November 3, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



603 



voyages, the hoped-for success of the aeroplane 

 in war and in peace, the development of agri- 

 culture, the safety of our vessels, all depend 

 on our knowledge of the atmosphere, and our 

 anticipation of its vagaries. 



We have done wonders on land and sea, on 

 the mountains and underneath the oceans, but 

 we have scarcely begun to appreciate what we 

 may do in the atmosphere. We may not 

 change its winds, its rains and snows, but we 

 may learn to utilize them to advantage. The 

 investment of a half million dollars in one 

 laboratory, with its physicists and mathema- 

 ticians devoted to research in the physics and 

 mechanics of the atmosphere, would do for 

 meteorology as much as the wonderful observa- 

 tory at Mount Wilson is doing for astronomy. 



One hundred years ago James Smithson 

 of England entrusted his fortune to the 

 United States as executor of his will, and 

 from that evidence of his faith in America, 

 innumerable benefits have followed. How 

 long will it be before meteorology receives a 

 corresponding attention ? 



The state of New York has furnished such 

 men as Myer from Buffalo, Henry from Al- 

 bany, Eedfield from New York — eminent stu- 

 dents who died without realizing their fondest 

 hopes. Americans are profiting unconsciously 

 by their labors in meteorology. Will they not 

 invest 1 per cent, of their earnings in the pro- 

 motion of an institute devoted to man's prog- 

 ress in this important science? They can do 

 nothing better for humanity. 



C. Abbe 



MORE BOTANICAL ERRORS 



Professor Newcombe's communication en- 

 titled " Professor Punnett's Error," on page 

 442 of the present volume of Science, prompts 

 me to call attention to the fact that Punnett 

 is not the only zoological writer who displays 

 ignorance of elementary botanical facts. Two 

 books in common use in our universities ex- 

 hibit the same error as Mr. Punnett's book. 

 One of these, " The First Principles of He- 

 redity," by Dr. Herbert, contains the following 

 exposition (page 21) : " Among plants we find 

 male and female germ-cells in all flowering 



species — the former, the pollen-grain, being 

 developed in the anther of the stamen of the 

 flower; the latter, the ovule, lying in the 

 ovary, to which the pistil leads. Most flowers 

 possess both sexual organs, stamen as well as 

 pistil ; . . . " It will be sufficient to point 

 out three of the patent misconceptions in this 

 extract : (1) the pollen-grain and ovule are 

 not germ-cells; (2) the stigma or style, not 

 the pistil, leads to the ovary, which is itself 

 part of the pistil; (3) stamen and pistil are 

 not sexual organs, for they bear asexual 

 spores. The second work referred to is E. 

 Davenport's " Principles of Breeding." On 

 page 161, speaking of the ovum, the writer 

 says " Its equivalent in plants is the ovule." 

 In the next paragraph the writer says that the 

 spermatozoon is " the functional equivalent 

 of the pollen grain of plants." The errors 

 here involve the same misconception as in 

 the first ease, but are less serious. 



Botanists of course regret that the term 

 ovary should have been wrongly applied to the 

 sac which contains megasporangia, but the 

 usage seems to be here to stay, and certain of 

 our zoological brethren might well consult a 

 dictionary when dealing with botanical 

 topics. 



M. A. Chrysler 



" WASHINGTON SCIENCE " 



Under the above caption which is assumed 

 to have " depreciatory significance," " Wash- 

 ingtonian " " who has spent nearly half a cen- 

 tury in scientific work, under government 

 auspices " writes' defending government 

 scientists. 



It is with pleasure that I endorse every 

 statement of his article and in many cases I 

 could add much more of commendation from 

 my personal knowledge. It is suggested that 

 " outsiders " can help if they will to promote 

 the ideal service, hence I have attempted to 

 define what " depreciatory significance " the 

 above title might have in my mind and to 

 suggest a remedy. 



It seems to me that the difficulty is one of 



^Science, N. S., XXXIV., 405, September 29, 

 1911. 



