;o6 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 307 



regarded from the significance of its etymology, — the love of wis- 

 dom. Lessing said, that, if it were necessary to choose, he would 

 prefer to have the love of truth to the possession of truth itself. 

 By this paradox he meant to emphasize his desire for wisdom, not 

 for repletion by facts and cold encyclopedic knowledge. The mere 

 possession of truth, not strictly wisdom, may be that of a miser 

 who hoards and does not circulate it to the common good ; but the 

 love of wisdom brings wisdom. " Be there a will, and wisdom 

 finds a way." " Wisdom crieth aloud, she uttereth her voice in 

 the streets," and it will be regarded. " So teach us to number our 

 days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS IN WASHINGTON. 

 Causes of Configuration in Trees. — How Some Eskimo Measure. — 

 A New Improved Freezing-Microtome. 



Causes of Configuration in Trees. 



The influences under which a tree assumes one shape instead of 

 another are obscure even to the students of vegetable dynamics. 

 External forces are added to hereditary forces in every growth. 

 The mechanical forces at work, affecting plants externally, are 

 mainly gravity and atmospheric pressure (wind). 



B. E. Fernow, chief of the forestry division of the national De- 

 partment of Agriculture, recently read a paper setting forth some 

 valuable observations. 



The physiological forces are termed ' stimuli,' and produce re- 

 actions only on the growing tissue, and are characterized by the 

 disproportionality between the external stimulus and the ultimate 

 re-action. These forces work accidentally and occasionally, often 

 changing the environment of an organ ; and such alterations may 

 occur by a change in the intensity or direction of the light, variation 

 of temperature, instantaneous shocks, sudden pressure, etc. The 

 capacity to re-act to these stimuli is called ' irritability,' the pres- 

 ence or absence of which is a sign of life or death. 



The various parts of a plant re-act differently to the same stim- 

 ulus, and according to their type of structure. The internal yapa- 

 city of a part of an organ to re-act to external influences determines 

 its external form and the direction of growth ; thus radial structures 

 are usually orthotrop (tending to place their axis toward the acting 

 force), dorsiventral structures act plagiotropically (tending to place 

 their axis obliquely or transverse to the direction of the acting 

 force). 



But there is also seen what may be termed a vicarious correla- 

 tion ' of the different structures, by which the development of one 

 organ is changed in its direction by the development or lack of 

 development of the other ; thus, also, a plagiotropic organ becomes 

 orthotrop. The most common example of this correlation is seen 

 when the main axis is cut off, and a side-branch takes the ortho- 

 tropic nature of the main axis. 



The stimuli that effect changes of direction in various parts of 

 plants — aside from accidental ones, like pressure, contact, moist- 

 ure, heat — are mainly light and gravity ; the re-action to light 

 being termed ' heliotropism,' and that to gravity being ' geotrop- 

 ism.' In regard to the latter re-action, there appears to be a mis- 

 apprehension as to the nature of gravitation, as usually accepted, 

 and as stated by Sachs, Darwin, Wiesner, and others. 



It seems illogical to assume that gravity, conceived to act every- 

 where and constantly, could be considered as determining the 

 direction of the primary root vertically downward, of the secondary 

 roots obliquely downward, and of the other classes of roots grow- 

 ing without reference to this always active force. 



That the direction of the different parts is a resultant of several 

 forces, among which gravity may be one, is hardly intimated by 

 these writers ; and the dominion of gravity is so forcibly stated 

 that the occasional reference to modifying influences does not im- 

 press us as a necessary and important consideration. 



The effects of heliotropic (light) stimulations are the opposite 

 from those called ' geotropic,' or a bending toward the light. But 

 the effect of light upon root-forming matter is to turn it away 

 from the light ; and upon shoot-forming matter, to turn it toward the 

 light ; while dorsiventral structures adjust themselves obliquely 

 across the direction in which the light strikes the irritable organ. 

 The latter behavior is highly important, and reveals the purpose of 



this re-action, which results in the largest surface of chlorophyl- 

 bearing cells being exposed to the light, and inducing the chemical 

 changes upon which growth depends. 



Intensity of light, however, may become injurious, and hence 

 the presence in some plants (^Mimosa) of an ability to change the 

 position of the leaves with reference to the optimum light intensity. 

 As the light is diffused equally in the atmosphere, a re-action is 

 produced only by a difference in the amount of light which reaches 

 the different sides of a growing part. The direction, then, of a 

 branch, as far as it is dependent on the action of light, is in pro- 

 portion to the difference of illumination of its parts ; for a greater 

 illumination on one side of a branch has the effect of increasing 

 the cell-growth on the shaded side (hyponasty), and thus the more 

 rapid lengthening of the shaded side results in a curvature and a 

 new direction of the tip of the branch toward the light. The ac- 

 tion of light on the roots is exactly opposite (epinasty) ; i.e., the 

 illuminated part lengthens more rapidly, carrying the growing 

 point away from the light. 



Considering the action of the light on the normal development of 

 the branch system, concludes Mr. Fernow, we can better under- 

 stand how the direction of branches is changed from their original 

 position to the one in which we find them in later life ; and we can 

 also understand that the typical branch system of trees must to 

 some extent depend on the greater or less density of foliage. Thus 

 less dense foliaged trees should in general exhibit a more erect 

 habit in their branches ; while the shadiest foliage should give the 

 most spreading branch system. 



How Some Eskimo Measure. 



The ape which (or perhaps whom) Mr. Romanes has succeeded 

 in teaching to count five seems to tread closely on the heels of 

 some of the races of men. In a paper on the Eskimo of Point 

 Barrow, Mr. John Murdoch of the National Museum said, that, like 

 the rest of those peoples, they ordinarily do not use numbers greater 

 than five, but speak of six and all higher numbers as ' many.' 

 Their real numbers are one, two, three, four, five, ten (which means 

 the upper part of the body, namely, the number of digits on the up- 

 per extremities), fifteen (perhaps), and twenty (which means ' a man 

 complete,' i.e., all his digits used up). These numbers are almost 

 identical with those used in the other dialects, while the intermediate 

 numbers are quite different, though expressed in a similar manner ; 

 that is to say, ' so many on the next hand or foot.' 



With such clumsy numerals, arithmetical processes are practi- 

 cally impossible, though they practise a sort of crude addition, ar- 

 riving at the number of a large series of objects by grouping them 

 together in fives. In counting, the ordinal numerals are used. 

 This is also the same as in the other dialects. 



They originally had no standard of dimensions for space, but of 

 late years have learned to use the fathom in trading for cloth, etc. 



Time is measured by the sun and stars. For example : the star 

 Arcturus is the seal-netters' timepiece. When he is in the east, 

 dawn is near, and it is time to stop fishing. The year is divided 

 into four seasons, — early winter, winter, early summer, and summer. 



Nine lunar months are known by name. The rest of the year 

 " there is no moon, only the sun." They begin to count the moons 

 from the early autumn, the time when the women go off into the 

 little tents to work on deer-skins. The first moon — roughly speak- 

 ing, October — is " the time for working, i.e., sewing ; " November, 

 " the second time for sewing ; " December, " the time for dancing " 

 (this is the season of the great semi-dramatic festivals) ; January, 

 " great cold," or " little sun " (in this moon the sun just re-appears 

 at noon) ; February, " the time for starting " (on the winter deer- 

 hunt) ; March, " the time for starting home ; " April, " the time 

 for making ready the boats " (for whaling) ; May, " the time for 

 fowling ;" and June, " the time for bringing forth young " (when 

 the birds lay eggs). 



They clearly distinguish " to-day," " yesterday," and " to-mor- 

 row ; " but " day before yesterday " and " day after to-morrow " 

 are the same ; and beyond that, all is " some time ago " or " some 

 time hence " (the same word), till it gets to be " long ago " or 

 " by and by." 



"Then there are no dates in their past or future, except what has 

 happened or is to happen. 



