And, in the process, keep yourcool. With one of Sargent-Welch'sThermostatic Water Baths.

Water bath. Too common aname to describe these, which aretruly high-precision, extremelysensitive thermostatic devices forexacting laboratory work.

Example: Our top-of-the linewater bath (shown here). Moreversatile, more convenient thananything else. It uses a thermistor fortemperature sensing. Which instan-taneously informs the Sargent-Welch Thermonitor' Controller oftemperature variations. And withoutgoing into technical details aboutthe Thermonitor, it gives fully pro-

SARGENT-WELCH

portional control for temperatureswithin -_0.01 C of the set pointand permits direct dialing oftemperature.

Now about the stirrer-moreproperly the turbine-which keepsthings moving in this super-bath.The turbine provides radial andvertical circulation with maximumflow past the heaters. Anotherreason for that -_ 0.01 ° C precision.And, of course, there's a full-visibility Pyrex container. All ofthis priced at $685.

Other Sargent-Welch waterbaths satisfy other needs. There'sone with the same type of turbinewe've described, but equipped with

Scientific instruments, apparatus, chemicals.Sargent-Welch Scientific Company7300 N. Linder Ave.; Skokie, Illinois 60076

Circle No. 24 on Reoders Service Cord

an adjustable mercury regulator.This bath, with controller, is alsoaccurate to -0.01 'C. Price: $485.

Like a low-cost bath with anaccuracy of -4-0.1°C? Sargent-Welch has one. You set the tem-perature on an adjustable thermo-regulator. Price: $285.

And there's an economy ($185)model with an accuracy of +0.250C.Also available separately are water-bath controls, complete with heater,thermoregulator, and stirrer.

Ask your Sargent-Welchrepresentative for full informationon water baths and accessories.Or write to us. 9-233

Chicago/Anaheim/Birmingham/CincinnatiCleveland/Dallas/ Denver/ DetroitSpringfield, N.J./Toronto/Montreal/Vancouver

5 DECEMBER 1969 1219

LETTERS

Rape of A

~~V4CF-l yaCl y;zaMllus.

Polyacrylamide gel doesn't takesphisticated cookery. It doesn't require heat :;at all. Just prepare stock gel solutions. Then,polymerize by adding catalyst before pouringinto the cell.

Polyacrylamide gel allows a range ofpore size for optimum sieving of your sample.That's because it forms a useful gel over awider concentration range than starch. YoUcan also create two-dimensional variations ofpore size for further molecular size iMfor-mation.

Polyacrylamide gel achieves superiorresolution. Partly, that's because there are,no ionized groups, therefore no electro-osmosis. Thus. the site of application is atthe true zero of the mobility scale.

Polyacrylamide gel has a clear, color-less background after destaining. Since thereis no intermediate slicing and clearing aswith starch gel, there are fewer errors intransmission densitometry.

Polyacrylamide gel is strong and long-lasting. Wrap it in Saran Wrap; you cankeep it for years.

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Circle No. 76 on Readers' Service Card

laska Can Be Rational

Carter's essay "North Slope: Oil rush"(3 Oct., p. 85) was a most rational andwell-balanced discussion of the complexproblems that we are facing now inAlaska, a fine example of enlightenedscientific journalism. There is also onerelevant problem, however, which wasbrought out effectively in Fahnestock'sletter in the same issue. This is thefundamental problem of conservationand exploitation that can be stated,less delicately: "When rape is inevita-ble, relax and enjoy it." Certainly, ifnot this decade, then the next will seethe mass exploitation of Arctic petro-leum and minerals. We, as a society,muiiist have large quantities of raw ma-terials. Whether the extraction is doneby private enterprise or by state- cor-porations is quite immaterial. "Rape" inthis sense is inevitable in the foresee-able future. Conservationists' pleas fortotal protection are laudable but funda-mentally irrational. With radionuclides,pesticides, and other atmospheric pol-lutants, we have already saturated theentire environment of the earth; inother words, rape has already occurred.

Instead of attempting to prohibit ex-ploration and exploitation, we must de-vise ways to accomplish these goalswithout totally destroying the environ-ment. The Alaskan interior providessome interesting lessons. During thegold rush era, just before World WarI, most of the interior (between theAlaska and Brooks Ranges) was pros-pected intensively for minerals. In thecourse ot exploration, accidental or in-tentional fires cleared the major part ofthe Taiga forest from the ar-ea. Later,exploitation of the placer gold was bydredging, which completely chewed upthe alluvium of the river valleys andleft nothing but coarse gravel tailingsbehind. It is instructive to take a low,slow airplane flight around the Fair-banks area now. The Taiga itself inthe area is almost completely restored.The flood plain forest here is an alter-nation of scrub-dominated "moose pas-ture" and tangled black spruce forest,an ecology adjusted to periodic fires,just like the vegetation of the Califor-nia coast ranges. As it happens, themoose require such a situation-boththe shelter of the spruce and the forageof the willow in recent burn areas tosurvive the winter. The nearby valleysdredged between 1920 and about 1960are also instructive. During the firstcouple of decades after mining, these

valleys appear as gross scars upon thecountryside, with bleak, neat piles ofcoarse gravel to mark the path of thedredge. Then, suddenly, in areas thatseem like beaten earth, a cover of wil-lows appears and then the normal suc-cession becomes established. You canroughly date the dredged areas by thecolor of the vegetation. The more re-cent tailings are brown and raw, thenthey are masked by the pale green ofwillows and alders. This pale greendarkens as spruce become establisheduntil you cannot superficially distin-Dguish the dredged and undredged riverbottoms. Areas worked 50 years agonow are completely recovered.The Alaskan interior displays-quite

by chance-how an area can be ex-ploited without permanent damage.Conservation was the last thought inthe minds of the miners; they justwanted to get back to the Lower 48 tospend their money, but the countrysidewas given the opportunity and has suc-cessfully healed itself. What we mustdo, I believe, is study the environ-ments where exploitation is inevitable(and this means literally any area witha valuable resource, including "wilder-ness") and plan for the maintenanceof a viable natural balance while weplan the exploitation. Wilderness, inareas of economic resources, is an im-possibility, but the perpetuation of adecent environment, at least for humanbeings, should be possible.

Again in Alaska, we have an exampleof another, more rational attitude to-ward resource development. At theUniversity a team headed by John Tealhas successfully domesticated musk-oxen and is attempting to develop tech-niques for the commercial use of theirwool, qiviut, a wool finer than cashmere.Musk-oxen are the largest Arctic herbi-vore, and as domestic animals haveproven to be quite docile and evenfriendly. The domestication project hasbeen emphasized as a device to providean economic base for Eskimo villagers,but musk-ox herding is also a sensibletechnique for exploiting the Arctic bar-rens without destroying their originalcharacter. As it happens, the musk-oxen now being reintroduced in Alaska(they had been extinguished by aborigi-nal hunting a century ago) are fillingan empty ecologic niche. The otherlarge herbivore of the tundra, caribou,is a moss-sedge feeder while the musk-ox prefers grasses and willows. Themusk-ox project is an example of well-reasoned resource management and de-velopment. As well, it is specifically ad-justed to the Arctic environment....

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Perhaps Arctic Alaska, because it isbeing opened at a time of nationalawareness of pollution and conserva-tion problems, can serve as a labora-tory for the development of techniquesand a philosophy of rational exploita-tion without ruination.

F. F. WRIGHTInstituite of Marinle Sciences,Univer-sity of Alaska, College 99701

Reno: Appraisal of DRI

The short article "Trouble at Nevadaresearch center" (29 Aug., p. 880) errsin that it presents an incomplete pictureof the research climate at Nevada. TheDesert Research Institute at Reno, fromwhich Wendell A. Mordy was asked toresign last spring, is only one branch ofthe University of Nevada system whichalso includes the Reno campus, the LasVegas campus, and the computing cen-ter. The article gives the impression thatthe difficulties and the resignation ofMordy were due to a conflict betweentwo strong-willed men over monetarypolicies, that research at the universitywas the loser, and that the universitychancellor was the villain.

Actually, the trouble goes muchdeeper. At the time DRI was authorizedin 1960, several academic departmentsof the university at Reno were begin-ning to develop Ph.D. programs. It wasunderstood that DRI would encourageresearch within the academic depart-ments of the university, help build upresearch competence and potential byattracting outstanding personnel, andhelp procure research grants and con-tracts, along with some administrativeduties.DRI started to do some of these

things, but before long began to spendall its efforts on building up its own re-search projects, sometimes in directcompetition with established programs.Eventually it split off from the univer-sity at Reno and became an entity initself as a separate branch of the uni-versity system. (The conflict over theadministration of the computing centerarose at that time.) One of its originalpurposes-that of stimulating researchwithin academic departments-waseither discontinued or at least cut to aminimum. Administration of grants andcontracts was turned back to the uni-versity.As a result, Mordy's relationships

with faculty members on the Renocampus left much to be desired. Manyof us feel that very few of the academic

departments have benefited appreciably,except in an indirect manner, by theexistence of the DRI. Some have evensuffered. We feel that so much morecould have been done to benefit re-search throughout the university systemif the administration of the DRI hadbeen different, and we are not convincedthat the resignation of Mordy will havean adverse effect on established researchon the Reno or Las Vegas campuses.PHILIP C. BETTLER, GEORGE BARNESHUGH N. MOZINGO, VERNON E. SCHEID

RALPH A. YOUNGUniversity of Nevada, Reno 89507

Postage Meter Technology

In his letter Feeny (3 Oct.). ex-horts his fellow scientists to use comn-niemorative postage stamps on theirletters. In this way, he reasons, one addssparkle to his mail and, possibly, vital-ity to his publications. Aside from thesegains, there may also be an educationalbenefit arguing for the use of postagestamps rather than metered mail.When your secretary mails a half-

ounce airmail letter for you to a col-league located say, at the UniversityCollege of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.she must affix 25 cents postage to theenvelope. Given a postage meter thisis done quite simply by engaging thelever for 25 cents. However, using post-age stamps it becomes necessary to affixfour 6-cent stamps and a 1-cent stamp,two 10's and a 5, or some other com-bination totaling 25 cents. This opera-tion requires that she reinforce her skillin arithmetic, a proficiency which mightwell become vestigial by continuLouslyrelying upon the postage meter. Forthis reason alone-the educational val-ue of reinforcing basic quantitativeskills-we should encourage the use ofordinary postage stamps and resistmulishly the stealthy inroads of post-age meter technology!

ROBERT PERLOFFGradualte School of Bu.siness,University of Pittsburgh,Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213

Unfortunately, our institutiondiscovered years ago that some of ourcorrespondence was not getting throughbecause of postage stamp thieves. Weuse a machine stamp and now ourlosses are almost nil.

CLYDE A. HILLSani Diego Zoological Garden,Post Office Box 551San Diego, California 92112

Start with the excellence of the Gilford Monochromator-casthousing for lasting, precise alignment of the finest optical sys-tem and control mechanisms-obstacle-free exit plane-integralaperture slide with standard and micro apertures-four placemanual positioner with accuracy for micro cuvettes - ruggedoptical bench for rapid interchange of accessories.

Enjoy the convenience and accuracy of linearized wave-length and slit width controls-direct digital indication-wave-lengths readable to 0.1 nm. - slit widths adjustable andreadable to 0.001 mm. Both control mechanisms are free ofbacklash and vibrational instability, and make provision forattachment of servo drives.

Put to work the unique usefulness of the Gilford LinearAbsorbance Photometer-accurately linearized output directlyin absorbance, not % T converted to A-resolution of 0.001 Athroughout the entire 0.000 to 3.000 A measuring range-direct absorbance indication in clearly readable digits- 0.5 %A photometric accuracy-less than 0.005 A drift per hour.

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With the Gilford Model 240 Spectrophotometer, you havethe potential of starting with a fundamentally superior basicsystem and converting it to as sophisticated a system as youmay ever need. Thousands of research, clinical, and industriallaboratories have discovered that Gilford systems offer unsur-passed versatility for a wide variety of spectrophotometrictechniques.

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Circle No. 23 on Readers' Service Card SCIENCE, VOL. 1661226