Januaey 1, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



25 



science in Hanover College, Ind. It consisted 

 of four pages and the first volume contained 

 only 52 pages of short and mostly local notes. 

 The name of the journal was changed to the 

 Botanical Gazette at the end of the second 

 volume, and M. S. Coulter become one of the 

 editors. In 1883 the editorship was under- 

 taken by the present editors, John M. Coulter, 

 Charles R. Barnes and J. C. Arthur, under whose 

 control the journal has steadily improved up to 

 the present time, when the name of G. F. Atkin- 

 son, V. M. Spalding, Roland Thaxter and "Wil- 

 liam Trelease have been added as associate edi- 

 tors. As Dr. Bessey says, the Gazette " has thus 

 been a growth, and it represents to-day much 

 more than so many pages of printed matter. 

 It has grown and developed as the science of 

 botany has grown and developed in this coun- 

 try. When we look over the earlier volumes 

 with surprise at the little notes which fill the 

 pages we must not forget that American botany 

 had not then generally risen above such contri- 

 butions. It is true that we had a few masters 

 in the science, with Dr. Gray still in his prime, 

 but these masters wrote little for general reading, 

 and their technically systematic contributions 

 were mostly published in the proceedings of 

 learned societies. The one thing which stands 

 out to-day in sharp contrast with the botany of 

 two decades ago is the very great increase in 

 the number of masters in the science who are 

 making liberal contributions from many differ- 

 ent departments. The many-paged Gazette of 

 to-day, with its rich variety of matter, differs 

 no more from the four-page Bulletin of 1876 

 than does the botany of the two periods. ' ' 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



It is reported by cablegram that Alfred Nobel, 

 the Swedish engineer and chemist, who died at 

 San Remo, Italy, on December 9th, left a will 

 bequeathing his entire fortune, amounting to 

 about $10,000,000, to the Stockholm University. 



The will of the late Henry L. Pierce, dis- 

 tributes about three and a-quarter million dol- 

 lars in public bequests, which include $50,000 

 to Harvard University and $50,000 to Massachu- 

 setts Institute of Technology. 



Db. John J. McNulty has been appointed 



professor of moral and intellectual philosophy 

 in the College of the City of New York. 



The new catalogue of Harvard University 

 shows a registration of 3,674 students, an in- 

 crease of 74 over last year. There has been a 

 slight decrease in the College, but a gain in the 

 Lawrence Scientific School, in the Graduate 

 School and in the Medical School. There has 

 been an increase of 4 professors and 17 instruc- 

 tors. 



At Cambridge University the report of the 

 General Board of Studies, recommending that 

 steps be taken for the immediate appointment 

 of a professor of mental philosophy and logic, 

 was opposed upon financial grounds and be- 

 cause the establishment of the professorship 

 was not urgent. The report was, however, 

 adopted, by 120 votes to 70. The offer of Prof. 

 Sidgwick to reduce his stipend as professor of 

 moral philosophy from £700 to £500 per annum 

 from the time of the appointment of the pro- 

 fessor of mental philosophy and logic until 

 midsummer, 1902, or until his chair be vacated, 

 if that should occur before midsummer, 1902, 

 was accepted. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



VAN BENEDEN AND THE ORIGIN OF THE CEN- 

 TROSOME. — A CORIIECTION. 



I WISH to correct an error in my recent book 

 on 'The Cell,' which misrepresents Van Bene- 

 den's early views regarding the origin of the 

 centrosomes in the fertilized egg. At page 157 

 the view, or rather surmise, is attributed to 

 him that, in the fertilization of Ascaris, one cen- 

 trosome of the first cleavage amphiaster is de- 

 rived from the egg, the other from the sperma- 

 tozoon. I am indebted to my friend. Prof. 

 Conklin, for pointing out that through a mis- 

 apprehension of Van Beneden's meaning I am 

 in error on this point. Van Beneden did not, 

 in fact, commit himself to any positive conclu- 

 sion, but at page 272 of his paper of 1887 ex- 

 pressed the opinion that both attraction -spheres, 

 and hence by implication both centrosomes, were 

 derived from the egg, i. e., from the second 

 pseudo-karyokinetic (maturation) figure. Later 

 researches, it is true, have almost conclusively 

 shown that this opinion cannot be sustained ; 



