62 



NA TURE 



{May 1 6. 1889 



Gardens, Kew, and of botanical departments and establishments 

 at home, in India, and in the Colonies, in correspondence with 

 Kew. 



In his Report for 1888, just issued, the librarian of the 

 Mitchell Library, Glasgow, notes, for the third year in succession, 

 a decrease in the number of volumes issued to readers. This is 

 believed to be mainly due to the fact that the rooms are not 

 nearly large enough to provide accommodation for those who 

 wish to use the library. Even now, notwithstanding the decrease 

 of attendance, the rooms are often inconveniently crowded. It 

 seems strange that in a wealthy and intelligent city like Glasgow 

 there should be the slightest difficulty about the provision of a 

 proper building for so good a collection of books — a collection 

 ■which, according to the librarian, "is becoming year by year 

 richer in all departments of literature, better fitted to supply the 

 wants of every student and every reader." 



The Burton-on-Trent Natural History and Archreological 

 Society have begun to issue "Transactions"; and if we may 

 judge from the first volume, which we have just received, suc- 

 ceeding volumes are likely to contain a good deal of interesting 

 work. The most important paper in the present volume is 

 a Report, by Mr. John Heron, on certain explorations carried 

 on at Staplehill in 1881, under the auspices of the Society. In the 

 course of these explorations the remains of upwards of thirty-six 

 human bodies were found, accompanied in some cases by personal 

 ornaments, small iron knives, or weapons of a kind which showed 

 that the ground had been a burial-place of the English in pagan 

 limes. The various " finds " are clearly described by Mr. Heron, 

 whose paper is admirably illustrated by a frontispiece and ten 

 plates. 



The third chapter of the revised editi)n of D.-. Eiias Loomis's 

 •"Contributions to Meteorology" has been issued. In this 

 ■chapter the author deals with the mean annual rainfall for 

 ■different countries of the globe ; describes the conditions favour- 

 able, and the conditions unfavourable, to rainfall ; examines 

 individual cases of rainfall in the United States, in Europe, 

 and over the Atlantic Ocean ; and defines the areas of low 

 pressure without rain. Many valuable plates accompany the 

 text. 



The May number of Himmel ttnd Erde (Berlin) opens with 

 an interesting description of the Lick Observatory, and an 

 account of its foundation by the Director, Prof. Holden. The 

 article is illustrated by a view of the giant refractor and the 

 interior of the Observatory, the presence of three of the ob- 

 servers serving to give an idea of the immense size of the 

 instrument. Dr. Mohn continues his account of the Norwegian 

 North Sea Expedition, and Dr. Wagner concludes his article 

 on the Krakatab eruption. Other articles and astronomical data 

 for the month are also given. 



The new number of the folk-lore Journal (vol. vii. part 2) 

 ■contains an interesting paper, by Mr. John Abercromby, 

 on the beliefs and religious ceremonies of the Mordvins, a 

 people of Finnish descent inhabiting parts of Central Russia, 

 ■who were pagans up to the beginning of the present cen- 

 tury. The paper gives their conception of the Deity, a list of 

 the various objects of worship, their account of the creation 

 and the fall of man, and descriptions of their feasts and sacri- 

 fices. The paper is one of considerable length. Mr. Edward 

 Clodd follows up his recent paper on "The Philosophy of 

 Punchkin" by a similar one called "The Philosophy of Rum- 

 pelstiltskin," the latter being a generic title derived from the 

 character in Grimm's well-known Miirchen. An interesting 

 bibliography of variants of the tale is appended. Students of 

 folk-lore anxious to aid the Society by practical work will be 



glad to have their attention attracted to the appeal of the 

 Council for volunteers to tabulate certain works which are 

 mentioned, the method of tabulation being shown at the end. 



Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co. have issued a new edition 

 of "Wild Life in a Southern County," one of the finest of 

 the late Mr. Richard Jefferies's writings. 



At a recent meeting of the Linnean Society of New York 

 City, Dr. G. B. Grinnell read an instructive paper upon the 

 Rocky Mountain goat (Mazania inoniana). The limits of the 

 range of this animal have never been fully defined by any one 

 writer. It is a mammal belonging to the Arctic fauna, and 

 only f.jund among the high and rug'ged mountains of the Rockies 

 and Coast Range, where the snow lies all the year. The centre 

 of its abundance seems to be in Western Montana, Idaho and 

 Washington Territories, and British Columbia, and it has been 

 found from about latitude 44" to about latitude 65° ; its southern- 

 most records being on the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada, 

 near Mount Whitney. This goat is in no immediate danger 

 of extermination, as it inhabits the most inaccessible localities, 

 and has few natural enemies. 



Uric ACID has been synthesized by Drs. Behrend and Roosen, 

 of Leipzig, in a manner which completely settles the question of 

 its constitution. A few months ago a syntheds of this i nportant 

 natural compound was effected by Horbaczewski, by fusing 



/NH2 

 together glycocine, CH... NH.,. CODH, and urea, C0<^ 



\NHi, 

 High temperature reactions, however, are never satisfactory as 

 indicating the constitution of organic compounds, inasmuch as 

 there is always a possibility of inter-molecular change. Hence 

 a new mode of synthesis a*^ lower temperatures has been devised 

 by the Leipzig chemists, and carried out in an admirable manner, 

 every stage being most critically investigated so as to be 

 absolutely certain of the constitution of the intermediate com- 

 pounds. The process consists of seven stages : — (i) The substances 

 started with are aceto-acetic ether, CH3.CO.CH.,. COOC2H5,and 



/NH, 

 urea, COv^ . These two compounds combine logetherwith 



^NHo 

 elimination of water, forming an ether of crotonic acid in which 

 one of the hydrogen atoms is replaced by the radical of urea, 

 CH3 



I • (2) This substance on 



NH2. CO.NH— C=CH— COOC^Hg 



saponification with caustic potash yields the potassium salt of 



the corresponding acid. The free acid itself readily splits off 



NH— C— CH., 



.11' 

 water, forming the anhydride, CO CH , methyl uracil, as 



I i 



NH— CO 



it is termed. (3) On treatment with fuming nitric acid, the 



CH3 of methyl uracil becomes oxidized to the acid radical, 



COOH, a nitro-group, NOo, being simultaneously introduced, 



NH— C— COOH 



I !! 



CO C — NO2 . (4) On boiling this nitro acid with water, 



NH— CO 



a molecule of carbonic anhydride is eliminated, leaving 



NH-CII 



a substance termed nitro-uracil, CO C — NO^. (5) On re- 



I i 



NH— CO 



duction with zinc and hydrochloric acid, nitro-uracil yields 

 iso-barbituric acid — a compound which has been shown 



