556 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 431. 



The officers of the University of Arizona 

 and of the Arizona Agricultural Experiment 

 Station have taken a lively interest in the 

 project and the Tucson Chamber of Com- 

 merce expressed its appreciation of the im- 

 portance of the enterprise by donating the 

 site, installing a water supply, electric con- 

 nections and rendering other valuable assist- 

 ance. 



Plans for building have been approved and 

 construction will be begun as soon as the site 

 is prepared. It is expected that the labora- 

 tory will be ready for operation about Sep- 

 tember 1, at which time Dr. W. A. Cannon, 

 the resident investigator, vsdll take up his 

 duties. 



THE U. 8. NATIONAL MUSEUM. 

 The last Congress appropriated $3,500,000 

 for a new building with granite fronts for 

 the U. S. National Museum. This will be 

 placed on the mall to the north of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution and at a suitable distance 

 from it. Tentative plans for such a building 

 were submitted to Congress in response to a 

 resolution passed at the previous session, but 

 the fortunate change from brick and terra- 

 cotta will necessarily lead to some alterations, 

 particularly in the design for the exterior. 

 The general arrangement of the halls and the 

 amount of floor space will, however, remain 

 practically the same as in the provisional 

 plans. These contemplate a rectangular 

 building, about 480 feet front and 350 feet 

 deep, surrounding two open courts, and about 

 80 feet high including the basement. The 

 building will afford about 400,000 square feet 

 of floor space, or nearly nine and a haK acres, 

 and is designed for four floors, the first and 

 second to be used for exhibition purposes, the 

 basement and upper floor to be for the ar- 

 rangement of the reserve, or study series, for 

 workrooms and other necessary museum pur- 

 poses. A special effort will be made to have 

 the offices of the museum staff not only near 

 the study series, but as near as possible to 

 their respective exhibition halls, while the 

 lighting of the exhibition halls will be mainly 

 from the sides, in order to avoid dark corners 

 and reflection. 



The construction of the new museum is to 

 be in charge of Mr. Bernard E. Green, who 

 had the supervision of the new building for 

 the Library of Congress. The sum of $250,- 

 000 was appropriated for the first year. The 

 preparation of working plans will be pro- 

 ceeded with at once, and it is hoped that con- 

 tracts for the work may be made early in 

 July so that the building may be commenced 

 as soon as possible. 



THE APPROPRIATION FOR THE U. 8. DE- 

 PARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The appropriation for the current expenses 

 of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture provided by the recent session of Con- 

 gress covers a total of practically six million 

 dollars— $5,978,100, to be exact. This is an 

 increase of $769,140 (including an emergency 

 appropriation for foot-and-mouth disease) 

 over the appropriation for the present year. 

 During the past five years the amount of the 

 appropriation for the department has in- 

 creased over two and one quarter million 

 dollars. 



The increased funds are for the most part 

 to enable an extension of the work of the 

 department along its present lines rather than 

 to take up new special features. Nearly 

 every bureau and division receives additional 

 funds, but the wording of the appropriation 

 act mentions very few new undertakings. 

 Indeed, the wording is now so comprehensive 

 as to render this unnecessary, and makes the 

 legitimate field of the department cover prac- 

 tically all science as applied to agricultural 

 investigation and practice. One new bureau 

 is recognized — the Bureau of Statistics, which 

 is raised from the grade of division. The 

 scientific staff of the Weather Bureau is in- 

 creased somewhat, an assistant chief being 

 added, among others, and the bureau is au- 

 thorized to erect five observatories and to 

 establish cable communication between Block 

 Island and Narragansett Pier, with terminal 

 buildings and equipment at each place. The 

 Bureau of Animal Industry receives an in- 

 crease of $100,000 for its meat and other in- 

 spection work, and an emergency appropria- 

 tion of $500,000 is placed at the disposal of 



