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CALLIE HULL, CLARENCE J. WEST

THE PROPOSED NATIONAL ARBORETUM AT WASHINGTON

In response to the request of SCIENCE for an article on the National Arboretum which is proposed to be established in the District of Columbia, I present the following condensed explanation of the project:

SUMMARY

Nature. The proposed national arboretum at Washington would contain a permanent living collection of trees and other outdoor plants for purposes of scientific research and education. It would include the trees, shrubs, and perennials used in forestry and horticulture, and the wild relatives of these plants. It would be a bureau of standards for horticulture. It would contain a water garden and a wildrice preserve, and it would serve incidentally as a bird sanctuary.

Economic value. The arboretum would make the work of the Department of Agriculture more valuable to the country in many ways, but especially through plant breeding. The development of faster-growing timber trees, improved fruits, and disease-resistant plants generally, through the facilities afforded by the arboretum, would increase profoundly the agricultural wealth and welfare of the United States.

Location. The Mount Hamilton and Hickey Hill tracts in the District of Columbia, together with the Anacostia River flats above Benning Bridge, constitute an admir

able site for the arboretum, convenient in location and with a great variety of soils.

Cost. About 400 acres of the proposed site is already owned by the government. It consists of marsh land, about to be drained by army engineers. The Mount Hamilton and Hickey Hill area, 408 acres, privately owned, was reported by the assessor in January, 1925, to be valued at $343,048, distributed among thirty own

ers.

Maintenance. If the purchase of the Mount Hamilton and Hickey Hill tracts in the fiscal year 1927 is authorized, it is estimated that the cost of maintenance of the arboretum for the first three years would be as follows: 1927. Nothing 1928. $25,000

1929. $50,000

To the summary given in the preceding paragraphs. is added the following more explicit statement regarding the national arboretum:

1. The examination and mapping of the proposed arboretum site by a soil expert in 1917, by direction of Secretary of Agriculture David F. Houston, showed that the soils of this area are very diverse, over thirty different types being represented on the map accompanying the report. The area was described by Secretary Houston as "admirable in location, topography, present plant cover and in capabilities of future development."

2. The arboretum would contain a comprehensive collection of trees and other outdoor plants for purposes of scientific research and education.

3. It would serve as an introduction garden for the permanent preservation of authentic living specimens of the thousands of plants introduced by the Department of Agriculture from foreign countries.

4. It would contain all the wild relatives of cultivated plants which will grow out of doors in this climate, and would be an invaluable source of material for the breeding of more valuable varieties.

5. It would furnish such a knowledge of the breeding of forest trees as would make it possible, when the country reaches the point of setting out its forests, to use improved varieties which may grow twice as fast as those we now use.

6. It would furnish material for the breeding of disease-resistant varieties of cultivated plants to replace many of the present varieties which are of high quality but so subject to disease that the cost of their treatment is a heavy burden on American agriculture.

7. As a living collection of the species and varieties of trees and other cultivated plants it would constitute a bureau of standards for horticulture.

8. The plants in an agricultural experiment station may be likened to the books which one keeps in his office for continual every-day use, while a national arboretum may be regarded as a great library of liv

ing trees and plants from which can be obtained at once whatever is needed for some special investigation or experiment.

9. The national arboretum at Washington would constitute an out-door recreation area of 800 acres which would also be an instrument of widespread public education in botanical science, horticulture, agriculture and landscape gardening.

10. The city of Washington now has about two hundred professional botanists, most of them engaged in the advancement of American agriculture through their connection with the United States Department of Agriculture. The effectiveness of the work of these men and women will be enormously increased through the facilities afforded by a national arboretum. vation of a large tract of the original wildrice growth 11. The plan of the arboretum includes the preserof the Anacostia River marshes as a feeding ground tory birds which have frequented these marshes in and refuge for bobolinks, blackbirds and other migra

hundreds of thousands.

12. The arboretum would constitute a permanent bird sanctuary.

13. The marsh area of the arboretum is well adapted to the development of a water garden, the beauty of which is well illustrated by the Shaw waterlily gardens now occupying a portion of the marshes.

14. Under authority similar to that given in the ar boretum bill presented in the last congress, it will be possible to purchase the Mount Hamilton and Hickey Hill tract of 408 acres of forest and intervening farm land before the advance of the city turns this area to other uses. Whether the arboretum be developed rapidly or slowly, the area ought to be purchased at once.

15. The assessor's present valuation of the Mount Hamilton and Hickey Hill tract is $343,048, distributed among thirty owners. In 1920, when the purchase of the tract was under consideration for another purpose, the assessor's valuation was $254,520.

16. For maintenance of the arboretum it is unlikely that any funds additional to the purchase money would be required the first year. It is estimated that in the second year $25,000 would be needed, for accurate topographic, biological and other surveys and plans and preliminary soil treatment, and in the third year $50,000, for the expenses of an efficient operation and maintenance organization. These estimates do not include engineering development and perma nent highway construction, which must be determined through conference with the board of army engineers now engaged in the drainage of the Anacostia River marshes, and with the Commissioners of the District of Columbia.

17. The proposed arboretum site is less than two

miles from the capitol building and three miles from the Department of Agriculture.

18. The location of the arboretum at a distance of several miles from the city has been proposed. In such a location the cost of administration would be greater, the work of research and discovery less effective, and the arboretum would be less useful for public education and recreation.

On December 7, 1925, Representative Robert Luce, of Massachusetts, introduced in the House of Representatives the following bill (H. R. 3890), which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture. An identical bill (S. 1640) was introduced in the Senate by Senator George Wharton Pepper, of Pennsylvania, and referred to the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry.

A BILL

AUTHORIZING THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL ARBORETUM, AND FOR OTHER

PURPOSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized and directed to establish and maintain a national arboretum for purposes of research and education concerning tree and plant life. For the purposes of this Act, (1) the President is authorized to transfer to the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Agriculture by Executive order any land which now belongs to the United States within or adjacent to the District of Columbia located along the Anacostia River north of Benning Bridge, and (2) the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized in his discretion to acquire, within the limits of the appropriation authorized by this Act, by private purchase, condemnation proceedings, or gift, land so located.

Sec. 2. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated a sum not to exceed $300,000, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture for the acquisition of land as specified in section 1. No payment shall be made by the United States for any such land until the title thereto is satisfactory to the Attorney General and is vested in the United States.

Sec. 3. In order to stimulate research and discovery, the national arboretum established by the Secretary of Agriculture in accordance with the provisions of this Act shall be under competent scientific direction. The arboretum shall be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture separately from the agricultural, horticultural, and forestry stations of the Department of Agriculture, but it shall be so correlated with them as to bring about the most effective utilization of its facili ties and discoveries.

Sec. 4. The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to recognize and consult an advisory council in relation to the national arboretum to be established under this Act, to include representatives of the following organizations: National Academy of Sciences, National

Research Council, Smithsonian Institution, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Garden Club of America, Wild Flower Preservation Society, Botanical Society of America, American Society of Landscape Architects, American Association of Nurserymen, National Association of Audubon Societies, American Forestry Association, Society of American Foresters, American Pharmaceutical Association, and American Association for the Advancement of Science.

FREDERICK V. COVILLE

SCIENTIFIC EVENTS

THE PAN-PACIFIC RESEARCH INSTITUTION THE Pan-Pacific Union, an international organization having its center at Honolulu, has served an excellent purpose in two main directions. The first, in its mission of good-will to the various peoples whose lands border on the Pacific, and second, in the several international conferences, educational, journalistic, economic and scientific, called to meet under its auspices and under the general direction of its director, Alexander Hume Ford.

Last year a new departure was planned, that of an international research station, after the fashion of the one at Naples and the one at Woods Hole. With certain disadvantages of remoteness from centers of population, it has the advantage of access to a marine fauna of unparalleled richness. In addition to this, it affords a remarkable opportunity for the study of tropical fruits, of insect pests and the parasites which destroy them, of a tropical flora and of volcanic geology.

For the present summer, Dr. David Starr Jordan, as honorary president of the institution, has assisted Mr. Ford in its permanent organization. Its board of trustees is made up of leading men interested in the project from the various countries included in its scope. Its actual government is vested in a local council of scientific men engaged in actual research, in the employment as experts by the United States government, by the Territory of Hawaii, the Queen's Hospital or by some one of the great associations interested in sugar, pineapples, coffee or other industries. The headquarters of the institution are in a commodious residence in the Manoa valley, dedicated to this purpose by its owners. Here the council meets weekly at dinner, being followed by a scientific lecture, to which the public is invited. The chief purpose of the institution is the promotion of research in any field, in which local conditions are favorable. For the time being, only a small number of workers can be accommodated free of charge at the headquarters and no funds are yet available for special assistance. A bulletin is published monthly, but until a permanent endowment for publication is secured no records of new species of animal or plant will be

received for printing. The facilities for advanced work in the Bishop Museum, the University of Hawaii and the Queen's Hospital will in general be at the service of any worker.

The first scientific publication of the institution is "A Check-List of the Fishes of Hawaii," by Dr. David Starr Jordan and Dr. Barton Warren Evermann. This list includes 583 species, including pelagic and bathybial forms.

The present council consists of the following persons, each of these being at the same time chairman of some special research committee:

Chairman, Dr. Nils P. Larsen, medical director of the Queen's Hospital.

Vice-chairman, Dr. Frederick G. Krauss, professor of agronomy, University of Hawaii.

Recording Secretary, Wm. Weinrich, chemist.
Honorary President for 1925-26, David Starr Jordan,
chancellor emeritus of Stanford University.

E. A. Beals, meteorologist, U. S. Weather Bureau.
Colonel J. M. Brown, judge advocate, U. S. A.

Dr. C. B. Cooper, ex-president of the Board of Health. L. A. Henke, professor of animal husbandry, University of Hawaii.

Dr. James F. Illingsworth, research associate in entomology, Bishop Museum.

H. Atherton Lee, pathologist, Sugar Planters' Association. Kilmer O. Moe, agriculturist, Kamehameha Schools. Willis T. Pope, horticulturist, U. S. Experiment Station.

PLANS FOR INCREASING THE FUNDS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

THE National Academy of Sciences has appealed to a body of prominent public men to join leading scientists of the country in an endeavor to secure larger resources for research in pure science.

It is hoped that an annual income of $2,000,000 can be secured to establish national research professorships and in other ways to cooperate with universities and other institutions.

The academy has created for these funds a special board of trustees, the membership of which consists of the following:

Herbert Hoover, chairman; Dr. Albert A. Michelson, president of the National Academy of Sciences; Gano Dunn, chairman of the National Research Council; Dr. Vernon Kellogg, permanent secretary of the National Research Council; John W. Davis; Colonel Edward M. House; Cameron Forbes; Felix Warburg; Henry S. Pritchett; Dr. Robert A. Millikan, foreign secretary of the National Academy of Sciences; Dr. John C. Merriam, president of the Carnegie Institution of Washington; Owen D. Young and Henry M. Robinson; Elihu Root; Charles E. Hughes; W. H. Mellon; Dr. Simon Flexner, director of the laboratories of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research; Dr. John J.

Carty, vice-president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company; Dr. William H. Welch, director of the School of Hygiene and Public Health of the Johns Hopkins University; Dr. James H. Breasted, director of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago; Professor L. R. Jones, of the University of Wisconsin; Professor A. B. Lamb, of Harvard University; Professor Oswald Veblen, of Princeton University; Dr. Thomas H. Morgan, of Columbia University, and Dr. George E. Hale, of the Mount Wilson Observatory.

The chairman of the board, Mr. Hoover, made the following statement:

While we have in recent years developed our industrial research upon a scale hitherto unparalleled in history we have by no means kept pace in the development of research in pure science. The sudden growth of industrial research laboratories has in itself endangered pure science research by drafting the personnel of pure science into their ranks. Thus, applied science itself will dry up unless we maintain the sources of pure science. We must add to knowledge, both for the intellectual and spiritual satisfaction that comes from widening the range of hu man understanding, and for the direct practical utilization of these fundamental discoveries.

THE STERLING RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS AT YALE UNIVERSITY

WITH the assistance of a fund of $1,000,000 provided by the trustees of the estate of the late John W. Sterling, of New York City, Yale University will begin next fall an intensive effort to stimulate advanced research and graduate study in all fields of knowledge according to an announcement outlining the plans for the allocation of the million dollar fund.

The Sterling fellowships will be divided into two classes: Research or senior fellowships and junior fellowships. Candidates for senior fellowships, who will be expected to undertake advanced research, must have already received the degree of doctor of philosophy or its quivalent. It is anticipated that the maximum annual amount awarded to such fellows will be perhaps $2,500 or $3,000.

Junior fellowships will be open to students who have accomplished a substantial part of the work for the Ph.D. degree. It is expected that they will receive between $1,000 and $1,500.

These fellowships will be open equally to graduates of Yale University and other approved colleges and universities in the United States and foreign countries. They are open to graduate students or teachers on leave of absence who desire to carry on studies and investigations under the direction of the graduate faculty of Yale University or in affiliation with it. Since these fellows are expected to devote their entire time to research, they will not be permitted to engage in teaching during their appointments.

THE SCIENCE EXHIBIT AT THE CARNEGIE

INSTITUTION

THE annual exhibition of the current researches of

the Carnegie Institution was opened in Washington on December 11, on the occasion of the annual reception of the president and board of directors. The exhibits were opened to the public on the following three days.

By special arrangement with the Naval Research Laboratory and the Bureau of Standards, the radio stations of those places alternated in sending special messages or signals to a receiving station that had been set up in the exhibition room. By means of special apparatus, the radio waves were made visible and the change which takes place when messages were being received could be observed.

This exhibit is part of the demonstration of the work being done by the department of terrestrial magnetism. It is identified with a study of the highly electrified stratum of atmosphere supposed to exist above the surface of the earth.

Of no less interest to the layman were a number of exhibits from the department of embryology, by means of which the visitor saw various stages of the development of living chick embryos. These embryos ranged in age from the first beat of the heart up to a stage that would compare somewhat with the third month of human prenatal development. By means of powerful microscopes, visitors were permitted to watch the development progress.

Another section of the exhibit showed living cultures of tumor cells growing in a drop of plasma. Here, too, strong glasses made it possible for the visitor to watch the cells multiplying for their destructive careers. And close by was a demonstration of epithelioid cells and giant cells waging their war on tuberculosis cultures. All these subjects are under investigation at the department of embryology.

Other exhibits included researches in astronomy, archeology, Roman building construction, physics, seismology, plant physiology, ecology, nutrition, genetics, marine biology, history and diatom research. Instructors were in charge of all the exhibits to explain the meaning of each example to the visitors.

MINUTE ON THE DEATH OF LOUIS R.
SULLIVAN

THE following minute was passed by the Galton Society at a meeting held in the American Museum of Natural History on October 28:

WHEREAS, The late Dr. Louis R. Sullivan was one of the most active members of the Galton Society, of which he was elected a fellow in 1918, soon after the foundation of the society;

WHEREAS, He presented at its meetings the chief results of his important investigations upon the racial history of the Polynesians, the racial composition of the present mixed population of the Hawaiian Islands, the relationship of the Punin Ecuador skull and other topics of exceptional anthropological interests;

WHEREAS, At the time of his death Dr. Sullivan's most ably conducted and comprehensive studies were leading him to still more important conclusions concerning the classification and evolutionary history of the races of mankind;

WHEREAS, The American Museum of Natural History has undertaken so far as possible not only to complete and publish the investigations upon which he labored almost to the day of his death, but also to carry on further researches along the lines planned by him;

WHEREAS, His good humor, his breadth and sympathy, as well as his keen and sensitive intelligence and other attractive personal qualities had inspired the devotion of his many colleagues and friends; therefore, be it

Resolved, That the members of the Galton Society hereby record their appreciation of the fruitful life and works of their late friend and colleague and their gratification that the investigations conducted by him are to be carried on along the lines he had planned; and be it further

Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the widow and family of our late friend and colleague in token of our deep sympathy for their loss. CHAS. B. DAVENPORT,

Chairman WILLIAM K. GREGORY, Secretary

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS SCIENCE has printed extended preliminary announcements of the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the national affiliated scientific societies to be held at Kansas City, from Monday, December 28, to Saturday, January 2. They promise a meeting of importance and wide interest. Every member who can do so should attend the meeting in his own interest and to do his part for the advancement and diffusion of science.

DR. JAMES F. NORRIS, professor of chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been reelected president of the American Chemical Society.

CUMMINGS C. CHESNEY, manager and chief engineer of the Pittsfield works of the General Electric Co., has been nominated for president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.

DR. EDWIN G. CONKLIN, professor of zoology at Princeton University, has been granted a year's leave of absence to study research conditions in Japan, under the auspices of the Rockefeller Foundation.