: s - nant eal aie re fae NY Q SWS ce : ; Seto Mas WS NaS ei vent ‘ater bas : Ne SO os , ay Belgica aan > eh we ‘ A . ha ‘ ‘alyy 4 4 m a e Dna” 3 Ao Ad, OS es x ; Sean = *. : oe - ies SANG SRR ay : Iai i S : y : NERA Raga ee ee roa? ; ene SMe <— Few: . = : * SrRBARY SEAR <—_ Scie Sei : . ae . a ee : Ny h 2 S TESS Shiries seek ie Sy ‘ 2 aS ter > Laeger. re © -~ » ats Lavette NESE: See Sean Sete Re earn SEMEN = HAS nee “erga; ml ght LL . Nos a PaaS y. ae ate PENG, Re, Soret er na 4 ‘ ¥ te, oe ant PEP hain, Nidal ee ee S =) Ae hn Wash ges o> .4 The:West*American: Volume XVI. EDITORIAL. In commencing a new volume of this magazine we. wish first to thank its friends and contributors, whose aid in the past has rendered its publi- eation possible. As to the future, if present assurances do not fail, .- we hope to accomplish the ambitious task we have set ourselves, which will convert its pages into a_e vast cyclopaedia of West American biol- ozy, and a history of the progress of science on the Pacific Coast. The co-operation ,of every reader is de- sired. NOTES AND NEWS. ‘San Diego Marine Biological Associ- ' ation: — CS aiouneca that the gift, of Miss Ellen B. Scripps, of fifty thous- and dollars, for a new building, is.now available, and it is hoped to complete the structure by August, 1907. The newly elected directors are:— Dr. Fred Baker, President. — Prof. W. E. Ritter, Scientific Director. Julius Wangenheim, Treasurer. F. W. Kelsey, Secretary. Miss Ellen B. Scripps. Edward W. Scripps. Brandegee Herbarium and Library: Announcement is made of the gift of the Brandegee herbarium, consist- ing of some 125,000 sheets, and the valuable botanical library associated with it, to the California State Uni- versity, at Berkeley, California, by Mr. and Mrs. T. S. Brandegee. 1 December 1906. Nclentist. Whole Number 731 Calamintha Chandleri. T. S. Brandegee, Zoe 5:195 (Ag 1905), deseribes’ this as’ followst=— “Stems frutescent, branching, 1 m. high, forming clumps, upper parts pubescent: leaves orbicular or broad-~ ly ovate, with truncate or cuneate base, obtuse, crenate-serrate or entire, 1 cm. long and broad, slightly pubes- cent on the upper face, more so on the lower: petioles pubescent, 5 mm. long: flowers single or in 2-4- flowered cymes in the axils of the leaves: peduncles and pedicels 1-2 mm. long: bracts linear-lanceolate: calyx tubu- lar-campanulate, slightly bilabiate, 6-7 mm. long; the teeth about 1 mm long, triangular, acuminate, those of the lower lip slightly longer: corolla 13 mm. long, pubescent out- side, cream-white; the tube straight, as long as the calyx; lobes of the lcwer lip short: stamens conniving in pairs: hairs nearly its whole length. Col- lected by H. P. Chandler near San Diego, ‘California, on Mount San Miguel, May 21, 1904.’’ WANTS. The director of the United States Geological Survey, Washington, D. Cy, wishes to obtain numbers 1, 2, 70-73, 96 and 97 of the West American Sci- entist to complete their set. The librarian of the New York botanical garden wishes numbers 1, 2 AS 9 Aah 96 and 9% of *the West American Scientist. The Library of Congress lacks num- 2 style bearing a few scattered: bers 1, 9, 27, 28 and 96 of the West American Scientist, which the librar- ian wishes to obtain. The Smithsonian wants Nos. 2, 4, 6-8, 20, 21, 28-25, 2y¥-31, of the West American Scientist, and the U. S. Na- tional Museum wants Nos. 2, 4, 6-9, 50-54, 66, 68, 69 and 70. PLANT IDENTIFICATION. Perhaps no greater service can be aone the rising generation in America than the establishment of a bureau where specimens of plants, insects, minerals, ete., could be sent, with a fair prospect of securing the correct names. Scientific activity has never been greater, and institutions glad to render such aid have never been more numerous. Yet even a professional botanist, with an acquaintance with specialists, and the specialists them- selves, with all the available facilities of modern institutions, find infinite difficulties in their way. Botany is not an exact science, and its. litera- ture has become So intricate and cum- bersome that no one can hope to fully master it. As the late Thomas Mee- han has remarked, the greatest need a’ the present time is not more liter- ature, but an index to what we al- ready have. To render the subject still more difficult, there has arisen much controversy over nomenclature, until no one can be quite sure as to the names that should be used. One writer (Heller, Muhlenbergia 1:135) remarks that he “can see no object in burdening literature with varietal or form names.”’ Hence ev- ery albino must be ranked as a spec- ies, or remain nameless. Every dis- tinct variety must be raised to spe- cific rank or ignored. Even this could be borne, if botanists would refrai: from describing specimens as species, but each must be allowed individual freedom, to describe new species of thunder, if he likes, as one notable American botanist has done. Such a bureau as is needed, would require for the naming of American plants alone a library that would cost far more than $100,000, an herbarium 4 that would require years to form, and trained specialists with unlimited leisure and patience, to solve the problems that would confront them. A botanical garden on no mean lines would also be found indispensable to the proper conduct of the work. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread—and this magazine is not yet equipped for the work outlined. We shall, however, from time to time give practical directions and advice to those seeking to take up botanical work. As a possible help to the student, ' we have decided to give carefully ecmpiled descriptions of the plants of the southwest, bringing together the many scattering descriptions as far as possible, with the hope that in time the beginner, by saving up these pages, will be fairly equipped to iden- tify the native plants of the Golden State, and be able to judge for him- self as to the rightful names for our trees and flowers. California Plants. A new work on California botany, by Charles Russell Orcutt, editor of the West American Scientist, of San Diego, Cal., is announced. The title is ‘‘Calif- ornia Plants,’’ and itis being issued in parts—each containing descriptions of about one hundred species of the native trees and flowers. The price is $3 for 12 numbers. Four parts are now in press and the first volume of 12 parts will be completed, it is hoped, during 1907. CALIFORNIA BOTANICAL GARDEN Recent accessions to the plant col- lections are as follows. From the Missouri den:— Aloe albocincta. Variety grandidentata. Aloe Baumi. Aloe comnuiutata. Aloe dichotoma. Aloe macrocarpa. : Aloe obscura. { . Botanical Gar- Variety intermedia. ee te Bt 5 Aloe Atoe Salm-Dyckiana. Schim peri. Aloe striata. Aloe supralaevis. Variety erythrocarpa. Variety hybrida. ALO® VERA Linnaeus. Apicra aspera. Apicrs: fololosa. Gasteria acinecifclic. Gasterin brevifotia. Gasteria Croucheri. Gasteria cusnidata- Gasteria decipiens. Gasteria disticha. Variety aneniata. Gosteria excevata. Gasteria maculatn. Gessteria nisricans. Variety subnicric ns, Gesteria subverruccsa. Gasteria verr Fawertiiia Mawenthia Kowcrthia Eawerthbtia Tewoarthia me worthia taswerthia, rs aworthia UCOSA. -ttenust a. ecarctata. fascitta. eranmata. reduld, FUGOS?. subrigida. tortuos., AIRE IME ESO MB oe OE MEDICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT, PERPETUAL YOUTH. The poet informs us that no one ever truiy longs for death. It is life, more life and fuller that we want. -c is true there is an instinctive grasp upon _eyen the seemingly most undesirable life, but the hold is instinctive rather than reasonable. The. love of youth. however, is dictated by reason. Its de- sirability is seen by all. My. friend once said, ‘I would far rather die than » be old.” _ $cientists ere been trying for ages to discover the secret of perpetual youth. They have arrived at a plausi- ble theory and. it~ remains with: the present generation to est its practical merits. Youth is the period of poneinucean: The child eats to live and to grow. Af- ter maturity he should eat only to live and, according) to modern theory, if this ‘were done there would be no pe- ‘took ‘age. ‘physicians know is a power. i) riod of old age. In youth there is a natural elasticity of the walis of the arteries which assists circulation. So long as nutrition supplies only waste the elasticity continues but as soen as nutrition becomes more abundant than activities require the surplus is depo - ited causing a hardening of the walls of the arteries. This hardeaing inter- feres with the perfection of the whole circulation and thus’ introduces the commencement of the period known as cld age. Accordingly old age could be prevented by supplying less nuirition of by using the supply more lavishly in larger activities. It is usually recom- mended both to eat less and to exer- cise more. As I have already said it rests with the present generation to test the vaue2 of the assertion. And yet we can look about us and the probability of success. Years ago it was considered that maturity with its burden of work StS) -and care required more nutrition than the growing child who is noze the less busy because its activity is expended upon what the hard-warking parents call play. still larger supp y of nutri- tion was supposed to be required as the weakness of old age approached. Ss a result we saw commonly a slug- gish, feeble old -age at three score years and ten against which we now more frequently find youthful activity and vigor in the eighties. The greater youthfulness of the pesent examples of advanced age are due not only to greater activity and a possibly greater abstemiousness but also to a different frame of mind. In former years old age was, invited by being expected. Men in their prime re- tired from business and sat down with open arms .to await the advent of the Spectre. Mothers resigned their house- hold cares to the daughters and mis- the. consequent . loss of interest and capability for the approach of ue Gradually,. however, ‘a chan has come. “Reason ‘points. out the an surdity of these. thing's and ‘the human will has asserted itself, and that,:as all ‘An old soldier, wounded and apparently dy- ing, was told by the surgeon that he had but one chance in a hundred to T live. ‘‘Well, sir,’ he answered sturdi- ly, “Ill take that chance,” and he did and lived. The will to be young is no small help to the result. Adelina Patti is a good illustration. She wished to be youthful and believed it possible to be so. In her opinion the greatest foe of youth is ill health. “Whenever we are sick,’’ she says, “‘we, lose a part of our youth. Every con- valescence requires an expenditure of vital force and is so much subtracted from one’s life capital.’ Good health she believes to be within the reach of all, Much of the feebleness of women is brought about by the obligations of conventional social life which bring neither enjoyment nor usefulness but awaken ambition, envy and bad tem- per, the greatest foes of good health. Serenity of spirit is considered by many as the one great secret of lon- gevity. It certainly is a powertrul ally of youthfulness. A statement of Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, M. D., places the normal period of man’s lite ai about one hundred and ten years and states that about seven out of ev- ery ten people could attain to that age if they lived aright. His advice is to cultivate a spirit of serene cheerful- ness under all circumstances and to learn to like physical exercise in a sci- entific way. Chauncey M. Depew gives as his observation that longevity is in- dissolubly connected with work. And yet the healthfulness of work can be destroyed by an adverse or fretful state of mind. The mind is at the head and it can be schooled to look upon life’ with cheerfulness. We may not be able to realize our ideal but we can, as some one has said, idealize our real. We see in the present generation a small army of those who have set out toward the goal of perpetual youth. ‘They are all of them busy, active men and women, not acidly abstemious but merely not gluttonous, serene for they have faith in the eternal working for good of all things. They are happy for they are seeking the good of those about them. They are counting their lives not by years but by actions. They will never grow old: Long may the live! OLIVE EDDY ORCUTT, M. D. 8 AMERICAN BOTANICAL GARDENS Botanic Garden of Harvard Univer- sity: Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1805, with about 7 acres of land. The system of garden, li- braries, museum, laboratories ‘and herbaria operated by Harvard Col- lege, is one of the most complete in existence. The Gray Herbarium and Library is classic ground. The gar- den itseif is insignificant. - Arnold Arboretum: Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Founded through a_ bequest of $100,000, made about 1870, by James Arnold, of Providence, R. I. Now the greatest tree museum in_ existence, freely open to the public, covering over 160 acres. Missouri Botanical Garden: St. Louis, Missouri. Estabiished in 1889, through the will of Henry Shaw, who. devised about 670 acres to the institution. A very large herbarium and library are being formed, with the Hngelmann ecllections for a nuclues, New York Botanical Garden: Bronx Park, New York. This is a strong association of an- nual members, who contribute $10 a year each, fellows and _ patrons. who, by co-operation with the city, with ‘Columbia University, and a large endowment, have established a superb system of greenhouses, mus- eum, library, herbarium. arboretum, and park. The sum originally sub- scribed was $250,000, and a tract of 250 acres in the Bronx was set aside for its use. > iversity of California: } Berkeley, ‘California. The botanical garden supported oc- cupies several acres, and contained in 1905 about 2000 species. The valu- able herbarium and library has been enriched by the gift of the Townsend Stith Brandegee herbarium and bot- anical library, presented in 1906. Smith College: Northampton, Massachusetts, Volume XVI, }CALIFORNIA BOTANICAL CEATION. }SAN DIEGO, ASSO. CALIFORNIA, The objects of this assoéiatien shail be the promotion of botanical science }by exploration, experiment and _ ree ‘ysearch; the publication of agricul- 4 tural and botanical works: the forme Jing of an herbarium, a museum, and library, especially pertaining to agri- y}eulture and botany: and the establish- }ment and maintenance of a botanical yceptible of Gultivation, may be grown jfor purposes of public instruction, ex« joeriment, and scientific observation. } It is proposed to effect an organiza- ‘jvion, and to incorporate under the aws of the state of California, with- put capital stock (as pecuniary profit Ms not its object), at an early date, Jind every lady or gentleman inter- ysted in botany, horticulture, or the Yillied branches of science, is earn- Wstly invited to become a Charter “ymember. | The plans under consideration con~ yJemplate the establishment of the WALIFORNIA BOTANICAL GARDEN }s an insttiution of more than locai ‘}mportance, aiming to make it in time Vf even international value, with ‘yeatures that shall ensure it reéecog= fiition among the educational factors Wf the nation. It is therefore pro- ‘}osed to select an ‘‘Honorary Advis- yry Board of American Botanists’, Miho shall be fully advised of our Jlans and the local conditions, and }equested to éxpress advice and sug- Postions 4s to the devélopment of the Pducational and seientifie features of January, 7908. te" oT Pa Br SU el ee Bo LAY entist. Whote Number 732. cur work, and to to-operate with us, and t@ usé our advantages of climate in the experimental and research work Or the se¥eral institutions with which they may be associated. The professors of botany in the leading universities Of the United States, the directors of the Missoiwi Botanicag Garden, of the New York Botanical Carden, of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, the National For- estér, afid others, may thus bé eon=- Sistently invited to advise and eco= opérate with wus in our plans—and as far as @Gorrespondence thus far conducted with thése gentlemen has gone their cordial assistance may be depended upon from thé start. The main elements of the modern botanical gatden are fourfold:——the utilitarian or Economic, the aesthetic, the Scientifie or bidlogic, and the phil- anthropic. In the broadést intefpre- tation of the economic department there might be ineluded, to advant- age, facilities for the display and in- vestigation of all plants diréctly or indirectiy useful to man, and their” products. This cotiception would in- clude forestry, pharmacognosy, agri- culture, Doe ey pathology and or- A sense ot the beautiful can be maintained and cultivated in the es- tablishment of the modern botanical garden, the buildings, roads, paths and planting being arranged With ref- erence to tastéful and decorative landseape effect. The cultivation of decorative plants, and especially the fostering of 4 taste for them, and the bringing of unusual or hew species to attention end effecting their general introduction, are imnottant fuiictions - ous, a = e. 5x eS shteeAbits a xen ee = ee SE, . - No ee . ert rw Sieiadiabae Te ee Re a S eS : ripen RwEA Kn ein he Sa ee ie ieee: . OG ane ter = PSSA she STARS He i eg 7 me errs ihe i i p ze gf fa LB j nae £ ; i wee feo: esac 3 tra Bare U : 5 g A P Ven a x ee Si : Ars. Pe me : = ee Sie mee atone or ee ~— ie . : ~ : : :