October 2, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



435 



book is unfortunate in this respect. The 

 teclmique suggested in many cases, doubtless, 

 will not be received with favor by experienced 

 laboratory workers. 



Claim to originality is made by the author 

 with respect to the presentation of the sub- 

 ject only. On the whole, the book is written 

 in a style which is clear and concise. Some 

 of the unqualified statements should be modi- 

 fied to meet the prevailing opinion of to-day. 

 To aid in a future edition we should call at- 

 tention also to the lettering of the diagrams 

 to represent optical phenomena of the micro- 

 scope, which we believe to be inadequate and 

 confusing. 



A book compiled on the plan of this one will 

 do good service in the place to which the au- 

 thor in the preface modestly assigns it : 'It 

 is to the beginner in microscopy, and partic- 

 ularly to him who must work without the 

 personal guidance of a teacher, that the book 

 may prove of value.' 



G. Fraxklix White. 



SCIEXTIFW JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 

 The American Journal of Mathematics for 

 October contains the following articles: 'The 

 Plane Geometry of the Point in Point-Space 

 of Four Dimensions,' by C. J. Keyser ; ' On 

 the Functions Representing Distances and 

 Analogous Functions,' by H. F. Blichfeldt; 

 ' Surfaces whose Lines of Curvature in One 

 System are Represented on the Sphere by 

 Great Circles,' by L. P. Eisenhart ; ' On the 

 Invariants of a Homogeneous Quadratic Dif- 

 ferential Equation of the Second Order,' by 

 D. R. Curtiss ; ' Surfaces of Constant Mean 

 Curvature,' by L. P. Eisenhart. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



MICHIGAN ORXITIlOLOGrCAL CLUB. 



After a few years of apparent sleep, the 

 Michigan Ornithological Club was reorganized 

 at Detroit on February 13, 1903. The officers 

 elected for the current year are: President, 

 Adolphe B. Covert, Ann Arbor; Vice-Presi- 

 dent, Dr. Phillip E. Moody, Detroit; Secre- 

 tary-Treasurer, Bradshaw H. Swales, Detroit. 

 Two permanent committees were created. The 



committee on Geographical Distribution con- 

 sists of Dr. Charles C. Adams (chairman), 

 Ann Arbor; Professor Walter B. Barrows, 

 Agricultural College; Bryant Walker and 

 B. II. Swales, of Detroit. The Bird Protection 

 Committee consists of Edward Arnold (chair- 

 man). Battle Creek; Professor Walter B. Bar- 

 rows, Agricultural College; James B. Purdy, 

 Plymouth, to act in conjunction with Wm. 

 Dutcher, chairman of the Protection Commit- 

 tee of the American Ornithologists' Union. 



It was decided to continue the former club 

 journal styled the Bulletin of the Michigan 

 Ornithological Club, three numbers of which 

 (Vol. IV.) have appeared so far. Alexander 

 W. Blain, Jr., was made editor and business 

 manager, and later J. Claire Wood, of De- 

 troit, and Adolphe B. Covert, of Ann Arbor, 

 were elected associates. The Bulletin is pub- 

 lished by the club at Detroit as an illustrated 

 quarterly devoted to the ornithology of the 

 Great Lake region. 



The prospects for the Ornithological Club 

 in the Wolverine state seem most bright, and 

 the society already has over one hundred 

 members enrolled. Monthly meetings are held 

 on the first Friday of each month at the De- 

 troit Museum of Art and annual meetings will 

 be held at the same time and place as the 

 annual meeting of the Michigan Academy of 

 Science. Alex. W. Blaix, Jr. 



Detroit College of JIedicixe. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



MICHIGAX PLAXT societies AG.VIX. 



The thorough remodeling which my paper 

 on the upland plant societies of Kent County, 

 Mich.,* received at the hands of Mr. Francis 

 Daniels in Sciexce for August 14, 1903, makes 

 this note by the author seem necessary. In 

 the first place, I hasten to acknowledge with 

 thanks the two very bad blunders which the 

 reviewer has pointed out. Quercus ilicifolia 

 should read Q. prinoides, and Vitis cordifolia 

 should be replaced by V. riparia. 



In the original paper the author expressly 



• Annual Report State Board of Geol. Survey, 

 Mich., 1901, pp. 81-103. Botanical Gazelle, 35: 

 30-55. 1903. 



