30 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



is published, and if the pubHc does not know enough to ap- 

 preciate it, so much the worse for the pubHc. It is to be re- 

 gretted that somebody with means does not see the oppor- 

 tunity to do something handsome for the world by capitaliz- 

 ing the scientific press in much the same way. In fact we feel 

 sure that the time will come when this will be done. The be- 

 quests of wealthy Americans for schools, hospitals, churches 

 and libraries run into the tens of millions annually, and while 

 small amounts may be given to endow various phases of re- 

 search work in science in the colleges and Universities, not a 

 cent goes toward the work of making science understandable 

 to the common people, though our commercial greatness as a 

 nation depends largely upon agriculture and that in turn upon 

 botany and zoology. The spread of a knowledge of plants 

 and animals is handicapped by a lack of adequate means for 

 its dissemination. The botanical magazines especially are 

 failures financially. The editors serve without pay and the 

 contributors write with no thought of remuneration. Good 

 work of any kind is seldom done with the thought of reward 

 in mind — a piece of work well done is reward enough to one 

 in love with his work — but the tact remains that the knowledge 

 of plants is likely to spread slowly if left to the efforts of un- 

 derpaid botanists. We need an endowed magazine or pub- 

 ishing company that shall issue meritorious works on botany 

 whether the public is yet ready for them or not. A properly 

 endowed magazine could make plant study so attractive that 

 practically every child would become an enthusiastic plant 

 student. * x: * 



The Chicago Academy of Sciences has recently issued a 

 bulletin on the Higher Fungi of the Chicago Region by Dr. 

 W. S. Moffatt. This forms part of the natural history sur- 

 vey of the region by the Academy. It contains keys to the 

 species and genera of Hymenomycetes found in the region 

 with descriptions of the species and 24 excellent plates from 

 photographs. 



