June 9, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



903 



Philadelphia, and some of the most notable among 

 them became members of the American Philosoph- 

 ical Society. 



Talleyrand, Noailles, Chastellux, Eoehefoucauld 

 Liancourt, Brissot and Volney are known by their 

 books and by their subsequent career in France. 



One of the most active in the Philosophical 

 Society was Moreau de Saint Mery, now almost 

 forgotten, but recently rescued from oblivion by 

 the publication of some of the documents from 

 his large collection of 250 volumes, in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Wisconsin Historical Society and 

 the Canadian Archives. 



Born in the island of Martinique in 1750, dying 

 in Paris in 1819, he was employed in the royal 

 government of Saint Domingo, and published a 

 collection of the laws of the French West Indies. 

 He sent scientific papers to the American Philo- 

 sophical Society, and was elected a member in 

 1789. Driven from France, where he was a mem- 

 ber of the First Convention, representing the West 

 Indies colonies, he found refuge in Philadelphia. 



Here he opened a book store at Second and 

 Walnut Streets, published works of his own on 

 Saint Domingo, one of them translated by William 

 Cobbett, then living in Philadelphia, and his own 

 translation of a book on its prisons by Eoehefou- 

 cauld Liancourt, and one on China by VanBraam, 

 "of China Hall near Bristol," who had been a 

 member of a Dutch embassy in China, and brought 

 here a large collection of curios from China. 



Saint Mery printed a catalogue of books in 

 French, German, Italian, Latin and Greek on sale 

 in his book store, which is quite remarkable for 

 its extent at that period. His book store was 

 quite a meeting place for other French exiles of 

 all parties. Royalists, Girondins, Jacobins, and he 

 and they were frequent visitors to the Philosoph- 

 ical Society and contributors to its Proceedings. 



Eeturned to France through the influence of his 

 relative, Josephine, Napoleon gave him in succes- 

 sion important positions, and, as historiographer 

 of the Marine Department, he made the large 

 collection of documents relating to the history of 

 France in America, which is now one of the most 

 important series in the great French Archives. 



He was a diligent collector, an intelligent ob- 

 server and a notable character in his day and 

 generation, and his stay in Philadelphia was not 

 without influence on both countries. 



He followed Talleyrand in guiding Napoleon 

 to sell to the United States the vast and unknown 

 Louisiana Territory, so important in the later his- 

 tory and growth of the United States. 



When France lost its holdings on the American 

 continent. Saint Mery began to collect historical 

 documents relating to the period when France con- 

 trolled Canada and Louisiana and disputed with 

 Great Britain possession from the St. Lawrence to 

 the Gulf of Mexico. 



Now in his collection, historical students in 

 Canada and Wisconsin find the material for pub- 

 lication on the history of France in America. 

 His zeal for rescuing from destruction these 

 sources of history is now receiving acknowledg- 

 ment, and his name figures in the works of Aulard 

 and Thwaites, who find in his collection material 

 of great value for their recent contributions to 

 our knowledge of history. Apparently a modest 

 man, his service to the American Philosophical 

 Society, his contribution of his own papers and 

 books and objects of interest for its collection, 

 and in bringing to its meetings many of his fellow 

 exiles, were of value. Some of his countrymen 

 became members of the society, thanks to his 

 introduction, and among them were those who 

 played a large part in the history of France. 

 His own collection of historical documents throws 

 much light on the early French settlements in the 

 United States, and makes the best memorial of his 

 zeal in spreading useful knowledge. 



The session on Friday morning was devoted 

 especially to botany, chemistry and astrophysics, 

 and the following papers were presented: 

 Study of the Tertiary Floras of Atlantic and 

 Gulf Coastal Plain: Edwakd W. Bekky, asso- 

 ciate in paleontology, Johns Hopkins Univer- 

 sity. (Introduced by Dr. J. W. Harshberger.) 



The Desert Group Nolinece (illustrated) : William 

 Teelease, director of the Missouri Botanical 

 Garden, St. Louis. 



The Blueberry and its delation to Acid Soils: 

 F. B. CoviLLE, U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture. (Introduced by Dr. J. W. Harshberger.) 

 Experiments covering a period of five years, 

 with many kinds of soil and nutrient solutions, 

 showed that in all so-called fertile soils the blue- 

 berry either does not thrive or it dies outright. 

 In an acid peaty soil, such as occurs in bogs or 

 sandy woods, it grows luxuriantly. Ordinary 

 plants suffer in such soils from nitrogen starva- 

 tion. The blueberry, however, bears on its roots 

 a fungus which appears to act in a beneficial 

 manner by furnishing nitrogen to the plant. 



On the basis of these experiments the blueberry 

 has now been put into actual field culture on a 

 small scale, with every prospect that it will be 



