38 



ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OP SCIENCE. (AMERICAN.) 



" The Attitude of the Eastern and Central Portions ot 

 the United States during the Glacial Period," by 

 Thomas C. Chamberlin; "Neocene and Pleistocene 

 Continent Movements." by W J McGee ; " Fossil 

 Tracks in the Triassic of York County, Pa.," by 

 Atreus Wanner; "New Footprints of the Connecti- 

 cut Valley," by M. N. Mitievier; "The Plant-Bear- 

 ing Deposits of the American Trias," and " Princi- 

 ples and Methods of Geologic Correlation by means 

 of Fossil Plants," by Lester F. Ward ; " A Reply to 

 Professor Marsh's Note on Mesozoic Mammalia," by 

 Henry F. Osborn ; " Exhibition of Certain Bones of 

 Megalonyx not before known," by James M. Saf- 

 forcl, " On the Probable Existence of a Second Drift- 

 less Area in the Mississippi Basin," by Eollin D. 

 Salisbury; "The Cincinnati Ice Dam," by Frank 

 Leverett ; " The Structure of the Ouachita Uplift ot 

 Arkansas," by Leon S. Griswold; "The Relations of 

 the Archean and the Algonkian in the Northwest," 

 by Charles R. Van Hise ; " Results of a Well Boring 

 at Rochester, N. Y.," by Herman L. Fairchild ; " On 

 a Deep Bore near Akron, Ohio," by Edward W. Clay- 



Esle ; " A Study ot the Fossil Avifauna of the Silver 

 ake Region, Oregon," by R, W. Shufeldt; "The 

 Peninsula and Volcano Cosignina," and "The Geo- 

 logical Survey of Nicaragua," by John Crawford; 

 " The Highest Old Shore Line on Mackinac Island." 

 by F. B Taylor ; and " Striae and Slickensides at Al- 

 ton, Illinois," by James E. Todd. 



F. Biology. This section was presided over 

 by Prof. John M. Coulter, President of Indiana 

 University. He chose for the topic of his ad- 

 dress " The Future of Systematic Botany." The 

 ancient history of systematic botany is too well 

 known to need even brief repetition, but the one 

 desire which runs with increasing force through 

 it all is to reach eventually a natural system of 

 classification. At first, from necessity, plants 

 were simply systematically pigeon-holed for fut- 

 ure reference, and those who could thus dispose 

 of plants were known as " systematic botanists," 

 an appellation proper enough, but one unfortu- 

 nately not having sufficiently outgrown its orig- 

 inal application. The deplorable result of this 

 early necessity of so rigidly systematizing facts, 

 and thus rendering them accessible, was to make 

 the pigeon-holes as permanent as the facts they 

 were intended temporarily to contain. 



Systematic botany has probably done all that 

 it could, unaided, in the natural arrangement of 

 plants. But it was not left without aid, and a 

 group of new departments was made possible by 

 the microscope and the unexampled progress of 

 powers and manipulation. The study of the cell 

 and of nascent and mature organs, and the rec- 

 ognition of plants as living things that are the 

 resultant of the interplay of internal and exter- 

 nal forces, have revivified the ancient mummy 

 called botany, and have made it a living thing, 

 capable of endless development. The real sys- 

 tematic botany is to sum up arid utilize the re- 

 sults of all other departments, and its work is 

 well-nigh all in the future. The systematic bot- 

 any which deals with generic characters and 

 recognizes the fact that every plant is a living 

 thing, with a history and all degrees of consan- 

 guinity, and that the final form of every natural 

 classification must be to approximate to the or- 

 der of descent, is in its early infancy. 



For the systematists of to-dav'and of the fut- 

 ure there must be three distino|; lines of work, 

 related to each other in natural sequence in the 

 order presented, and each turning over its com- 

 pleted product to the next. 



I. Collection and Description of Plants. Many 

 things besides the mere sporadic collection and 

 recording of species should be included as legiti- 

 mately belonging to this line of research. A 

 plant is too often a text without any context, 

 and is thus robbed of much of its significance. 

 Nothing seems more unsystematic than field 

 work in systematic botany. All information 

 that can be obtained in the field concerning 

 species is the province of the collector to pro- 

 cure and of the taxonomist to record. 



In reference to the work of description, an 

 unpublished note of Prof. Asa Gray, in which 

 that distinguished botanist lamented the work 

 of those who were incompetent, was read. The 

 opinion that the exclusive use of gross organs in 

 the description of higher plants would be given 

 up, and that the more stable, minute characters 

 would prove valuable aids in steadying diagnosis, 

 was expressed. The character of a species is an 

 extremely composite affair, and it must stand 

 or fall by the sum total of its peculiarities, and 

 not by a single one. 



II. Study of Life Histories. The work of 

 searching for the affinities of great groups is the 

 crying need of systematic botany to-day. The 

 danger of magnifying the importance of certain 

 periods or organs in indicating affinities, was 

 summed up as follows : " I have thus spoken of 

 the study of life histories to indicate that its 

 chief function lies ia the field of systematic 

 botany : to suggest that it take into account de- 

 velopment at every period and of every organ, 

 and so obtain a mass of cumulative evidence 

 for safe generalization ; and to urge upon those 

 not thoroughly equipped great caution in publi- 

 cation." 



III. Construction of a Natural System. The 

 necessity of constructing a natural system with 

 easy advance in the knowledge of affinities, as a 

 convenient summary of information, to tell of 

 progress and to direct future effort, was advo- 

 cated. His concluding summary was : " The 

 points presented in this consideration of the 

 third phase of systematic botany are that the 

 last and highest expression of systematic work 

 is the construction of a natural system, based 

 upon the accumulations of those who collect 

 and describe and those who study life histories : 

 that this work involves the completest command 

 of literature and the highest powers of general- 

 ization ; that it is essential to progress for a nat- 

 ural system to be attempted with every advance 

 in knowledge ; and that all the known facts of 

 affinity thus brought within reach should be 

 expressed in all systematic literature." 



The following-named papers were read before 

 this section : 



" Notes on the Physiological and Structural Changes 

 in Cayuga Lake Lampreys," and " Notes on the 

 Heart of Certain Mammals," by Ida H. Hyde ; " The 

 Transformation of the Vermilion Spotted Newt," by 

 Simon H. Gage ; " On the Kinds of Motion of the 

 Ultimate Units of Contractile Living Matter," by 

 John A. Ryder ; " On the Insertion of the Scapiilai 

 and Pelvic Arches and Limbs of Lacertilia," and " On 



ter in the History of the Venus Fly-Trap,'' by John 

 M. Macfarlane ; " On the Prothallium and Embryo of 

 Osmunda Claytoniana and O. Cinnamomea," by Doug- 



