272 



SCIENCE. 



[X. S. Vol. XXI. No. 529. 



all, custodian of the legal standards of weights 

 and measures for the United States, these be- 

 ing, in accordance with an act of Congress 

 passed in 1893, a standard meter and a stand- 

 ard kilogram. In addition to the verification 

 of weights and measures for state and United 

 States officials and for private parties, a large 

 amount of testing of thermometers, of pres- 

 sure, gas and air meters, of electrical instru- 

 ments for measuring resistances and other 

 electrical quantities, and of electric lamps, is 

 done. In connection with this work many 

 researches are necessary, and the most impor- 

 tant of those now in progress pertain to' meth- 

 ods of measuring high and low temperatures, 

 the development of standard sources of mono- 

 chromatic light for use with the interferom- 

 eter, the study of polarimeters with refer- 

 ence to their use in examination of sugars 

 imported into the United States, the study of 

 the Clark and Weston cells as standards of 

 electromotive force, the study of the silver 

 voltameter and electro-dynamometer for an 

 absolute measurement of electrical currents, 

 the measurements of inductance and capacity 

 in their bearing upon the measurement of 

 alternating currents, and the development of 

 an integrating photometer for the measure- 

 ment of mean spherical illumination by elec- 

 tric lamps. The chemical division expects to 

 take up the subjects of standards of purity for 

 chemical reagents and of standard methods of 

 technical analysis. 



Last Year's Work and Future Plans of the 

 Bureau of Chemistry : H. W. Wiley. 

 The lines of investigation relating to prob- 

 lems connected with the applications of chem- 

 istry to agriculture were pursued with little 

 change during the year ending June 30, 1904. 

 In order to secure economy as well as effi- 

 ciency in this work an endeavor has been 

 made for many years to collaborate with other 

 scientific investigators in the problems which 

 are under consideration. This has been par- 

 ticularly true in connection with investiga- 

 tions undertaken to determine the eiToct of 

 environment upon chemical composition in 

 sugar-producing plants. This work was con- 

 fined for a long time to the evolution of a 

 sorghum plant containing a high content of 



sugar and a low content of melassigenic sub- 

 stances. Later the same lines of investiga- 

 tions were applied to the sugar beet in a gen- 

 eral way. 



For lack of funds similar experiments 

 authorized by Congress in the study of the 

 effect of environment upon the composition of 

 the cereal grains have not been pushed as 

 vigorously as could be hoped. Nevertheless, 

 numerous comparative determinations have 

 been made of the effect of the environment 

 on the protein content of wheat. These data, 

 which have been collected over a period of 

 several years, have for their chief purpose to 

 indicate the general character of the study 

 necessary to determine more accurately those 

 conditions which affect so seriously the com- 

 position of the wheat kernel. The purposes 

 which should be kept in view in the growth 

 of wheat include those relating to the possi- 

 bilities of panification. While it is generally 

 true in the case of wheat that the gluten con- 

 tent increases pari passu with the content of 

 protein, such is not always the case. The 

 causes which disturb the equilibrium existing 

 between the gluten and the protein are worthy 

 of serious and careful study. The ultimate 

 object of the studies which the bureau has 

 now in hand is to indicate the conditions 

 which are favorable to the production of a 

 grain of any desired quality. 



During the past year the demand which 

 has been made upon the Bureau of Chem- 

 istry for information in regard to technical 

 problems of a chemical character relating 

 to the production of paper and leather has 

 been very great. The diminishing sup- 

 plies of raw material in the production of 

 paper and the consequent increase in price 

 have made the agricultural problem of the 

 production of this material one of great im- 

 portance. Forests suitable for the production 

 of paper pulp are rapidly disappearing and the 

 deficiency of the material which arises from 

 this cause must be supplied from other agri- 

 cultural sources. The fibers of many plants 

 which have heretofore been used only as waste 

 material offer promising sources of supply. 

 Among these may be mentioned the Indian 

 corn stalk, the cotton stalk, and the bagasse 



