December 29, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



931 



were more toxic in fresh water than in cer- 

 tain strengths of salt water, and this even to 

 fresh-water fishes. One ohvious interpreta- 

 tion is that these poisons were merely neu- 

 tralized chemically by the ingredients of the 

 sea-water, outside of the body of the fish, but 

 this explanation is rendered improbable by a 

 variety of considerations which can not be 

 discussed within the limits of the present 

 article. 



The employment of pure NaCl, instead of 

 sea-water, in these last experiments, would 

 not probably have affected the outcome, if we 

 may judge by recent work of Loeb, in which 

 he found that the poisonous effect of zinc sul- 

 phate upon Fundulus eggs was neutralized by 

 the former salt. 



Loeb's assertion that " salts alone have 

 such antagonistic effects " certainly does not 

 apply to adult fishes. I need only call atten- 

 tion to the fact that cane-sugar solutions of 

 certain strengths were found by me to very 

 clearly defer the fatal action of the copper 

 salts, both upon Fundulus heteroclitus and 

 upon certain fresh-water species. It had first 

 been ascertained that cane sugar did not, in 

 any concentration, take the place of sea salts 

 or of sodium chloride in prolonging indefi- 

 nitely the life of Fundulus. Whether or not 

 these facts can be brought into harmony with 

 Loeb's " tanning " hypothesis, I do not pre- 

 tend to know. 



And now, while I am unearthing some of 

 these long-buried records of the past, I can not 

 refrain from repeating one of my articles of 

 faith therein expressed: 



The writer is not in the least in sympathy with 

 the tendency, so often manifested, to explain the 

 most complex of natural phenomena by a few 

 simple chemical or physical formulae. If the prin- 

 ciples which I have invoked [referring to certain 

 tentative hypotheses] operate at all in the way in 

 which I have supposed, they operate in conjunc- 

 tion with other principles so obscure and complex 

 that a complete solution of these problems is cer- 

 tainly very far distant. 



Francis B. Sumner 



U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, 

 Washington, D. C, 

 November 28, 1911 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE BOTANICAIi SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 74th regular meeting of the society was 

 held at the Cosmos Club, Tuesday, October 10, 

 1911, at eight o'clock p.m. In the absence of the 

 regular officers. Dr. Albert Mann presided. 

 Twenty-five members were present. 



The following papers were read: 



The Wilting Coefficient for Different Plants and 

 its Indirect Determination: Dr. L. J. Bkigqs 

 and Dr. H. L. Shantz. (Presented by Dr. 

 Shantz. ) 



The Forest of Arden, a Dream: H. C. Skeels. 



The Forest of Arden is a 300-acre tract of 

 native woodland, three miles east of Joliet, 111., 

 in the valley of Hickory Creek, and forms a part 

 of the 2,000-acre estate, Harlow-Arden, of Mr. H. 

 N. Higinbotham, of Chicago. The creek is dammed 

 in three places, with locks through the two upper 

 dams, giving a mile and a half of boating. Five 

 miles of gravel drives have been laid out, the pur- 

 pose being to display the landscape beauties of 

 mixed meadows and woods to the best advantage. 

 Along these drives, beginning with the ferns and 

 following the accepted sequence of plant families 

 to the composites, there has been planted a botanic 

 garden of 2,000 species, room being left for as 

 many more. 



Each species is located by its place in the se- 

 quence, and by a map, cross-sectioned to square 

 100 feet on each side, accompanied by an index 

 giving the plant names and the number of the 

 square on which each will be found. There are 

 no formal beds and no labels, but the species are 

 there, to be seen by those interested. 



The eleventh annual business meeting of the 

 society was held on Tuesday, October 24, 1911. 

 Officers were elected as follows: President, W. A. 

 Orton; Vice-president, A. S. Hitchcock; Recording 

 Secretary, Edw. C. Johnson; Corresponding Secre- 

 tary, W. W. Stockberger; Treasurer, F. L. Lew- 

 ton. The executive committee reported an active 

 membership of 104, there having been nineteen 

 accessions during the year. 



The 75th regular meeting of the society, held 

 November 14, 1911, in conjunction with the Wash- 

 ington Academy of Sciences, was devoted to a lec- 

 ture by Dr. W. L. Johannsen, of Copenhagen. 

 The subject of the lecture was "Heterozygosis in 

 Pure Lines of Beans and Barley." 



The 7(>th regular meeting was held at the Cos- 



