EDITOR'S TABLE, 



265 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



TEE BUFFALO FIELD CLUB. 



THERE is urgent need for more gen- 

 eral and efficient association for 

 popular scientific improvement. In pol- 

 itics, in religion, in philantliropj, in re- 

 form, and in the original extension of 

 science, the key of influence and the se- 

 cret of success are cooperation ; and this 

 is the agency to which we must look for 

 the popular cultivation of science. The 

 best form of associative action for the 

 promotion of self-education in science is, 

 undoubtedly, the field club, and we are 

 gratified to observe that these excellent 

 organizations are multiplying and doing 

 admirable work. We called attention 

 some months since to the proceedings 

 of the Ottawa Club, and are glad now 

 to be able to report the successful or- 

 ganization of a similar club in Buffalo. 

 It is an outgrowth of the botany and 

 geology classes in the Central High 

 School of that city. These classes have 

 for several years made excursions into 

 the country surrounding Buffalo, under 

 the direction of their able instructor. 

 Professor Charles Linden. The work- 

 ing Field Club was organized in the 

 spring of 1880, with over forty mem- 

 bers, and proved successful from the 

 beginning. Professor Linden, the di- 

 rector, is an ardent student and a 

 skillful instructor, and seems to have 

 imbued the members with much of his 

 own enthusiasm for science. The field 

 meetings have been attended on all oc- 

 casions by a majority of the members. 

 In order to systematize their work, 

 the club is organized into sections in 

 botany, geology, and entomology, and 

 they are now busy in providing cases 

 to arrange and preserve whatever has 

 been collected in the field. Several 

 members have nearly complete collec- 

 tions of the local flora and of geologi- 



cal specimens representing the forma- 

 tions of the vicinity ; the entomological 

 branch, which begins work this spring 

 under the direction of Professor Kelli- 

 cott, of the State Normal School, will no 

 doubt make rapid progress during the 

 coming season and contribute to the in - 

 creasing success of the club. 



Experience has shown that these 

 organizations are only too often ephem- 

 eral, and are generally weakened by 

 the prolonged interruption of winter 

 when the excitement passes off, and 

 they need to be freshly stimulated every 

 spring. But there is interesting winter 

 work as well as summer work in sci- 

 ence. The Buffalo club has there- 

 fore held its meetings all along during 

 the winter in the spacious library of 

 the Society of Natural Sciences. At 

 these semi-monthly meetings papers 

 have been read before the club, fol- 

 lowed by their discussion, and an exhi- 

 bition of specimens necessary to illus- 

 trate all the main points upon which 

 beginners are in relative ignorance. 

 When needed, the calcium light and 

 screen have been used to enhance the 

 interest pf illustration. The meetings 

 have been well attended by the mem- 

 bers, their friends, and local scientists ; 

 they have been profitable for instruc- 

 tion, and have kept up an unbroken 

 solicitude for the success of the associ- 

 ation. 



The twelve papers read at the semi- 

 monthly meetings in the past season 

 were published in the Buffalo "Daily 

 Courier," and were well worthy of 

 being laid before the public. We have 

 been favored with the reports, and have 

 read them all with interest. They are, 

 of course, not of equal merit, nor equal- 

 ly relevant to the strict objects of the 

 club ; but, as a whole and as a first 



