December 7, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



891 



A NEW BOTANICAL JOURNAL. 



Mr. a. a. Heller, the well-known botanical 

 collector of Lancaster, Pa., has Issued the first 

 number of a new botanical journal bearing the 

 euphonious name of Muhlenhergia. This first 

 number is an eight-page octavo, well printed, 

 on good paper. The prefatory editorial state- 

 ment indicates that it is to be somewhat like 

 Professor E. L. Greene's Pittonia, appearing, 

 like that journal, at irregular intervals, and 

 serving largely as the personal organ of its edi- 

 tor. The present number is devoted entirely 

 to 'Some Changes in Nomenclature,' in con- 

 tinuation of the first pages of the ' Catalogue of 

 North American Plants,' recently issued by the 

 same author. Other numbers are promised to 

 appear ' at early dates, ' and they are to con- 

 tain ' articles of general interest, both techni- 

 cal and non-technical, treating not only of 

 flowering plants and ferns, but of the lower 

 cryptogams as well.' 



englbr's 'pflanzenreich.' 

 The indefatigable Berlin botanist who has 

 brought one great work — ' Die Natiirlichen 

 Pflanzenfamilien ' — almost to completion, now 

 undertakes a still greater work under the title 

 'Das Pflanzenreich.' The former treated of 

 the families of plants, and the arrangement 

 and brief characterization of their genera ; the 

 latter is to give full descriptions of genera, and 

 diagnoses of all their species. The ' Pflanzen- 

 familien ' was in fact a Genera Plantarum, sup- 

 plementing, and to some extent supplanting, 

 Bentham and Hooker's ' Genera Plantarum '; 

 the ' Pflanzenreich,' on the other hand, is to be 

 a universal ' Species Plantarum.' It is by all 

 odds the greatest work in systematic botany 

 ever undertaken. 



It will be issued in the form of monographs, 

 each family receiving separate treatment. For 

 the present the work will be confined to the 

 Emhryophyta siphonogama (Spermatophyta), but 

 it is the intention of the editor to take up later 

 the Emhryophyta asiphonogama, and ultimately 

 the Euthallophyta and Myxothallophyta. The 

 families are numbered, and the monographs will 

 appear as fast as they are completed. The first 

 one to appear is Family 45 — Musaceae — from 

 the pen of Dr. Karl Schumann. Its treatment 



is such as to assure us of the most satisfactory 

 results. ■ In particular are the excellent illus- 

 trations to be commended. 



Charles E. Bbssey. 

 The Univeksity of Nebraska. 



PRACTICAL RESULTS OBTAINED FROM TBE 

 STUDY OF EARTHQUAKES. 



From observations on the destructive effects 

 of earthquakes, the knowledge obtained re- 

 specting the actual nature of earthquake mo- 

 tion, and from experiments made upon brick 

 and other structures, new rules and formulro 

 for the use of engineers and builders have been 

 established. In Japan and other countries, 

 these have been exteusively applied in the 

 construction of piers for bridges, tall chimneys, 

 walls, ordinary dwellings, embankments, reser- 

 voirs, etc. Inasmuch as the new types of struc- 

 tures have withstood violent earth shakings, 

 whilst ordinary types in the neighborhood have 

 failed, it may be inferred that much has already 

 been accomplished to minimize the loss of life 

 and property. 



The application of seismometry to the work- 

 ing of railways, particularly in Japan, has led 

 to the localization of faults on lines, and alter- 

 ations in the balancing of locomotives. The 

 result of the latter has been to decrease the con- 

 sumption of fuel. 



Records of the unfelt movements of earth- 

 quakes indicate the time, the position, and 

 what is of more importance, also the cause of 

 certain cable interruptions. The practical im- 

 portance of this latter information, especially 

 to communities who may by cable failures, be 

 suddenly isolated from the rest of the world, is 

 evident. The many occasions that earthquake 

 records have furnished definite information re- 

 specting disasters which have taken place in 

 distant countries, correcting and extending 

 telegraphic reports relating to the same, is an- 

 other indication of the practical utility of 

 seismic observations. Seismograms have fre- 

 quently appraised us of sea waves and violent 

 earthquakes in districts from which it is im- 

 possible to receive telegrams, whilst the absence 

 of such records has frequently indicated that 

 information in newspapers has been without 

 foundation, or at least exaggerated. The 



