JUNE 15, 1900.] 



SGIENCE. 



945 



umes on morphology and physiology, 50 

 volumes on geographic distribution, 2105 

 volumes of floras and taxonomic mono- 

 graphs on the phanerogams, 900 volumes on 

 cryptogams, 640 volumes on agriculture, 

 325 volumes on gardening, 200 volumes on 

 forestry and 200 volumes on meteorology. 

 The total number of volumes on the shelves 

 was 7117. Since this count was made the 

 additions raise the total to about 8000. 

 Some care has been taken to exclude books 

 and proceedings which have only an inci- 

 dental interest to botany, with the idea that 

 such additions decrease the actual working 

 efficiency of the library and increase the 

 labor necessary for its administration. The 

 books are classified according to the Dewey 

 system of indexing, and pamphlets and sep- 

 arates are not indexed or included in the 

 count until bound up in volumes by subject. 



The collective efficiency of the facilities 

 described above is such that the institution 

 bids fair to meet the expectations of all 

 its different classes of constituents. The 

 large number of specialists of the staff, to- 

 gether with those of other institutions who 

 offer to guide research here, gives the stu- 

 dent, who may come here to carry on in- 

 vestigations, the widest range of election of 

 work. Among those offering to guide re- 

 search in the Garden are : Professor L. M. 

 Underwood, Dr. C. C. Curtis, Dr. M. A. 

 Howe, Dr. N. L. Britton, Dr. D. T. Mac- 

 Dougal, Dr. P. A. Eydberg, Dr. G. V. Nash, 

 Dr. J. K. Small, Professor F. E. Lloyd, 

 Mrs. E. G. Britton, and Professor E. S. 

 Burgess. 



The personal interest and care shown by 

 the members of the Board of Managers in 

 the organization of the Garden has resulted 

 in placing it on its present broad foundation, 

 while the energetic administration of the 

 business details by the Director-in-chief 

 has brought the institution through the 

 most critical part of its constructive period 

 without departure from the original plans, 



without financial deficit, and with no undue 

 loss of time. 



The original guarantee fund has been pre- 

 served intact and increased by gifts and be- 

 quests to nearly $300,000, the income of 

 which is available ; a second source of in- 

 come consists of the fees of the members, and 

 a third source is the support received from 

 the Department of Public Parks of the City 

 of New York. 



D. T. MacDougal. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 The Unknown. By Camille Flammarion. 



Harper & Brothers. 1900. Pp. 488. 



This volume consists of a plea for the exis- 

 tence of unknown or unrecognized psychical 

 forces or manifestations, and an attempt to 

 popularize this branch of investigation, by an 

 astronomer who is known for similar contribu- 

 tions to other fields — some of them of a pro- 

 nounced imaginative type. When one applies 

 to the work the critical examination which 

 science demands, the estimate of its value must 

 be distinctly unfavorable. Its defects are many 

 and serious ; its merits do not go beyond those 

 included in a laborious compilation of refrac- 

 tory material and a thorough and sincere in- 

 terest. Its contents include two introductory 

 chapters on the dangers of excessive incredulity 

 as well as of a too ready credulity ; a large 

 collection of cases of communications made by 

 the dying and regarded as evidence of telepathy; 

 a similar collection of related cases of thought 

 transmission and clairvoyance under other con- 

 ditions ; a consideration of dreams and of pre- 

 monitions and of hallucinations, mainly agaiu 

 as indicative of abnormal psychic operations ; 

 and some scattered and weak attempts to in- 

 terpret these phenomena on a telepathic and 

 ' psychic force ' hypothesis. The dominant 

 tone of the book is one not uncommon in 

 French writings of similar purpose, and one 

 particularly unattractive to the Anglo-Saxon 

 intellect ; there is much protesting of the ne- 

 cessity of careful observation and of not accept- 

 ing anything except on a sufficient evidence, 

 and again of the limitations of human knowl- 

 edge and of the readiness with which even 



