April 28, 1893.] 



SCIENCE. 



235 



way responsible for the alleged onesided state of biological edu- 

 cation. 



While Mr. MacMillan's enthusiasm is in a good cause, he has 

 allowed it to run away with his discretion. Without sufficient 

 reflection or inquiry, he has, unintentionally, I am sure, given an 

 eotirely wrong Impression of the character of work done in sev- 

 eral institutions; this is done under a very sensational title and in 

 a style of questionable taste. As it is desirable that this im- 

 pression should not spread, and as the arrangement of courses in 

 Columbia is cited by Mr. MacMillan as a leading example of the 

 manner in which botany is subordinated to zoology, let us see 

 what the Columbia courses are, as announced in the circular of 

 the faculty of pure science : — 



f 1. Elementary Botany. 



2. Elementary Botany. 



3. General Botany. 



4. Vegetable Anatomy. Cells and 

 Tissues. 



5. Morphology and Determination 

 of Flowering Plants. 



6. Economic Botany. 



7. Cryptogamic Botany. 



A. Department of Botany. ■{ 8. Advanced Vegetable Anatomy. 

 9. Natural Orders of Flowering 

 Plants. 



10. Advanced Cryptogamic Botany. 



11. Comparative Study of Tissue of 

 Twelve Species. 



13. Comparative Study of Plants 



from a Certain Area. 

 13. Critical Study of a Genus. 



17 Courses in Botany, 



B. Department of Geology 



3 Courses in Physiology, 



in 

 Department of Physiology. 



( 1. Palsenbotany. 



.-^3. 



Study of Flora of Certain Geo- 

 ( logical Horizons. 



f 1. General Physiology. Lower Ani- 



I mal Types. 



] 2. Human Physiology. Man and 



I Lower Animals 



1 8. Laboratory Physiology. 



There are altogether eleven courses in zoology under the De- 

 partment of Biology, two of which, namely, " Elementary Biol- 

 ogy" and " Cellular Biology " are taught in part from plants. 



It does not appear that botany is ignored in this programme of 

 biological courses of study in this institution. The fact that the 

 botanical courses are not arranged under the Biological Depart- 

 ment is a mere technicality of administration, which raises no 

 confusion in the minds of students, any more than does the sepa- 

 ration of the Department of Physiology, which is equally cognate 

 to biology. The separation of these three departments is simply 

 owing to the fact that botany and physiology were already well 

 established when the trustees decided to found a distinct depart- 

 ment in which biology would be taught especially as illustrated 

 in animal t.vpes. Henkt F. Osborn. 



Columbia College, New York, April 13. 



Cedar Waxwings, 



Mr. Edwin M. Hasbrouck's " Presumably new fact relative to 

 the Cedar Waxwings (Amp. Ced.)" in the issue of the 17th ult., is 

 a very interesting discovery. The observations from which bis 

 conclusions were obtained, are familiar to modern ornithology, 

 while his inductions are assuredly new to me. Whether they are 

 accepted or not, his views of the importance of carefully study- 

 ing the ^rst plumages of birds will scarcely fail of universal ac- 

 ceptance. I have no criticisms, but wish to add an observation 

 concerning the wax tips of the secondaries and retrices of the 

 species which I am inclined to think will favor his conclusions. 



I have made the ultimate anatomical structure of feathers a 

 special study for many years, during which I have given those 

 of the period before the first moulting special consideration, 

 and have met with some extremely interesting things. 



I have never been so fortunate as to meet with a wax tip while 

 the young bird was still in the nest, but have occasionally seen 

 them in very fresh subjects, or as early as the 35th of July. The 

 development of the appendage, after it has. commenced to ap- 



pear, is very rapid indeed, resembling the process of the growth 

 of the new antlers of a buck. I cannot yet state definitely the 

 length of time, but from three to five days ordinarily, and doubt- 

 less sometimes a little more. In a work devoted to the Birds of 

 Minnesota, I have made some references to my familiarity with 

 the species, to which I might add many more notes, since that 

 went out of my hands, that are even more in point, but suffice 

 to say, the red wax is secreted in the ciliohamular portion of the 

 barbules of the terminal barbs of the feather. 



The rapidity of the development of the appendage is such that 

 occasionally it results in doubling the whole series of barbs with 

 their barbules, back upon the rachis of the feather, and reveals 

 the fact that the horny material constituting the wax-like mass 

 is filled from the tip, shaftward, as if in fact, as in appearance, it 

 consists of genuine red sealing-wax, which has become so thick- 

 ened or condensed as to cease flowing before quite reaching the 

 point of union of the barb with the delicate, overladen rachis 

 The naked portion of those barbs becomes an easy object of ob- 

 servation under low powers of the microscope, and under su- 

 premely good light and a higher magnification, the reflected por- 

 tions of the barb with its barbules, and even the barbicels, may 

 be seen resting upon the unreflected portion of the barbs and 

 rachis. That there is some special condition very temporarily 

 involved, that produces these decorations, there can be no doubt. 

 I have never yet succeeded in seeing a wax-tip on a waxwing 

 reared in captivity, excellent as hasbeen my opportunity. Who 

 next has something new about the Cedar Waxwing? 



P. L. Hatch. 



An Appeal to Naturalists. 

 May I appeal through your valued columns for the cooperation 

 of the naturalists of the country ? The following letter from Pro- 

 fessor Kolliker of Wiirzburg is the occasion of my appeal : — 



WtJEZBURG, April 4, 1893~ 

 My dear Professor Minot : 



May I ask you if you could procure for me some rare American 

 forms of fishes and amphibians, preserved in Mailer's fluid, so as 

 to be investigated microscopically after Golgi's and Weigert's 

 method ? Larger animals should be cut transversely, so that the 

 fluid can enter the spinal canal and act upon the spinal marrow. 

 At the same time the head or body should be opened and the 

 brain acted upon. 



The list of my wishes is very large, but I shall be very glad, if 

 I get only some of the animals mentioned. It includes, among 

 the amphibia and reptiles, Amphiuma, Siren, Menobranchus, 

 Menopoma, full-grown and larval, young alligators and tortoises ; 

 among the fishes, Lepidostens, Amia, Spatularia, Scaphyrhynchus, 

 full-grown and also very young. ... I am working just now at 

 the microscopic anatomy of the nervous system, and have begun 

 to extend my investigations to the comparative part also. Unfor- 

 tunately, specimens in spirit only are worth very little, and the only 

 good methods are those of Golgi and Weigert. But even Golgi's 

 is only useful on embryos and young animals, and you know that 

 both these methods demand a previous preservation in Miiller's 

 fluid. 



Believe me, etc., 



A. Kolliker. 



In view of Professor Kolliker's distinguished services to science, 

 covering a period of over fifty years, and of his undiminished 

 activity in research, every one must feel a wish to promote any 

 investigation Professor Kolliker undertakes. In order to secure 

 the material for which Professor Kolliker asks, I seek for contri- 

 butions from my American colleagues. I request that all speci- 

 mens may be sent to me at the Harvard Medical School, so as to 

 be in my hands by May 30. All material thus obtained can be 

 packed and forwarded to Professor Kolliker, together with the 

 list of contributors. 



The specimens should be kept in the Miiller's fluid until they 

 reach Wiirzburg. In order to secure a good result with the fluid, 

 it must be used in large quantities, and should be changed every 

 day for the first week, and twice during the second week. Miil- 

 ler's fluid will not penetrate hard tissues, such as bone, for more 

 than a quarter of an inch, and soft tissues for more than three- 



