SCIENCE 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 
OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE : S. NEwcomB, Mathematics; R. S. WoopwaRpD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, 
Astronomy ; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics ; R. H. THuRSTON, Engineering ; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry ; 
JOSEPH LE ConTE, Geology ; W. M. Davis, Physiography ; HENRY F. OsBorN, Paleontology ; 
W. K. Brooks, C. HART MERRIAM, Zoology ; S. H. ScUDDER, Entomology ; C. E. BESSEY, 
N. L. Brirron, Botany ; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology ; H. P. BowpritcH, 
Physiology; J. 8S. BILLINGS, 
Hygiene ; 
WILLIAM H. WEtcH, Pathology ; 
J. MCKEEN CATTELL, Psychology ; J. W. POWELL, Anthropology. 
Fripay, Fesruary 1, 1901. 
CONTENTS : 
A Decade of North American Paleobotany: PRo- 
FESSOR D. P. PENHALLOW ..........0..0000s0eeeeee 161 
Determination of the Sun’s Distance from Observa- 
tions of Eros: PROFESSOR W. W. CAMPBELL... 176 
On the Nature of the Solar Corona, with some Sug- 
gestions for Work at the Next Total Eclipse: 
PROFESSOR R. W. WOOD........20..secceeseeessenee 179 
Chicago Section of the American Mathematical So- 
ciety: PROFESSOR THOMAS F. HOLGATE......... 181 
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters: 
FRANK CHAPMAN SHARP. .........0.c.sseeneeeeeenes 181 
Scientific Books :— 
Ormond on the Foundations of Knowledge: PRO- 
FESSOR R. M. WENLEY. Cohnheim’s Chemie 
der Hiweisskorper : PROFESSOR LAFAYETTE B. 
MENDEL. WNoitter’s Treatise on Hygiene: DR. 
Wo Bl; 1EYATsocosenn9onooncdn020090008000059000000000000 182 
Scientific Journals and Articles...........0.++-1+-1000 186 
Societies and Academies :— 
Geological Society of Washington: Dr. F. L. 
RANSOME AND DAviID WHITE. Biological 
Society of Washington: F. A. Lucas. Philo- 
sophical Society of Washington: CHARLES K. 
WEAD. The Las Vegas Science Club: T. D. A. 
C. New York Section of the American Chemical 
Society : DR. DURAND WOODMAN..........+0..0+5 187 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Note on Vegeto-electricity: I. THORNTON Os- 
MOND. Scientific Expedition to Iceland, Green- 
land and Labrador: DR. R. A. DALY ............ 191 
Current Notes on Meteorology :— 
Report of the Chief of the Weather Bureau ; West 
Indian Hurricanes; The Monthly Weather Re- 
view: PROFESSOR R. DEC. WARD...........2..06+ 192 
Botanical Notes :— N 
Botanical Opportunities in Washington ; Central 
Massachusetts Forests; Chrysanthemum Rust : 
PROFESSOR CHARLES HE. BESSEY .....-......00000+ 193 
The National Observatory Question 195 
Scientific Notes and News............. .... 196 
University and Educational News...........c.seceeesseee 199 
MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Pro- 
fessor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. 
A DECADE OF NORTH AMERICAN PALEO- 
BOTANY. 1890-1900.* 
Tue history of paleobotany constitutes a 
record of the most persistent and painstak- 
ing efforts to unravel a series of great facts 
which have been left by the wayside of 
time through an untold period of the earth’s 
history, and to interpret them with refer- 
ence to their true significance in the life of 
this planet. 
Although attention had been directed to 
the phenomena of plants preserved in the 
crust of the earth essentially with the first 
discovery of coal, their occurrence did not 
excite very marked interest until the latter 
part of the seventeenth century—the obser- 
vations of that time being made from the 
standpoint of the curious in nature, rather 
than from an appreciation or even sugges- 
tion of their scientific value, and it was not 
until 1709 that the first meritorious attempt 
to describe them in a scientific spirit was 
made. From then on through the remainder 
of the eighteenth century, a very consider- 
able literature accumulated, and the infant 
science passed through what Ward has so 
very aptly called the ‘twilight of its de- 
velopment,’ while very nearly a full century 
passed before Schlotheim published the re- 
sults of those studies which must be taken 
* Address of the President of the Society of Plant 
Morphology and Physiology, given before the Balti- 
more Meeting, December, 1900. 
