MISCELLANY. 



509 



during those two months. The plan is in- 

 tended to accommodate the large number 

 of persons of all ages who feel the desira- 

 bleness of an outline acquaintance with 

 geology, and who might be able to devote 

 two months to the study, while their con- 

 venience does not permit them to lake an 

 entire geological course, or to keep the 

 study in hand six months or a year. Simul- 

 taneously with the elementary course, two 

 advanced courses will be set on foot during 

 the months named ; one of these courses 

 will be Lithological, and the other Paleon- 

 tological. Prof. Alexander Winchell will 

 have the general direction of this special 

 school of geology, with numerous assist- 

 ants, among whom are Prof. James Hall, 

 Prof. Burt G. Wilder, and Prof. Edward D. 

 Cope. The school opens on Tuesday, Jan- 

 uary 25th. 



The Value of ViTisectiou. The question 

 of vivisection was the subject of an address 

 by Dr. William Rutherford, at the last 

 meeting of the British Medical Association. 

 Physiology, he observed, is an experimental 

 science. Apart from experiments which are 

 the result of artifice, disease and accident 

 are constantly bringing about conditions 

 which partake of the nature of experiments, 

 and are sometimes of great physiological 

 significance. Still, this teaching of disease 

 and accident leads us but a short way, and 

 the pursuit of physiological truth by their 

 aid is often an uncertain, devious, and com- 

 plicated method. Dr. Rutherford effectively 

 contrasted the very imperfect and indirect 

 theoretical method of physiological instruc- 

 tion in the past with that by demonstration 

 and experiment in the present time. No 

 one can doubt for a moment that the rea- 

 soning, critical faculties are truly educated 

 where men are trained to see and examine 

 for themselves the experimental evidence on 

 which physiological knowledge rests. Dr. 

 Rutherford holds that definite, critical knowl- 

 edge of animal mechanism cannot be at- 

 tained unless students be shown experi- 

 ments on living animals. 



Prolific Peaches. At a meeting of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadel- 

 phia, Mr. Meehan exhibited some branches 

 of peach, in which the young fruit were in 



twos and threes from one flower. They 

 were from the Chinese double-flowering 

 kind. He remarked that, as is well known, 

 plants with double flowers are rarely fertile. 

 Either the stamens are wholly changed to 

 petals, or the less vital conditions which al- 

 ways accompany this floral state are une- 

 qual to the task of producing perfect pistils. 

 Vitality, however, he observed, is more or less 

 affected by external conditions, independent- 

 ly of the mere structure of organs, and this 

 was well illustrated by the remarkable fer- 

 tility of the peach last season. This abound- 

 ing vitality had evidently extended to the 

 double peaches, and had influenced the de- 

 velopment of the female organs to an unu- 

 sual extent. These facts have an interest 

 in botanical classification. Lindley removed 

 the cherry, plum, peach, and their allies 

 from the Rosacece, chiefly because they had 

 but a single free carpel, and grouped them 

 as Drupacece. The production of two and 

 three carpels in this case shows the true 

 relation, and it might be of use to those 

 interested in "theories of descent." 



Stability of Chinese Civilizatioii. In ac- 

 counting for the wonderful cohesion of the 

 great Chinese Empire, the Prussian traveler 

 Von Richthofen says that the causes of this 

 phenomenon are manifold. First, the piti- 

 less extermination of such tribes as the 

 Man-tse. Then the complete fusion of un- 

 cultured races with the civilized Chinese, 

 from which has resulted an homogeneous 

 people, with one language, the same man- 

 ners, and the same traditions. But above 

 all stands the fact that Chinese civilization 

 is indigenous. In Europe, civilization is the 

 result of the eflfbrts of several nations, and 

 has been attained only at the cost of much 

 strife and sacrifice, one people transmitting 

 to another its hard-earned advantages. But 

 in China civilization was developed in more 

 orderly fashion, and is the product of the 

 genius of a single people. The Chinese 

 have very rarely come in contact with neigh- 

 boring peoples, nor have they borrowed 

 from the Hindoos any thing save Buddhism, 

 and that has certainly been of no advantage 

 to the nation. For 4,000 years they have 

 faithfully preserved the religious and polit- 

 ical principles set forth in the decrees of 

 the Emperor Yan, and, though again and 



