Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/583

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��and proceed, 6

��writes the sum, 301,095, to the right of the line. Under this number he places the third number of the series (975,642), and adds that in just as he did the first two; and so on till the process is com- pleted. The process is longer than ours, but gives more opportunity for delibera- tion and the detection of errors. Where whole numbers and fractions are both in- volved, two ?eries of additions are gone through. In subtraction, they write the less- er number over the larger, and begin at the left; thus, to subtract 65*7,869 from 786,-

422, they write 657,869


from 10 (a fictitious number which they use for convenience) leaves 4 ; adding 7 (the first figure of the minuend), gives 11, and 11 10 leaves 1, the first figure of the re- mainder. For the next digits, 5 from 10 leaves 5; adding 8 gives 13; this less 1 gives 1 2, the first two figures of the remain- der. Then, 7 from 10 leaves 3, adding 6 to which gives 9, which less 1=8; 10 8 = 2 -1-4 = 61=5; 10-6 = 4-f2=6 1 = 5 ; 10 9 = 1-1-2 = 3. Whence, if the numbers are set down as they are found, the remainder appears correctly as 128,553. In multiplication they place the multiplier over the multiplicand and multiply successively each of the figures of the multiplicand by each figure of the multiplier, obtaining a large number of partial products which they have painfully to add together. The process of division is likewi.'^e absurdly complicated.

The Utilitarian Side of Botany. Bot

anists, said Ptof. I. B. Balfour, in his Brit- ish Association address, do not seem to have realized, except in the case of medicine, that modern botany has an outlet. Chem- ists and physicists seek practical aims. Zo- ologists help the fishing industry. But where is the practical outcome of modern botany ? The work of Marshall Ward is full of purpose to many large industries, and that of Oliver has bearings on horticulture ; but the trend of botanical work in England has not been utilitarian. It was, however, its utilitarian side that gave the first impetus to the scientific study of botany. The plant world, as the source of products of econom- ic value and drugs, attracted attention, and out of this grew by natural development the

��systematic study of plants. The point of view was that botany was an essential branch of medical study. A practical out- come was the establishment of botanic gar- dens, now in many instances appendages of teaching establishments, or mere pleas- ure grounds. But the gardens at Kew still maintain the old tradition of botanic gardens as a center through which botany renders scientific service to national progress. Un- der the Darwinian influence the biological features of the plant world replaced techni- cal diagnosis and description as the aim of teachers and workers. Pharmacy is removed from the functions of the physician ; but botanical study on the lines of modern teaching is part of the university training essential to medical students. There is still danger of modern teaching being strangled by its terminology, of narrowing the field of vision and mistaking the name for the thing, of elaborating the minute details of a part at the expense of its relation to the whole organism. This mechanical attitude is a consequence of specialization. But it must be counteracted if botany is to be aught else than a mechanical study. Modern bot- any has not yet found its full application. It has not rendered the service due to the state. In horticulture and agriculture it should find a sphere of application bv which it may con- tribute to the national well-being. Botanists must be the apostles of forestry ; and forest- ry in turn will react upon their treatment of botany. Botany can not thrive in a purely introspective atmosphere; it can live only by keeping in touch with the na- tional life.

The I'ses of Itinminating Gas. Many are the advantages of gas for household pur- poses, says William Paul Gerhardt, and its disadvantages are comparatively few, and for this reason it is probably more used in houses at the present day than any other form rf artificial illumination. Gaslight is relatively cheap, although kerosene oil, per se, is prob- ably cheapei'. It is convenient, and saves domestic labor by being always ready for lighting. It is superior in point of cleanli- ness to oil lamps and candles. It is brilliant, easily controlled, and not difficult to manage by persons of ordinary intelligence. It is much safer than candles or lamps in which

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