April 19, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



633 



American species), (4) Marsippospermum (3 

 South Pacific species), (5) Bostkovia (1 Ant- 

 arctic species), (6) Prionium (1 South 

 African species), (7) Luzula (61 species, 

 widely distributed), (8) Juncus (209 species, 

 widely distributed). The monograph is illus- 

 trated by 121 cuts in the text, including 

 approximately four hundred individual 

 figures. 



Professor Doctor B. L. Robinson's address 

 Oil ' The Problems of Ecology,' given at the 

 Congress of Arts and Science, during the 

 Exposition at St. Louis, 1904, has been re- 

 printed as a twelve-page pamphlet. In speak- 

 ing of Ecology he closes with these significant 

 sentences: "Dealing as it does with the vital 

 relations of plants to their surroundings, it 

 yields infonnation of the highest importance 

 to the farmer, nurseryman and landscape 

 gardener. Indeed it bridges just that all too 

 wide gap between theoretical and applied 

 botany, connecting the abstruse fields of plant 

 anatomy, plant physiology and classification 

 with the concrete applications of botany in 

 agriculture, horticulture and forestry. The 

 eeologist will never lack that wondarful 

 stimulus which comes to the investigator who 

 is conscious that his work is important to the 

 welfare of his fellow beings, and intimately 

 bound up with human progress." 



THE NORTH AJIERICAN FLORA 



Last October Part 1 of Volume 7 of the 

 * North American Flora ' was received by sub- 

 scribers for this work. It was devoted to the 

 Ustilaginales (smuts) and was from the hand 

 of Dr. G. P. Clinton, a specialist in this group 

 of plants. Two families {TJstilaginaceae and 

 Tilletiaceae) were monographed, the first con- 

 taining 11 genera and 133 species, and the 

 second 8 genera and 78 species. We have 

 now another part (part 2) of the same vol- 

 ume, continuing the paging from 83 to 160, 

 and devoted to the Uredinales. This part is 

 by Dr. J. C. Arthur, who is well known as the 

 foremost American student of the rusts, and 

 whose contributions have often been noticed 

 in these columns. He divides the order into 

 three families {Coleosporiaceae, Uredinaceae 

 and Aecidiaceae) , the first and second of 



which are completed, the third (and much the 

 largest) being broken off near the end of the 

 fourteenth of its thirty-seven genera. The 

 author follows the general outline given by 

 him in a paper presented at the International 

 Botanical Congress at Vienna last year, with 

 some modification, however. A fuller notice 

 is reserved until the completion of the mono- 



The four parts now published enable sub- 

 scribers and others to get some idea of the 

 bigness of the undertaking on the part of Dr. 

 Britton and his eolleag-ues to bring out a com- 

 plete flora of North America. These parts 

 average 88 pages each, and they have ap- 

 peared at intervals which average about seven 

 months in length. At this rate none of us 

 would live to see the completion of the great 

 work, but it is to be supposed that the parts 

 will soon begin appearing at much shorter 

 intervals. In the meantime it is evident that 

 every working botanist, and every department 

 of botany in every college and university, will 

 have to become a subscriber to this greatest 

 systematic work ever projected for any 

 country. 



Charles E. Bessey 

 The University of Nebraska 



TBE NEW CHEMICAL LABORATORY OF TEE 

 RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE 



The building is of four stories, and built 

 of Indiana limestone and Harvard brick with 

 roof of copper. It is entirely fire-proof, the 

 partitions being of hollow brick, plastered, 

 and the floors of concrete with a terrazzo 

 finish. The woodwork trimmings of doors, 

 windows and cases are of oak. The frame- 

 work of the building is of steel construction. 

 The staircases are of iron with treads of 

 Tennessee marble. The hallways are tiled up 

 to seven feet from the floor with 3x6 white 

 tile, the baseboard being of Tennessee marble. 

 The windows are very large and the glazing is 

 of plate glass. 



First Floor. — Assay Laboratory (54 x 52 ft.). 

 This laboratory furnishes desk accommodation 

 and furnace room for seventy-four students at 

 once, which is the largest fire-room accommo- 



