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NEWS NOTES 



On September 24th the Boyce-Thompson Institute of Plant 

 Research was dedicated in Yonkers. The Institute, besides 

 offices and well-equipped laboratories, has a variety of conserva- 

 tories and propagating rooms where not only the amount of 

 light, heat and moisture may be accurately regulated but also 

 the chemical composition of the air. A popular account of the 

 Institute is given in the Outlook of October 8th. 



Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy celebrated its one 

 hundredth anniversary on October third and fourth. While 

 the Institute is now a technical and engineering one, it was in 

 its early years the most important college of natural sciences in 

 the country. Stephen Van Rensselaer, who founded the Insti- 

 tute, selected Amos Eaton to organize it, and appointed him 

 senior professor. Eaton was the first to introduce field work 

 and laboratory methods into American colleges. He attracted 

 men interested in natural sciences from all parts of the country 

 and enthused them in their work. Men trained by him founded 

 the departments of science in many colleges. Many of the most 

 eminent scientists of that time began their work under Eaton — 

 among them Asa Gray and John Torrey. His influence on the 

 education of women was very great. Women were not admitted 

 to Rensselaer but they attended Eaton's public lectures and 

 some special courses and were taken on field trips. Among these 

 Jane Welsh, Almira Lincoln and Laura Johnson were among the 

 first women teachers and writers on botany. Eaton also estab- 

 lished the first popular museum of natural history in America at 

 Troy. Rensselaer, through its courses and through its methods, 

 exerted a profound influence on the sciences of botany, geology, 

 entomology and agriculture and on scientific education in America 

 America. 



The National Park Service have been issuing a weekly bulletin 

 or leaflet with short, interesting notes on the plants and animals 

 of the Yosemite National Park. They have a Natural History 

 Museum and all visitors are requested to aid the Park Naturalist, 

 Ansel F. Hall, in protecting the fauna and flora from vandalism. 

 Mr. Hall says that "each year they find it easier to protect the 

 flowers, and the cooperation of the Public is now becoming very 

 wholesome. " Of the twelve hundred species in the Park, many of 

 which are indigenous, perhaps the most important candidate for 

 extinction is the snow plant. It is rigidly protected, and many 

 unknown details of its reproduction are still awaiting discovery. 



