828 
EDITORIAL. 
resulted in greater triumph for a distinguished member of our 
profession than did the appointment and confirmation of Dr. M. 
H. Reynolds, of the Agricultural College, at St. Anthony’s 
Park, Minnesota, to the position upon the State Board of Healthy 
made vacant by the expiration of the term of the physician 
member, who had, through his position of Secretary, virtually 
run the affairs of the Board for a great many years, and who by 
his arrogance and arbitrary methods in his treatment of the pub¬ 
lic had incurred their dislike. A couple of years ago, when Dr. 
Reynolds was elected to a position on the Board by the legisla¬ 
ture, the Secretary of the Board, the now defeated Dr. Hewett, 
by his dislike for the veterinarian, so worked upon the Governor 
as to cause him to veto the nomination, and Dr. Reynolds’ pres¬ 
ent triumph must be especially sweet to him, as it is satisfactory 
to the profession of veterinary medicine throughout the coun¬ 
try. The Board of Health of every State in the Union needs a 
veterinarian as a member. Which will be the next ? 
Confederation of Scientific Investigations. —In a 
most interesting article in Science for January 15, Dr. Charles 
W. Dabney, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the United States De¬ 
partment of Agriculture, advocates a union of all the existing 
government bureaus for the promotion of science and the devel¬ 
opment of the country’s resources into one great Department of 
Science. The article in question is very interesting and in¬ 
structive. He shows that, omitting all those charged with 
purely executive business, the government schools, and the test¬ 
ing laboratories of the War and Navy departments, the United 
States maintains twenty-eight scientific bureaus for developing 
our resources and advancing industry, at a cost of nearly $8,000,- 
000 per year, employing more than 5000 persons. They are 
engaged in all kinds of scientific work, from determining astro¬ 
nomical facts to the study of bacteria. It is claimed that by 
the confederation of these bureaus the cost could be greatly 
reduced, as many investigations are duplicated in the different 
departments, and the service rendered more efficient by having 
