400 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. XIV. No. 358 



In morphology a review would be ineffective which did not go 

 somewhat deeply into detail. The splendid hypothesis of Schwen- 

 dener, of the composite nature of lichens as a commensal union of 

 Alga and Pimgz, has gradually won its way into acceptance. In 

 England there is little of the first rank which calls for note except 

 the researches of Bower on the production of se.xual organs on the 

 leafy plant in ferns without the intervention of an intermediate 

 generation. 



In vegetable physiology there seems. a pause. The purely physi- 

 cal line of inquiry, as already suggested, seems to have yielded its 

 utmost. The more biological line of inquiry has only yet begun to 

 yield a foretaste of the results which will undoubtedly ultimately 

 flow from it. 



Something must be added as to systematic and geographical botany. 

 The " Genera Plantarum " of Bentham and Hooker, the work of a 

 quarter of a century at Kew, affords a complete review of the 

 higher vegetation of the world, and has been accepted generally as 

 a standard authority. To Bentham also we owe the completion of 

 the " Flora Australiensis," the first complete account of the fiora 

 of any great continent. 



In geographical botany, perhaps the most interesting results 

 have been the gradual elaboration of a theory as to the distribution 

 of plants in Africa, and the botanical e.xploration of China, of the 

 vegetable productions of which, twenty years ago, almost nothing 

 was known. 



In the classification of the lower plants, perhaps the most inter- 

 esting result has been the happy observations of Lankester upon a 

 colored bacterium, which enabled him to show that many forms 

 previously believed to be distinct might be phases of the same life- 

 history. 



In geology probably the greatest advance has been in the ap- 

 plication of the microscope to the investigation of rock-structure, 

 which has given rise to a really rational petrology. All except the 

 coarser-grained rocks were only capable of being described in vague 

 terms. With modern methods, their crystalline constituents are 

 determinable, however minute, and the conditions under which 

 they were formed can be inferred. 



It is impossible, even in a brief review of this kind, to think only 

 of what has been won, and to ignore the loss of leaders who were 

 once foremost in the fray. In England three names which will 

 never be forgotten have been removed from the muster-roll. Dar- 

 win, Joule, and Maxwell can hardly be at once replaced by suc- 

 cessors of equal eminence. As the need arises, however, men will 

 no doubt be found adequate to the emergency, and it is at least 

 satisfactory to know that they will appeal to a public more capable 

 than heretofore of appreciating their efforts. 



The support afforded by the governments of western Europe to 

 scientific investigation has been markedly increased within the 

 period which we survey. France has largely extended her subsi- 

 dies to scientific research, while Germany has made use of a large 

 part of her increased imperial revenue to improve the arrangements 

 for similar objects existing in her universities. The British Gov- 

 ernment has shown a decided inclination in the same direction ; 

 the grant to the Royal Society for the promotion of scientific re- 

 search has been increased from ;£i,ooo to _£4,ooo a year; while' 

 subsidies have been voted to the Marine Laboratory at Plymouth, 

 10 the Committee on Solar Physics, to the Meteorological Council, 

 and quite recently to the university colleges throughout the 

 country ; of which last it is to be hoped that a fair proportion will 

 be devoted to the promotion of research rather than to the reduc- 

 tion of class fees. 



Twenty years ago, England was in the birth-throes of a national 

 system of primary instruction. This year has seen the state recog- 

 nition of the necessity of a secondary and essentially a scientific 

 system of education, and the Technical Instruction Act marks an 

 era in the scientific annals of the nation. 



The extension of scientific teaching has gone on rapidly within 

 and without our universities. Twenty years ago the Clarendon 

 Laboratory at Oxford was approaching completion, and was the 

 only laboratory in the country which was specially designed for 

 physical work. Now, not only has Cambridge also its Cavendish 

 Laboratory, but both universities have rebuilt their chemieal labora- 

 tories, both have erected buildings devoted to the study of biology. 



and the instruction of students in both zoology and botany has 

 taken a characteristic practical form which we owe to the system 

 of concentrating attention on a series of selected " types " intro- 

 duced by RoUeston and by Huxley. Oxford has been furnished 

 with an astronomical observatory by the liberality of Warren de 

 la Rue, and Cambridge has accepted the noble gift of the Newall 

 telescope. Nor have such proofs of the vitality of science been con- 

 fined to the universities. 



Twenty years ago the Owens College was a unique institution. 

 Now, united with two thriving colleges in Leeds and Liverpool, it 

 forms the Victoria University ; while science is studied in appro- 

 priate buildings in Birmingham, Newcastle, Nottingham, and half 

 a dozen towns beside. 



A race is thus springing up which has sufficient knowledge of 

 science to enforce due recognition of its importance ; and public 

 opinion can now, far more than in the past, be relied on to support 

 its demands. Fortunately, too, these can be authoritatively exr 

 pressed. The Royal Society wields, if it chooses to exercise it, an 

 enormous power for good. Admitted on all hands to be the su- 

 preme scientific authority in this country, its decisions are accepted 

 with a deference which can spring only from respect for the knowl- 

 edge and scrupulous fairness by which they are dictated. If some- 

 times it moves slowly, it is delightful to turn from the babble of 

 the politicians to the study of an institution which does its work 

 well, and perhaps too noiselessly. But even the House of Com- 

 mons, hitherto ignorant and therefore apathetic in matters scien- 

 tific, is awakening to the fact that there are forces to be reckoned 

 with, and impulses to be stimulated and controlled, which are of 

 more enduring import to the national welfare than mere party 

 politics. And the people, too, are beginning to see that it is to the 

 economic working of these forces, and to the right direction of 

 these impulses, that their representatives are bound to give atten- 

 tion. True it is that another generation may possibly pass away 

 before either the House of Commons or even ministers are suffi- 

 ciently instructed in science to recognize fully their responsibility 

 in this direction. 



Whatever, then, the future may bring, the last twenty years have 

 been characterized by progress both steady and rapid. The tide 

 flows on with no sign of check, and we accept the success of Na- 

 ture in no spirit of self-gratulation, but as a straw by which the 

 speed of the current may be gauged. 



HEALTH MATTERS. 

 Ozone in the Treatment of Phthisis. 



Ransome records the treatment of thirteen cases of pulmonary 

 tuberculosis by the inhalation of ozone. Each cylinder used con- 

 tained seven litres of pure oxygen ozonized up to nine per cent. 

 No other treatment was employed. The cases represented various 

 stages of the disease, and were all under observation for more than 

 one year. The author says that the results obtained were a con- 

 tinuous freedom from fever, absence of night-sweats, diminished 

 expectoration, and great gain in weight and strength. 



The author believes that ozone does not act as a direct germi- 

 cide, and that the control over the disease does not seem to come 

 from any direct action upon the tubercle bacillus. It acts by re- 

 storing tone to diseased portions, and has a beneficial effect on the 

 general health. 



In (he paper the daily notes are given of each case. As the 

 Brooklyji Medical Journal observes, one can hardly find the au- 

 thor's conclusions in these notes. In one case, certainly, the in- 

 halations caused a fresh bronchitis, and emesis also ocurred in 

 others. These patients, perhaps, would have improved quite as 

 much if no ozone had been given, as they received good care and 

 good food. The author offers the treatment as giving the best re- 

 sults as yet obtained. 



New Jersey Sanitary Association. — The New Jersey 

 Sanitary Association met in the State House, Trenton, on Nov. 32 

 and 23. The officers were Dr. Dowling Benjamin of Camden, 

 president ; and Dr. D. C. English of New Brunswick, secretary. 

 Papers were read on the following subjects : " The East Orange 

 Sewage Disposal Works," by C. P. Bassett, C.E. ; " The Passaic 



