3 1 6 THE NA TU RE- STUD Y RE I r IE W [ 2 ■ 9 - DE c, 1906 



public libraries. No doubt the publishers would gladly send out a sample 

 copy to teachers who would promise to make such good use of it. 



Home Nature-Study Course. The 1906 leaflets of this interesting 

 correspondence course conducted from Cornell University by Mrs. Comstock 

 contain good lessons on butterflies, fish, flowers, trees, birds, beans, Ameri- 

 can silk-worms. 



Seeds and Seedlings. The September Plant World contains a sugges- 

 tive outline studv of seeds and seedlings, by Dr. C. Stuart Gager of the New 

 York Botanical Garden. 



Imported Fibres to the value of §148,000,000 were used in the 

 United States in 1905. Fine grades of cotton, chiefly from Egypt; manila, 

 chiefly from the Phillipines; sisal grass, chiefly from Mexico; and jute from 

 India are the most important fibres. [Report U. S. Dept. Agriculture.] 



NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE NOTES 



[Editorial Note. — Many replies to the note at the head of this column in 

 September have convinced the managing editor that this department is wanted 

 by many readers. The following note from a letter is typical of those received 

 from several prominent teachers in normal schools and colleges: 



"I wish to say that as a teacher of nature-study I have found the Nature Notes 

 and especially the reviews of current periodical literature to be of the highest 

 value. I should be very glad to see them both expanded, so long as their pre- 

 sent quality is not deteriorated, and should consider it a distinct loss if those 

 departments were permitted to disappear." 



Some of the notes now appearing are signed with the initials. As soon as the 

 list of regular contributors is complete the full names and addresses will be 

 publ'shed.] 



National Department of Health. A paper in a recent issue of The 

 Journal of the American Medical Society makes a plea for the establishment 

 of a national department to consolidate and unify work, such as the Marine- 

 Hospital Service and the pure food work of the Agricultural Department, 

 now being done by various bureaus. 



Hydrophobia is regarded by some physicians and surgeons as a simulated 

 disease. While this allegation is by no means generally accepted, it is inter- 

 esting to note the claims put forth by those who believe the newspapers 

 have printed too much that is sensational about mad dog-. There is in a 

 recent number of Our Dumb Animals a statement that at the Philadelphia 



