ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. (AMERICAN.) 



ing of fragmentary observations upon the habits, 

 structure, and embryology of a multitude of 

 forms, I firmly believe that necessity or even 

 desirability has long since passed away, and that 

 for the advancement of zoological science the 

 work of surpassing importance confronting us is 

 the thorough investigation of a few forms from 

 the ovum to youth, maturity, and old age. And 

 I also firmly believe that, whenever available, 

 the greatest good to science, and thus to man- 

 kind, will result from a selection of domesti- 

 cated forms for these thorough investigations." 



The following-named papers were read and 

 discussed before the section: On the Utility of 

 Phosphorescence in Deep-sea Animals, by Charles 

 C. Nutting; The Course of the Fibers in the Op- 

 tic Chiasma of the Common American Toad 

 (Bufo lentiyinosus}, by B. B. Myers; On Reigh- 

 ardia, a New Genus of Linguatulida, by Henry 

 B. Ward; The Histogenesis of Muscle in the 

 Metamorphosis of the Toad (Bufo lentiyinosus 

 americanus), by Benjamin F. Kirigsbury; The 

 Progenitors of Batrachians, by Theodore Gill; 

 Observations on the Variation, Life History, and 

 Habits of a Minute Locust ((Edipoda maritima 

 UhL (?), by Herbert Osborn; A Chart for illus- 

 trating the Origin and Evohition of Animal and 

 Vegetable Life, by A. D. Hopkins; Geographical 

 Variations as illustrated by the Horned Larks 

 of North America, by Harry C. Oberholser; On 

 Some Piratine Bugs, which may be Responsible 

 for So-called " Spider-bite " Cases, by Leland O. 

 Howard; Cave Animals: Their Character, Origin, 

 and their Evidence for or against the Transmis- 

 sion of Acquired Characters, by Carl H. Eigen- 

 mann; Have we more than a Single Species of 

 Blissus in North America? by Francis M. Web- 

 ster; Estivation of Epiphragmophora traskii 

 (Newcomb) in Southern California, by M. Bur- 

 ton Williamson; Natural Taxonomy of the Class 

 Aves, by Robert W. Shufeldt; Notes on the Mor- 

 phology of the Chick's Brain, by Susanna P. 

 Gage; Further Notes on the Brook Lamprey 

 (Lampetra wilderi), Respiration in Tadpoles of 

 the Toad (Bufo lentiginosus) , and Photographing 

 Natural-history Specimens under Water or 

 other Liquids with a Vertical Camera, by Simon 

 H. Gage; A Discussion of Aspidiotus cydonice 

 and its Allies, by Charles L. Marlatt ; and Effects 

 of Hydrocyanic-acid Gas upon Animal Life and 

 its Common Use, by Willis G. Johnson. 



G. Botany. The presiding officer of this sec- 

 tion was Prof. Charles R. Barnes, who fills the 

 chair of Plant Physiology in the University of Chi- 

 cago, Chicago, 111. The subject of his address was 

 The Progress and Problems of Plant Physiology. 

 He said in part: " It is only in comparatively re- 

 cent years that plant physiology has become 

 established upon a firm experimental basis, and 

 thus fitted to take its proper place among the 

 sciences offered in university curricula. Its real 

 and vigorous growth has been measured by 

 scarcely four decades." Prof. Barnes then dis- 

 cussed the chief features of plant physiology in 

 which notable progress had been made during 

 the last decade, under the headings of physical 

 chemistry, physiological morphology, irritabil- 

 ity, ecology, and cytology. This treatment he 

 summarized in closing as follows : " The great 

 advances in plant chemics and physics, the prog- 

 ress in the investigation of causes of plant form, 

 the widening ideas of the property of irritability, 

 the investigation of the social relations of plants, 

 and the minute study of cell action in spite of 

 their diversity have one great end in view. This 

 is nothing less than the solution of the great 

 problem the fundamental problem of plant 



physiology, as of animal physiology. The sec 

 which we must discover, the dark recesses towj 



secret 

 toward 



which we must focus all the light that can be 

 obtained from every source, is the constitution of 

 living matter. Intrenched within the apparently 

 impregnable fortress of molecular structure this 

 secret lies hid. The attacks upon it from the 

 direction of physical chemistry and physiological 

 morphology, of irritability, of ecology, and of 

 cytology, are the concentrating attacks of vari- 

 ous divisions of an army upon a citadel, some 

 of whose outer defenses have already been cap- 

 tured. The innumerable observations are devised 

 along parallel lines of approach, and each division 

 of the army is creeping closer and closer to the 

 inner defenses, which yet resist all attacks and 

 hide the long-sought truth. We see yet no breach 

 in the citadel. Here and there we seem to ap- 

 proach more closely, and at certain points are 

 getting glimpses, through this loophole or that, 

 of inner truths hidden before. It is not possible 

 to prove to-day that life and death are only a 

 difference in the chemical and physical behavior 

 of certain compounds. It is safe to say that the 

 future is likely to justify such an assertion. In 

 the meanwhile we press forward along the whole 

 line. Botany is more than ever full of meaning, 

 because with its sister sciences it is no longer 

 seeking things, but the reasons for things." 



The following-named papers were read and 

 discussed before the section: The Geotropism of 

 the Hypocotyl of Cucurbits, by Edwin B. Cope- 

 land; The Destruction of Chlorophyll by Oxi- 

 dizing Enzymes, by Albert F. W T oods; The Effect 

 of Hydrocyanic-acid Gas upon the Germination 

 of Seeds, by Charles O. Townsend; Some Physi- 

 ological Effects of Hydrocyanic-acid Gas upon 

 Plants, by Willis G. Johnson; ^Etiolative Re- 

 actions of Sarracenia and Oxalis, by William B. 

 Stewart ; The Mycorhiza of Tipularia, by Julia B. 

 Clifford; The Cultures of Uredinece in 1899, by 

 Joseph C. Arthur; The Embryology of Vaillantia 

 Mspida, by Francis E. Lloyd; Division of the 

 Megaspore of Enjthronium, by John H. Schaff- 

 ner; The Tamarack Swamp in Ohio and The 

 Flora of Franklin County, Ohio, by Augustin 

 D. Selby ; The Fungous Infestations of Agricul- 

 tural Soils in the United States, by Erwin F. 

 Smith; The Occurrence of Calcium Oxalate and 

 Lignin during the Differentiation of the Buds of 

 Prunus americana, by Henry L. Bolley and L. R. 

 Waldron; TAVO Diseases of Juniperu*, by Her- 

 mann von Schrenk ; The Crystals in Datura stra- 

 monium L., by Henry Kraener; The Fertilization 

 of Albugo Uiti, by Frank L. Stevens; The Em- 

 bryo Sac of Leucocrinum montanum, by Francis 

 Ramaley; Notes on Subterranean Organs, by A. 

 S. Hitchcock; Some Monstrosities in Spikelets of 

 Eragostis and Setaria, with their Meaning, by 

 William J. Beal; Are the Trees advancing or re- 

 treating upon the Nebraska Plains? One Thou- 

 sand Miles for a Fern, and Studies of Vegetation 

 of the High Nebraska Plains, by Charles E. 

 Bessey; Useful Trees and Shrubs for the North- 

 west Plains of Canada and The Breeding of Ap- 

 ples for the Northwest Plains, by William Saun- 

 ders ; Field Experiments with " Nitragin " and 

 other Germ Fertilizers, by Byron D. Halsted; The 

 Duration of Bacterial Existence under Trial En- 

 vironments, by Henry L. Bolley; Suggestions for 

 a more Satisfactory Classification of the Pleuro- 

 carpous Mosses, by Abel J. Grout; Notes con- 

 cerning the Study of Lichen Distribution in the 

 Mississippi Valley, by Bruce Fink; Botanical 

 Teaching in the Secondary Schools, by William C. 

 Stevens; Botanical Teaching in the Secondary 

 Schools, by Ida Clendenin; On the Occurrence of 



