872 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 102. 



considers that the only advance that is possible 

 or desirable at present is to decide on the sys- 

 tem which, while meeting the needs of men of 

 science would be most acceptable to the 

 general public, and to deliberate on the best 

 means of bringing it into general use. 



M. Pailhade proposes (1) that the day should 

 be divided into 100 parts (centijours abbre- 

 viated ces) and subdivided into decices, centices, 

 millices and dimices, (2) that the circle should 

 be divided into 100 cirs and subdivided into d6- 

 cicirs, centicirs, millicirs and dimicirs. The 

 author dwells at length on the simplicity and 

 other advantages of his plan ; he finds that it is 

 easily understood by children and advocates its 

 use in schools. In order to facilitate its intro- 

 duction into general use he has caused a watch 

 to be made in which the figures of the inner 

 circle are those of an ordinary watch, while 

 two outer circles give the decimal division of 

 time. 



A TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN. 



Prof. D. T. MacDougal contributes to the 

 current number of Appletori's Popular Science 

 Monthly an article on Botanic Gardens. He 

 reviews the origin of botanic gardens and de- 

 scribes several of the more important gardens 

 of the world. He calls attention to the need 

 of a botanical garden in the West Indies. The 

 study of living plants has been in large measure 

 confined to those growing between the parallels 

 of 40° and 45° or cultivated under artificial 

 conditions in gardens and conservatories. Prof. 

 MacDougal concludes : 



"The centers of botanical activity in Europe 

 are so far removed from the tropical flora that 

 only occasionally does a Transatlantic investi- 

 gator find time and opportunity to extend his 

 researches to include normal tropical forms. 

 To do this he must visit Buitenzorg or some 

 other garden nearly half way round the world. 



' ' The center of botanical activity in America 

 has at its very doors a tropical region (in the 

 West Indies), unsurpassed in every feature, 

 which may be reached in four or five days from 

 any important city in the country. The estab- 

 lishment of a laboratory and garden in any 

 convenient locality would not only be of un- 

 told value in the general development of botan- 



ical science, but it would place within easy 

 reach of the investigator or graduate student 

 in American universities facilities unequaled 

 by that of any other country. 



"The European botanist would also find a 

 laboratory in the American tropics much more 

 easily accessible than those of the antipodes. 

 The foundation of such an institution would be 

 of direct benefit to the greater number of 

 active botanists, and would go far toward mak- 

 ing America the scene of the greatest develop- 

 ment of the biology of one of the two great 

 groups of living organisms. ' ' 



GENERAL. 



The Society of American Naturalists will 

 meet at Boston and Cambridge, Mass., on 

 Tuesday and Wednesday, December 29th and 

 30th. The President, Prof. W. B. Scott, will 

 make an address, and at least one lecture will 

 be given. There will be a discussion on the 

 ' Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics, ' in 

 which zoology, botany, paleontology and psy- 

 chology will be represented. Further details 

 will be given next week. The Secretary of the 

 Society is Prof. H, C. Bumpus, Brown Univer- 

 sity, Providence, R. I. 



The American Physiological Society will 

 hold its ninth annual meeting at the same time 

 and place as the Naturalists, the first day's 

 session being held at the Harvard Medical 

 School, the second day's session at Harvard 

 University. The headquarters of the Society 

 will be at the Hotel Brunswick. Those who 

 will require apparatus or other necessities for 

 the making of demonstrations may communi- 

 cate with Dr. H. P. Bowditch, Harvard Medi- 

 cal School. The reading of papers is confined 

 to members of the Society and to guests spe- 

 cially invited by the President and Secretary 

 jointly, and papers are limited to a length of 

 twenty minutes. At the meeting arrangements 

 will be made regarding the joint public discus- 

 sion with the Association of American Physi- 

 cians at the Medical Congress of May, 1897, 

 upon 'The Internal Secretion of Glands.' 

 Prof. R. H. Chittenden is President of the 

 Society, and Prof Frederic S. Lee, Columbia 

 University, New York, is Secretary. 



