THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 23 



for gaining even an elemental conception of the worlds ac- 

 cumulated store of knowledge, why should any man, even 

 though a profound scholar familiar with the intricacies of his 

 own field, so far forget or minimize the difficulties of the long 

 way by v/hich he has come, as to be willing to leave the path 

 harder for the next comer. Ought not the way that leads to a 

 working knowledge of plants and animals to be as easy and 

 plain as we can possibly make it ? I think so. — From an article 

 by J. G. Need ham, in Science. 



Careless Use of Words. — The attention of those in charge 

 of beginning botany laboratories is so constantly called to er- 

 rors in the use of common terms that it is desirable that the 

 notice of high school and grade teachers be called to it. A very 

 common case with reference to the three dimensions will illus- 

 trate the point. A wood cell which measures about 10 micro- 

 millimeters in width and about 1000-2000 micromillimeters in 

 length is repeatedly described as "very short" instead of "long 

 and narrow" as is evidently correct. \Mien corrected the stu- 

 dent still affirms that it is short, "It is only 10 micromillimeters 

 across this way." He uses "short" to apply to any thing meas- 

 ured by a small number of units, and "long" to that measured 

 by a large number of units, rather than distinguishing the two 

 axes of a given object as widtli and length. To l)e logical he 

 would say that a rod is short because one of its dimensions is 

 two rods, ignoring the fact that its other dimension is several 

 hundred miles. — Ehia R. JValker. 



The Typicwl Monocot Seed. — It is the endeavor of the 

 intelligent teacher, when the subject of seeds is up, to use such 

 types as will give the student a comprehensive view of the 

 variations that occur. Instead of devoting a certain number 

 of periods to the study of seeds with no definite end in view 

 except to fill up the time with work that is easily handled, the 

 pupil should be given first a simple seed, that is, one that con- 

 tains only a complete embryo, such as that of bean, and when 



