NOTES AND ( OMMENT 



The first volume of the Proceedings of the National Academy of 

 Sciences (1915) contained the following papers of botanical interest: 

 Phoradendron, by William Trelease; The Morphology and Relation- 

 ships of Podomitrium malaccense, by Douglas H. Campbell; A Phylo- 

 genetic Study of Cycads, by Charles J. Chamberlain; A Method of 

 Prophesying the Life Duration of Seeds, by William Crocker and J. 

 F. Groves. We mention these papers merely to help a little bit in 

 bringing them out of the concealment which their place of publication 

 has afforded them. In these days of great scientific activity and num- 

 erous journals it is difficult for a specialist to keep track of all the papers 

 in his subject, even so far as they are to be found in the journals con- 

 fined to his own subject. The proceedings and transactions of acade- 

 mies and societies, whether local or national, and other publications of 

 mixed contents, add even greater difficulty to the following of current 

 hterature. Every worker who has endeavored to consult all of the 

 writing on a given subject finds himself, as he nears the completion of 

 his task, with a few unf ound references to papers in obscure or 'expen- 

 sive publications with miscellaneous contents. It matters little whether 

 the publication is obscure or expensive, for in either case it is likely to 

 be absent from his nearest libraries. Some of the journals which cover 

 the entire field of science have devoted themselves to general papers 

 and addresses; others have given their space to piquant but unsatisfy- 

 ing reports of progress, or to preliminary promises, many of which are 

 never fulfilled. It is to be hoped that all proceedings and transactions 

 of an omniscientific character will rapidly enter one or the other of 

 these classes so that they may be comfortably forgotten. 



At the close of the present academic year the University of Chicago 

 will hold elaborate exercises in celebration of its Quarter Centennial. 

 Each of the departments will invite its graduates to be present at 

 specially arranged programmes and dinners. The celebration which has 

 been planned by the members of the Botanical Department will com- 

 mence on June 2 and last for five days. Addresses will be dehvered by 

 four graduates of that department: Prof. T. C. Frye, of the Univer- 



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