this species is thus similar to that described by Allen1 for S. Donnellii. MARTHA A. SCHACKE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE -SECTION M-AGRICULTURE THE program of the Baltimore meeting of the Section of Agriculture was considerably interfered with by sickness and absence in Europe on war service. A single session was held on the afternoon of December 27, 1918. The retiring vice-president, Dr. H. J. Waters, was prevented by sickness from attending the meeting and delivering his address, the subject of which as announced was "The Farmers' Gain from the War." In the absence of the vice-president, Dr. H. P. Armsby, who is with the Interallied Food Commission in Europe, Dr. A. F. Woods presided over the session. This was devoted to the agricultural situation in Europe as viewed by members of the American Agricultural Commission which spent several months in Great Britain, France and Italy in the early fall. Describing "Some Impressions of the Effect of War on Agriculture in England and France," Dr. W. A. Taylor reviewed the highly successful efforts in England to stimulate production resulting in 1918 in an increased area in cereals of 32 per cent. and in potatoes of 45 per cent. over the ten-year prewar average. This increase was not due to the existence of an actual shortage, for apparently at no time was there less than three months supply of wheat in sight, or to the expectation of large profits on the part of farmers, but rather to apprehension that conditions might grow worse and to the necessity of saving tonnage. The organization through which the increase was accomplished and the measures put in force under the Defense of the Realm Act were effective and often revolutionary. Local production campaigns were in the hands of agricultural executive com 1 Allen, C. E., "A Chromosome Difference Correlated with Sex Differences in Sphærocarpos, SciENCE, N. S., 46: 466-467, 1917. mittees, who were authorized when persuasion failed to take drastic action, even to dispossessing tenants and breaking up and operating idle land at the expense of the owners. Restrictions on the crops to be grown, their sale and use were extensive and far exceeded anything hinted at in this country. A reform of much importance was the putting into operation of a seed control measure similar to that maintained in several of the states in this country, which yielded such beneficial results that it is expected to be permanent. The government also controlled the price of certain seeds, as seed potatoes, and to avoid local shortages purchased nearly a million dollars' worth of seed potatoes for sale to commercial growers and allotment holders. While tenant farmers profited by good prices and reduced competition, land owners were prevented by law from raising their rents during the war despite increased taxes and other expenses. In consequence the sales of land exceed those for a generation, and include not only large holdings but relatively small farms, mostly land not operated by the owners. Purchasers are mainly of the tenant farmer class, and no marked movement of population from the city to the land was noted. There was much evidence of greatly aroused interest in agricultural research, instruction and extension teaching which is expected to bear fruit in increased facilities. In sharp contrast to Great Britain, France showed abundant evidence of decreased crop production, as was to be expected. In 1917 the production of cereals fell to 53 per cent. of the pre-war average. A return to nearly 75 per cent. in 1918 was "accomplished through most strenuous and exhausting effort and to a considerable extent at the expense of future crops through the breaking up of the best crop rotation practise." The reconstruction problems in France were described as complicated, one of the most difficult being the remanning of the land. Of the 250,000 farmers of the devastated region it is estimated that perhaps 100,000 may return to their holdings. Much of the land consists of small parcels, the holdings of an owner being more or less scattered, which points to the importance of consolidating these tracts into compact units capable of more economic management. The question of whether the destroyed rural villages should be rebuilt on their old sites rather than to relocate them more advantageously is another matter of considerable importance. A rapidly growing sentiment was noted for the restoration of the devastated region by the invaders, rather than the mere payment of financial indemnity. The French government has already provided a credit of approximately sixty million dollars, from which allowances are being made to farmers who are ready to return to their land. For the most part the restoration of the fields did not impress the commission as being as appalling as might be expected, and was compared with the reclamation of stump land in this country. Speaking of the Live Stock Conditions in Europe, Mr. George M. Rommel reported that European farmers had been quite successful in maintaining their supplies of breeding animals. Although they have suffered from a shortage of feed and some inroads have been made on certain kinds of stock by the military demands, the number of cows and heifers in Great Britain is fully as large now as before the war, and this is true of cattle generally. The milk supply has been reduced on account of the shortage of concentrated feed, and this has also cut down the number of pigs quite extensively. There was also a small falling off in sheep. In France there are about two million less cattle than before the war, principally due to invasion. Since the close of 1914 the decline in number of cattle has been less than 2 per cent., the young stock having increased. A similar increase also applies to Italy. Sheep have declined nearly 40 per cent., due largely to labor shortage, and hogs somewhat more due to a lack of concentrated feed. The shortage of milk in France is more serious than in Great Britain. The heavy demand for horses for military purposes has reduced the available number by about a million. The record of the Percheron horses in the British army has excited a good deal of interest among farmers and breeders in England and led to efforts to establish this breed of horses in that country. Prices of breeding stock were reported as extremely high in both France and England. Breeders are anticipating a good trade after the war and have kept their stocks intact at great expense. Not much demand for live stock from the United States was looked for in the immediate future, although dairy cows may be needed and after the war American horses will doubtless be required in Europe, mainly of the commercial grades. Mr. E. C. Chilcott, who went to the French colonies at the instance of the French High Commission, was to have described the agricultural conditions found there, especially in Algeria, but was detained by illness. At the business meeting Dr. A. F. Woods, president of the Maryland Agricultural College, was nominated vice-president, and Dr. J. G. Lipman, director of the New Jersey Experiment Stations, secretary of the section, and these nominations were subsequently confirmed by the general committee of the association. Other officers for the year were elected as follows: Member of the general committee of the association, Mr. George M. Rommel, U. S. Department of Agriculture; member of the council of the association, Dr. A. C. True, U. S. Department of Agriculture; member of the sectional committee (for five years), Professor C. P. Gillette, director of the Colorado Experiment Station. SCIENCE THE MEASUREMENT AND UTILIZA- History of Psychological Service.-The psychologists of America, of whom upward of two hundred served in the Army or Navy, have rendered conspicuously important assistance to the government in organizing an efficient fighting machine. Chief among the civilian agencies responsible for the development of this new and unexpectedly significant variety of service are the American Psychological Association and the Psychology Committee of the National Research Council. Nearly a score of committees or subcommittees of these organizations functioned during the military emergency. Within the Army three principal groups of psychologists appear: one attached to the Office of The Adjutant General of the Army (specifically known as the Committee on Classification of Personnel in the Army), another in the Office of the Surgeon General of the Army (known as the Division of Psychology of the Medical Department), and a third in the Division of Military Aeronautics (the Psychological Section of the Medical Research Board). Although the several tasks of these groups of psychologists differed markedly, the primary purpose of each was the increase of military efficiency through improved placement with respect alike to occupational and mental classifications. 1 Published with the approval of the SurgeonGeneral of the Army, from the Section of Psychology, Office of the Surgeon-General, Major Robert M. Yerkes, Chief. Psychological service was rendered also to the following divisions or departments in addition to those named above: (1) the Morale Branch of the General Staff, (2) the Division of Military Intelligence, (3) the Committee on Education and Special Training of the War Department, and (4) the Chemical Warfare Service.2 Early in the emergency it became clear to psychologists in the military service that the fundamental psychological problem of the army is one of placement and that the most important service psychologists could possibly render would be to assist in so assigning every soldier that his mental (as well as physical) ability should be used to advantage. It was assumed by the psychological personnel that intelligence, alertness, the will to win, enthusiasm, faith, courage and leadership are even more important than are physical strength and endurance, and that this fact must be scientifically reckoned with wherever a strong military organization is to be built quickly. Very promptly it became the recognized purpose of army psychologists to assist in winning the war by the scientific utilization of brain power. The achievement of this purpose necessitated the preparation of special methods of mental measurement in order that recruits should be properly classified for elimination or assignment to military training. The army, at first naturally and wisely. 2 For the United States Navy serviceable methods of selecting, placing and training gunners, listeners and lookouts were devised and developed by Lieutenant Commander Raymond Dodge. The methods prepared by Dr. Dodge as well as certain instruments designed by him for naval use have been extensively and profitably used, and the appointment of this psychologist as Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve is at once a fitting recognition of his practical service and an indication of the appreciation of his work by the officers with whom he has been associated. skeptical concerning the practical values of psychological service and inclined to anticipate research instead of service, shortly achieved a new point of view and opinion. Skepticism was replaced in some directions gradually, elsewhere rapidly, by faith in the practicability and immediate value of various kinds of psychological work and eagerness for its continuation and extension. In the end the psychological personnel of the army was completely swamped by requests, demands and orders for help. Scores of telegrams and letters from commanding officers testify to their hearty appreciation of efforts towards scientific placement within the army and their desire for the introduction or furtherance of psychological service in various departments or organizations. Skeptics, of course, still exist and there are inevitable misunderstandings and prejudices, but the data at hand indicate that at least seventy-five per cent. of the officers of the United States Army have been won by actual demonstration of values and first hand acquaintance with psychological service to its hearty support. It is extremely important to emphasize at the outset that this article deals with only one of the several important lines of psychological military service, that, namely, of the Division of Psychology of the Medical Department. Purposes of Mental Examining.-As originally conceived, psychological service within the Medical Department was to assist medical officers, and especially neuropsychiatric officers, in discovering and eliminating men who are mentally unfit for military duty. It appeared, prior to actual trial, that reasonably well planned methods of mental measurement should enable psychological examiners to discover mentally inferior recruits as soon as they arrived in camp and to make suitable recommendation concerning them to the medical offcer. It was also believed that psychologists could assist neuro-psychiatrists in the examination of psychotic individuals. The proposed rôle of the psychologist then was that of assistant to the army surgeon: the actual rôle, as a result of demonstration of values, was that of expert in scientific personnel work. In interesting contrast with the original purpose of mental examining, as stated above, stands the following account of the purposes actually achieved by this service: (1) The assignment of an intelligence rating to every soldier on the basis of systematic examination; (2) the designation and selection of men whose superior intelligence indicates the desirability of advancement or special assignment; (3) the prompt selection and recommendation for development battalions of men who are so inferior mentally as to be unsuitable for regular military training; (4) the provision of measurements of mental ability which shall enable assigning officers to build organizations of uniform mental strength or in accordance with definite specifications concerning intelligence requirements; (5) the selection of men for various types of military duty or for special assignments, as for example, to military training schools, colleges or technical schools; (6) the provision of data for the formation of special training groups within the regiment or battery in order that each man may receive instruction suited to his ability to learn; (7) the early discovery and recommendation for elimination of men whose intelligence is so inferior that they can not be used to advantage in any line of military service. Although it originally seemed that psychological examining naturally belonged in the Medical Department of the Army and would there prove most useful, it sub sequently became evident that this is not true because the service rendered by psychological examiners is only in part medical in its relations and values. In the main its significance relates to placement and its natural affiliation is with military personnel. For practical as well as logical reasons it would doubtless have been wiser had the service of the Division of Psychology been associated from the first with that of the Committee on Classification of Personnel in the Army, so that the psychological as well as occupational, educational and other important data might have been assembled by a single military agency and promptly rendered available for use in connection with the assignment of recruits. Thus also the organization of a special branch of the General Staff or of a Personnel Section of the Adjutant General's Office to deal with varied problems of military personnel might have been hastened and otherwise facilitated and the utilization of brain power as contrasted with man power in the ordinary sense rendered more satisfactory early in the emergency. Methods of Measuring Intelligence.-The committee of psychologists originally organized to prepare and test methods of psychological examining for the army promptly decided that it would be desirable to examine all recruits in order to provide an intelligence rating for every soldier. This decision necessitated the development of methods which could be administered to relatively large groups and in addition the selection of procedures which could be used for the more careful examination of individuals. Most of the methods which were recommended to the military authorities in the summer of 1917 have since that time been repeatedly revised and improved in the light of results. The procedures finally |