Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 37.djvu/725

Rh this development takes place. The first is the extinction of trunk lines of descent, by virtue of which a trunk sends up a branch which is capable of higher progress than the trunk itself, and in time comes to be regarded as the trunk. This in turn sends up a branch by which it is overtopped and superseded as the trunk of the ever-branching system. Another law is that of persistence of unspecialized types, instances of which are the persistence of low forms of articulates, mollusks, and reptiles with the dominant types of animals, while the higher forms of these orders have been extinguished by competition with these dominant types. Turning to the vegetable kingdom, Mr. Ward points out by what steps development has proceeded in this field from its earliest beginnings in cryptogamic life to its highest and latest expression in the gamopetalous dicotyledon. He then considers the influence in' the modification of structure exerted by extra-normal causes—i. e., such as produce characters that are of only indirect use to the organism. The doctrine of natural selection has been severely criticised of late years, and the best way of defending it, Mr. Ward believes, is to take the ground that fortuitous variation goes on at all times, in many directions, and to great lengths, without any perceptible change in the degree of adaptation which the varying forms have to their environment. No beneficial effect need be felt until well-formed varieties have been developed. Among extra-normal influences in the vegetable kingdom are showy and fragrant flowers, and bright-colored and pleasant-flavored fruits. Another important influence of this class comprises the causes which in many cases make one sex differ so widely from the other.

An address was given by Dr. Byron D. Halsted, State Botanist of New Jersey, before the New Jersey Board of Agriculture last winter on the subject of Rusts, Smuts, Ergots, and Rots, in which he described some of the diseases that seriously affect field-crops, vegetables, and fruit, and named remedies that have proved successful in combating them. The paper comes to us in pamphlet form. It is free from botanical technicalities, and hence can be understood and used by any intelligent farmer. A list of the fungi most injurious to New Jersey farm-crops is appended, together with four plates in which many of them are figured.

Part VII of Volume I of the Records of the American Society of Naturalists contains a list of members, with their professional positions and addresses, and a record of the eighth meeting of the society, held in New York, December 27 and 28, 1889. The president, Prof. Goodale, of Harvard, took Science in the Schools as the subject of his address, and suggested as a means of securing genuine science study in the lower schools the preparation of a book on physical geography, the part relating to each tributary science to be made by a master of the science, and the whole to be co-ordinated by a master in pedagogics. An outline of laboratory work in each of the sciences should be included, some one of which should be selected by the teacher for his pupils to become practically acquainted with. Since the last meeting of the society, the addition of science to the requirements for admission to college, and to the general course of study in common schools, has been urged in the name of the society by Prof. William N. Rice and other members before various educational associations. The officers elected for the present year include Prof. H. Newell Martin, president, and Prof. Henry H. Donaldson, of Clark University, secretary.

A detailed examination of The Marine Climate of the Southern California Coast and its Relations to Phthisis has been published in a pamphlet by P. C. Remondino, M. D., of San Diego. In passing from the islands off the coast to the mountains and down into the desert beyond, the author distinguishes six varieties of climate that are met with. Three of these have more or less of a marine character, while the others are land climates, but none of them can be called moist. Dr. Remondino tells what are the prevailing temperatures, quantities of air-moisture, character of the seasons, weather, etc., in different parts of the region he describes, and bears confident testimony as to the benefits that consumptive patients may expect from the dry and equable air of the coast, or the foot-hills, or the mountains of southern California.

Bulletin No. 22 of the Department of Agriculture consists of Reports of Observations and Experiments in the Practical Work