January 5, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



17 



avoided when possible. There must, how- 

 ever, always be questions affecting the 

 national welfare which it is undoubtedly 

 the function of the general government to 

 investigate. The study of contagious dis- 

 eases of man and animals, involving as it 

 does questions of quarantine and other 

 sanitary regulations, which may affect any 

 or all the States, and the study of plant dis- 

 eases, however caused, and the means of 

 prevention, are good instances of the kind 

 of work which should be undertaken by the 

 national government, for they are of such 

 eminently practical nature and so general 

 in their application that it is important 

 that the government should have constantly 

 in its service experts capable of studying 

 them and of giving at short notice informa- 

 tion that may be needed. The theoretical 

 aspects of the subjects mentioned and the 

 study of certain special cases maj' profitably 

 be undertaken by private or State institu- 

 tions, but the resources and authority of the 

 general government are needed for the ob- 

 taining and spreading of information and 

 the enforcement of preventive or remedial 

 measures. It is an important duty of our 

 universities and scientific schools to train 

 up a body of young men capable of entering 

 the different governmental bureaus as 

 scientific experts, that is to say in the lower 

 grades, for it is not supposed that without 

 a more or less lengthy active service in the 

 bureaus themselves one would be prepared 

 to fill the higher positions. In Gei'many 

 there seems to be no difficulty in finding 

 among the graduates of universities and 

 technical schools well-trained young men 

 for the scientific establishments of the gov- 

 ernment. If things are not in so satisfac- 

 tory a state here it is due, in part, to the 

 very rapid enlargement of the scope of gov- 

 ernment work in recent years, and there is 

 no reason to suppose that before long the 

 supply of well-trained young men will not 

 equal the demand. 



In my remarks this evening I have felt 

 free to state what, to the best of my knowl- 

 edge, seems to be the condition of our scien- 

 tific organization, especially in our univer- 

 sities ; but in what I have said I have 

 endeavored merely to describe the situation 

 viewed generally, and, if I have taken this 

 occasion to refer to some points in which 

 our system might be improved, I have done 

 80 without reference, either expressed or 

 implied, to any institution or locality, but 

 because I cannot help feeling that a plain 

 statement of certain difficulties from which 

 many, if not most of us, suffer is the first 

 step to be taken if we are to expect im- 

 provement. I have described the older 

 German universities as generous rivals in 

 the promotion of knowledge. From condi- 

 tions beyond our control M'e are at present 

 in a condition of unrest and feverish ambi- 

 tion, each university striving, on insufficient 

 means, to do all that any other university is 

 doing. When shall we become cool-headed 

 enough to do well and thoroughly what our 

 means permit, and wait patiently for the 

 time when we can expand farther without 

 too great tension or attenuation of the re- 

 sources now at our command ? 



W. G. Farlow. 

 Harvard University. 



INBIBITINO ACTION OF OXIDASE UPON 

 DIASTASE. 



In the disease of the tobacco leaf known 

 as Calico, or Mosaic, the lighter-colored 

 areas are found to contain more starch in 

 the form of granules than do the green 

 areas of the same leaf. This is very pecu- 

 liar, inasmuch as the chloroplasts of the 

 light-colored areas are evidently in an un- 

 healthy condition. 



In an article published in the Central- 

 hlattjur BaUeriohgie, II Abt. Ed. V., No. 22, 

 I have pointed out the fact that these light- 

 colored cells exhibit much more oxidizing 

 activity than do the green cells of the same 



