July 15, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



75 



liable systematic botanists wherever his studies 

 led him. In the days of my botanical work it was 

 always a great delight and support to have his 

 judgment on different plants; and I am sure that 

 this feeling has been shared by many others. 



Dr. Wheeler was a steadfast friend. It was a 

 great joy to go afield with him. His keen eyes 

 saw everything, and he enjoyed nature to the full. 

 I shall never have another such a friend. He was 

 a rare clear spirit. 



Yours truly, 



L. H. Bailet 



The thoughts so well expressed in this letter 

 by Professor Bailey are shared by his many 

 friends in Washington, at the college, in his 

 early village home and elsewhere. Though he 

 lived a quiet, peaceful life his real worth will 

 not be forgotten until those who knew him 

 shall pass as he has done, quietly into the 

 great beyond. 



He lies buried in the National Cemetery at 

 Arlington, within sight of the hills on the 

 farther side of the river, where in a soldier's 

 camp he contracted the illness that was per- 

 haps the determining cause of his botanical 

 career. 



W. F. Wight 



AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL PUBLICATIONS 

 That American mathematical activity has 

 been rapidly increasing during the last few 

 decades is a patent fact which has been the 

 subject of considerable comment on the part 

 of European mathematicians. It is, however, 

 difficult to measure this activity accurately 

 and to exhibit its increments in a clear man- 

 ner. The objects of the present note are to 

 call attention to this interesting problem and 

 to present a few facts which seem to throw 

 some light on it. 



One of the most valuable aids for the study 

 of current mathematical literature is the well- 

 known Jalirbuch uber die Fortschritte der 

 Mathematih. The latest volume of this work 

 lists and comments on about thirty-four hun- 

 dred articles and books, which appeared during 

 the year 190Y. About one twentieth of these 

 were by American authors who belong to the 

 American Mathematical Society. K we com- 

 pare this with the year 1892 we find that less 



than one fiftieth of the total mathematical 

 output was then due to members of the corre- 

 sponding society. While the total number of 

 papers and books listed increased only about 

 one third during this period of fifteen years 

 those by American authors increased threefold. 



This rapid advance is naturally the source 

 of considerable optimism, but further compari- 

 sons tend to call attention to the fact that we 

 are still far behind several other countries as 

 regards mathematical work. For instance, 

 although the French Mathematical Society 

 has only half as many members as the Amer- 

 ican, yet their articles and books listed during 

 1907 exceed ours by a considerable number; 

 and the German Mathematical Society, with a 

 membership about equal to that of the Amer- 

 ican when foreign members are excluded, had 

 twice as many publications recorded in this 

 latest volume. 



A comparison whose results appear at first 

 as still less complimentary to our mathemat- 

 ical situation relates to the publications of the 

 presidents of some of the leading mathematical 

 societies. The societies selected were as fol- 

 lows : The American Mathematical Society, 

 the London Mathematical Society, La Societe 

 Mathematique de France and Die Deutsche 

 Mathematiker-Vereinigung. We took all the 

 presidents of these societies for a period of 

 sixteen years, beginning with 1894 when the 

 American Mathematical Society assumed its 

 present name, and looked up the number of 

 references to their publications during the 

 fifteen years covered by the three general in- 

 dexes of the Revue semestrielle des publica- 

 tions mathematiques. The results were as fol- 

 lows : The average number for each of the nine 

 American presidents is 21, for each of the 

 eight English presidents it is 44, for each of 

 the twelve German presidents it is 63, and 

 for each of the sixteen French presidents it 

 is 88. 



In round numbers it thus appears that the 

 presidents of the London Mathematical So- 

 ciety, during the period under consideration, 

 published about twice as often as the presi- 

 dents of the American Mathematical Society,- 

 while in the cases of the German and French 



