May 12, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



689 



material was collected by Dr. P. Forchheimer 

 during an exploring tour in Asia Minor, and 

 was from Ephesus and Smyrna. The diflFerent 

 specimens may have been from diflerent 

 periods, from several centuries before Christ to 

 three centuries after Christ, but the general 

 composition of all was the same. The mineral 

 matter was chiefly calcium carbonate, but from 

 2 to 8 per cent, of organic material was pres- 

 ent. This proved to be merely a mixture of 

 fatty acids, and gave evidence that the cement 

 was the oil-cement mentioned by early writers, 

 as Pliny and Vitruvius. A series of experiments 

 showed that a cement of burned lime and olive 

 or linseed oil was not permanent, but that a 

 mixture of two-thirds air-slacked lime and one- 

 third olive oil hardened rapidly and was very 

 durable. It is probable that this was approxi- 

 mately the mixture used in the ancient cements 

 examined. 



J. L. H. 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 



wood's holl botany. 



It is encouraging to note the continuation of 

 the good work in botany which has been a 

 feature of the Marine Biological Laboratory at 

 Wood's Holl, Mass., and to observe that from 

 year to year it is gaining in strength, both as 

 to kind and quality. This year, beginning on 

 the 5th of July, work is offered in the following 

 lines, viz. : 



1. Plant Morphology and Physiology, including the 

 Cryptogams. 



2. Lectures on the Algse, with a study o£ many 

 types. 



3. Plant Cytology, for advanced students. 



4. Special Investigations. 



The first course should be especially helpful 

 to students and teachers, since it will afford an 

 opportunity of meeting and hearing many of 

 the men who are adding to our knowledge of 

 plants in many departments of botany. It is 

 worth much to learn something of the person- 

 ality, methods of work and point of view, of 

 such men as B. M. Davis (alga?), E. F. Smith 

 (bacteria), D. T. MacDougal (physiology), D. 

 H. Campbell (evolution of plants), L. M. Under- 

 wood (liverworts), H. J. Vrebber (fecundation 



in gymnosperms), G. F. Atkinson (higher fungi)/ 

 D. M. Mottier (cytology), and D. P. Penhallow 

 (paleobotany), and the teacher who does so 

 cannot fail to carry into his class-room next 

 year an inspiration to higher and better work. 



CORN PLANTS. 



Mr. Frederick Leroy Sargent has brought 

 out a pretty and timely little book on ' Corn 

 Plants, their Uses and Ways of Life,' which 

 should be widely used as a supplementary 

 reader in the schools. Unlike many supple- 

 mentary readers, this one is written by a man 

 who 'knows what he is writing about,' and 

 hence the reader is not shocked by grossly in- 

 accurate statements or crude misinterpretations. 

 It is a thoroughly commendable little book. 



The following headings of some of the sec- 

 tions of the book will give an idea of its scope 

 and the treatment of the subject : ' What Corn 

 Plants are '; ' Corn Plants in the Field '; ' How 

 Corn Plants Provide for their Offspring ' f 

 ' Wheat, the King of Cereals ' ; ' Barley, the 

 Brewer's Grain '; ' Rice, the Corn of the East '; 

 'Maize, the Corn of the West'; etc. 



The publishers (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.) 

 have done their share in typography and bind- 

 ing to make this one of the most attractive 

 books of the season. 



CANADIAN BOTANY. 



From the Curator of the Herbarium of the 

 Geological Survey of Canada we have recently 

 received the following papers, viz. : ' Contribu- 

 tions to Canadian Botany,' XL and XII., by 

 James M. Macoun, containing many new or 

 hitherto unrecorded species (nearly all the new 

 species were previously described by Professor 

 Greene in Fittonia) ; ' The Cryptogamic Flora 

 of Ottawa,' by John Macoun, including 220 

 species of mosses, 55 liverworts and 152 lichens; 

 'Notes on Some Ottawa Violets,' by James M. 

 Macoun, devoted to the seven species of 

 violets formerly included under the familiar 

 Viola cucuUcUa of the older mammals. These- 

 species are Viola septentrionalis, V. macounii, V. 

 venustula, V. cucuUata, V. cuspidata, V. affinis, 

 V. populifolia. Admirable plates accompany 

 the descriptions and make clearer the charac- 

 teristics by which they are distinguished. 



