SEEN CEPTTERS. 
A TROPICAL LABORATORY. 
To the Editors of the Botanical Gazette:—The recent editorial in the 
GAZETTE concerning the establishment of a laboratory in the tropics, in the 
opinion of the writer, calls attention both to the most pressing‘needs of Amer- 
ican botany, and to the most important means of advancement and preserva- 
tion of the integrity of the science in general. Previously to the appearance 
of your editorial I had sent to press in the Popular Science Monthly an article 
in which I had touched upon this point. Partial notes upon several problems, 
the solution of which may only be accomplished in the tropics, have accumu- 
lated in my laboratory, and an expedition to the West Indies in the summer 
of 1897 has been planned for the purpose of beginning work and selecting a 
suitable locality for its annual continuance. Necessarily temporary quarters 
would have been secured each year. I would welcome the establishment of a 
permanent tropical laboratory open to students during the entire year and 
free from the inconvenience of temporary facilities, to say nothing of the 
manifold advantages afforded by such an institution in the matter of equip- 
ment and accessibility of material. 
I would gladly put aside plans already formed and cooperate in any effort 
leading to the organization and selection of a locality for a laboratory of this 
character, or aid in any movement leading to its establishment.—D. T- 
MacDouGAL, State University of Minnesota. 
THE BUITENZORG GARDENS. 
To the Editors of the Botanical Gazette :—The following excerpts from 
a letter recently received from Mr. David G. Fairchild, who is making some 
special studies at the Botanic Gardens, Buitenzorg, Java, may be of interest 
to the readers of the GAZETTE: 
“Dr. Treub, the director of the gardens, is taking steps to establish an 
international affair here, similar to that at Naples, except that the whole 
expense of running such a place will be borne by the Dutch government. I 
am anxious to see a table here and hope when I return to get assistance in 
bringing this about. What is needed is a yearly or bi-yearly grant which 
will enable a botanist or zoologist to spend six or eight months at the gardens. 
Tickets are now sold from Hong Kong to New York for forty-five pounds 
[DECEMBER 
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