Septembke 28, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



475 



cal changes were found to be essentially the 

 same as those observable on the stimulation 

 of muscle. We find, then, that the ad- 

 vances in Physiology, like those in Anat- 

 omy, teach the essential unity of life in all 

 living things, whether we call them animals 

 or plants. 



"With this in our minds we may go on to 

 consider in conclusion, and very briefly, 

 that department of physiological study 

 which is known as the Bionomics or OEcol- 

 ogy of plants. In the earlier part of the 

 century this subject was studied more es- 

 pecially with regard to the distribution of 

 plants, and their relation to soil and climate; 

 but since the publication of the ' Origin of 

 Species ' the purview has been greatly ex- 

 tended. It then became necessary to study 

 the relation of plants, not only to inorganic 

 conditions, but to each other and to ani- 

 mals ; in a word, to study all the adap- 

 tations of the plant with reference to 

 the struggle for existence. The result has 

 been the accumulation of a vast amount 

 of most interesting information. For in- 

 stance, we are now fairly well acquainted 

 with the adaptations of water-plants (hy- 

 drophytes) on the one band and of des- 

 ert-plants (xerophytes) on the other ; 

 with the adaptations of shade-plants and of 

 those growing in full sun, especially as re- 

 gards the protection of the chlorophyll. 

 We have learned a great deal as to the re- 

 lations of plants to each other, such as the 

 peculiarities of parasites, epiphytes, and 

 climbing plants, and as to those singular 

 symbioses (Mycorhiza) of the higher plants 

 with Fungi which have been found to be 

 characteristic of saprophytes. Then, again, 

 as to the relations between plants and ani- 

 mals : the adaptation of flowers to attract 

 the visits of insects, first discovered by 

 Sprengel (1793), has been widely studied- 

 the protection of the plant against the at- 

 tacks of animals, by means of thorns and 

 spines on the surface, as also by the forma- 



tion in its tissues of poisonous or distasteful 

 substances, and even by the hiring of an 

 army of mercenaries in the form of ants, 

 has been elucidated ; and finally those cases 

 in which the plant turns the tables upon 

 the animal, and captures and digests him, 

 are now fully understood. 



CONCLUSION. 



Imperfect as is the sketch which I have 

 now completed, it will, I think, sufiSce to 

 show how remarkable has been the prog- 

 ress of the science during the nineteenth 

 century, more particularly the latter part of 

 it, and how multifarious are the directions 

 in which it has developed. In fact Botany 

 can no longer be regarded as a single sci- 

 ence : it has grown and branched into a 

 congeries of sciences. And as we botanists 

 regard with complacency the flourishing 

 condition of the science whose servants we 

 are, let ns not forget, on the one hand, to 

 do honor to those whose life work it was to 

 make the way straight for us, and whose 

 conquests have become our peaceful posses- 

 sion ; nor, on the other, that it lies with us 

 so to carry on the good work that when 

 this Section meets a hundred years hence 

 it may be found that the achievements of 

 the twentieth century do not lag behind 

 those of the nineteenth. 



S. H. Vines. 



THE METHOD OF TYPES IN BOTANICAL 

 N 031 ENGL A TUBE.''' 



For many decades the systematic botany 

 of the United States can scarcely be said to 

 have had a history separate from that of 

 Europe, so extensively were our treasures 

 exploited by transient visitors, while resi- 

 dent students of the science long remained 



* Bead at the New York meeting of the Botanical 

 Club of the A. A. A. S., through the kindness of Mr. 

 Charles Louis Pollard. On motion the paper was re- 

 ferred to the Committee on Nomenclature and the au- 

 thor was requested to offer it for publication in Sci- 

 ence. 



