THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE
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��methjlenamin, but in monkeys this has proved effective only very early in the course of the inoculation and only in a part of the animals treated. The epi- demic must be controlled by general sanitary means, though medical and surgical care may assist in recovery. Protection can best be secured through the discovery and isolation of those ill of the disease and the control of those persons who have associated with the
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sick and whose business calls them away from home. The usual means by which the secretions of the nos-e and throat are disseminated are through kissing, coughing and sneezing. The early detection and isolation of infan- tile paralysis in all its forms with the attendant control of the households from which they come is the chief measure of staying the progress of the epidemic.
CINCHONA AS A TROPICAL STA- TION FOR AMERICAN BOTANISTS
pRorEssoB Duncan S. Johnson, of the Johns Hopkins University, it will be remembered, contributed to the Popular Science Monthly (Decem- ber, 1914, and January, 1915) two illustrated articles on the Cinchona Botanical Station. He now writes to Science that it is practically assured that Jfome fourteen American universi- ties, botanical foundations and indi- vidual botanists are to cooperate with the Jamaican government in the sup- port of Cinchona as a tropical station. A move to aid in the support of Cin- chona, initiated by the Botanical So- ciety of America in 1912, was not con- Bummated, in consequence of the earlier leasing of the station to the Britis'h Association for the Advancement of Science. The Jamaican authorities and the British Association seem quite will- ing, under present conditions, to allow the leafe to pass into American hands after October next.
The attention of American investi- gators should, therefore, be directed to the facilities for botanical research
��offered by this oldest and best known botanical laboratory in the western tropics. Among the advantages of this station for American botanists are the greatly varied flora and series of types of vegetation; the proximity of a li- brary and of two other botanical gar- dens, beside that surrounding the labo- ratory. The location of Cinchona is a very fortunate one for American bota- nists from a practical standpoint. It is in an English-speaking country with good roads, a stable government and adequate quarantine service. It is also within easy reach of our eastern sea- ports, from several of which the round trip to Jamaica and Cinchona can be made in summer for $75.00 or less for transportation. It is altogether prob- able that any American botanist wish- ing to work at Cinchona will be granted the privilege by requesting it of the colonial government of Jamaica through Superintendent William Har- ris, F.L.S., Hope Gardens, Kingston, Jamaica.
Dr. C. H. Farr of Columbia Uni- versity calls attention to the fact that a tropical rain- forest presents peculiar conditions. The plants do not show the marked periodicity characteristic of colder and dryer regions. Where the temperature and rainfall are so nearly constant at all times of the year as at Cinchona, one is likely to find all of the stages in the life history of a species on almost any single day, and conditions are favorable for collecting the year around. To the cytological collector a compound microscope is an absolute necessity; and such a per- manent station as that at Cinchona, therefore, seems to be the only solu- tion to the accessibility of such re- gions. The buildings at Cinchona, in- cluding two cottages, a two-room labo- latory, the drying house, the dark room, the greenhouses and the garden, were all in good condition when he left there in December laet. Through the kind offices of Mr. William Harris at Hope Gardens servants were made available, and his personal needs adequately
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