October 25, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



549 



chusetts made a decision on October 19, 

 which concerns the matter, and is of much 

 scientific importance. Action was brought 

 by Herman Julius Meyer, of Leipsic, pub- 

 lisher of Brehm's Thierleben against Estes & 

 Lauriat, and S. E. Cassino & Co., for the 

 breach of a contract made by them with the 

 plaintiff in 1 883, for the sale of plates to 

 publish a natural historjr. By the terms of 

 the contract the defendants were not to sell 

 or dispose of the plates. It was for a 

 breach of this provision that this suit was 

 brought. The plaintiff claimed to be en- 

 titled to recover a §30,000 penalty, as pro- 

 vided in the agreement, for a breach of the 

 contract, as well as damages for the breach. 

 The Judge at the trial in the Superior Court 

 held that he was not entitled to recover. 

 The decision now given holds that the 

 plaintiff cannot recover the amount of the 

 penalty, but is entitled to compensation for 

 the breach of the agreement in disposing of 

 the plates. 



Peof. G. Macloskie, of Princeton, has 

 published in the October number of the 

 Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club an 

 article. on 'Antidromy in Plants,' previously 

 read before the Botanical Section of the 

 American Association. The author reports 

 the discovery that all species of Pha3nogams 

 appear to have two castes of individual 

 plants, born of the same mother-plant, and 

 differing by being slightly curved in opposite 

 directions. Phyllotaxy is only one of the 

 manifestations of this: and all plants seem 

 to have heterodromous phyllotaxy between 

 the diiferent individuals of a species, and 

 homodromous phyllotaxy within an indi- 

 vidual and with all the quasi-individuals 

 produced from it by cuttings or bulbs. 

 Thus half the members of a species are ' anti- 

 dromous ' with the other half, the difference 

 apparently arising from their being derived 

 from seeds borne on opposite margins of a 

 carpellary phyllome. In some cases plants 

 derived from the same root-stock, as Iris, 



Colla-lily and Rush, are relatively anti- 

 dromous. Antidromj^ is a primitive char- 

 acter, affecting mother-seed, embryo, stem, 

 leaves and inflorescence. It is frequently 

 disguised and concealed by secondary 

 changes, as twining of stems and contor- 

 tions of flowers, spreading out and opposi- 

 tion of leaves. It affords a ready solution 

 of puzzling problems, and is iiseful in sug- 

 gesting new problems and new lines of dis- 

 covery. 



The Huxley Memorial Committee is ex- 

 pected to take prompt action in the matter 

 of organizing an American Committee. The 

 latest reports from Professor Howe indicate 

 that substantially all the American scien- 

 tific men who have been thought of as pos- 

 sibly willing to serve have, so far as ap- 

 proached, signified their willingness to do 

 what they can in the matter. The biolo- 

 gists are likely to be well represented, par- 

 ticularly, and the leaders in scientific work 

 in every field will do their full share. It is 

 hoped and anticipated that the contribu- 

 tions from the United States will rival those 

 of Great Britain and exceed those of any 

 other nation. 



At a meeting of the Graduate Students' 

 Association of the Johns Hopkins Univer- 

 sity, on October 11th, brief addresses were 

 announced by Professor Brooks, on ' Hux- 

 ley;' by Professor Rowland, on ' Helmholz;' 

 by Professor Welch, on ' Pasteur,' and by 

 President Oilman, on ' Dana.' 



Nature states that a commission has been 

 appointed charged with undertaking a sys- 

 tematic geological survey of Cape Colony. 

 The commission intends to prepare at once 

 a bibliography of all previous publications 

 relating to the geology of the Colony. 



The late Professor Babington, of Cam- 

 bridge, bequeathed to the University his 

 entire collection of plants. His botanical 

 library was presented to the University in 

 1888. 



