440 
Biological  Exploration. 
S  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
(      June,  1921. 
their  botanical  classification  and  description.  Their  microscopical 
study  will  be  pursued  by  Dr.  Ballard  at  the  Columbia  University 
School  of  Pharmacy  by  Professor  Youngken,  Philadelphia  College 
of  Pharmacy  and  Science,  Schneider  of  Nebraska,  Newcomb  of  Min- 
nesota, and  others.  Their  chemistry  will  be  studied  by  Arny  of 
Columbia,  Jordan  of  Purdue,  Sayre  and  Havenhill  of  Kansas.  The 
study  of  their  physiological  and  medicinal  properties  will  occupy  the 
attention  of  many  medical  men  at  Yale,  Harvard,  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  Johns  Hopkins,  and  connected  with  the  American 
Medical  Association  headquarters  at  Chicago. 
Among  other  subjects  of  interest,  is  that  of  oil-seeds,  of  which 
there  is  a  vast  variety  in  the  forests  of  tropical  America.  From 
fifty  to  a  hundred  pounds  or  more  of  each  of  these  will  be  collected 
as  encountered  and  these  will  be  shipped  home  for  expression  and 
the  study  of  their  oils.  Professor  Augustus  A.  Gill,  of  the  Boston 
Institute  of  Technology  has  undertaken  to  pursue  these  researches. 
Similarly  there  are  very  many  plants  containing  essential  oils  that 
are  likely  to  prove  of  value,  and  Dr.  Edward  Kremers,  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wisconsin  will  interest  himself  in  the  study  of  these. 
The  region  to  be  traversed  abounds  in  serpents  and  other  reptiles, 
both  poisonous  and  innocent.  These  will  be  preserved  like  the  fishes. 
The  batrachians  will  be  sent  to  Professor  Ruthven,  of  the  University 
of  Michigan,  and  the  others  to  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History  in  New  York  City. 
Special  interest  attaches  to  the  arrangements  recently  completed, 
by  which  Dr.  F.  L.  Hoffman,  Vice-President  and  Chief  Statistician 
of  the  Prudential  Life  Insurance  Company,  will  accompany  Dr. 
Rusby  and  his  party  for  at  least  part  of  the  journey.  Dr.  Hoffman, 
as  one  of  the  Directors  of  the  American  Public  Health  Association, 
and  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  public  health  movement,  has  been  in- 
terested in  the  plans  for  this  expedition  from  the  beginning.  He 
joins  the  expedition  with  a  very  broad  object  in  view,  being  espe- 
cially interested  in  the  health,  longevity  and  sanitary  progress  in  the 
regions  visited,  particularly  as  regards  American  residents,  tempo- 
rarily or  permanently  settled  under  conditions  of  tropical  life.  Know- 
ing the  rich  natural  resources  of  these  regions  he  shares  with  Dr 
Rusby  a  vision  of  the  possibilities  of  wonderful  development  along 
many  lines — a  development  which  is  now  greatly  retarded  chiefly  on 
account  of  an  unfavorable  environvent  and  a  high  mortality,  due 
