698 
other States. The present method of securing 
crop reports is criticised, and the employment 
of a statistical agent in each State with paid re- 
porters is recommended. 
Mr. Wilson not only believes that the exports 
from America can be greatly increased, but that 
nearly all the imported agricultural products, 
valued at $400,000,000, could be and should be 
produced at home. 
THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF WEST VIRGINIA. 
Ar the last session of the Legislature of West 
Virginia an act was passed establishing a State 
Geological and Economic Survey, to be under 
the direction of a commission consisting of the 
Governor, State Treasurer, President of the 
State University, Director of the Agricultural 
Experiment Station, and President of the 
State Board of Agriculture. Three thousand 
dollars a year was appropriated to carry on the 
work. The act is similar to that establishing 
the Geological Survey of Maryland, in which 
the corporation of the Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity was secured and the Survey inaugurated 
in a manner so promising for science and eco- 
nomic usefulness. 
The commission of the West Virginia Survey 
met in Wheeling last month and organized, 
electing Governor Geo. W. Atkinson Presi- 
dent; Mr. M. A. Kendall (State Treasurer), 
Treasurer; Professor T. C. Atkeson (President 
of the State Board of Agriculture), Secretary ; 
Mr. J. H. Stewart (Director of the Experiment 
Station), Superintendent of the Department of 
Economic Biology ; and President Jerome H. 
Raymond (West Virginia University), Executive 
General Officer. Dr.'I. C. White was elected 
Superintendent of the Survey. He is in 
Europe now, and it is not yet known whether 
he will accept, but he will return soon, 
and then the real work of the Survey will begin. 
Professor S. B. Brown, professor of geology 
in the University, was elected First Assistant 
Geologist and Curator of the Collections. 
Professor J. L. Johnston, professor of civil 
engineering, has been appointed Assistant 
Geologist, with the special duty of locating the 
meridian lines of each of the county seats of 
the State. The headquarters of the Survey are 
at the West Virginia University, Morgantown. 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Von. VI. No. 149. 
THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 
A LETTER from Mr. William Hornaday, Direc- 
tor of the New York Zoological Park, published 
in the Critic, calls attention to a fact perhaps 
not known to those who have objected to in- 
creasing the attraction of the park lands north 
of the Harlem River by using a small part of 
them for botanical and zoological gardens. Mr. 
Hornaday writes : 
‘“‘The Hon. W. W. Niles, who was a member 
of the Commission which (in 1884) selected the 
4000 acres of farm lands in the Annexed District, 
now included in the four great parks, declares 
most positively that in determining the total area 
of land to be condemned and purchased by the 
city the Commissioners made the area as large 
as it is in order to provide abundant room for 
the large zoological and botanical gardens which 
they felt sure would soon be established by the 
city. In other words, it was the deliberate ex- 
pectation and intention of the Commissioners that 
both of the institutions now -complained of 
should find homes on some of the lands then 
acquired. The Commissioners very wisely did 
not attempt to assign sites for the zoological 
and botanical gardens. In choosing a home for 
the former, the Zoological Society naturally in- 
ferred that the site which would be the most 
accessible to the public, and also immeasurably 
the best for the animals, was the proper one to 
choose. There are 3,500 acres of public parks 
in the Annexed District, untouched by the two 
scientific gardens, or five and one-half square 
miles. Is not that enough? Of the 261 acres 
alloted to the Zoological Park, the collections 
will be located on the least attractive portion ; 
fully one-half of the total area (all of the pic- 
turesque portion) has been set aside as pleasure 
grounds, only.”’ 
THE INTERNATIONAL LEPROSY CONFERENCE. 
AT the conclusion of the recent International 
Leprosy Conference at Berlin the secretaries 
drew up a summary of the results in English, 
German and French, intended especially for 
the governments who had sent delegates. The 
conclusions are as follows: 
1. As might be expected, a considerable por- 
tion of the proceedings has been in connection 
with the bacillus of leprosy, which the Confer- 
