chosen leader of the Opposition. He was premier of New Brunswick in 1883-96, when he became a member of the Dominion Cabinet. Here he served as minister of railways and canals until 1903, when he resigned because he could not accept the Government's policy as to the location of the eastern section of the Grank Trunk and Pacific Railroad, Mr. Blair holding that the portion of the road between the city of Quebec and Moncton would injure the Inter-Colonial Railway, and would be in other ways inadvisable. In February of the following year he became chief commissioner of the Board of Railway Commissioners for Canada. He assisted in organizing that body, and then (1904) resigned his commissionership, and thereafter devoted himself to his law practice. He was considered one of the ablest lawyers and public speakers in Canada.

See CANADA.

BLANC, MARIE THÉRÈSE. A French journalist and author, better known under her pseudonym, Th. Bentzon (q. v.).

BLIND, KARL. A celebrated German agitator and author, died on May 31, 1907, at Hampstead, a suburb of London. He was born at Mannheim on September 4, 1826, and began his long and extraordinary career as democratic agitator at Heidelberg, where he was arrested, while yet a student in the university, for revolutionary utterances. By the time he had reached his twentieth year he had been marked by the authorities as a dangerous man, and in 1846 he was arrested in Baden, and tried for high treason, but was acquitted. In 1848 he joined the uprising in Baden, led by Hecker, was wounded in a street fight, and fled to Alsace, Here he was arrested on trumped-up charges that he had incited revolutionary demonstrations in Paris, and was sent in chains to Switzerland,

but the Swiss authorities refused to surrender him to the Germans, and set him free. The following year found him actively associated with Gustav von Struve in the Black Forest revolution. He defended the barricade at Staufen, was captured through the treachery of militiamen, court-martialed, and escaped death only by a flaw in the Grand Duke's proclamation, which was taken advantage of by two members of the court who were secretly in sympathy with him. By a civil court he was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment in the fortress of Mainz. For eight months he lay in prison at Rastatt, awaiting his removal to Mainz, but was then set free by an insurrection among the troops, and on the very day he became free he led a party which attacked Rastatt, and afterward entered the capital of Baden. He violently opposed Brentano, the head of the new government, accusing him of being in the hire of the deposed dynasty -a charge which afterward was established and was sent on a diplomatic mission to Paris. There Louis Napoleon countenanced his arrest, without legal justification, and, after two months' imprisonment, his banishment from France. For a time thereafter he lived in Belgium, where, however, he was so constantly harassed that in 1852 he went to England, and made his home in London.

From that point he was constantly in touch with European revolutionary movements, and such agitators as Mazzini, Garibaldi, LedruRollin, and Louis Blanc. He was the trusted agent through whom the Schleswig-Holstein party kept their case before the British Foreign

BOKHARA

Office; he encouraged and cheered on Hungary and Poland, and was so earnest and emphatic in his support of the North during the American Civil War that he received the thanks of President Lincoln. During his residence in London he was correspondent for many European papers, and in this capacity frequently made illuminating comment on European politics. He published a great number of political pamphlets, besides articles on history, mythology and German literature, and biographies of Freiligrath, Ledru-Rollin, and Francis Deák. In 1897 he contributed an autobiographical sketch to the Cornhill Magazine, London.

BLUNT, MATTHEW MARSH. An American soldier, brigadier-general in the United States Army, died on May 14, 1907, in Brooklyn, N. Y. He was born in New York City, on August 13, 1830, and graduated at West Point in 1849, in the class which included James B. McPherson, John M. Schofield, and Philip H. Sheridan. He served in Florida against the Seminoles, returned fessor of mathematics there for a time, and in to West Point in 1855 and was assistant pro1861 was advanced to the rank of captain in the Twelfth Infantry. This regiment he commanded in the battles of Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. After serving in the recruiting department in 1863 and 1864, he was given command of a provisional regiment at Bell Plain and Port Royal, Va., and served in the Richmond Campaign and in the siege of Petersburg. For services in the latter engagement he ant-colonel of the Twenty-fifth Infantry in 1874, and colonel of the Sixteenth Infantry in 1883; was retired in 1894, and was advanced to brigadier-general in 1904. General Blunt was given the degrees of A. B. and A. M. by Columbia.

was brevetted colonel. He was made a lieuten

BOILERS. Types of boilers have become so standardized and their efficiency has been considered so thoroughly, that little chance remains for development along the present lines, although auxiliary apparatus in the way of economizers, automatic stokers, etc., continues to be developed and applied. It is said by engineers that almost any of the leading commercial types of boilers prove satisfactory under present conditions. For marine engineering the water tube boiler continues the favorite type. Thus for two large battleships laid down by the United States in 1907, Babcock water tube boilers were adopted, while express boilers were used for the two turbine scout cruisers launched during the year, and the Niclausse boiler for the third, which had reciprocating engines. See SHIPBUILDING.

BOKHARA. A Russian dependency in Central Asia. The area is estimated at from 80,000 to 93,000 square miles, and the population at 1,250,000. Bokhara, the capital, has about 70,000 inhabitants. The religion is Mohammedan. The chief products are corn, fruits, tobacco, hemp, and silk. Horses, camels, sheep, and goats are reared. Gold, alum, sulphur, and salt are found. Imports and exports of merchandise belonging to Russian traders pay an ad valorem duty of 2 per cent. The importation of spirituous liquors, except for the use of the Russian Embassy, is forbidden. The Transcaspian railway crosses Bokhara towards Tashkend and reaches down to the Afghan border. The Ann-Darya, or Oxus, separating Bokhara from Afghanistan for 330 miles, is navigated by Russian steamers. present ruler is Amir Sayid Abdul Ahad, born

The

March 26, 1859, who succeeded his father in 1885. He is allowed to maintain an army of 11,000, who are drilled by Russian instructors.

HISTORY. There were reports in 1907 that the Russian Government was to give the Ameer of Bokhara autonomous powers and independence of Russian control with the exception of the stationing of Russian officers at the important centres. At the same time it was reported that the Ameer had been requested to increase the frontier guards.

BOLIVIA. A republic of South America, bounded by Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, and Peru. The capital is Sucre.

AREA AND POPULATION. The area of the country is estimated at 473,560 square miles. In 1900 the population numbered 1,744,568, and on September 1, 1906, it was estimated at 2,267,935, mostly Indian or mixed. The whites constitute only about 13 per cent. of the total. The principal cities, with their population as estimated in 1906, are the following: Sucre, 27,080; La Paz, 78,910; Cochabamba, 28,451; Potosi, 27,160; Santa Cruz, 23,835; Oruro, 20,670; Tarija, 9074. EDUCATION. In 1906 there were 710 elementary schools, including Federal, municipal, parochial, and private schools, with 1126 teachers and 48,560 pupils. Secondary instruction is given in 8 Federal colleges, 5 clerical institutions, and 5 private lyceums, having altogether 126 teachers and 2530 pupils. For higher instruction, including medicine, law, theology, commerce, and land surveying, there are 16 institutions with 680 students. Several students are annually sent abroad at the cost of the Govern

ment.

PRODUCTION AND COMMERCE. The cereals are produced for local consumption. Cacao, coffee, and quinine are exported to Chile and Argentina in small quantities. The only considerable agricultural and pastoral exports are india rubber, which grows wild, alpaca wool, and the finest chinchilla and vicuña skins. About 750,000 pounds of unrefined cane sugar are produced annually in a very primitive fashion, and are consumed locally.

The greatest exports of the country are of mineral products. The shipments of tin in 1906 amounted to 29,370,368 kilograms (1 kilogram =2.205 lbs.) of tin barilla, 60 per cent. pure, or 17,622,221 kilograms of pure metal. The tin output in 1906, by provinces, was as follows: Potosi, 15,674,808 kilograms; Oruro, 11,910,477; La Paz, 1,748,191; and Cochabamba, 36,892. In Potosi and Oruro there are silver mines; the export of silver in 1905 was 8,266,413 kilos. The gold mines are in La Paz, Potosi, and Santa Cruz; the export of gold in 1905 was 32 kilos. The most valuable copper mines are in the province of Pacajes (Corocoro), in the Department of La Paz; in 1906 they produced about 2500 tons, while the total export of copper from the country in 1905 was 2,708,295 kilos. See also COPPER; GOLD; SILVER; TIN.

COMMUNICATIONS. The length of the most important wagon roads is about 1360 miles. Of railways there are in operation over 700 miles, including 309 miles of the Antofagasta line, but railway building has begun on a large scale. A contract between the Bolivian Government and Messrs. Speyer & Co. and the National City Bank of New York stipulated that lines should be built from La Paz to Tupiza, 530 miles; from Oruro to Cochabamba, 133 miles; and from La Paz to Puerto Pando, 200 miles-a total of 863

miles. The work was to commence in July, 1906, and terminate in ten years. The cost is estimated at between $27,000,000 and $37,500,000, the Bolivian Government contributing $12,500,000, which is to be paid in twenty-five years. By the treaty of peace recently concluded with Chile, the latter country has agreed to build a railroad from Arica to La Paz, a distance of 298 miles (of which 186 miles are in Bolivia), whereas the Antofagasta line is 575 miles long and the line from Mollendo to La Paz, via Lake Titicaca, is 563 miles long. Work on the Arica-La Paz line has already begun. Another line has been authorized from Santa Cruz to the Paraguay River, a distance of 497 miles, and the transport of construction material for this road by way of the Plata and Paraguay rivers has already It is estimated that when these and begun. other minor projects are carried out, Bolivia will have over 2000 miles of railway. Navigation on Lake Titicaca and the rivers is carried on partly in government and partly in private vessels. There are 180 post offices and 40 telegraph offices. The length of telegraph line on July 1, 1906, was 2886 miles.

BANKING AND MONEY. There were in 1906 four banks of issue in the Republic, namely, the National, Francisco Argandoña, Industrial, and Agricultural banks, with an aggregate paid-up capital of 7,600,000 bolivianos (1 boliviano

$0.499), and note circulation of 9,996,941 bolivianos. There were also three mortgage and one savings bank, with a total paid-up capital of 750,000 bolivianos. On September 14, 1906, President Montes signed the bill providing for the establishment of a gold standard. As the monetary unit of account the gold peso of onefifth of a pound sterling is established, the gold peso being divided into 100 centavos. During 1906 there were coined 316,003 bolivianos.

GOVERNMENT. The President of the Republic in 1907 Señor Ismael Montes-is elected by a direct popular vote, for a term of four years, and cannot be elected for two successive terms. The legislature consists of two branches. The Senate consists of 16 members, 2 for each department, elected for six years, and the Chamber of Deputies consists of 69 members elected for four years. Both senators and representatives are elected by direct popular vote. Justice is administered by a Supreme Court, district courts, and local courts. For local administration the country is divided into eight departments, subdivided into provinces, cantons, and sub-cantons. Prefects and sub-prefects are appointed by the President of the Republic, and the heads of lower subdivisions by the sub-prefects. The two territories in the northwestern part of the country have been administered since 1900 by officials designated as "national delegates."

FINANCE. The revenue and expenditure in 1905 were 7,862,098 and 7,533,628 bolivianos respectively. The estimated revenue for 1906 was 10,406,233 bolivianos, and the estimated expenditure, 11,688,556 bolivianos. The revenue is derived mainly from import and export duties, silver mining, patents, stamp duties, and posts and telegraphs. The export duty on tin yielded in 1906 about 1,561,940 bolivianos. The chief branches of expenditure for 1906, as estimated in the budget, were: Government and Public Works, 3,083,859 bolivianos; Finance and Industry, 1,690,225; Justice and Instruction, 2,037,873; War, 2,384,245. There is no foreign debt. The domestic debt amounted to 6,243,270

bolivianos in 1905. The sum of about $13,919,500 recently derived from the Brazilian and Chilean indemnity payments is to be devoted exclusively to railway construction.

ARMY. All Bolivians from 20 to 50 years of age are liable to military service. The maximum strength of the army in war time is about 223,000. The effective peace strength is about 2400, HISTORY. In his last message to the Bolivian Congress, President Ismael Montes stated that in regard to foreign relations, every effort had been made to secure a perfect and honest fulfillment of the treaties recently concluded with different nations. The Treaty of Commerce with Peru was already in force; that of peace and friendship with Chile was being carried out, and an amicable settlement of the old boundary question between Bolivia and Peru was anticipated. Bolivia and Chile was in progress, but the demarcation of the Brazilian border had not yet

Then, too, the demarcation of boundaries between

been commenced.

Owing to the conditions of stable peace for the first time in the history of the country, Bolivia is now on the road to develop its great national wealth. The railways are here the chief means of improvement, for hereafter Bolivian goods will be able to reach Argentine ports cheaply by means of the Juguy-Tarija line, and also utilize the Chilean Railway from Antofagasta to La Paz, although the road from Arica to La Paz and the Pacific coast has not yet been completed. Another project before the Government is the acquisition of a good harbor on the Paraguay River, since the products of northern and eastern Bolivia have only an inadequate outlet, from the poor harbor of Puerto Suarez.

BONAPARTE, CHARLES JOSEPH. An American lawyer and Cabinet official, appointed Attorney-General of the United States by President Roosevelt, to date from December 24, 1906. He was born in Baltimore, Md., June 9, 1851, a grandson of Jerome Bonaparte, youngest brother of Napoleon I. Jerome married Elizabeth Patterson, of Baltimore, Md., deserted her at the command of Napoleon I., and afterward was made King of Westphalia. The present Bonaparte graduated at Harvard in 1871, and at the law school there in 1874, and began to practice in Baltimore. A year later he attracted attention as counsel for certain candidates who had been defeated in the recent election, and though he lost his cases, he succeeded in proving to the public that his clients had been defrauded. From that time he was active in all reform movements in his city and State, particularly in Civil Service reform, and though a Republican by conviction, he did not hesitate to attack members of his own party in the interest of better government. He was a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners in 1902-04, and became Secretary of the Navy on July 1, 1905, by appointment of President Roosevelt. That portfolio he held until his appointment to the Attorney-Generalship. Bonaparte is an earnest supporter of the strong central government-the "Federal supremacy"-idea, and therefore during President Roosevelt's administration upheld his dominant political policies.

BONTECOU, REED BROCKWAY. An American military surgeon, died on March 27, 1907. He was born in Troy, N, Y., on April 22, 1824, graduated at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1842, studied in the Medical Department of the

BORAH

University of the City of New York in 1844-45 and took his degree in medicine at the Castleton (Vt.) Medical College in 1847. In 1849 he was appointed surgeon to the Twenty-fourth Regiment, New York State Militia; in 1861 he became surgeon to the Second New York Infantry, and later in that year he was made surgeon of United States Volunteers. He served throughout the war, and in 1865 was brevetted lieutenant-colonel of volunteers for faithful and meritorious services. Dr. Bontecou made a special study of typhoid fever, and was one of the first surgeons to operate successfully for relief from intestinal perforations caused by that disease.

BOOTS AND SHOES. The boot and shoe

industry in 1907 reflected the general business conditions prevailing in the United States. During the first half of the year there was active manufacture and good business, while in the second half conditions were unsatisfactory. During the year the deliveries from Boston amounted to 4,730,636 cases, as compared with 5,082,578 in 1906. The business of the country can be approximated by doubling the number of of the importance of the American boot and shoe cases shipped from Boston. The best statement industry is to be found in Bulletin 72 of the U. S. Census of Manufactures for 1905, published in 1907. The report deals with conditions for the calendar year ending December 31, 1904, and in it are reported 1316 establishments with capital of $122,526,093, employing an average of 149,924 operators and turning out products valued at $320,107,458. The material used had a total cost of $197,363,495, of which the sole leather amounted to $36,860,980 for sole leather in the side, and $7,374,070 for heads, bellies, shoulders, etc. The total number of pairs of boots, shoes, and slippers was 242,110,035; 56.6 per cent. of the total product was made in New England, with Brockton, Mass., in the first position, followed by Lynn, Mass. St. Louis, Mo., was in third place with a production valued at $19,101,166, but this amount represented an increase of 130.5 per cent. in the five years between 1900 and 1905. Massachusetts, of course, is the State of first rank, after which comes New York with products valued at less than onefourth those of Massachusetts.

The tendency in boot and shoe making as reflected in the work of 1907 was towards higher priced and better grades of shoes, the medium and the lower grade products being in smaller demand. This was considered to indicate the general prosperity of the laboring classes, and it was expected that on account of the financial stringency the demand for low-priced goods would increase. During the year 1907 the exports to Great Britain and Ireland (831,592 pairs) diminished in quantity from the exports of 1906 (902,790 pairs), but were of practically the same value, amounting to $1,984,004, as compared with $1,986,816 in 1906. There was a fair increase in the exports to the West Indies. Canada and Mexico took more shoes from the United States despite a higher tariff rate, but in Australia and South Africa the American trade is losing ground. The total exports in 1907 amounted to 6,326,527 pairs, valued at $11,658,323, as compared with 5,536,106 pairs, valued at $9.653,751

in 1906.

BORAH, WILLIAM EDGAR. An American legislator, United States senator (Republican)

from Idaho, born at Fairfield, Ill., on June 29, 1865. He was educated at the Southern Illinois Academy and at the University of Kansas, was admitted to the bar in 1889, and established himself in practice at Boise, Idaho. In 1907 he was of counsel for the State in the remarkable trial at Boise of William D. Haywood for being accessory to the murder of ex-Governor Frank Steunenberg. In the same year he was accused of complicity in one of the land fraud cases in Idaho, but was acquitted. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1907 for the term ending

in 1913. See IDAHO.

BORAX. See MINERAL PRODUCTION.

a

BORDEN. Sir FREDERICK WILLIAM, Canadian political leader, was born at Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, on May 14, 1847, and was educated at King's College, Windsor, N. S., and at the Harvard Medical School. He was elected to the Dominion Parliament from King's, N. S., in 1874, and, excepting the years 1883-86, has been successively re-elected from that Riding. In 1896 he became Minister of Militia and Defense

in the Laurier Cabinet. In 1905 he arranged with the imperial Government for the garrisoning of the defenses at Halifax and Esquimault by Canadian troops, and, in accordance with his plan, the last of the British troops left Halifax in February, 1906, and Esquimault in the following May. He formulated and presented in 1907 a system of uniform physical training for all young children in Canada, and predicted the adoption of military training in the universities of the Dominion. See CANADA.

BORDEN, GEORGE PENNINGTON. An American soldier, nominated in 1907 to be a brigadiergeneral in the United States Army, to date from his retirement. He was born in Indiana, on April 24, 1844, and served as a private in the One Hundred and Twenty-first New York Volunteer Infantry in 1862-63, taking part in the battles of South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. He was taken pris

oner and confined in Richmond for a short

time. Upon his release he entered West Point, but remained there only from September, 1863, to January, 1864. He was made a second lieutenant in the Fifth Infantry in 1866, a captain in 1891, and by successive advancement became a colonel in the Twenty-fourth Infantry in 1905. Most of his active service was with the Fifth Infantrythe "Fighting Fifth," of which Nelson A. Miles had command. With this regiment he took part in General Hancock's expedition against the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians in 1867 in General Miles's expedition against Chief Joseph

and the Nez Perces in 1877, and in the Montana campaign against Sitting Bull in 1879.

BORNEO. One of the great islands of the world, with an area of 293,500 square miles and a population of 1,680,000. Politically, Borneo is divided into British Borneo and Dutch Borneo. British Borneo consists of British North Borneo (q. v.), Brunei (q. v.), and Sarawak (q. v.). For Dutch Borneo, which includes rather more than two-thirds of the island, see under DUTCH EAST INDIES.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA. Turkish provinces occupied and administered since 1878 by Austria-Hungary. Area, 19,702 square miles; population, in 1900, 1,737,000. In 1895, when the population numbered 1,568,092, there were 548,632 Mohammedans, 673,246 Greek Orthodox, 334,142 Roman Catholics, 8213 Jews and 3859

of other confessions. The largest cities in 1895 were Sarayevo, the capital, 41,543 inhabitants; Mostar, 17,010; Banialuka, 14,812; and Dalnia Tuzla, 11,034. Agriculture occupies 88 per cent. of the population, but is in a low state of development. Over one-half of the total area is covered with forests. Maize, wheat, and other cereals, potatoes, flax, hemp, tobacco, sugar beets, wine, and fruits are cultivated, and live stock rearing is important. The production of beet sugar in 1905-6 amounted to 227 quintals (1 quintal=220 lbs.) raw, and 27,108 refined. The beer production in 1906 amounted to 82,528 hectolitres (1 hectolitre 22 gallons), paying 359,291 crowns (1 crown-20.3 cents) excise tax. In 1906 there were raised 136,513 metric tons of iron ore, 11,347 tons of sulphur ore, 7651 tons of manganese ore, and 594,172 tons of brown coal. Other minerals produced were zinc ore, chrome ore, quick-silver and salt. The chief metal products in 1906 were pig iron, 45,660 tons; rails, 25,499 tons; steel ingots, 29,232 tons, and other iron and steel manufactures. The value of the

total mineral production was 4,037,054 crowns, an increase of 337,830 crowns over 1905; of the metal and salt production, 10,874,806 crowns, an increase of 481,342 crowns over 1905. The imports in 1906 amounted to 109,184,522 crowns, and the exports, 117,714,041 crowns. The prinCotton goods, 9,434,234 cipal imports were: crowns; cereals and flour, 15,940,029; clothing, 11,107,095; colonial goods, 6,354,048; leather goods, 4,415,197; machinery, 3,967,363; sugar, 2,292,083; beverages, 5,785,471; iron and iron manufactures, 9,799,221. The principal exports were: Cereals and flour, 8,221,828; beverages, 3,879,266; wood, coal, and other fuels, 29,031,283; live animals, 21,450,825; animal products, 6,805,168; vegetables and fruits, 10,429,066; chemicals, 8,606,743; iron and iron manufactures, 10,804,416. The province is included in the Austro-Hungarian customs territory. The length of railways in 1907 was 782 miles, and of the telegraph lines in 1906, 1726 miles.

supervision of the Bosnian Bureau, forming a The provincial administration is under the section of the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of Finance. The provincial administration, centred at Sarayevo, consists of the departments of internal affairs, finance, justice and public works. For purposes of local administration there are six districts, subdivided into fifty-four circles. The budget for 1907 estimated the revenue at 60,840,391 crowns, and the expenditures at 60,811,717. Military service is subject to the same conditions as in Austria-Hungary. The army of occupation is nearly 20,000 strong.

Govern

HISTORY. The Bosnia-Herzegovina ment on July 26 published a note on the negotiations which had been going on for the last six years on the topic of establishing Mussulman autonomy in regard to education and religion. At the conference, beginning in June at Sarayevo, between the government and the Mussulman delegation, the former accepted the latter's demands with one exception. This exception was that the appointment of the religious head of the Bosnian Mohammedans, the Reis-ul-Ulema, should hereafter be a matter of diplomacy, and that the government of Austria-Hungary should arrange with Turkey for this appointment. Unfortunately this exception broke off the negotiations, since the Bosnian administration would not allow what had hitherto been a religious appointment to become a matter of politics.

BOTANY. The principal activity in botany for the years 1903-1907 was along ecological, physiological and pathological lines, although taxonomic, cytological and morphological investigations were by no means neglected. Particular stress seems to be paid to economic problems either directly or by application. One of the most important events in the botanical world was the holding of the International Botanical Congress at Vienna in June, 1905. Sections were organized for the consideration of various botanical problems, but the greatest interest centred in the section on botanical nomenclature. A code of rules was finally adopted that was a compromise, as many generic names were excepted from the strict application of the rule of priority of publication. The rules were adopted over the protest of a considerable proportion of the American delegates, and an international code on which all agree remained unsettled in 1907. In the summer of 1906 a congress of applied botany was held at Paris, where seed testing, inspection, plant diseases, etc., were discussed. The Third International Conference on Plant Breeding and Hybridization was held in London in September, 1906. A Conference on Plant Acclimatization was held in New York in October, 1907. Three important societies were united with the Botanical Society of America in 1906, which is affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The North American Flora, published by the New York Botanic Garden, began to appear in 1905, and by the end of 1907 six parts had been issued. These were monographic studies on about twenty-five families of plants. Other parts were announced to appear as the material is completed.

PLANT BREEDING. This is a line of investigation that had attained great prominence by 1907. Great impetus to the subject was given by the discovery, in 1900, that Gregor Mendel, in 1865, in an obscure publication, described experiments and formulated a law on the transmission of characters through hybridization. This was one of the first attempts to formulate the laws of heredity, and it was seized upon at once by both plant and animal breeders, and its study has been of importance in seeking the fundamental principles underlying the breeding of both plants and animals. About the same time De Vries gave an account of his experiments on mutations in plants, and many of these have been followed up by Macdougal and others in this country. In

BOTANY

addition to the theoretical study of plant breeding splendid practical results have been obtained in securing improved varieties of corn, cotton, citrus fruits, pineapples, tobacco, and other economic plants. Prominent among the American names are Webber, Swingle, Shamel, Hays, Hopkins, and others. A society entitled the American Breeders' Associations was formed for the discussion of the phenomena and principles of breeding plants and animals, and in 1907 it had a membership of over 1000.

Kramer made a study of color in plants and divides plant colors into two classes, those associated with the chloroplasts and those dissolved in the cell sap. The latter react with most of them to green, organic acids to deep red, various chemicals, calcium hydrate changing potassium and aluminum sulphate to rich purple, and iron sulphate to blue. It was found possible to profoundly modify the color of flowers by chemical solutions. Macdougal has shown that by injecting certain chemicals into the ovaries of flowers just prior to their pallination important changes may be induced in their progeny, and that these modifications may be transmitted through the seed.

Spaulding, studying desert plants at the Desert Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution near Tucson, Arizona, found that while the plants seem to have the property of absorbing water from the atmosphere, the process is a physical and not a physiological one, as the plants do not appear to utilize the water thus acquired. Livingston, at the same place, found that the minimum water supply required for the germination of desert plants is not appreciably less than that required for wheat and beans. There does not appear to be any especial adaptation for their germination in dry soils, but the soils were found more retentive of moisture than the average.

Moore, Kellerman, and others have shown the destructive effect of dilute solutions of copper sulphate on bacteria, algae and other organisms that contaminate water supplies, and that it is possible to remove these injurious and obnoxious organisms from reservoirs at a very low cost.

In experiments conducted at Peradeniya, Smith tested the theory of Blackman that single physical environmental factors limit or control the physiological activity of plants. The effect of temperature, water supply, light, wind, air pressure, etc., were investigated, and it was found that in plants having an abundance of reserve food supply at least three factors, acting together, light, temperature and water supply, limit the physiological processes. Of these light is the least essential. In plants with limited reserves all external factors must be considered as limiting assimilation and growth.

Bernard, in a series of experiments, has shown the intimate relation between the germination of orchid seeds and certain fungi. Without the fungi no germination was accomplished, and he believes many other plants are benefited in a similar way, and that possibly tuber formation is due to some such cause. Ternetz has shown that a large number of species of ericaceous plants are able to take free nitrogen from the air through the intervention of species of fungi that live as mycorrhiza upon their roots. Further, the roots are deprived of root hairs and the fungi act as conveyors of all the nutrients taken from the soil.