traction flours at a lower cost than the present one. Millers argue that whole-wheat and graham flours do not keep in storage as long as patent flours. At the present time, this is not a question demanding consideration, for the flours are utilized within a few weeks of the time they are milled.

I do not wish to be interpreted as advocating the milling of flour containing the entire wheat kernel, but I feel that at the present time the higher extraction flours could be used to advantage.

From the standpoint of mineral nutrition, the higher extraction flours are more valuable as they contain a greater proportion of the mineral matter than the patent flours. The vitamines or growth-promoting substances of the wheat kernel are stored largely in the germ and are lost in the bran when patent flours are made. From this standpoint the higher extraction flours are more valuable.

It is an accepted fact that a large proportion of people are troubled with constipation; the higher extraction flours are valuable to correct this. In this connection we are told that the Belgian people were ordered by Mr. Herbert Hoover to make bread containing more white flour because of the digestive troubles experienced by the people on the whole-grain bread diet. Mr. W. C. Edgar, editor of the Northwestern Miller, states in one of his editorials that he was responsible for this order, having observed the digestive troubles experienced by the people. Mr. Hoover acted upon Mr. Edgar's suggestion. Dr. A. E. Taylor, physiological chemist at the University of Pennsylvania, went over the same ground and concluded that the people were suffering from malnutrition due to a one-sided diet, largely bread. He believes the digestive troubles to be secondary, due to broken-down constitutions and inability of the people to ward off disease. The latter conclusion seems the most logical, for the experience of the American people has been in direct opposition to the former idea, especially when eating well-balanced diets containing whole-wheat breads. In fact, we find the papers and magazines carrying advertisements of the larger milling companies ad

vising us to eat bran in lieu of a ten-mile walk and become healthy. If we can eat wheat in the form of bran muffins and white bread, why not eat whole-wheat breads occasionally and save the miller the trouble and expense of separating them for us?

Regarding the nutritive value of the whole grain compared to the patent flours, practically all of our authorities in nutrition are agreed that the higher extraction flours are best. A government chemist of prominence wrote to 45 nutrition experts in the United States asking several questions, among which were the following:

1. "From your experience, is white bread a contributory cause of constipation?" The percentage of experts answering in the affirmative were 48.5, answering "no" 32.5 per cent., and the remainder were in doubt.

2. "Can whole-wheat or graham bread be considered helpful in constipation?" Here the affirmative answers represented 86.5 per cent. of the total number.

3. "Can long continued use of the wholewheat or graham bread produce injurious results?" Seventy-five per cent. answered " no to this question, while 5.8 per cent. of the writers were of the opinion that harmful effects could be expected. The others were in doubt.

4. "From the single standpoint of nutrition, which is preferable for general consumption. by the people of the United States, white, whole-wheat or graham bread?" 65 per cent. expressed themselves in favor of whole wheat or graham, 10.8 per cent. being in favor of white bread and 16.2 per cent. had no prefer

ence.

5. "From the single standpoint of the laxative effect, which is preferable for general consumption by the people of the United States, white, whole-wheat or graham bread?" Here 86.5 per cent. of the authorities were in favor of the higher extraction flours.

6. "Considered both from the standpoint of nutrition and the standpoint of laxative effect, which is preferable for general consumption by the people of the United States, white, whole-wheat or graham bread?" Here

again the higher extraction flours received the approbation of 78.5 per cent.

7. "From your experience, which is the best flour, white, whole-wheat or graham?" Only 8 per cent. were in favor of the white flour, while 65 per cent. expressed a preference for the other flours.

Dr. Louis Lapicque, a nutrition chemist for the French government, stated recently that his experiments led him to conclude that 85 per cent. extraction is necessary in France and that "for every five parts which are added when the yield is increased from 80 to 85, four of these are available."

When the layman is debating as to the best policy to formulate in stocking the family larder, he should keep in mind that the higher extraction flours are (1) not normally harmful, (2) are digested almost as completely as the lower extraction flours, (3) contain more valuable nutrients in the form of "vitamines" or growth-promoting substances, and mineral salts, (4) can be manufactured more cheaply when the public demands more of the whole wheat flour, (5) that the laxative action is beneficial, (6) and what is more important at the present time, more grain will be released for the allied armies, and (7) that these conclusions are supported by the majority of nutrition authorities.

If it is true that food will win the war, it is certainly a patriotic duty to save and conserve our wheat. One method is to include as a part of our daily diet food products made from higher extraction flours.

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

R. A. DUTCHER

SCIENTIFIC EVENTS

THE OUTLOOK IN FRENCH AGRICULTURE

THE Revue Scientifique for September 22 contains a report on the position and prospects of French agriculture presented by M. Louis Mangin, of the Académie des Sciences, to the National Council of the Ligue Française on behalf of the Committee on Economic Organization of that body. According to an abstract

3 Comptes Rendus de l'Acadamie de Sciences, Vol. 165, p. 143.

in Nature wheat production has fallen to barely 70 per cent. of the pre-war crop, potatoes to 80 per cent., wine to 65 per cent. and sugar-beet to little more than 30 per cent. The situation as regards live stock shows the same disquieting features. Practically 20 per cent. of the pre-war head of cattle fell into the hands of the enemy, and ill-devised measures taken to secure the meat supply in the early days of the war further seriously accentuated the shrinkage. Although the cattle position from the point of view of numbers has since been substantially improved, the proportion of young stock is so great that substantial relief of the meat stringency can not be expected from home resources for a considerable time. The decline in numbers of sheep which had set in long before the war has been greatly accentuated. Pigs also show a decline of 38 per cent. since the end of 1913. No reference is made to the position as regards milk production. A survey of the forest area completes the tale of depleted resources, something like one eighth of this area having been already denuded, with but little provision for its replacement.

Many suggestions are put forward for the relief of the present situation and for the future restoration and strengthening of French agriculture. The claims of rice as a diluent of wheaten flour are strongly urged in view of the large supplies available in the Asiatic colonies. To overcome the difficulties of shortage of manual labor on the land, the organization of supplies of African and yellow labor is suggested, whilst further relief could be obtained by a more active policy with reference to the production and use of motor tractors and farm machinery in general. The example of England in placing this manufacture under the same control as that of munitions of war is warmly commended. Consolidation of estates is urgently necessary and should be accompanied by a revision of the register of lands. The price of corn should be left sufficiently free to rise to encourage production, whilst at the same time the rise in the price of bread should be restricted by all appropriate means. It is suggested that these two ap

parently irreconcilable objects can be effectively attained through the establishment of municipal bread bureaus, which should subsidize or tax the bakers according to the fluctuations in the price of corn. This expedient was successfully resorted to during the Crimean War.

It is urged that the home production of manures should be fostered by using every measure to increase the output of sulphate of ammonia, by developing the synthetic manufacture of nitrates and ammonia from the atmosphere, and by increasing the production of superphosphate, all of which industries, it is urged, should have the same privileges as munition factories. To secure increased crops arrangements should be made for free distribution of manures to small cultivators.

Measures must be taken for restoring the head of live stock. To this end restrictions must be placed upon slaughter of home stock; the colonial resources of Madagascar and Africa must be drawn upon for meat, to be prepared there in frozen or otherwise preserved condition in order to reduce costs of transport. For the same reason abattoirs and refrigerating plants should be established in the home meat-producing districts, whereby cheaper production and reduction in the number of middlemen would be secured. The strong prejudice of the people against refrigerated or preserved meat must be broken down, and much could be done in this direction by the use of such products throughout the Army and Navy.

THE SHALER MEMORIAL EXPEDITION AFTER the death of Professor Nathaniel Southgate Shaler a group of more than 700 Harvard alumni raised an endowment for the "Shaler Memorial Fund," the income of which was to be used for geological research. The Harvard Alumni Journal reports that carrying out of the purpose for which that fund was created, a Shaler Memorial Expedition was organized last year to cover much the same ground which Professor Shaler himself traversed in a journey during the summer of 1873. The expedition of 1917 set out to study

Professor J. B. Woodworth conducted the first Shaler Memorial Expedition; it went to Brazil in 1908. The expedition of 1917 to the Appalachians was conducted by Dr. Percy E. Raymond, associate professor of paleontology and curator of invertebrate paleontology at Harvard University, who started from Cambridge on August 1. He was joined at Salem, Va., by Mr. Richard M. Field, lecturer at Brown University. Thence the party worked southward as far as Bristol, Tenn. Dr. Ellis W. Shuler, of the Southern Methodist University, Texas, acted as guide from Blacksburg to Bristol.

As in Professor Shaler's expedition of 1873, the travelers of 1917 had to be "free to move in any direction." Even with the greatly improved railroad facilities, it was next to impossible, without independent means of transportation, to cross and recross the mountains along their entire length, in the time allowed. The Appalachians still remain a great barrier to the interior of our country, a fact of considerable military significance. But the automobile solved the problem of transportation, as the wagon did in 1873; although tire and engine troubled occurred, the car was a great aid in reaching distant and out-of-the-way sections, and bringing in specimens.

During the first field-season the party was able to work the principal sections between Pennsylvania and Tennessee, and it is hoped that two additional years of intensive study, especially the northward, will supply the material for a thorough description of the Ordovician rocks and faunas of the Appalachians.

The first year's work has already brought to light facts regarding the nature and distribution of sediments and faunas which are original and contrary to some preconceived ideas. The field work in Central Pennsylvania, which was started independently in 1915 by

Mr. Richard M. Field, has been completed, and the results will soon be ready for publication. The outstanding features of that section are certain peculiarities of the fauna which have been heretofore undescribed, and the remarkable series of limestones and dolomites, replete with phenomena significant of their origin and evolution.

WAR SERVICE FOR CHEMISTS

THE secretary of the American Chemical Society, Dr. Charles L. Parsons, has prepared the following statement:

So many hundreds of letters are being received from firms and individuals that it is necessary to answer by this form letter, which covers most inquiries.

Individuals can obtain deferred classification only through the local boards or by appeal to the district boards.

Manufacturers engaged in the production of materials necessary for the war may apply by letter to the Chemical Service Section, National Army, Room 1108, Interior Building, Washington, D. C., for the return to them of necessary, trained chemists now in the army and not already transferred to chemical service. They may also apply through the Chemical Service Section for deferred classification of trained chemists necessary to the control of their operations who are not yet called. Applications from the men themselves will not be considered. Only those chemists whose services are necessary to war work will be considered. The evidence submitted by the manufacturers must be conclusive.

Students taking a regular chemical course may be enlisted in the Engineers' Reserve Corps and placed on the inactive list in order to complete their college course. The dean or president of the institution must certify, however, that their standing is such as to warrant the conclusion that they will graduate with a record equal to the first third of the graduates of the previous ten years. This does not apply to students in biological and physiological chemistry, as the Chief of Engineers has ruled that such come under the Surgeon General's Office, rather than under the Engineering Department. Students wishing to take advantage of this opportunity to receive their degrees before entering the country's service should address the Chief of Engineers, War Department, Washington, D. C., asking for the necessary blanks to be filled out for this purpose.

Transfers to chemical service are made by the War Department on request from some division of the army for the particular chemist needed. After the approval of the commanding officer and the Chemical Service Section, the man is transferred. Remember that the Secretary has no power to transfer you to chemical service. He simply brings your name and qualifications before those who have. No one can predict how great this requirement for chemists will be. At present, although nearly 1,000 chemists are serving in a chemical capacity, some 300 men properly classified as chemists remain in the camps. Accordingly, if you enlist as a chemist before you are called, you will deprive another chemist, actually in the army, of his opportunity to render chemical service. The industries which supply the army and navy with the sinews of war need chemists and are being seriously handicapped by the depletion of their chemical personnel. Cards, giving age, training, experience, etc. (obtained from questionnaires filed with the Bureau of Mines), of all men with chemical training (known to be in the army) are kept in the office of the society. These cards are constantly consulted by those in command needing chemical assistance. Men are chosen, not to give the individual an opportunity to serve in a chemical capacity, but to find the man especially qualified for the work in hand. Accordingly, you may or may not be selected. Men with plant experience, research, physical and organic chemists, some analytical chemists, etc., have been in demand. On the other hand, there has been almost no chance to place pharmaceutical chemists, agricultural or food chemists, as the army apparently has little need for this form of chemical service, and the government itself is not manufacturing in these lines.

Chemical positions in the government service other than those by enlistment in the army and navy are obtainable only through the Civil Service Commission. They do not necessarily exempt the incumbent from military service.

Commissions seek the man. A number of chemists have been commissioned, but in almost every instance it has been by promotion from the ranks for recognized ability, or the particular man has been sought to fill a special place of responsibility or trust for which he was known to be especially fitted. The place was not made for the man, but the man was found for the place, sometimes after long search. A commission carries authority with it and is not lightly awarded, whether in the engineering, medical, or chemical branches of the service.

The War Department has ruled that no class I man may be commissioned before enlistment in a non-fighting branch of the service.

Information regarding individuals is obtained from the questionnaire on file in the Bureau of Mines, Washington, D. C. If you have not filled out one of these questionnaires, write to the Bureau of Mines, asking that one be sent you for this purpose.

When once in the army, keep me informed by post card of your military address and any change in that address, even should you be sent to France. Although you may not be chosen early among those needed for chemical service, the demand for chemists is constantly increasing, and your country may call you at any time where you are best trained to

serve.

It is my duty to help place you where you can serve our country best as the need arises. It is your duty to keep me informed of your address and to accept any service to which the War Department may assign you, even if you prefer to fight in the ranks in France.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS DR. JOHN M. COULTER, professor of botany in the University of Chicago, has been elected president of the Chicago Academy of Science. Professor Coulter is this year also president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Association of University Professors.

DR. GEORGE T. MOORE, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, has been elected president of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, to succeed the late Dr. E. A. Engler.

PROFESSOR THOMAS A. JAGGAR, JR., of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, has been elected a non-resident vice-president of the Washington Academy of Sciences.

DR. FRANCIS G. BENEDICT, director of the nutrition laboratory of the Carnegie Institute in Brookline, Mass., has received a gold medal from the National Institute of Social Sciences, in recognition of his "notable service to mankind." The medal was presented at the recent fifth annual dinner of the National Institute in New York City.

PROMINENCE has been given in the press to a story that Dr. Liberty Hyde Bailey, of Ithaca,

former director of the College of Agriculture, has been selected by the Democratic chiefs as their candidate for nomination for governor of the state of New York. Mr. Bailey states that this action, if it has been taken, is without his consent, and that he has not been consulted in the matter.

MEMBERS of the Public Health Council, executive officers of the state department of health, and former United States Public Health Service representatives, gave a dinner in honor of Dr. Allen J. McLaughlin, commissioner of health, Boston, prior to his departure to begin work in Washington as assistant surgeon general in charge of the Division of Interstate Quarantine.

A BANQUET in honor of the ninety-fifth birthday of Dr. Stephen Smith, New York, known for his work in medicine and sanitation, was given at the Battle Creek (Mich.) Sanitarium, on February 19. Dr. Smith gave a most interesting account of the changes he had witnessed in the methods of his profession.

THE Mayo Unit, Rochester, of which Major Louis B. Wilson, U. S. Army, is director, with Captains Wayne W. Bissell and Arthur U. Des Jardins as assistant directors, has left for a mobilization point preparatory to sailing for France.

MAJOR BASHFORD DEAN, of the Bureau of Ordnance, has lately returned from a journey to England and France.

DR. R. T. CRAWFORD, associate professor of practical astronomy at the University of California, has been commissioned major in the aviation section of the Signal Corps and has been detailed for duty at the Balloon School at Fort Omaha.

CLARENCE F. HIRSCHFELD, until 1915 professor of power engineering at Cornell University, has received a commission as major in the Ordnance Reserve Corps and is now stationed in the inspection division of the Ordnance Department. He has been with the Detroit Edison Light and Power Company.

DR. PAUL E. KLOPSTEG, of the physics department of the University of Minnesota, has been granted a year's leave of absence for the