observations in the Carpathian foothills, it 

 appears that the influence of the forest 

 upon the neighboring country is only in- 

 significant, this does not indicate that a 

 complete destruction of all the existing 

 forests will produce here also only insig- 

 nificant climatic changes. Very likely 

 that, if the forest were completely de- 

 stroyed, the difference would be much 

 greater than the difference that exists now 

 between the climate of the forest and its 

 neighboring areas." 



Local observations, no matter how accu- 

 rately and minutely carried out, can not 

 lead us to the solution of the problem. The 

 method of attack itself is wrong. It is only 

 by approaching the problem from a much 

 broader standpoint, by rising mentally to 

 a height which opens wide perspectives 

 both to the distant shores of the Gulf of 

 Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean and to the 

 most interior portions of the continent; 

 only by following the moist south winds on 

 their way from the gulf through the gate- 

 way of the North American continent, the 

 Atlantic plain to the Prairie region, by 

 considering how many times the moisture 

 carried by the wind is dropped in the form 



of precipitation and raised again as evapo- 

 ration, by studying the part which the veg- 

 etative cover plays in this circulation of 

 water on the land, especially the dense 

 coniferous forests, that we can grasp the 

 problem in its true light. 



Raphael Zon 

 U. S. Forest Service 



LESTEB FRANK WABD 



Lester Frank Ward, A.B., LL.B., A.M., 

 LL.D., was bom at Joliet, Illinois, June 18, 

 1841, and died in Washington, D. C, April 18, 

 1913. 



Philosopher, sociologist, paleobotanist — few 

 men in these days of specialization have earned 

 such enviable reputation along such widely 

 divergent lines of thought as are designated 

 in these terms, which imply both a deep 

 thinker on abstract subjects and a careful stu- 

 dent of concrete facts. The scope of his men- 

 tality was remarkable, not alone in the ability 

 to master any subject in which he chanced to 

 become interested, but also in the ability to 

 completely dismiss any subject from his mind 

 whenever he wished to concentrate attention 

 on something entirely different, and to subse- 

 quently resume the original trend of thought 

 without apparent effort. 



His reputation as a student of and writer 

 on ethical and sociological subjects assures 

 that he will not be forgotten or fail of suitable 

 recognition by those who are best qualified to 

 discuss his activities in such connection. It 

 is my privilege to merely say a few words in 

 regard to Dr. Ward as a paleobotanist. 



Our personal acquaintance began in 1882, 

 about a year after his appointment as assist- 

 ant geologist on the staif of the United States 

 Geological Survey. His special work was in 

 connection with the problems of paleobotany 

 and their relations to geological investigations, 

 the importance of which was just beginning to 

 attract some attention, and it was my good 

 fortune to enlist his interest and to subse- 

 quently enjoy the privilege of his cooperation 

 and kindly criticism in my paleobotanical 

 studies and to feel the inspiration of his con- 



