New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-08-26


my TELEGRAPH TO THE rRIBusk'
,.>-pr,1 Ang. 25.-It Is a trying task 1or one
tnhas not developed genius for research 10 us
cover what the professors are buSylne uoIi''
hort from dav to day. Perhaps IL Snouiu 10
claimed that one can hardly go wrong Il he 'u'
- 49,, erst Gentleman he meets here as ITO
- ~ octnal count there are 2l3 professors
.,;,, or another in Montreal to-day. Each
,,or,iu, a programme for the day. a pamphlet ol
forty pases is issued. 1t is prepared Win elc"V
.'a;ns and at considerable expense during the night
+r the Guidance of the associates, and as soon as
II is distributed everybody proceeds to violate 'he
prescrlbed order IN the most contemptuous na''N'i
No section meets in the room where according W
advertisement il should assemble; ana Wneu q"
wondering band of professors have maze up '"''
minds where they will swarm. they ih'dil'''' "
1ect = different time from that on the pI"ki ""'
Then each professor indicates no" many n
Is naper will occupy. This Is to give the inquire
some idea of what is gong on anu WIZ
.re exhibiting themselves IN lhe various
soctions But the professors almost in
yarably read for half an hour when they assert
that they will talk for FIVE minutes, and after the
ofessor has had his say and it must be added that
now and then his dehveranccs are not startling lot
novelty OF force-ojheT professors begin an alegeu
discussion which ordinarily Is dismal dllutioh OF
the original matter, thin enough Already mus II
happen, that the searcher after truth is compeiIeu
IN charter a cab and drive about amlessy from
noipt 70 point beseeching every professor he meets
IN tell what he knows. This is not an expensive
undertaking. for the Montreal hickman
charges only quarter TO o'cr'"No
a professor but ii ought to be adued as
n scientific fact that % cent environment is not
favorable to the development of ylyaclous ana
1nettlesome breed OF cab-horocs.
lust why the performances Of the American AS
soc,atiou for the Advancement of Science are termed
proceedings does not appear The ASSOCIATION goes
through every other form of motion. 1t reVolVes
and di.solves and mikes itself up and goes back on
itself. bat it doesn't proceed. On to-days pro-
rramme is much of the work advertised as
Yesterdays and 1t VIII remain on the
MONDAYS programme no doubt saturday Is
a dies non because the professors must nave 'HeI
httle diversion, and all will go to Quebec OF Ottawa
this evening. 1t is not credltabe 10 the WIS., men
that they can develop no reverence Tor system oI
puDctaality or business-llke order
So far rs can be discovered the cher happenings
tolav have been these after the general meeting,
In which # was voted that memorial OF the llic
and services of Professor Rogers should be pre-
rare2. tue various sections adjourned to near
Alexander Graham Bell upon the electrical expert
,uents 10 determine the location Of tue bullet IN
.he boar If General Garfield The lecture was IL
l,.t,,t-d ,lth apparatqs and diagrams. and 1t was
so .,;,,lc thai the audience could appreciate each
,tep Cha, was taken toward owing the problem
Nj Bell eXpl..a-l IN perfected ma mucrS pt
winch balls have been dis oveied. and skecned
nc,y device with which lead seems TO create more
disturbance with the balance aid Is more readily
detected th,n ron If this Is verified IN practice
great point iyll be gained for he difficulty hitherto
las been Ia tho fact that men would make
bulrts of lead instead Of silver or iron
which ais would readily Indicate their presence
Finally SIR Bell showed a device by means 81
which the exact position Of he bali could be yer-
fed ~ needle after lis general location had Deel'
established 50 that the knife could be used with
absolute certainty.
TIE NORTH AMERICAN FLORA.
In the biological section Dr. Asa Gray, Of Iar-
card College, gave one OF ms admlTdDIe du-
tres,e. ora the history of the study OF the N'fth
American fora. The first fora OF THIS country
was published by MichauX in 1903. This
wa, followed over sixty years ago by
the work on the same general subject
by Prr,L The territory over which Pursh travelled
and collected specimens Was email compared with
that which is now the field of American botanlsts.
He did NOT 60 west Of Virginia or north OF Lake
Champlan TINS early explorer died III middle iie'
and the tradition comes down 10 us that uncon-
tro.lod foudness for drink had influence upon the
length of his life. Pursh's Il Ia contained 'iO
genera and 9. 700 species.
1t is not known just when Dr.. John Torrey con
oclvod the idea of publishing third flora
of North America, but be invited NuttaH TO
JON him in this Work a. early as 1882. Arrange
mepts were afterwaId made with DR.. Gray. and IN
1e3S ,hc uTst .olune of tie c0nIoined bOtt1I.c al
WORK vas issued. II was generally thong hi thas Tie
remaining orders codld DC sooG WORKED out, an
that he Aora would DE compet., Dnt such Il RAPID
publication of the flora was not possible Or. Tor
rev hal before this oecntO Europe, and had spent
much time IN the study OF foreign herbara Ia
1855 pr. Gray crossed The Atlantic ana
spent many months i'm the same important WORK,
paving special attention 70 those berbarla con-
tanning North America ! tnts that had been col
lected 5y Michaux Pursh, ID. Candolie and other
second volume appeared ia 1910, which carried
tie tof., to the end OF the family Composite.
Ohe duties at this point pu, temporary stop to
the work and it Was not until losO that another
volume added.
Dr Gray Is IN hopes that the whole work may be
completed il his own lifetime II moi guided By his
own hands. TINS is cortany the hope OF everyone
interested Ia the botany Of America. Tins IS
necessarily u very slow work, and very difficult 10
push to completion compared With that ol Pursh
when the species much fewer and the number
OF specimens If eact that had been collected many
times less. Our southern boundary is now fixed
Drs. Torgev and Gray brought in Texas, and Cali
foruia ,ls also annexed b. them. In the FIRST volume
ilir n.iibeI Is about double that given by PuIsh
for the same orders, and the number OF species
III the same iames Ia, Increased greatly
darIng the thirty years since Its publication.
According TO Mr. Watsous new work, for
Pursf. zoo species We have 3.GJS len thousand
species - too small number Tor the hOra Of Amer
can Towering plants and as Or. Gray SAID, the
number " unh1pply increasing New species are
beng introduced almost daily and the botanist IL
Temple 10 treat them III the that CallfOr-