March 29, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



355 



from central l)0(ly to the less numerous 

 class and from this in turn to the more 

 numerous, an\- device that would strengthen 

 the relation between the central body and 

 the publishers would be useful. Thus, it 

 might be well for the Royal Society to 

 furnish sets of cards pertaining to the 

 specialtj- represented by the non-commer- 

 cial publication, cither in exchange simply 

 for the periodical transmission of summaries 

 or in return for such summaries and for 

 printing in the advertising pages or else- 

 where a standing notice of the Royal So- 

 ciety catalogue. The cooperation of the 

 publishers in securing, and indeed in editing, 

 the summaries would be highly desirable, 

 partly because with most writei-s summaries 

 or abstracts need editorial scrutiny more 

 sadly than their ordinary writing. It may 

 be noted also that in these days of the 

 making of many bibliograpliies there is a 

 special need for abstracts and summaries 

 for a wide variety of purposes, and the re- 

 cognition of this need will make easier the 

 way of the Royal Society in putting its 

 plans into execution . Partlj' for this reason 

 there would seem to be a certain desira- 

 bility in printing the brief summaries, per- 

 haps in a distinctive tj-pe, in conjunction 

 with scientific articles. 



The Geological Society of America re- 

 cently concurred in a report to the Royal 

 Society conforming to that of the Harvard 

 University Council, with a brief addition 

 designed to facilitate obtaining summaries 

 of articles from non-commercial publishers 

 of scientific literature, this addition having 

 been suggested by the writer as one of the 

 committee on the subject. 



W J McGee. 



TEACHING BOTANY ONE TOPIC AT A TIME, 



ILLUSTRATED BY SUITABLE MATERIALS 



AT ANY SEASON OF THE Y'EAR. 



Editor of Science — Sir: The recent 

 papers in Science concerning the manage- 



ment of cla.sses in botany prompt the follow- 

 ing. In the.se times, of cour.se, every true 

 teacher of botany insists that his pupils shall 

 study the objects before receiving much, if 

 any, instruction from books or persons. I 

 take it for granted that any teacher of a 

 class beginning subjects that are treated in 

 Gray's Lessons would prefer to take them up 

 in about the sequence there given, but he 

 will find it impossible to procure at anj' 

 season of the year enough suitable material 

 that is fresh to fully illustrate many of the 

 sections of the book. For example, he can- 

 not procure at any one time suitable ma- 

 terials to illustrate the section on stamens. 

 The varieties there illustrated appear at dif- 

 ferent dates some weeks apart. So of the 

 forms of pistils, the torus, fruits, etc. My 

 plan has Ijeen to collect quantities of stamens 

 of the barberry, sassafras, lobelia, cji^ripe- 

 dium, mallow, locust, dandelion, lily, tulip 

 tree, blueberry, sage, milkweed, and in most 

 cases preserve each kind bj' itself in twenty- 

 five per cent, alcohol, or in formalin one 

 hundred of water to one of formalin. These 

 are ready when we want to studj' stamens. 

 A specimen or more of each kind of the pre- 

 served objects for illustrating any section of 

 this subject can be placed in a small dish 

 before each pupil in case fresh specimens 

 cannot be procured. In many instances, 

 when not allowed to dry, these can be 

 gathered up and used for several successive 

 classes. 



In like manner, it is very satisfactoiy to 

 be able, when fi-uits are to be studied, to 

 have a good many kinds to illustrate the 

 various sorts, such as half grown plums 

 or cherries, the mandrake, bloodroot, violet, 

 mulberry, winter-green, et«. Lessons in 

 morphologj- can, in this way, be made more 

 impressive than when some of the illustra- 

 tions are used in one day and others in a 

 week or a month. 



W. J. Real. 



Ageicultukal College, Mich. 



