Report of the Michigan Academy of Science (Volume 6) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: AN ACCOUNT OF THE ANNUAL MEETING. PRESIDENT NEWCOMBE'S ADDRESS. The address was a plea for a natural-history survey conducted along ecological lines. Such a survey would be founded upon the topographic survey of the State now being made by the co-operation of the State and National Governments. The results of the topographic and natural-history survey should be published in parts with the territory of not more than one to three or four counties in each part, each report to have maps and accompanying text giving the elevations, the soils, the glacial geology, and the distribution of plant and animal societies. Such reports would be of inestimable value to the ever increasing number of lovers of outdoor life, would provide guides to the rural and city schools for the study of the geography, physiography, and natural history of their neighborhood, would classify lands according to their fertility, would locate valuable surface deposits such as those of peat and marl, would locate the fish and game of the State, and thus lay a basis for the study of their habits with a view to their protection and propagation. Renjhabd. PROFESSOR COULTER'S ADDRESS. Professor Coulter gave an exceedingly interesting account of the life of Rafinesque, a naturalist who did much to classify and name the plants of North America east of the Mississippi. His work was not confined to plants but included almost every branch of natural history, and extended even to every subject in the category of education. Professor Coulter enlivened the description by relating incidents in his life, and quoting from Rafinesque's own works, which served to show the character and the immense will-power of the man. The most interesting item of all. perhaps, was the "last will and testament.'' This illustrated i...