280 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. V., No. 113. 



with the author. It cannot fail to fascinate 

 the youthful student in the kindergarten. It 

 has long been maintained that the elements of 

 some of the sciences might be taught with ad- 

 vantage in the kindergarten. It remained for 

 the inventor of this system to show how readily 

 this maj- be done. The expense is a mere 

 trifle, and no preparation on the part of the 

 teacher is required. We shall soon find our 

 children making marsh-gas, or ' ethene dibro- 

 mide,' or showing how nitrate of potassium 

 and sulphuric acid are converted into nitric 

 acid and hydric potassic sulphate ; we shall 

 hear them making the fine distinction between 

 plain water and cracked-up water ; and we 

 shall be obliged to confess that the method by 

 which we were taught the elements of chemis- 

 try was a very cumbersome one as compared 

 with the simple method of Mr. Farmer. 



While fully recognizing the humorous fea- 

 tures in the kindergarten system of chemistry, 

 we cannot avoid a feeling of depression when 

 we regard it as evidence of a state of mind 

 which is very prevalent. Too many teachers 

 of chemistry, like Mr. Farmer, magnify the 

 importance of formulas, and lose sight of the 

 facts which they represent. This is the crying 

 evil in chemical instruction at the present time. 

 The teacher who ' knows the theory,' but 

 doesn't ' know the practical side of the sub- 

 ject,' is still abroad in the land. 



FONTAINE'S OLDER MESOZOIC FLORA 

 OF VIRGINIA. 



Tins work is one of the smallest of this 

 series ; but it is one of merit and importance. 

 Although the number of fossil plants from Vir- 

 ginia strata here enumerated is not great, they 

 are so thoroughly illustrated, and so critically 

 discussed, that their diagnostic value is fully 

 brought out. Professor Fontaine may fairly 

 claim to have demonstrated, from evidence fur- 

 nished by the plants alone, that these older 

 mesozoic beds, which had not previously been 

 clearly distinguished from the }'ounger ones, 

 and had been commonly grouped with the lat- 

 ter as the trias of Virginia, can scarcely extend 

 so low as the extreme upper trias, and conform 

 more closely to the rhaetic of Franconia, Bay- 

 reuth, and Palsjo, or even to the lias of Rajma- 

 hal. 



This conclusion, of course, is derived from 



Contributions to the knowledge of the older mesozoic flora 

 of Virginia. By William Morris Fontaine. Washington, 

 Government, 1883. 12 + 144 p., 54 pi. Monographs of the U. S. 

 geological survey, vi. 



an analysis of the species discovered, and a 

 study of their affinities with species obtained 

 from strata in other parts of the world, whose 

 geological position is fixed with some degree of 

 accuracy. This subject is discussed at length. 

 The substance of it can be given in a few 

 words. 



The whole number of distinct plants de- 

 scribed is forty-five. Eight of these were 

 alreadj* known from other localities under es- 

 tablished names ; four more of this class are 

 referred to different genera or species : mak- 

 ing twelve not confined to Virginia. Of the 

 remaining thirty-three which are so confined, 

 nine have close affinities with species already 

 described. It thus appears that considerably 

 over half of the entire number are peculiar to 

 the locality, and have no weight in determin- 

 ing its horizon. The decision must therefore 

 turn entirely upon the twenty-one species which 

 are either themselves found outside of Virginia, 

 or are nearly allied to such as are so found. 



The author has made some errors in his table 

 of distribution, such as the omission of Schizo- 

 neura planicostata, which he describes in the 

 text, and the failure to assign Ctenophyllum 

 Braunianum to its proper horizon (rhaetic). 

 These corrections made, we find that while 

 only one of the species (Asterocarpus platy- 

 rachis) has its nearest affinit}^ with an exclu- 

 sively triassic plant, and only seven have their 

 nearest affinities with exclusively Jurassic 

 plants, there are ten which have either been 

 found in the rhaetic only, or are most closely 

 allied to such as have only been so found. 

 Thus thirteen species, or about five-eighths, 

 may be classed as rhaetic plants ; and only 

 four, or less than one-fifth, can at best be set 

 down as triassic. The seven Jurassic species 

 are mostly from the lias, or lower oolite, which, 

 while not negativing the rhaetic character of 

 the Virginia beds, does seem, when coupled 

 with the rest of the evidence, to negative their 

 triassic character. 



We have not space to go further into details, 

 and will merely add, that, while our analysis 

 of his facts differs slightly from that made by 

 Professor Fontaine, the conclusion which flows 

 from it is the same ; viz., that in so far as fos- 

 sil plants can be depended upon to correlate the 

 deposits of different parts of the world, those 

 of the Richmond coal-fields point to the rhaetic 

 of Europe as the age to which the}' must be 

 referred. 



It is something to have even thus far fixed 

 the geological position of this hitherto unset- 

 tled formation ; but those who are specially 

 interested in the progress which is taking place 



