242 



HARDWICKE'S SC IENCE- GO SSIP. 



Music' The former is the work of the best 

 meteorologist of our day, and may be regarded 

 as a modern manual of the weather system." 

 Now that our daily newspapers give " weather 

 charts" as part of their information, a work 

 which explains them cannot fail to be accept- 

 able. Moreover, as Mr. Scott remarks, the con- 

 ceptions and principles on which the science of 

 weather-study is based are apparently quite new 

 to the majority of ordinary readers. We regard 

 this little book as a synopsis of weather knowledge. 

 It is profusely illustrated with charts, &c, and it is 

 hoped it may partly remove our great ignorance of 

 the meteorological laws which affect the main topic 

 of an Englishman's conversation— the weather ! 

 Dr. Blasema's book is one of the well-known " In- 

 ternational Scientific Series." In it the author 

 endeavours to bring together two subjects, "sound" 

 and " music," which are usually treated of sepa- 

 rately. So far, therefore, it is a boon to the general 

 reader, for students of physics do not usually enter 

 into that of musical arrangements, and on the other 

 hand, musicians rarely even understand the im- 

 portance of the physical laws of sound. To lovers 

 of science as well as lovers of musical art, therefore, 

 this volume will be welcome. 



"The Crimea and Trans-Caucasia," by Com- 

 mander J. Buchan Telfer (London : H. S. King & 

 Co.), is a well-got-up, attractive, illustrated work, 

 in two volumes, narrating the author's journey in 

 the Kourban, Gouria, Georgia, Armenia, Ossetz, 

 Imeritia, Swannetz, and Mingrelia, in the .Tauric 

 range. Now that public interest is directed towards 

 a quarter of the globe where our Crimean campaign 

 was carried on,, an extra interest surrounds this 

 book. The historical aud archaeological descriptions 

 of places visited by the author are well written, 

 and a new area of travel is opened up to those who 

 have done the whole distance from Dan to Beer- 

 sheba. It is a most interesting and vivacious work, 

 and the best praise we can award the author is 

 that he was fully equal to the important task he set 

 himself to do. We are not surprised, therefore, 

 that as a book of travels in a country at no great 

 travelling distance from our shores, it has been so 

 favourably received. 



"The Annual Record of Science and Industry for 

 1875," is edited by Mr. Spencer E. Baird, and pub- 

 lished in England by Trubnef & Co. Although 

 giving full place to all the notable discoveries, and 

 principal papers, &c, read on science in Great 

 Britain and Europe generally during the year 1S75, 

 this volume will be chiefly acceptable to English 

 men of science for the fuller outlines of similar 

 work done in the United States. In this respect 

 its value is very great. We have our own " Zoo- 

 logical" and "Geological Records," and in some 

 sense the volume before us undertakes the same 

 kind of work more broadly and popularly— perhaps 



more after the style of the late Mr. Timbs's " Year 

 Books." The classification is good, the index 

 ample, and the work undertaken by the editor and 

 his associates well carried out. 



ON THE SUDDEN RE-APPEARANCE OF 

 PLANTS ON CLEARED WOODLAND 

 GROUND. 



By Edwin Lees, E.L.S., E.G.S. 



[" OBSE1WE that the correspondent who dates 

 -*- from Brisbane, Australia, in a former number 

 of Science-Gossip, wishes me to assign a cause 

 "for the appearance of plants when the ground has 

 not only not been disturbed, but subjected to such 

 intense heat from fire, that one would suppose that 

 any life some inches below the surface must become 

 extinct." Now one good observation is worth a 

 dozen theories, and supposition amounts to nothing. 

 The writer referred to then mentions how the forest 

 ground (in Australia) covered for many centuries by 

 the largest trees and shrubs, has made a dense 

 jungle with a thick layer of dropped leaves, which, 

 after the trees and shrubs are burned, is set fire to, 

 and "the smaller wood is entirely consumed." The 

 result is, that no breaking-up of the soil is neces- 

 sary, for it has become — no doubt by the action of 

 the fire — " quite loose and friable." This it could 

 not have been before the fire, and surely it cannot 

 be truly said that here is no disturbance of the 

 ground. The account given by " A. J. A." of the 

 appearance of a " large crop of wild flowers and 

 plants" on this freshly-exposed ground is very 

 interesting, and I only wish that he had enumerated 

 all the plants that presented themselves to view ; for 

 although he says that similar plants were not ap- 

 parent for many miles around, he does not say that 

 any were foreign to the country, and therefore I 

 presume they were all indigenous plants. 



As woods are not usually burned down in Eng- 

 land, I cannot say what would be the result of a 

 conflagration on British forest-ground; but if a 

 thick layer of leaves covered the soil, I should 

 think that seeds that had lain deep in the soil for 

 many years would not be destroyed thereby. But, 

 at all events, it appears very clear, from numerous 

 instances both iu Europe and America, that the 

 growth of a dense forest chokes the plants that 

 once adorned the ground, and their seeds lie dor- 

 mant in the soil while the shade prevails and the 

 sun is excluded. But as soon as the wood is de- 

 stroyed and the light let in, then the former vegeta- 

 tion that had long lain dormant re-appears. This is 

 shown on a grand scale in North America aud 

 Australia ; and, what is more curious still, it has 

 been many times stated that, in the densely-wooded 

 parts of the United States, when a pine forest has 



