May 16, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



793 



associations is therefore without foundation. 

 In fact Smith used the word precisely as other 

 botanists are using it to-day. 



Mr. Bather calls the form ecology a 'vagary 

 of incorrect spelling' of cecology. The 

 shorter spelling was formally recommended in 

 1893 by the foremost botanical organization in 

 this country, on the general ground that the 

 same considerations which make economy pre- 

 ferable to mconomy make ecology preferable to 

 cecology. The recommendation has been fol- 

 lowed by practically all writers on botanical 

 subjects in this country and occurs in nearly 

 all of the botanical works of the highest edu- 

 cational and scientific standing in America, 

 (Campbell's recent text -book is the only ex- 

 ception I have noticed), and in most if not all 

 papers now appearing based on original work 

 upon adaptations. Whether under these cir- 

 cumstances the form ecology can be properly 

 described as a vagary of incorrect spelling I 

 leave the reader to judge. 



W. F. Ganong. 



To THE Editor of Science: In spite of the 

 number of letters written with regard to the 

 word ecology, the fact has been overlooked 

 that the Standard Dictionary gives ecology, 

 so spelled, with a cross reference to cecology, 

 and so it is a great mistake to say that the 

 newest spelling is not in the latest dictionary. 

 It seems only just to the Standard Dictionary 

 that this statement should be made. 



Wallace Craig. 



Hull Zoological Labobatoet. 



In view of the recent discussion as to the 

 tardy recognition of scientific terms by the 

 dictionaries, it may be interesting to note 

 that the word tropism which is now so com- 

 monly used in the discussion of the origins 

 of motor reactions in organisms does not 

 appear in any of the dictionaries (including 

 the 'Century') that are accessible to me. 

 Neither this term nor the term ecology belong 

 to the class of narrow technical terms but 

 would demand general definition on account 

 of their comprehensive connotation. I am not 

 aware of the origin or the exact degree of re- 

 centness of the term tropism; but my impres- 

 sion is that it has been used sufficiently long 



to have secured some recognition. Still it 

 must be remembered that the word appendi- 

 citis was not current enough when the first 

 volume of the 'Century Dictionary' appeared, 

 to warrant its inclusion. 



Joseph Jastrow. 



indian summer. 



To THE Editor of Science: I wish to call 

 the attention of your readers to the exhaustive 

 articles on the origin of the term Indian sum- 

 mer, which is published in the Monthly 

 Weather Review for January and Eebruary of 

 this year. Mr. Albert Matthews (145 Beacon 

 Street, Boston, Mass.), the author of this 

 memoir, has spared no labor in collecting the 

 early examples of the use of this term. Its 

 first recorded appearance is in the year 1Y94 

 in the journal of Major Ebenezer Denny for 

 October 13, 1794, while at Le Boeuf, a few 

 miles from the present city of Erie, Pa., and 

 there can be no doubt but what the term was in 

 extensive use and well recognized at that time. 

 Since that date numerous explanations have 

 been given by different persons as to the origin 

 and original meaning of the term, but these 

 are of the nature of myths or hypotheses and it 

 is very much to be hoped that we shall yet dis- 

 cover earlier cases and the true history of its 

 introduction. We shall be very glad to hear 

 from any one who can add anything of value to 

 the elaborate paper by Mr. Matthews. 



Cleveland Abbe. 



Weather Bureau, 



U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



BOTAmOAL NOTES. 

 nature study. 

 We have had all sorts of books on 'Nature 

 Study,' and for the most part they have been 

 an abomination with nothing to redeem them, 

 possibly with the exception that the authors 

 'meant well.' Enthusiastic persons who knew 

 nothing exactly about nature, and still less 

 about children, wrote impossible lessons for the 

 pupils in the schools, and too often the super- 

 intendents knowing no more in regard to 

 either, 'adopted' these misbegotten produc- 

 tions, and issued instructions to teachers to 

 dole out so many pages a week to the defense- 



