kj^ns^s city 



Review of Science and Industry, 



A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 



SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. 



VOL. V. DECEMBER, 1881. NO. 8. 



PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE KANSAS ACADEMY 



OF SCIENCES. 



TOPEKA, KANSAS, NOVEMBER pTH, lOTH AND IITH, 1881. 



The business meeting was held at the office of Dr. A. H. Thompson, at 3:00 

 o'clock P. M., November 9th. After a little routine business the meeting ad- 

 journed until 7:30 o'clock P. M. 



The Academy assembled at 7:30 o'clock in the Senate Chamber, and was 

 called to order by the president, Prof. J. T. Lovewell, of Washburn College. 

 The speaker for the evening. Prof. E. N. Plank, was introduced. His topic was 

 "Botany Popularly Considered." The vast coal beds, the speaker stated, were 

 the remains of primeval vegetation. Plants and trees have in all ages been re- 

 garded with remarkable superstition and reverence. Trees speak and teach 

 many lessons. Men are now living who believe that a forked switch of hazel can 

 determine the current of water many feet beneath the earth's surface. There are 

 men who, like the swine, enjoy things which are pleasant to the taste and sight 

 without learning anything of their nature, or even their names. Some acquaint- 

 ance with nature may be gained by all to their profit. The vegetable kingdom is 

 the great food-providing agency of the world. It may be somewhat difficult to 

 give a set of definitions that would distinguish the plant from the animal kingdom, 

 but this is owing to the minuteness into which both kingdoms descend. The 

 movements of plants, such as twining and the leaves following the course of the 

 sun, is power which must be in the plants themselves. The leaf of the Venus 



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