FEBKtTAET 25, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



301 



is seen to be merged in the larger and general 

 question. 



What that is at Princeton, it is perfectly 

 well known. President Wilson has left his 

 attitude in no doubt. He is for the freest 

 and fullest play of the democratic spirit in 

 colleges, and as a means of securing it at 

 Princeton urged the system of dormitories in 

 which all the students should live. This in- 

 volved the abolition of the expensive and ex- 

 clusive clubs which have been so marked a 

 feature of life at Princeton. But though the 

 faculty approved a proposal which many con- 

 sidered revolutionary, the trustees have thus 

 far declined to give their assent to it. This is 

 clearly the question about which the " dissen- 

 sions " have sprung up, involving as is known 

 a great deal of bitter feeling with rumors that 

 President Wilson would be forced to resign. — 

 New York Evening Post. 



An attitude was taken towards Mr. Proctor's 

 generosity in regard to Princeton's long-pro- 

 fessed hope, he was catechized in such a man- 

 ner in regard to what he was attempting with 

 commendable forbearance to do for his Alma 

 Mater, that, as Mr. Pyne said in the statement 

 he felt it necessary to make public, " Prom the 

 start his generosity has met with such an 

 extraordinary reception, his motives have been 

 so misconstrued, his patience has been so sorely 

 tried that self-respect has at last demanded the 

 withdrawal of his princely gift. Thus at least 

 $900,000 has been lost to Princeton by the 

 treatment he has received." 



The recent meeting of the Board of Trus- 

 tees closed one act of this remarkable drama 

 — with an anti-climax. It has by no means 

 settled the matter. We have merely lost a 

 Graduate College, with very little chance now 

 of getting one. But the controversy over the 

 issues raised seems only to have begun. The 

 object of the recent meeting of the board was 

 to call a truce. ... To state, therefore, as 

 most of the newspapers did, that Mr. Pyne 

 and the other members of the board who were 

 not in accord with the treatment by the Com- 

 mittee of Pive of Mr. Proctor's offer were won 

 over from their position is about as far from 

 the truth as it could be. They stand exactly 



where they stood before, only more staunchly 

 so, more indignantly so, and have expressed 

 the desire to have this clearly recognized. 

 — Jesse Lynch Williams in The Princeton 

 Alumni Weekly. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 New Manual of Botany of the Central Rochy 



Mountains (Vascular Plants). By John M. 



Coulter. Eevised by Aven Nelson. New 



York, American Book Company. January, 



1910. 



When the present reviewer landed in Amer- 

 ica, in 1887, his first purchase was a copy of 

 Coulter's "Manual of Eocky Mountain Bot- 

 any," at that time rather recently published. 

 In his subsequent wanderings over the state 

 of Colorado, this volume was his inseparable 

 companion, proving itself a most serviceable 

 hand-book to the flora of the region. In 

 those days it was innocently supposed that the 

 Eocky Mountain flora had been nearly all de- 

 scribed, and if a plant did not altogether agree 

 with any of the descriptions, it was generally 

 assumed that the species must be variable. It 

 was not possible for the worker in the field to 

 discover that numerous species, supposed to 

 be identical with those of distant regions, were 

 in reality quite distinct. 



About the year 1894 there began a new era 

 in the study of Eocky Mountain plants. The 

 material in the herbaria was scrutinized anew, 

 and many collections were made in different 

 parts of Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. 

 Presently new species began to be described, 

 and new generic names proposed. The activ- 

 ity increased until the output was astonishing, 

 and this has continued down to the present 

 time. The old manual no longer represented 

 the knowledge of the day, and a new edition 

 was planned. This was placed in the hands of 

 Professor Aven Nelson, of the University of 

 Wyoming, who has been a much larger con- 

 tributor to the knowledge of Eocky Mountain 

 plants than all the other residents of that re- 

 gion combined. The appearance of the new 

 book was looked forward to with extreme inter- 

 est and impatience by students of this flora, 

 and now that it is out, many are the discus- 



