424 



NATURE 



[May 25, I'^i 1 



an account of his investigations, carried out at Bagdad 

 during the summer of the past year, on Oriental sore ; hi* 

 experiments indicate that Stegomyia is under suspicion as 

 the transmitter of this disease. Numerous other important 

 researches, completed or in projjross, are reported upon, 

 e.^. by Prof. Minchin on tryp.Tnosomes and fleas, Dr. 

 Woixlcock on Haitcridium, I3r. Castellani on a type of 

 bronchitis common in Ceylon, and due apparently to the 

 .nft;i<k of a new species of the fungus Oidium, Drs. Fraser 

 and llighet and others on beri-beri in the Malay States 

 and Slam. 



To the Bulletin of tin Joliiis Hopkins Hospital for May 

 (vol. xxii.. No. 242) Dr. Pcarce Bailey contributes an 

 article entitled "A Florentine Anatomist." This is no 

 other than that versatile genius Leonardo da Vinci, who 

 planned to write a treatise on anatomy in one hundred and 

 twenty volumes, and left note-books rich in drawings with 

 marginal explanations, and he was the first to acquire an 

 accurate knowledge of descriptive anatomy, k short bio- 

 graphical sketch of Sir Richard Owen is also contributed 

 by Dr. Rohrer, with four characteristic portraits and 

 an illustration of Sheen Lodge, where his last days were 

 passed. 



The catalogue of additions to the library and the list 

 of new garden plants of the year 1910 have been issued as 

 Appendix IL and .Appendix HL to the current volume of 

 The Kew Bulletin. In the former the printing is confined 

 to one side of the page, so that the titles may be cut out 

 and used as index slips ; the latter provides an authentic 

 list of correct names. As in recent years, an outstanding 

 feature of the new garden plants is the predominance of 

 Chinese novelties, although, except for eight species of 

 Rubus, the additions are scattered through numerous 

 genera; the introductions traceable to Mr. E. H. Wilson's 

 last journey are beginning to arrive through the Arnold 

 Arboretum and other sources. Several fine orchids have, 

 as usual, been introduced by Sir Trevor Lawrence ; among 

 those which gained botanical certificates were Megaclinium 

 ftiscum and Polystachya paniculata from Africa, and 

 Dendrobium karoense and Bulbophyllum polyblepharon 

 from New Guinea. 



A NUMBER of new records of flowering plants and ferns 

 for the National Park, Wilson's Promontory, Victoria, are 

 noted by Mr. J. W. Audas in The Victorian Naturalist 

 (vol. xxvii.. No. 11), which raise the total to 600 species. 

 Amongst them are species of Pterostylis, Xanthosia, and 

 Hydrocotyle, an uncommon creeper, Myriophyllum amphi- 

 bium and Selaginella Preissiana. The list includes some 

 apparent aliens, such as Fumaria officinalis. Nasturtium 

 officinale, and Spergularia rubra. Several plants were 

 noted as rapid colonisers on burnt ground, of which 

 Biirchardia umbellata was the most conspicuous. A succu- 

 lent form of Stackhousia umbellata was found on the 

 beach where the crimson and occasionally white-flowered 

 Kennedya prostrata, the " running postman," attracted 

 attention ; on the sand dunes, the grasses Spinifex hirsutus 

 and Festuca littoralis proved their value as efficient sand 

 binders. 



An interesting report on the progress of agriculture in 

 India is issued from Pusa. The improvements in cotton- 

 growing are now making themselves felt in many thousand 

 acres of the great cotton areas in the presidencies of 

 Bombay and Madras and in the Central Provinces, while 

 the plant-breeding work of the United Provinces seems 

 likely materially to improve the crop there. Special men- 

 tion is made of the wheat-breeding experiments, which 

 have now reached considerable dimensions, and have re- 



NO. 2169, VOL. 86] 



suited in the production of varieties better in quality t" . ; 

 anything yet grown in India. Progress is also ref< ! 

 in the reclamation of the salt lands of Sind. and in th< 

 rigorous campaign against the palm disease in the 

 Godavery delu, which has resulted in the saving of l.iUhs 

 of rupees every year. Prt>grc8s in agricultural cdut.i: ; 

 has, however, been slower than in investigation, but lh<- 

 cause is not far to seek — colleges have had to be built and 

 staffs collected before much could be done. But the 

 beginning is made, and good work may be looked for here 

 also. 



We have received copies of the South .African National 

 Union Journal, the organ of a society having for its obj. . : 

 the encouragement of South African industries. A nuniLx i 

 of articles are published showing the products that South 

 Africa can supply for which there is a good market, nml 

 we note that stress is laid on the importance of keop n;^ 

 up the supplies of maize and of bacon. Mr. Burtt I>iivy 

 writes on the value of peanuts for human food, and argues 

 that, for the strict fruitarian, peanuts are not only the 

 cheapest, but also the best source of energ>'. 



The opening up of British West .Africa is dealt with at 

 some length in No. 4 of Tropical Life. The five colonies 

 S. Nigeria, N. Nigeria, the Gold Coast, Lagos, and Sierra 

 Leone tan, it is claimed, produce nearly every important 

 tropical product except perhaps tea and sugar. Much, 

 however, is needed in the way of organisation ; trade routes 

 are needed, land laws require amending, and labour sup- 

 plies have to be arranged. An association has recently been 

 formed with the object of accomplishing some of these 

 objects. 



With characteristic thoroughness, the .Americans are 

 introducing agricultural education into the Philippines. It 

 is less than two years ago that the first agricultural college 

 was started at Los Banos with twelve students, the classes 

 being held in tents, with no appliances, not even black- 

 boards, at first, and with so few seats that the students 

 had to carry their stools about with them. Now it has a 

 hundred students, laboratories, and class-rooms, and by 

 next year will have accommodation for five hundred 

 students. We have received the first two numbers of its 

 journal. The Philippine .Agriculturalist and Forester, pub- 

 lished by the " student body " of the college, and contain- 

 ing interesting accounts of agriculture as it now is, and of 

 possible improvements on present methods. 



In the year 1907 the Jamaica Weather Service, which 

 had been dormant for some years, was resuscitated and 

 associated with the United States Weather Bureau, which 

 placed at its service an electrical recording anemometer by 

 Friez, designated a " triple register." The Kingston Ob- 

 servatory has now published the results of wind direction 

 and velocity between .August, 1908, and July, 1909. for 

 each hour and month. The tables show in all months a 

 gradual increase in velocity from midnight to ih. or 2h. 

 p.m., followed by a decrease. .Another prominent feature 

 of the diurnal range is the sudden decrease for a little 

 time just after sunrise, owing probably to the gradual 

 disappearance of the land breeze. By extracting the number 

 of miles from each direction, it is shown that 51-2 per 

 cent, of wind comes from the S.E., and 23-9 per cent, from 

 the north (land wind). The average hourly velocity of 

 the former is n-2 miles, of the latter only 40 miles. The 

 annual resultant derived from the hourly components is 

 E.S.E. i E. 2-5 miles per hour. During the period under 

 review the greatest hourly velocity was 30 miles (factor 3). 



.An average rainfall map with isohyets of Victoria com- 

 piled from yearly records available for a period of 15 years 



