THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



287 



ical Work in the Philippines,' by Mr. 

 Elmer D. Merrill, gives an interesting 

 account of the history of botany in the 

 islands. Prior to the advent of the 

 Americans, various travelers had made 

 collections in the islands, and a certain 

 amount of work had been accomplished 

 by the priests; but the apathy of the 

 Spanish government is in remarkable 

 contrast to the present activity. The 

 priests in the early centuries were 

 chiefly interested in collecting medic- 

 inal plants, but Manuel Blanco pub- 

 lished a flora of the Philippines ex- 

 tending to 887 pages in 1837, and a 

 revised edition by Fernandez- Villar was 

 published in Manila between 1877 and 

 1883. Blanco's original work is said 

 to be very faulty, so that De Candolle 

 regretted that he had not confined him- 

 self 10 writing sermons, and the later 



revision, jjrepared without reference to 

 existing types or authentic botanical 

 material, will retard rather than ad- 

 vance the science of botany. 



In 1873 Domingo Vidal went to the 

 islands and became director of the Bo- 

 tanical Garden, and after his death in 

 1878 he was succeeded by his brother 

 Sebastian Vidal. The latter, who died 

 in 1889 at the age of forty-seven years, 

 appears to have been the ablest of 

 Spanish botanists who have worked on 

 the Philippine flora. He was greatly 

 respected, both as a botanist and as a 

 man, and a life-size statue, which is 

 here reproduced, was erected by his 

 friends in the center of the Botanical 

 Garden. 



The garden is said to have an un- 

 satisfactory situation, being only a few 

 feet above the level of the sea, with no 



Henry Barker Hii.l. 



