io6 



The Journal of Heredity 



more quickly produced and more read- 

 ily transported long distances. It was 

 believed that if the cutting method was 

 successful arrangements could be made 

 with collaborators in countries where 

 the litchi is abundant for the utiliza- 

 tion of the practices worked out in 

 secu -ing large numbers of small plants 

 for shipment here and to other parts of 

 the world. We were particularly desir- 

 ous of securing the cooperation of 

 workers in China in this effort to extend 

 the planting and use of the litchi. 



It was found that three important 

 factors were involved in the propaga- 

 tion of the plant by cuttings: First, 



certain mechanical appliances for se- 

 curing uniform conditions of light, 

 temperature, and humidity; second, 

 suitable fresh litchi wood; and, third, 

 a proper soil for the growing roots and 

 the development of the new plant. To 

 Edward Goucher, Plant Propagator in 

 the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant 

 Introduction, is due the' credit for 

 working out the details. Mr. Goucher's 

 patience and painstaking care led to 

 the development of the apparatus and 

 the perfection of the method shown 

 in the accompanying illustrations (Figs. 

 1-5).-'' 



The Chemistry of Taste 



Smell, Taste, and Allied Senses in 

 THE Vertebrates, by G. H. Par- 

 ker, S. D., Professor of Zoology, 

 Harvard University, 192 pages. In 

 series of Monographs on Experimen- 

 tal Biology. J. B. Lippincott Co., 

 Philadelphia and London, 1922. 



All of the knowledge of the outside 

 world out of which the structure of 

 science has slowly been built, all of the 

 activities, conscious or unconscious, of 

 men and animals trace ultimately to 

 stimuli received by the sense organs. 

 The latter occupy the bridge-head 

 between the outer and the inner worlds. 

 Some understanding of their nature 

 and functioning should thus be a sub- 

 ject of concern to all intelligent men. 

 Professor Parker gives a survey of the 

 present state of knowledge, both on 

 the anatomical and the functional sides, 

 of one group of sense organs, those 

 which play the part of analytic chemists 

 for the body. These include first the 

 sense or senses of smell by means of 

 which what .seems to be an indefinitely 

 large number of substances can be 

 recognized often in unbelie\ably small 



traces, and secondly, the four senses of 

 taste, through one of which the organ- 

 ism measures more or less roughly 

 the hydrogen-ion concentration of 

 substances which enter the mouth 

 (the acid taste) while the others detect 

 the presence of certain desirable or 

 undesirable substances which the or- 

 ganism is likely to encounter in its 

 food, viz: the salts of various inorganic 

 acids (the saline taste), alkaloids (the 

 bitter taste) and sugars or related 

 substances (the sweet taste). We 

 learn that these cellular chemists are 

 not infallible. The sense organs whose 

 prime purpose seems to be the recogni- 

 tion of sugars are deceived by various 

 wholly unrelated substances like sugar 

 of lead, saccharine and salts ofglucinum 

 and similarly with those which detect 

 alkaloids. 



The little understood organ of Jacob- 

 son and the common chemical sense 

 are discussed. 



The book can be heartily recom- 

 mended to those who wish an authori- 

 tative but relatively untechnical 

 presentation of the subject. 



S. W. 



' The complete apparatus, shown in Figure 1, has been forwarded to Prof. G. Weidnian Groff , 

 of the Canton Christian College, Canton, China. Prof. Groff has been studying the litchi for a 

 number of years, and through his efforts it is hoped to inaugurate this improved method of litchi 

 propagation in China. 



