DAVIS ON GERMINATION OF BRASENIA. 131 



below the infinite, but lie approaches the infinite in proportion as he 

 searches out and obeys the laws which govern the universe. 



Mv plea is for a higher standard — a better criterion — toward which 

 and by which to aim religious, educational, legislative, and all other 

 human effort, — a plea for the forsaking of much of the less valuable 

 work of mere men, in the dim past, and a vigorous entry upon the works 

 of the Divine Creator Himself: 



"Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, 

 As the swift seasons roll ! 

 Leave thy low-vaulted past!" 



My plea is for humanity, not for selfishness; but if mankind as a whole 

 advances, surely as a rule, the individuals advance, Philanthfopy is the 

 highest and noblest selfishness, — it is the most certain to secure what 

 no other form of selfishness can secure — the greatest good to the greatest 

 number of persons. 



In closing, permit me to summarize, and to exhort you that 



THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE IS DIVINE IMMORTALIZING PHILANTHROP"?. 



Take up man's heaviest burdens, O my friends, 

 And trace them to their causes, speed their ends ! 



All science search, God's changeless truths reveal, 

 Add useful knowledge for the common weal ! 



Approaching infinite philanthropy, 

 You thus approach to immortality. 



NOTES ON THE GERMINATION OF BRASENIA PELTATA Pursh. 



BY CHARDES A. DAVIS, ALMA. 



[Abstract.] 



The freshly gathered seeds of this species were placed in water in 

 the fall and kept through the winter, well into the following summer, 

 never being allowed to become dry. One seed germinated in December, 

 a few before spring, but the greater number of those which germinated 

 delayed until the following summer, in July. Many of the seeds failed 

 entirely to germinate; a few developed distorted monsters and a con- 

 siderable number reached a stage where they possessed several leaves. 



The first external sign of germination was the pushing out a rounded 

 plug or stopper of the hard seed-coat from the hilum end of the oval 

 seed. Through the o])ening thus made the hypocotyl and the very 

 short petioles of the cotyledons Avere pushed, the cotyledons themselves 

 not emerging. The hypocotyl was a very short, disk-slia]ted organ, from 

 the lower end of which a filiform unbranched i)rimary root grew. The 

 hypocotyl did not elongate after it had emerged, the stem and secondary 

 roots, also unbranched, developed by the expansion of the plumule, the 

 roots appearing in the axils of the leaves. The first leaf, as is generally 

 the case in Nymplupacea^, was bladeless, elongated and filiform. The 

 second leaf was usually lanceolate with a long petiole. The third leaf 



