PLANTS PREDICT WEATHER 99 



later, through the courtesy of King Edward VII, 

 who was then Prince of Wales, Prof. Nowack 

 went to England and continued his interesting ex- 

 periments at the Kew Gardens. 



While at Kew the sensitive weather-plant enabled 

 him to predict a number of electrical disturbances 

 before they were in evidence, in addition to the 

 famous fire-damp explosion in which many lives 

 were lost. He established a Weather-plant Ob- 

 servatory at Kew, and since then he has travelled 

 extensively and has made a tremendous collection 

 of weather-plants, some of which have been sent 

 to the New York Botanical Gardens. 



This interesting weather-plant, or "Indian lico- 

 rice," of which so little is known, has small leaves, 

 not unlike a rose, which are constantly moving. 

 The people of India hold it in great esteem, mak- 

 ing beads out of its small, curiously egg-shaped 

 seeds. These are known as "John Crow beads" and 

 are bright scarlet, dotted with black spots, strik- 

 ingly similar to certain poisonous spiders of the 

 tropics. They are made into necklaces, and are 

 used for rosaries the name "precatorius" means 

 prayer. The seeds are used also as standards of 

 weight ; it is generally known that the weight of the 

 famous Kohinoor diamond was determined by them. 



But the ability to foretell weather conditions is 



