2. Adnotationes de Spiræaceis, auct. C. J. MAXIMOWICZ. (Seorsim impressæ ex Actis Horti Petropolitani, tom. vi.) Petropoli, 1879, pp. i-xii, and 105-261, 8vo.-This is one of the most considerable botanical papers of the time. It will require to be carefully weighed before its conclusions are either rejected or adopted. Dr. Maximowicz separates the Pomacea from the Rosacea (these including the Amygdalec or Prunea), and, reducing the value of adhesion of calyx-tube with the gynoecium (to which we cannot in principle object), refers his Spiraeacea to the order Pomacea, and divides the order into two families, Pomacea proper, with a succulent-fleshy calyx-tube which is usually connate with the carpels, and Spiraeacea with an herbaceous calyx-tube, free from the dehiscent carpels. The order thus constituted is regarded as intermediate between Rosaceae and Saxifragaceae. The Linnæan Spiraea, which must be allowed to be composite and which included four Tournefortian genera, is distributed among the tribes of the first two orders.

The Spiraeaceae are divided into several tribes: the Spiraea, with carpels when isomerous with the sepals alternate with them, containing Aruncus, Eriogynia (preferred to Lutkea, though possibly, and we suppose without much doubt, not quite so old), Spiraea (of the sections Petrophytum, Chamaedryon, and Spiraria), and Sibirea (S. lævigata L.); these have little or no albumen and thin coat to the seed: Neilliea, differing in having a smooth and stony seed-coat and very distinct albumen (Physocarpus, Neillia, Stephanandra, under which arrangement the separation of the first two seems most proper): Gilleniece, with the carpels opposite the sepals when of the same number, otherwise nearly with the characters of the preceding; this includes Sorbaria (Lindley's Schizonotus), Chamabatiaria (horrid name for a genus, taken from the sectional name given by Professor Porter to Spiraea Millefolium Torr.), Spiranthus, of a single Siberian species, and Gillenia; finally the Quillaiea, with winged seeds, the first genus of which is Exochorda. To Rosacea, as here limited, Maximowicz refers Filipendula (including Spirea filipendula, Ulmaria lobata, and the like), excluded from the Spiraece and included in the Sanguisorbed on account of their indehiscent and one-seeded (biovulate) carpels; and Holodiscus of Koch (composed of Spirea discolor and the Andine S. argentea), which is referred to the Potentilleæ, along with Cercocarpus, Cowania, and Fullugia, with the remark that its biovulate achenia ally it to the Rubeæ. Of Rubus it is said that the seeds are distinctly albuminous; and Kerria, Neviusia, and Rhodotypus are placed among the Rubec. A. G.

3. BOISSIER, Flora Orientalis, vol. iv, pp. 1276, 8vo.-This Oriental Flora, as is well known, covers the ground from Greece to Egypt, and to the boundaries of India and of Asiatic Russia. This fourth volume, completed early in 1879 by the publication of the second fasciculus (of almost a thousand pages), contains the Corolliflora and the Monochlamydea, in other terms the Gamopetalous and Apetalous Exogens. We may therefore expect that

the indefatigable author will ere long complete this laborious and noble work. These fifteen or twenty years will then be distinguished by the production of the Flora Australiensis and the Flora Orientalis. Would that the Flora of North America were added

to the number.

A. G.

4. Sulla Diffusione dei Liquide Colorati nei Fiori; by Professor P. A. SACCARDO.-The writer gives an account of his experiments in immersing cuttings of flowering plants in different coloring fluids, and concludes by saying that aniline-green is especially favorable for staining not only the vessels but the parenchyma of flowers. The paper is followed by a sheet on which actual specimens of stained petals serve as illustrations, with a pleasing effect.

W. G. F.

5. Neue Beobachtungen über Zellbildung und Zelltheilung; by Professor ED. STRASBURGER.-Nos. 17 and 18 of the Botanische Zeitung contain an important article by Strasburger. It had generally been admitted by botanists, including Strasburger himself, that the endosperm was formed in the embryo-sack by freecell formation. Strasburger now says that this is not true, and that there is no formation of free nuclei in the embryo-sack; he having in previous papers shown that the embryonal vesicle and antipodes do not arise by a free-cell formation. As in the case of the two last named structures, the endosperm-cells are formed by a division of the nucleus of the embryo-sack. Myosurus minimus is especially adapted for the study of the subject, owing to the elongated receptacle. Strasburger also states that in the Ascomycetes the spore-formation is not preceded by a dissolving of the nucleus of the ascus followed by the formation of free nuclei, but that the original nucleus divides to form the nucleus of each spore. He makes the sweeping assertion that a free formation of nuclei as the initial stage of cell-formation cannot be assumed (in plants), unless we conceive such to be the case in the mother cells of the spores in Anthoceros and in those of the macrospores of Isoëtes, in which cases observation is obscured by the presence of granular accumulations in the cells. He does not deny, however, that free nuclei may be formed in some instances, but only that it does not accompany cell-formation. In Spirogyra, for instance, the spore has at first no nucleus but one is formed at the time of germination. The same is true of the swarm-spores of Ulothrix.

The last part of the paper treats of the different arrangements of nuclear plates and nuclear threads, as a comprehensive distinction between the division of animal and vegetable cells in the formation of what Strasburger calls the cell-plate in plants. This is dependent upon the presence of a cellulose membrane in plants. It may be objected, however, that no cellulose membrane can be detected in many plant-cells.

W. G. F.

6. ARNOLD ARBORETUM.-Prof. Charles S. Sargent is appointed Professor of Arboriculture in Harvard University, along with the directorship of the Arnold Arboretum at the Bussey Institution. He now devotes himself entirely to the arboretum, resigning the

charge of the Botanic Garden at Cambridge, which is assumed by Professor Goodale.

7. Prof. J. G. AGARDH has resigned the chair of Botany at the University of Lund. Dr. F. W. U. Areschoug has been appointed his successor.

8. P. VAN TIEGHEM is appointed Professor of Vegetable Anatomy and Physiology at the Jardin des Plants, Paris, in the chair vacated by the death of Brongniart some years ago.

9. Dr. ŎDOARDO BECCARI succeeds to the late Prof. Parlatore as Professor of Botany and Director of the Gardens at Florence. 10. Die Spongien des Meerbusen von Mexico, von OSCAR SCHMIDT. 4to, 1st Heft, with four plates. Jena, 1879.-This memoir relates to sponges collected by the dredging expedition of the steamer Blake, under the supervision of Alexander Agassiz. The excellent plates illustrate the forms and spicula of many species.

IV. MISCELLANEOUS SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

1. Catalogue of Scientific Serials, from 1633 to 1876, by SAMUEL H. SCUDDER. 358 pp. 8vo. Cambridge, Library of Harvard University, 1879.-This catalogue embraces the Transactions and Bulletins or Proceedings of Learned Societies in the Natural, Physical and Mathematical sciences of all countries, as well as independent journals. It has been prepared, under the auspices of the Harvard College Library, by Mr. Scudder, assistant Librarian; and it is a result of a vast amount of labor and great care. All persons interested in the progress of science will find it an invaluable companion. The titles are arranged alphabetically under the heads of each of the States or Countries from which they were issued, and, in addition, there are Indexes of titles and of places of publication. Harvard Library has met the expense of publication, with the expectation that the demand for the volume will refund the outlay, and with the promise that if so far remunerated, this shall be the beginning of a series of "works such as may be properly undertaken by a public Library, and do not offer inducement for commercial speculation;" and it will be greatly for the benefit of learning in the land, that in this there should be no disappointment.

2. A Sketch of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania; by CHARLES F. HIMES, Ph.D., Professor of Natural Science. 156 pp. 12mo, illustrated by engravings, and by photographs executed in the Laboratory. Harrisburg, 1879.-The History of Dickinson College, has a general interest because of the connection with its scientific department, the second year after its establishment, in 1811, of Thomas Cooper, the friend, and companion over the sea, of Priestley-a man of wide range of learning, of great chemical knowledge for his time, and of strong opinions on all subjects. Prof. Himes's "Sketch," contains, among its photographic plates, one with figures of the air-gun and burning glass which, along

with a telescope, Dr. Cooper purchased of Priestley for the college, by authority of its Board of Trustees, and which are now among its physical apparatus. It appears further from the sketch that it was while in this position that Dr. Cooper revived the "Emporium of Arts and Sciences," one of the earliest of American Scientific Journals, and gave it "a high scientific character," and issued also an edition of Accum's Chemistry in two volumes. Thus the scientific department of Dickinson was one of the earliest established in the country, and behind no other in the learning and ability of its chief instructor. The Journal, a bi-monthly of 150 pages, came to an end in 1814-the long delay of the final volume being explained by the fact of "the printers serving their country as volunteers." Dr. Cooper left his chair in 1815, and became afterward President of South Carolina College. Prof. Baird, a graduate of Dickinson College, now Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was made its Professor of Natural History in 1848, and held the office until 1850, when his connection with the Smithsonian Institution began under Professor Henry.

3. Ephemeris of the Satellites of Mars for October and November, 1879.-The ephemeris on pages 317, 318 of this volume, was prepared for the Journal by Henry S. Pritchett, Assistant Astronomer in the United States Naval Observatory at Washington.

4. Scientific Lectures; by Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart., Vice President of the Royal Society, etc. 188 pp. 8vo. London, 1879. (Macmillan & Co.).—This volume contains six lectures by Sir John Lubbock: on Flowers and Insects, on Plants and Insects, on the Habits of Ants, Introduction to the Study of Prehistoric Archæology, and an Address to the Wiltshire Archæological and Natural History Society. They are in part the result of original research; and although, as the Preface says, "the little book does not contain anything new to those who have specially studied the parts of science with which it deals," many of the facts are among the most remarkable in science, and make instructive and attractive reading for all inquiring minds. Further, they are well calculated to cultivate an inquiring spirit in the mind of those who have thought themselves indifferent to the study of nature.

5. Shell Mounds of Omori, by EDWARD S. MORSE, Prof. Zool. Univ. Tokio, Japan. Mem. Univ. Tokio, vol. i, part 1, 1879. 36 pp. large 8vo, with 18 plates.-Professor Morse gives evidence that the mound-builders were cannibals either from an emergency or by preference. The implements obtained are made of stone, horn, bone and pottery, but there are no arrow-heads or spearpoints of flint or other material, and few of the relics are of stone.

Report of Work of the Agricultural Experiment Station, Middletown, Conn., 1877-8. 174 pp. 8vo. Hartford, 1879.

THE

AMERICAN

JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARTS.

[THIRD SERIES.]

ART. L.-On Photographing the Spectra of the Stars and Planets; by HENRY DRAPER, M.D.

[Read before the National Academy of Sciences, Oct. 28th, 1879.]

FOR many years it has seemed probable that great interest would be attached to photographs of the spectra of the heavenly bodies, because they offer to us conditions of temperature and pressure that cannot be attained by any means known at present, on the earth. The especial point of interest is connected with considerations regarding the probable non-elementary nature of the so-called elementary bodies. There has long been a suspicion in the minds of scientific men that one or more truly elementary bodies would be found from which those substances which have not as yet been decomposed, are formed. The recent publications of Lockyer have attracted particular attention to this topic.

The most promising laboratory processes for accomplishing the dissociation of our present elements depend upon the action of heat, especially when accompanied by electrical influences, and upon relief of pressure. But the temperature we can employ is far below that found in the stars, which is comparable only with the heat of our Sun, and when in addition the application of heat is restricted by the narrow range of circumstances under which we can also reduce the pressure, complete success seems to be impracticable in the laboratory.

But in the stars, nebulæ and comets there is a multitude of experiments all ready performed for us with a variety of conditions of just the kind we need. It remains for us to observe

AM. JOUR. SCI.--THIRD SERIES, VOL. XVIII, No. 108.-DEC., 1879.