body of new facts of value to agriculture has been accumulated, which the extension service carries directly to the farm and farm home.

The extension, or demonstration, method of teaching and inducing farm people to adopt improved practises is a distinctly American educational development. It was first used in a systematic way in 1903 by the late Dr. Seaman A. Knapp in his efforts to teach southern farmers how to meet the menace of the boll weevil. This method of giving practical instruction in agriculture and home economics to persons not attending or resident in colleges by means of demonstration, that is, by doing on the farm or in the home, or better, by having the farmer, or the housewife, or their children do the thing it is desired to teach, has been developed by the United States Department of Agriculture and the state colleges of agriculture during the past fifteen years. It was made a permanent and nationwide system and liberally endowed by the cooperative extension act of May 8, 1914, which provided that all such work should be coordinated and carried on cooperatively by the state colleges of agriculture and the Federal Department of Agriculture.

The department exercises administrative and general supervisory control of this work through its States Relations Service. It is administered in each state through a director of extension with headquarters at the state college of agriculture, in accordance with plans agreed upon by the Federal Department and the state colleges. The field work is done by (1) men county agents, (2) women county or home demonstration agents, (3) boys' and girls' clubs, and (4) a corps of specialists furnished by the Department and the state colleges. Through these agencies it reaches at first hand and in a very practical way the men, women and children of each rural community.

The cooperative extension act will ultimately (in 1922-23 and thereafter) provide $4,580,000 annually for this work, to which the states must add $4,100,000 annually in order to share in the benefits of the act. During the fiscal year 1917-18 there was available

for extension work from these sources $3,680,000. Funds from other sources increased this amount to $7,600,000. In addition, $4,348,000 of the special appropriation made to the Department of Agriculture last year for the stimulation of agriculture was devoted to the expansion of the extension work as a waremergency measure.

That the nation entered the war with wellorganized and highly efficient agencies working for the betterment of agriculture is well illustrated by the part they have played in dealing with food problems during the present emergency. In April, 1917, the food situation of the nation was not satisfactory. The time for action was short. It was necessary that nothing be omitted to increase the supply of food, feed, live stock and clothing, and to grow strong in agriculture, while Europe, and especially the central powers, was growing weak. The machinery was ready. The farmers and their organizations were alert. The department and its great allies, the land-grant colleges, immediately proceeded to redirect their activities and to put forth all their energies in the most promising directions. In a conference of the agricultural leaders of the nation in St. Louis, called just before the United States entered the war, a program for further organization, legislation and action with reference to production, conservation and marketing was drawn up, the principal features of which have been enacted into law without substantial change or have been put into effect. This prompt and effective handling of the situation was made possible by reason of the fact that the American people, generations before, had wisely laid the foundations of many agricultural institutions and had with increasing liberality supported their agricultural agencies.

In due course the Congress enacted the food-control bill, conceived at this conference, now administered by the Food Administration, and the emergency food-production act, administered by the Department of Agriculture. With funds made available by the latter act, the department increased its activities along all essential lines and developed new ones. It

and the state colleges cooperating with it quickly took steps to expand the extension work, with a view to placing in each rural county one or more agents. Within a year the number of county and home demonstration agents, club leaders and specialists in various lines employed in the great extension system was more than doubled, thus putting into effect within a year a program of expansion which under ordinary conditions would have required many years to complete.

The number of men county agents has been increased from 1,434 to 2,435 within the year, the women home demonstration agents from 537 to 1,715, and similar increases were made in the personnel of the boys' and girls' club work. To-day there are employed in this great educational system over 6,000 county and home demonstration agents, club leaders, and specialists in various lines, and the extension work is organized in substantially every agriculturally important county. in the country. These agents are not only aiding the farmers in agricultural problems, but they are also rendering valuable assistance to other branches of the government, such as the Treasury Department, the Food Administration, and the Red Cross, in the prosecution of their war activities.

The efforts and achievements of the millions of farm men and women of America have been noble and remarkable. The farmers have occupied the first-line trenches of the food army. They and the agencies assisting them, the Federal Department, the state colleges, and also the state departments of agriculture, were ready when a state of war was declared and had been for years. They were charged with the responsibility for maintaining and increasing production. How they have discharged their task the results of last year's production operations and of this year eloquently testify.

DAVID F. HOUSTON, Secretary of Agriculture

SCIENTIFIC EVENTS
TRENCH FEver and lICE1

IN October, 1917, the American Red Cross Society, in conjunction with representatives 1 From Nature.

of the British Expeditionary Force, formed a committee to investigate trench fever. This body has carried out much very valuable work, but its full report has not yet been made.

About the same time a War Office Committee, under the chairmanship of Major-General Sir David Bruce, was formed in England, in order to advance the knowledge of trench fever with a view to its prevention, and the research in progress at Hampstead was merged in that of the committee, of which Major Byam became a member.

Up to the close of the year the work was confined to the study of clinical evidence, the examination of the blood and urine of patients, together with the feeding of lice on them during their febrile periods, followed by the subsequent microscopical examination of the insects with a view to the discovery of the infecting organism.

With the commencement of 1918, thanks to the financial assistance of the Lister Institute and the courageous and patriotic action of a number of volunteers, it became possible to widen the scope of the research, and very valuable results speedily followed. A confirmation was obtained of McNee's main results of direct inoculation from patient to patient by blood, and the problem of transmission by the louse was seriously attacked. The committee was fortunate in having at its disposal ample stocks of lice, free from suspicion of previous infection, which had been reared under the direct supervision of Mr. Bacot, entomologist to the Lister Institute.

The first experiments in which the insect vector was concerned consisted in two of the volunteers submitting themselves to the bites of several hundred lice daily, the insects having been previously fed on patients during febrile periods both before and during the month of experiment. The lice, therefore, had many opportunities of becoming infected, and the men received the bites of these lice three times each day for thirty days. Neither showed any of the symptoms of trench fever.

Next, following the analogies of relapsing and typhus fevers, two volunteers were inoculated from lice which had fed repeatedly on trench-fever patients. In both the inoculation

was made by scratching the skin and rubbing in, eleven crushed lice in one case, and excreta voided by the lice in the other. Both men developed typical symptoms of the disease, with a relapse in six to eight days. The inoculation of louse excreta into scratches has been repeated a number of times, and in every case an attack of the disease has resulted.

It was found that the incubation in man, when infected by scarification, was remarkably constant, i. e., six to eight days, and the ease and certainty with which infection could be produced pointed to the inoculation of the contents of crushed lice or louse excreta as in all probability the common, if not the invariable, method of transmission.

The excreta obtained by shaking through the gauze cover of the boxes in which the lice were confined were used in the form of a dry powder, which remained infective for at least sixteen days. In parallel experiments with the excreta of normal lice which had not been fed on trench-fever patients no symptoms of the disease were produced.

That a very small amount of blood, such as might be contained in ten lice, does not directly convey the disease through an excoriation of the skin, is indicated by the negative result obtained by rubbing 5 c.mm. of infective blood into scratches on the skin of a volunteer.

Moreover, the following series of experiments points to the fact that the louse, after a meal of infected blood, does not void infective excreta for some days. Lice were fed on a trench-fever patient on one day only, and then on healthy men. Excreta collected on the first, third, fifth and eighth days after infection gave negative results, while those collected on the twelfth and twenty-third days proved virulent. The virus, therefore, would appear to undergo some preparation in the insect before it becomes infective. Whether this change in the louse is due to a simple multiplication on the part of the hypothetical microorganism, or to a cycle in its development, is as yet undetermined. Further, it was shown that the ingestion of louse excreta did not produce trench fever in two men who daily swallowed a dose for seven and fourteen days, respectively.

GRANITE FOR BUILDING IN 1917

THE total value of granite sold for building stone in 1917 was $2,881,128, a decrease of $1,083,305, or 27 per cent., compared with 1916. The rough stone sold was valued at $590,310, which was $312,736, or 35 per cent. less than in 1916; the dressed or manufactured stone was valued at $2,290,818, which was $770,569, or 25 per cent., less than in 1916. Accurate figures showing quantities are not yet available, but owing to a general increase in price the decrease in percentage of output was considerably more than in value.

The statistics given were compiled under direction of G. F. Loughlin, of the United States Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Building Granite Quarries' Association and the State Geological Surveys of Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

Sales of granite for building were reported from 26 states in 1917 compared with 28 in in 1916. Massachusetts, with a total value of $646,506, and Maine, with $525,604, ranked first and second. New Hampshire, second in rank in 1916, was third in 1917, with a value of $337,233. Massachusetts, with $132,700, and Maine, with $109,941, were the only states whose sales of rough granite exceeded $100,000 in 1917, and each of these showed a decrease of about one third compared with 1916. New Hampshire followed with $78,484, a gain of about one quarter. Pennsylvania, which ranked first in sales of rough granite in 1916, with a value of $224,360, was credited with only $87,978 in 1917. The few other states that showed gains had values of less than $15,000.

In sales of dressed granite also Massachusetts, with $513,806, and Maine, with $424,663, were the leading states. Maine, however, has made continuous gains in 1916 (2 per cent.) and 1917 (55 per cent.), whereas Massachusetts in the same years has suffered losses of 17 per cent. and 19 per cent., respectively. North Carolina's output, chiefly stone for mausoleum work, though classed previously as

building stone, has been transferred to monumental stone, the class in which it more properly belongs. New Hampshire, Vermont, California, Georgia, Rhode Island and Minnesota had values in excess of $100,000 in 1917. Of these Georgia made gains in the last two years, its value for 1917 nearly doubling that of 1915, and Rhode Island more than tripled its value for 1916. The other states named showed decreases of 10 to 50 per cent.

The reduced output during the last year was due to a marked increase in the cost of labor, material and freight. The general average increase was probably about 30 per cent., but some items increased much more.

Prices increased, though in most places not in proportion to the increase in costs. Some producers reported an increase of 20 to 30 per cent. One company in Maine reported an increase of 50 per cent., and two companies in New Jersey an increase of 100 per cent. for rough stone. A few companies in New Hampshire, Maryland and the District of Columbia reported no increase in price.

The demand was prevailingly small, owing to a general curtailment in the erection of both government and private buildings in which granite is ordinarily used. This curtailment in turn was caused by a shortage of labor for building, a shortage of other building materials, and the increased price of these materials and of building stone.

As building operations were very active early in 1917, the curtailment in them not becoming marked until about midsummer, the production in 1917 may be considered an average between very good and very poor. The period of severe depression continued through the first six months of 1918, and as there is no prospect of early improvement the production of building stone, as well as of other materials that are used mainly in buildings of the better classes, will probably be considerably less in 1918 than in 1917. The present abnormal period, in which most of the buildings erected are temporary, will probably be followed by a period in which permanent buildings of high architectural merit will be constructed, and this change will be reflected in a rapid recovery of the building granite industry.

THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

THE following report from the editorial board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences was presented by the chairman, Raymond Pearl, at the spring meeting of the academy and is now printed in the Proceedings.

1. Three volumes of the Proceedings have been completed, and four numbers of the fourth volume have been issued.

The statistics as to the make-up of the third volume, both in respect of subject-matter and of source of the contributions, have been printed in the Annual Report of the Academy for 1917, and need not now be repeated except so far as covers one point.

The statistics of articles by members of the academy as compared with articles by non-members are interesting mainly in showing a progressive diminution in the percentage of articles by members, despite the increase in membership of the academy. If there are obstacles which can be removed and which hinder members of the academy from printing in the Proceedings, would it not be well to make efforts to remove them? The academy represents the highest point in American research, and if the Proceedings should actually contain articles representing the totality of the investigations of members of the academy it would become thereby largely representative of all American research and of very high grade, and furthermore it would be more truly the proceedings of the academy in the sense that corresponding publications of foreign academies are representative of their research.

2. At the autumn meeting the terms of office of five members of the editorial board expired, and new appointments were made by the council as follows: Jacques Loeb, W. M. Wheeler, E. B. Frost, E. L. Thorndike and E. H. Moore.

3. At the autumn meeting the board decided to put into operation certain changes in the typographical make-up of the Proceedings in the interest of economy. These changes have been made with satisfactory results.

4. The editorial board is of the opinion that in view of the now established and recognized position of the Proceedings as a medium of scientific publication, the members of the academy might well contribute more of their own papers to its pages than they now do, both from the standpoint of self-interest as well as from a sense of duty to the academy and what it stands for. In this con

nection the board would recommend that the academy adopt as a general principle the policy of requiring each recipient of a grant for research from any of its special funds to publish some account of the results of the researches under the grant in the Proceedings.

5. If the above recommendation is adopted, the board would further recommend that the academy suggest to the several committees having in charge trust funds from which grants are made that whenever accounts of researches under grants are published in the Proceedings there shall be paid over from the trust funds out of which the grants are made, to the Proceedings account, if such action be permissible under the terms of the bequest, a sum of money to cover the expense of the publication at a rate of $6.00 per printed page.

Anent the above report the following recommendations were submitted from the council and adopted.

That the following recommendations from the editorial board of the Proceedings be approved by the academy and that the home secretary be instructed to bring these recommendations to the attention of the members of the academy and the chairmen of the trust funds.

That members of the academy be requested to contribute their own papers to the Proceedings. That the policy of requiring each recipient of a grant for any research from any of the special funds to publish an account of the results of the researches under the grant in the Proceedings be approved.

That the academy request the committees and trustees of the several trust funds of the academy from which grants are made that whenever accounts of researches under grants are published in the Proceedings there shall be paid over from the trust fund out of which the grants are made, to the Proceedings account, if such action is permissible under the terms of the bequest, a sum of money to cover the expense of the publication.

A report was received from the finance committee of the Proceedings, signed by C. B. Davenport, chairman, F. R. Lillie and Raymond Pearl, as follows:

The estimated net cost of the Proceedings for 1918 is $5,600.

SQUAW ISLAND, NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM RESERVATION

THE New York State Museum, which has already taken over, with the aid of appreciative citizens, several interesting properties in the state of New York for the purpose of recording and conserving their geological attractions, has recently come into possession of Squaw Island in Canandaigua Lake. The spot is of special geological interest from the fact that the island is made up of deposits of algal lime concretions or "water-biscuit" formed by the precipitation of lime carbonate through the activity of growing algae which coat the shale pebbles of the beaches. A brook flowing in from the north over the limestone region brings waters that are well saturated with lime carbonate, and these waters washing against the barrier of Squaw Island have the excess of carbon dioxide stolen away by the growing algae so that the lime carbonate precipitates immediately upon the beach material and in this way the so-called water-biscuits are built up contemporaneously with the growth of the algæ. These algal lime balls, on solution in acid, leave behind a matted felt of algal threads of the same size as the hardened ball showing contemporaneous growth and activity throughout the period of deposition. Squaw Island has become well known to students of paleontology for the light these water-biscuits have thrown upon the formation of the great algal reefs such as the Cambrian Cryptozoon ledges of New York and the Pre-cambrian Algal ledges which have recently been described by Walcott from the Rocky Mountains.