Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/109

 J.mvABT 80, 1885.]

��Crvlaborere working upon aliuiiilant material from >ll ti>i*l^ of Europe, frnm the arctic regions, nui from Ibe Cnilal StalM, roiiUlplieil several times within B {ewye»,n the numlKrof fossil plants knoirii to science; bo that by the time of the completion of Scfaimper's ' Traits de paifiontologie v^gSUile,' in 1ST4, lie found that he hiwl been able to ileicribe in that work about a\x thousand good species, after a libentl exr.iuaion of uncertain forma. But s thorough inspection of this Important work shows that even then be came far short of gathering in all the data extant at that date, while it li since then that most uf the aoItU work In this line has tieen done In Amer- ica and In the polar districts.

A calalogue of all the foasll plants that have Iteen ilescTibeil. down lo the present jear, is In prepara-

��ends nearly lliirly yuan ago, soon after the oco^^sion of (he laic Dr. Stearns lo the presidency of the col- lege, wlien, in the yenr ISM), the board of trustees created the department »f physical education and hyijiene. Prescribed physical training fonr times weekly was eoustltuled a part of the regular college couree, and has been maintained under the immediate personal superintendence of a regularly educated phy- sician, who exercises, in addition, ageneral ovenight of theliealtliof thecoUege. Andlt is worthy of note here, that, while the experience of similar Institutions elaewliere has ofl«n been very ditlerent. uo epidemic has visited this college for the past twenty-five years, nor has any serious or permanent Injury ever hap- pened from the gymnastic exercises, eitber required or voluntary. From the onlsel the department which

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��; and, though still far from cumpleie, the work has sufficiently progressed to warrant an approximate estimate of the present Dumber uf species, which cannot fall far short of niue u)d, and may cnnsiderahly exceed that figure.

��TBVSICAL TRAINING AT AMHERST.

Trk recent inauguration of the new health-build- ing at Amherst ollege is a noteworthy feature In the development of this department of collegiate insti- tutions In general. Amherst college was, it will be remembered, the first instituiion of the kind in America to awaken to the practical necessity of a competent physical ciiltura proceeding simultaneously

Kthe intellectual development of Its students; efl«clive measures were taken to secure these

��had to do with the physical education of Iliu student has been on equal footing with the other departments of collegiate Instruction, and the facts of the relative attendance upon the required exercises In iitiht gym- nastics show that this position of the department is fully and cheerfully recogniial by the students.

While in the conduct of the affairs of the new heal th -building, or Pratt gymnasium, — the gift of Mr. Charles M. Pratt of Brooklyn, — no radical change la cunlemplated. there is, with a greatly larger struc- ture, more completely specialised apparatus, and all the conveniences for promoting bodily health as well as fostering physical development, a vast Seld for umpllQcatlon of the work of the department which it Is now in the strongest position to occupy. The interior arrangements of this structure present much that is new in college gymnasiums; and nothing Itas been spared to provide llie niosi >iuilable forms of

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