SCIENCE 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THB ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 



OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 



FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



Friday, May 25, 1906. 

 contents. 



Stanford's Ideal Destiny: Pbofessob Wiix- 

 lAM James 801 



Plant Forms existing in Nature and Their 

 Relation to Botanical Research: De. C. F. 

 Bakeb 804 



Scientific Books: — 



Experimental Electrochemistry: Peofessoe 

 Edgab p. Smith 812 



Scientific Jowmals and Articles 813 



Societies and Academies: — 



The Geological Society of Washington: 

 De. Akthub C. Spencee. The Society of 

 Oeohydrologists : M. L. Pttllee. Boston 

 Society of Natural History: Gloveb M. 

 Allen 814 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



A Few Notes on ' Indian Mounds ' in Texas : 

 Ievino H. Wentwoeth. Megaspore or 

 Macrospore: Peofessoe Chaeles J. Cham- 

 beelain 818 



Special Articles: — • 



Dinosaurian Oastroliths: G. R. Wieland. 

 Deposit of Venus Shells in New York City: 

 J. HowAED Wilson 819 



Current Notes on Meteorology: — 



The Teaching of Climatology in the United 

 States; Lightning Conductors; Soil Tem- 

 perature and Snow Cover; Volcanic Erup- 

 tions and Rainfall: Pbofessob R. .DeC. 



Waed 822 



English Vital Statistics 823 



The Congress of the United States 824 



The California Academy of Sciences 824 



Scientific Notes and NeiDS 826 



University and Educational News 831 



USS. intended for publication ind books, etc., intended for 

 reTiew should be sent to the Editor of Scibkcb, Garriion-on- 

 Hudson, N. Y. 



STANFORD'S IDEAL DESTINY} 

 Foreigners, cominenting on our civiliza- 

 tion, have with great unanimity remarked 

 the privileged position that institutions 

 of learning occupy in America as receivers 

 of benefactions. Our typical men of 

 wealth, if they do not found a college, will 

 at least single out some college or univer- 

 sity on which to lavish legacies or gifts. 

 All the more so, perhaps, if they are not 

 college-bred men themselves. Johns Hop- 

 kins University, the University of Chicago, 

 Clark University, are splendid examples of 

 this rule. Steadily, year by year, my own 

 university. Harvard, receives from one to 

 two and a half millions. 



There is something almost pathetic in 

 the way in which our successful business 

 men seem to idealize the higher learning 

 and to believe in its efficacy for salvation. 

 Never having shared in its blessings, they 

 do their utmost to make the youth of com- 

 ing generations more fortunate. Usually 

 there is little originality of thought in their 

 generous foundations. The donors follow 

 the beaten track. Their good will has to 

 be vague, for they lack the inside knowl- 

 edge. What they usually think of is a 

 new college like all the older colleges; or 

 they ^ive new buildings to a university or 

 help to make it larger, without any definite 

 idea as to the improvement of its inner 

 form. Improvements in the character of 

 our institutions always come from the 

 genius of the various presidents and 



' Address given at Stanford University on 

 Founder's Day. 



