SCIENCE 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 

 OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 

 FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



Friday, March 3, 1905. 



C<)^^TENTS: 



Applied Botany and its Dependence on Scien- 

 tific Research: Dr. George T. Moore 321 



American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science: — 



Section li — Pliysics: Professor Dayton C. 

 Miller 333 



The Convention of the Association of Amer- 

 ican Agricultural Colleges and Experiment 

 Stations: Dr. E. W. Allen 340 



Scientific Books: — 



Hornaday's ' The American Natural His- 

 tory' : W. K. Gregory 346 



Scientific Journals and Articles 348 



Societies and Academies : — 



The Geological Society of Washington: H. 

 F. Bain. Clemson College Science Club: 

 Haven Metcalf. Section of Biology of the 

 Neic York Academy of Sciences: Professor 

 M. a. Bigelow. The Elisha Mitchell Sci- 

 entific Society: Professor Alvin S. 

 Wheeler 349 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



Mont Felee sive Mont Pele: Dr. C. R. East- 

 man. The Metric Fallacy: Samuel S. 

 Dale 3S2 



Special Articles : — 



Determinate Mutation: Professor May- 

 nard M. Metcalf 355 



Current Notes on Meteorology : — 



The Teaching of Meteorology; Labor and 

 Health on the Isthmus of Panama j Note: 

 Professor R. DeC. Ward 356 



Scientific Notes and Ncics 357 



University and Educational Neics 360 



MSS. inteudedfor publication aud books, etc., intended 

 for review should be sent to the Editor of Science, Garri- 

 8on-on-HudBon, N. Y. 



APPLIED BOTANY AND ITS DEPENDENCE 

 UPON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH.* 



Unfortunately for me, the time for 

 this address before the Society for Plant 

 Morphology and Physiology comes so far 

 along in the twentieth century that there 

 is opportunity for neither a retrospective 

 nor a prospective view of botany, even 

 were I competent to assume the role of an 

 historian or a prophet. I had, therefore, 

 thought of presenting a somewhat general 

 discussion of some of the problems involved 

 in soil bacteriology, but, fortunately for 

 you, this has recently been done before an- 

 other society by another investigator, so 

 that there is no reason for digging over the 

 same soil here. On the other hand, the 

 discussion of some purely technical botan- 

 ical subject connected with my particvilar 

 field of work seems more properly to be- 

 long to that part of the pi-ogram devoted 

 to scientific papers. Consequently, by this 

 process of elimination, the only question of 

 general interest occurring to me seems to 

 be that one which most of us have grown 

 tired of answering and yet, because of the 

 tendency of this age, is the one which we 

 have to answer more often than any other, 

 namely, Of what good is botany? Why 

 do w'e teach if? and above all. Why have 

 we as men and women allied ourselves with 

 such a profession? Far be it from me to 

 attempt to defend botany against all who 

 are now engaged in its pursuit. These are 

 matters for one's own conscience, but for 

 those of us here, members of the Society 



* Address of the president of the Society for 

 Plant Morpholog}' and Physiology, Philadelphia, 

 December, 1904. 



