824 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 101. 



the Seminar began to take up the work of 

 investigating the flora of the State, and in 

 1890 Mr. Webber, one of the original mem- 

 bers, put forth a catalogue enumerating 

 1890 species. The next year he published 

 an appendix containing 432 additions chiefly- 

 made by members of the Seminar, and, hard 

 on the heels of this appendix, Dr. Bessey is- 

 sued a supplement raising the number of 

 reported species to 2492. To keep up this 

 work and to give it system, the Survey was 

 organized. This Survey is conducted and 

 directed by the Seminar and is maintained 

 entirely by the individual members without 

 public assistance of any sort. Its fruits are 

 four reports in which the reported flora of 

 Nebraska is raised to 3196 species, a her- 

 barium of 7500 specimens representing the 

 flora of the State, and five important ex- 

 peditions which have made possible an 

 exact phytogeographical districting of the 

 State. In consequence, Nebraska has come 

 to be recognized as one of the best known 

 States botanically in the country. The 

 Seminar now has in preparation an elabor- 

 ate report on the phytogeography of the 

 State for which it has been gathering ma- 

 terials for many years. 



A more ambitious undertaking has been 

 the publication of the Flora of Nebraska, of 

 which three parts have now been issued 

 and two more are under way. The Flora 

 has been fairly successful financially, and 

 in other respects its success is unquestioned. 

 In addition to the Flora and the Reports of 

 the Survey, the Seminar has published two 

 addresses delivered before it. 



Of the eleven who have taken part in the 

 work of the Seminar as ordinarii, four are 

 now employed in the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture, namely, Mr. Smith, 

 Mr. Webber, Mr. Williams and Mr. Woods ; 

 another is professor of Botany in a State 

 Agricultural College, and another holds the 

 botanical fellowship at Columbia Univer- 

 sity. All of them have become known 



through their published work, and they are 

 all busily engaged upon other publications 

 of importance. 



At the close of the public meeting, Mr. 

 Ernst A. Bessey was initiated as a novitius, 

 having taken the required examinations. 

 Letters were next read from absent mem- 

 bers and friends of the Seminar and also 

 letters which had been received from botan- 

 ists and scientific men. Thereafter a 'sym- 

 posium ' was held, led by Dr. Bessey, 

 upon the subject of the Laboratory Method. 

 By way of introduction. Dr. Bessey spoke 

 of the history and the development of 

 botanical laboratories in the United States, 

 and the present difierentiation into his- 

 tological and physiological laboratories. 

 The future of botanical laboratories was 

 then discussed, Dr. Bessey, Dr. Ward, Pro- 

 fessor Bruner, Mr. Pound and Mr. Clements 

 taking principal parts in the discussion. 



In the evening, Dr. H. B. Ward deliv- 

 ered the anniversary discourse, before the 

 Seminar and invited guests. His subject 

 was ' Tendencies in Biological Investiga- 

 tion.' It would not be possible to do jus- 

 tice to the discourse by such a synopsis as 

 could be given here. 



At the close of the discourse the Seminar 

 and its guests sat down to a collation served 

 in the histological laboratory, which had 

 been suitably fitted up for the occasion. 

 Mr. Roscoe Pound, who acted as toastm as- 

 ter, spoke for the 'Original Seven,' the 

 founders of the Seminar. Mr. Clements re- 

 sponded for the 'Epigoni.' Professor Bruner 

 responded to ' Canis Pie,' the emblem of the 

 Society, and explained its appropriateness. 

 Dr. H. K. Wolfe, in speaking on ' Philo- 

 sophia Botanica,' said that the history of 

 botany differed from that of most other sci- 

 ences in that its progress had been uninter- 

 rupted by convulsions or catastrophes and 

 it had kept moving. He had wondered if 

 this might be due to the fact that Aristotle's 

 work on plants was lost, so that the grasp' 



