The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-04-24

N"o 4NoAO
Pole Deduced by Photographic Meas
ures," which has been prepared by
Professor Caroline E. F~urness, the
head of the department, and pub
lished last year through the Carnegie
institution of Washington. A num-
Der of expert women mathematician
are employed in the computation de-
partments of the leading observa-
tories. The great solar observatory
of the Carnegie institution, located on
Mt. Wilson, California, employs seven
women upon its investigatory staff,
sitions.
In botanical science, women have
been doing important work for years.
A line of work of much practical
value lately has been developed by
Miss Edith Mosher. formerly a
teacher in the Grand Rapids public
schools. Miss Mosher felt that there
was need for a broader general
knowledge of the ordinary trees with
their habits, growth and general ap-
pearance and there was a lack of ade-
quate literature. A course of tree
study was planned in the Grand Rap
ids schools and Miss Mosher under-
took the necessary studies to prepare
for it. She had the hearty cooper
alton of Clifford Pinchot, and other
leaders in forestry, and special per-
mission was given her to attend the
Yale. university summer school in
forestry, although this is not a CO.
educational school. AS a result of
her specialization. in tree botany, Miss
Mosher has been able to produce a
number of books more practical in
their scope than any which had pre-
viously been available. They in
| clude, Fruit and Nut Bearing Trees
"Our Oaks and Naples" Our Cone
Bearing Trees" Studies in Ever
green's" and others.
The subject of tropical botany is
receiving the attention Of a large
number of women. Some of them
are interested from an amateurs
standpoint, although their superficial
interest sometimes has brought about
real scientific research. Mrs. D. D..
Gaillaird, wife of one of the officers
of the Panama canal commission, de-
veloped an absorbing interest in
orchids and other tropical vegetation
to enliven the tedium of her stay upon
the isthmus. She sent many speci-
mems to The Smithsonian institution
for analysis and examination. AS a
result of the interest thus created, the
institution asst year sent down a
party of botanists to study the re-
sources of the canal zone and the
adjoining territory. The research
accomplished by this party which
owed it's origin to the amateur eff
forts of a woman, have added greatly
to the knowledge of tropical botany
which, until recently, has been a
much neglected branch of the science.
The department of botanical re-
search of the Carnegie institution is
at present confirming its efforts chiefly
to the study of the plants of the des-
ert. It's laboratories are located
principally in Arizona. Two women
are conducting research under this
department, Mrs. Forrest Shreve and
Mrs. Effie S. Spalding. Mrs. Shreve
has been especially interested in the
different varieties of the cactus. and
also in the compilation of vital statis-
tics of the plants of the deserts and
conditions which affect their length
Of life. Mrs. Spafding is interested
in their biological formation.
A number of women scientists, par
ticularly %botanists, are connected with
the department of agriculture under
the bureau of plant industry. Mrs.
Flora Patterson, who now is in
charge. of the mushroom division, for
merly was an assistant at the Gray
Herbarium connected with Harvard
university. She is recognized au-
! I,r;t ,,,,,, oil l-;,,1c of f,,~r; ,rr,,r+l
throughout the world, having been a
prolific writer for scientific journals
upon the subject.
Among the women pioneers in boz
tanical work must be numbered Mrs.
Elvira Lincoln Phelps, who shared
with DR.. Maria Mitchell the honor of
being one of the two women members
admitted to the American Society for
the Advancement of Science. At a
time when but little was known re-
garding biological foEmations as COM
pared with the. present, she was an
earnest student. She possessed the
unusual talent of being able to place
her discoveries and those of others in
a form to be readily assimilated by
students. Her books upon botany,
chemistry. and other natural sciences
are still in active circulation and a
generation 6 We're regarded as
among the most practical for use in
secondary schools. For a number of
years she was the principal of the
Patapsco Female Institute. of Mary
land. and is said to have had a greater
influence than any other woman of
her time in popularizing the study of
the natural sciences among the women
of the last generation.
The line between botany and expert
Horticulture is not distinctly marked,
and a woman in California is utilizing
the advancement in the knowledge of
botanical biology in the creation of
new plant groWths. Someone has
called Mrs. Myrtle Shepherd Francis
OF Ventura, California, a rival of
Luther Burbank, although she mod
estly disclaims such pretensions.
Mrs. Francis is endeavoring to i'm
prove several old flowers and in her
efforts has succeeded in developing a
few new ones. Her most earnest eff
forts are being made toward the i'm
provement of the yellow poppy which
is the most prolific wild flower of her
state. Mrs. Francis has succeeded in