may be given Mimulus cardinalis, Castalia Leibergii, Corydalis aurea, Poly- 

 gonum Kelloggii. 



Although the mountain region is very rich in Algae Lichens Mosses and 

 Hepatics, the conditions for work and character of our outfit made it nec- 

 essary to confine our attention almost wholly to the Phanerogams and 

 I'teridophytes, although a few lower forms were collected. 



In all, ample material of about 1,000 species was brought in, which is 

 fairly representative of the region explored. 



The application of mathematics in botany. By Kathebine E. Golden. 



The tendency in the sciences is toward reducing results and conclusions 

 to exactness, as far as possible, and this is as true for botany as for any 

 of the so-called exact sciences. The tendency being toward precision, 

 naturally the use of mathematics is becoming more general in all the 

 sciences, in the solution of problems and the expression of results. 



In physiological botany, especially, the use of mathematics is very ap- 

 plicable, for a great many of the principles of physiological phenomena 

 are reducible to the principles of physics and chemistry, which are repre- 

 sented by mathematical formulae, and when so represented, the concep- 

 tion of the phenomena is .simplified, and is divested of much of the mys- 

 teriousness that attaches to it, as fundamental principles are often easier 

 of comprehension when reduced to mathema ical formulas. For instance, 

 in studying the absorption of gases by plants, there are so many factors 

 that enter the solution of the problem that the subject is complex to a 

 great degree, but when it is known that the amount of gas dissolved from 

 a mixture is proportional t<> the relative volume of it in the mixture mul- 

 tiplied by its coefficient of solubility, the quantities of gases that can be 

 dissolved by the cell-sap are known, and a definite basis is obtained from 

 which to start, and to take into consideration other conditions. 



To show the estimate that Francis Gal ton* places on the laws governing 

 the life of plants, in his work on " Natural Inheritance," in trying to ar- 

 rive at some measurable characteristic by which to determine the reason 

 for the statistical similarity shown in successive generations, he used 

 sweet peas with which to experiment, separating them into "roups ac- 



-Francis Galtou. Natural Inheritance. 1889, pp ; 79-82, 



