114 



SCIENCE. 



[X. S. Vol. XXI. No. 525. 



4. They should conduct their work not 

 merely bj' correspondence, but should have at 

 least one meeting, preferably several meetings, 

 occupying an adequate length of time. 



The scholars able to do the work exist; it 

 only remains to enable them to organize. For 

 this purpose, the circular issued by Boston 

 University is to serve as a preliminary step. 

 Its aim is to obtain the opinion of the learned 

 public. Thus far it has been sent only to 

 the members of the Philological Association, 

 and it may be stated that out of 67 replies 

 received up to September 16, only 4 questioned 

 the utility of the conference, the great ma- 

 jority being emphatic and even enthusiastic 

 in its advocacy. In a few weeks the circular 

 will be sent to every university professor in 

 the United States and Canada. 



The question has several times been asked, 

 why a conference of the English-speaking na- 

 tions alone would not suffice. The answer 

 may be gathered from what has been said 

 above. The supreme need of the phonetic 

 alphabet, in order to secure its adoption by 

 the public, is authority; and of course the 

 authority of a universal alphabet, adopted by 

 an international commission, would far exceed 

 that of an alphabet devised for one language 

 only. It is desirable to secure the use of the 

 alphabet by the largest possible number of 

 persons at once, in order to impart to it the 

 requisite momentum to carry it into popular 

 use. Evidently the momentum of an inter- 

 national alphabet will be incomparably greater 

 than that of a merely national alphabet. 

 Above all, it must be remembered that the 

 sounds of the leading European languages are 

 for the most part nearly identical, and that 

 all the nations are striving to adopt phonetic 

 alphabets. If now each nation does this for 

 itself, we shall be confronted with the dilemma 

 that either needless differences will be per- 

 manently established between the languages, 

 or, if there is to be identity of writing to 

 correspond with the practical identity of 

 sounds, certain nations will be forced to aban- 

 don their laboriou.sly constructed systems in 

 order to conform to the system of another 

 nation. The obvious remedy, the reasonable, 

 neighborly, courteous method is an agreement 



by the common consent of all the nations con- 

 cerned, and now is the time to secure it, while 

 as yet none of the national phonetic alphabets 

 have found any notable degree of acceptance. 



The realization of the conference is simply 

 a matter of expense. It means that a dozen 

 or a score of the most eminent scholars shall 

 be enabled to devote the requisite time to it. 

 If the replies to the circular demonstrate that 

 the great majority of the learned public favors 

 the plan, it seems entirely probable, in view 

 of the importance of the subject, that the 

 requisite funds will be forthcoming. 



Robert Stein. 



U. S. Geological Survey, 

 Washington, D. C. 



AWARDS TO THE COLLECTIVE EXHIBIT OF 

 THE LAND-GRANT COLLEGES AND 

 THE EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



The collective exhibit of the American col- 

 leges of agriculture and mechanic arts and the 

 experiment stations at the St. Louis Exposi- 

 tion, illustrating special features of the in- 

 struction work of these institutions and the 

 methods and results of the agricultural ex- 

 periment stations, was awarded 27 grand 

 prizes, 37 gold medals, 35 silver medals and 

 35 bronze medals, a total of 135 awards, aside 

 from those made to individual exhibitors. The 

 collective exhibit as a whole received a grand 

 prize; and similar awards were made to the 

 sections of agronomy, in charge of Mr. J. I. 

 Schulte, of the office of experiment stations; 

 of horticulture and forestry, in charge of Pro- 

 fessor S. B. Green, of Minnesota ; of economic 

 entomology, in charge of Professor C. P. Gil- 

 lette, of Colorado; of mining engineering, in 

 charge of Professor S. B. Christy, of Cali- 

 fornia ; of architecture, in charge of Professor 

 W. II. Lawrence, of Massachusetts; of mech- 

 anical engineering, in charge of Professor W. 

 F. M. Goss, of Indiana; of drawing and shop 

 practice, in charge of Professor F. P. Ander- 

 son, of Kentucky; and of technical chemistry, 

 in charge of Dr. W. IT. Walker, of Massa- 

 chusetts; to the dairy laboratory, in charge 

 of Professor E. IT. Farrington, of Wisconsin; 

 the sugar laboratory, in charge of Dr. W. C. 

 Stubbs, of Louisiana ; and the plant laboratory, 



