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The sweet wines generally produced in this country are those in which none, or only a part, of the sugar in the grape has through fermentation been converted into alcohol, the fermentation being prevented or checked at any desired stage by the addition of grape brandy. This adding of alcohol to stop fermentation is called fortifying. Of the sweet wines, ports and angelicas are the two kinds most largely produced and consumed in this country. The symbiotic relationship of fungus and root to Mycorhiza offers a fine opportunity for careful investigation. The studies which have already been made serve only to put the reader in a state of hopeless confusion. The universal phenomenon of irritability as manifested by tropic phenomena has been a fruitful field of investigation. The general methods of irritable response have been determined; and the best work of such investigators as Haberlandt, Noll, Czapek, New-combe, MacDougal and others has more recently been directed to the deeper problems relating to the internal mechanism of response and to the exact methods of transmission of the stimulus, as well as to the immediate changes in the cells affected. The U. S. Biological Survey is engaged in mapping the natural life zones and crop belts of the country for the primary purpose of aiding the farmer to decide what crops are likely to prove a commercial success in his locality. The work is done by studying the geographic distribution of native animals and plants in all parts of the country, and plotting the results on maps showing the distribution of each species. In order to obtain the necessary data the status of the various species must be determined by office study and their ranges laboriously worked out in the field. The progress already made is gratifying, and a large number of maps are now approaching completion. The individual-species maps serve as the basis of a composite map showing the natural transcontinental belts and their more important subdivisions. The development of viscous flow is largely on the experimental side, particularly for solids, where Weber (1835), Kohlrausch (1863, et seq.) and others have worked out the main laws. Stokes (1845) deduced the full equations for liquids. Poiseiulles law (1847), the motion of small solids in viscous liquids, of vibrating plates and other important special cases, has yielded to treatment. The coefficients of viscosity defined by Poisson (1831), Maxwell (1868), Hagenbach (1860), O. E. Meyer (1863), are exhaustively investigated for gases and for liquids. Maxwell (1877) has given the most suggestive and Boltzmann (1876) the most carefully formulated theory for solids, but. the investigation of absolute data has but begun. The difficulty of reconciling viscous flow with Lagranges dynamics seems first to have been adjusted by Navier. The overcrowding of the medical profession in Germany is a matter of grave concern. There are now in the empire 29,200 physicians, which doubles the number found in 1876. In other words, there is one physician in Germany for every 1,700 inhabitants. In the city of Berlin 46 per cent of all the physicians have an income of less than 700, and five per cent of the whole number do not have a sufficient income to return it for taxation. On the other hand, in the legal profession in Germany 80 per cent of the lawyers have an income exceeding 2,000. It is estimated that the preparation of a man for the duties of a physician in Germany costs about 6,000, and thus it is seen that the income is often less than 10 per cent of the fixed charge on the capital invested. This leaves practically nothing for the reward of his own personal services, nor for wear and tear. Within the last decade there has been an enormous increase in our manufacturing interests, so that it is not surprising to find that the output from the factory now constitutes 65 per cent of our annual production of wealth. A study of the figures presented to us in the annual reports of the Department of Agriculture and other branches of the government dealing with agricultural development alone, without reference to statistical matters shows that coincident with the development of factories in a community there has been a corresponding increase in the value of farms and farm lands, as well as of the products of the farm. The great era of manufacturing upon which this country is now entering is bound to have a beneficial effect upon agriculture, for aside from the great possibilities of other industries. it is clear that as factories continue to increase in number and enlarge their output, agriculture must necessarily grow to meet these conditions.
