﻿1890.] 
  

  

  BOTANICAL, 
  GAZETTE. 
  

  

  21 
  

  

  endless 
  literature, 
  but 
  not 
  contributing 
  a 
  single 
  fact. 
  Their 
  measure 
  of 
  

   the 
  value 
  of 
  a 
  paper 
  seems 
  to 
  be 
  the 
  number 
  of 
  foot-note 
  references 
  to 
  

   literature. 
  A 
  second 
  kind 
  of 
  work 
  is 
  really 
  work, 
  but 
  is 
  misdirected. 
  

   The 
  amount 
  of 
  misspent 
  energy 
  in 
  scientific 
  work 
  is 
  simply 
  appalling. 
  

   Some 
  trivial 
  subject 
  is 
  taken 
  which 
  amounts 
  to 
  nothing 
  when 
  completed, 
  

   illustrating 
  the 
  saying, 
  '' 
  what's 
  true 
  is 
  not 
  new, 
  and 
  what's 
  new 
  is 
  good 
  

   for 
  nothing." 
  A 
  third 
  class 
  lay 
  hold 
  of 
  subjects 
  which 
  are 
  important 
  

   enough, 
  but 
  are 
  in 
  such 
  a 
  tremendous 
  hurry 
  that 
  one 
  can 
  not 
  easily 
  dis- 
  

   sociate 
  what 
  they 
  have 
  seen 
  from 
  what 
  they 
  have 
  guessed 
  at. 
  An 
  itch 
  for 
  

   publishing 
  is 
  the 
  spur 
  which 
  causes 
  the 
  natural 
  American 
  haste 
  to 
  break 
  

   into 
  a 
  gallop. 
  To 
  present 
  raw 
  and 
  undigested 
  material 
  to 
  the 
  botanical 
  

   public 
  is 
  to 
  have 
  it 
  all 
  rejected. 
  

  

  Our 
  attention 
  has 
  lately 
  been 
  called 
  to 
  these 
  various 
  kinds 
  of 
  botani- 
  

   cal 
  work, 
  and 
  we 
  have 
  taken 
  this 
  opportunity 
  to 
  speak 
  of 
  them. 
  There 
  

   is 
  one 
  defect, 
  however, 
  which 
  is 
  apt 
  to 
  be 
  found 
  even 
  in 
  good 
  work. 
  It 
  is 
  

   a 
  defect 
  which 
  usually 
  marks 
  a 
  beginner, 
  and 
  that 
  is 
  generalization. 
  Pa- 
  

   pers 
  with 
  a 
  small 
  fact 
  or 
  two 
  and 
  world-wide 
  generalizations 
  are 
  too 
  com- 
  

   mon. 
  It 
  is 
  well 
  to 
  remember 
  that 
  generalization 
  is 
  always 
  unsafe, 
  should 
  

   never 
  be 
  ventured 
  upon 
  by 
  a 
  beginner, 
  and 
  is 
  too 
  often 
  an 
  indication 
  of 
  

   lack 
  of 
  facts. 
  Generalization 
  is 
  only 
  easy 
  to 
  one 
  unembarrassed 
  by 
  facts. 
  

   Happy 
  is 
  the 
  veteran 
  botanist 
  who 
  has 
  no 
  such 
  youthful 
  attempt 
  to 
  look 
  

   back 
  upon. 
  If 
  we 
  could 
  make 
  all 
  American 
  botanists 
  understand 
  that 
  it 
  

   is 
  their 
  mission 
  to 
  collect 
  facts 
  with 
  the 
  most 
  painstaking 
  care, 
  and 
  to 
  

   record 
  them 
  in 
  the 
  simplest 
  possible 
  way, 
  the 
  new 
  decade 
  would 
  bring 
  

   lasting 
  honor 
  to 
  American 
  botany. 
  

  

  CURRENT 
  LITERATURE. 
  

  

  Bibliotbeca 
  Botanica. 
  

  

  We 
  

  

  to 
  be 
  issued, 
  for 
  at 
  the 
  outset 
  we 
  apprehended 
  their 
  early 
  discontinuance. 
  

   Whilti 
  the 
  series 
  is 
  an 
  expensive 
  one 
  for 
  the 
  purchaser, 
  we 
  can 
  hardly 
  see 
  

   how 
  it 
  can 
  fail 
  to 
  be 
  a 
  more 
  expensive 
  one 
  to 
  the 
  publisher. 
  The 
  elabor- 
  

   ate 
  style 
  of 
  the 
  letter 
  press 
  and 
  the 
  exquisite 
  plates 
  are 
  not 
  equaled 
  so 
  

   far 
  as 
  we 
  know, 
  and 
  we 
  hope 
  for 
  a 
  long 
  continuance 
  of 
  the 
  serial 
  and 
  wish 
  

   for 
  it 
  an 
  increasing 
  constituency 
  that 
  it 
  deserves. 
  The 
  fifteenth 
  and 
  six- 
  

   teenth^ 
  parts 
  are 
  before 
  us. 
  In 
  the 
  former 
  Dr. 
  C. 
  R. 
  G. 
  Schumann 
  gives 
  

   an 
  account 
  of 
  the 
  anatomical 
  structure 
  of 
  the 
  bud 
  -scales 
  of 
  Coniferse 
  and 
  

   woody 
  dicotyledons- 
  The 
  usual 
  review 
  of 
  the 
  literature 
  of 
  the 
  subject 
  

   precedes 
  the 
  paper. 
  Dr. 
  Schumann 
  discusses 
  the 
  epidermis 
  of 
  both 
  outer 
  

  

  1 
  Heft 
  15.— 
  Anatoinische 
  Studien 
  iiber 
  die 
  Knospenachuppen 
  von 
  Couiferen 
  und 
  dico- 
  

   tylen 
  Holzgewiichsea. 
  4to. 
  p. 
  37. 
  pi. 
  5. 
  

  

  Heft 
  16.— 
  Beitrage 
  zur 
  Morphologie 
  und 
  Anatorale 
  der 
  Bioscoreaceen, 
  -Ito. 
  p. 
  35. 
  pi. 
  5, 
  

   Cassel 
  : 
  Theodore 
  Fischer. 
  1889. 
  Each 
  M. 
  10. 
  

  

  