Nov. lo, 1887] 



NA TURE 



35 



exist, being merely a mixture of AujS., and sulphur, for the 

 former substance was completely extracted by a solution of 

 potassium cyanide, leaving an emulsion of finely-divided sulphur. 

 The November Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, issued 

 from the Royal Gardens, Kew, is the first of a series of papers 

 in which information will be given as to the capabilities of our 

 colonies to grow and export fruit. The authorities of Kew have 

 little doubt that, if proper arrangements were made for packing 

 and shipping, large quantities of fruit might be exported from 

 Cape Colony, Natal, the Australian colonies, and New Zea- 

 land. It is thought that much of this, arriving in England 

 during the winter and early spring months, would be readily 

 bought to supply the wants of the community, and that the 

 prices paid for such fruit as an article of luxury would be 

 sufficiently high to cover the cost of bringing it from the 

 southern hemisphere. Much interest was taken in the fruit 

 shown from all parts of the Empire at the late Colonial and 

 Indian Exhibition. An effort, therefore, has been made at Kew 

 to collect information on the subject, and excellent service, no 

 doubt, will be done by the publication of the facts which have 

 been brought together. In the present Bulletin a full account is 

 given of Canadian fruits. 



The fifth part (just issued) of the Transactions of the Leicester 

 Literary and Philosophical Society contains an interesting paper, 

 by Mr. F. T. Mott, on foreign fruits available for acclimatization 

 in England. Among the plants to which he calls attention is 

 the Zizyphus vulgaris, which produces a yellow fruit of pleasant 

 flavour, the size of a small gooseberry. These fmits are usually 

 dried and sold under the name of jujubes, the gelatine jujubes of 

 our shops being named after them. "It is probable," says Mr. 

 Mott, "that no species of Zizyphus in its present condition 

 would ripen its fruit in English gardens, but the art of cultivation 

 consists in so modifying the natural habits of plants as to adapt 

 them to man's needs in various climates. This is accomplished 

 by selection, propagation by seed, changes of soil, and gradual 

 exposure. The first step would probably be to obtain a hardy 

 variety of the Zizyphus vulgaris regardless of the quality of the 

 fruit. A tree should be selected in the most elevated and exposed 

 situation in which it naturally ripens its fruit. Seeds from this 

 tree should be grown in a slightly colder climate, and if any of 

 them can be got to ripen fruit, the seeds of these should be again 

 reared still further north. In this manner the tree might gradu- 

 ally be acclimatized in our southern counties. Having once 

 obtained a sufficiently hardy stock, the next process would be to 

 improve the fruit. This would be done by selection of seed with 

 reference to the fruit rather than to the hardiness of the plant, 

 by crossing with Indian or Chinese species, and by careful study 

 of soil and general treatment. The process of thus producing a 

 new hardy fruit would be tedious, because fruiting trees can 

 scarcely be brought to such a state of maturity as to show their 

 true characters in less than eight or ten years from the sowing of 

 the seed, and five or six generations at least might be required 

 to produce any useful result. But the experiment would be 

 interesting in all its stages, and the oSject if ultimately attained 

 would be of great value." 



We have received the General Report on the operations of 

 the Survey of India Department, administered under the Govern- 

 ment of India, during 1885-86. The Report has been prepared 

 under the direction of Colonel H. R. Thuillier, R.E., officiating 

 Surveyor-General of India. It is divided into three parts. 

 Part I. is introductory; Part II. contains a summary of«the 

 operations of the trigonometrical, topographical, and revenue 

 survey parties ; in Part III. there is an account of the operations 

 of the several head- quarter offices. Extracts from narrative 

 reports are presented in an appendix. Among the "general 

 remarks " in Part I. there is a paragraph in which some dis- 



satisfaction is expressed with existing arrangements. " The large 

 demands," says the writer, " that have been made on the Survey 

 Department for ofificers required to accompany political missions 

 and military expeditions, and for other special work, combined 

 with the circumstance of a larger percentage than usual being 

 absent on medical leave, has rendered the efficient prosecution 

 of the regular work of the Department peculiarly difficult. This 

 has been the subject of remark in the Annual Reports for the 

 past two years, and during the year under review the paucity of 

 officers has been still more seriously felt. There has been 

 absolutely no reserve of trained officers, and the administration 

 of the Department has consequently been a task of considerable 

 anxiety. It is necessary to record that the working machinery 

 of the Department has been limited to a dangerous extent." 



It is stated that the Government of the Straits Settlements are 

 about to undertake a systematic survey, on the Indian plan, of 

 their territory and of that of the neighbouring "protected" 

 States. Colonel Burrow, of the Indian Survey Department, was 

 recently appointed to advise the Colonial Government on the 

 subject, with the result here stated. 



The Asiatic Society of Japan has, we are glad to observe, . 

 published a General Index to its Transactions. There are now 

 thirty-six parts, or fifteen volumes, of the latter, and as almost 

 every foreign scholar in Japan has been a contributor to the 

 Society's Proceedings for fourteen or fifteen years past, it was 

 necessary that an index should be published. About two years 

 ago we noticed the publication of an index to the Proceedings 

 of the Society's friendly rival, the German Society. 



Mr. Henry Seebohm is about to issue a work on the 

 Geographical Distribution of the Charadriidce (Plovers, Sand- 

 pipers, and Snipes, &c.). The unrivalled collection of Wading 

 Birds in Mr. Seebohm's possession supplies the material for this 

 wor'A, and the volume will undoubtedly be one of great interest 

 to ornithologists. Mr. Seebohm's ideas on nomenclature, the 

 influence of the Glacial epoch on the migration of birds, and other 

 kindred subjects, are always original, and this new work of his 

 will open, according to the prospectus, with an introduction 

 setting forth his latest opinions. There is also to be given "a 

 complete synonymy from 1776 to the present time," a rather 

 appalling announcement, and one involving a vast change in 

 ornithological nomenclature, as it will preclude the use of 

 Linnean names. 



A TRANSLATION, by Miss Margaret K. Smith, of Seidel's 

 "Industrial Instruction" is about to be issued in America 

 by Messrs. D. C. Heath and Co. The author presents an 

 exposition of " the principles underlying the claims of hand 

 labour to a place on the school programme." 



"The Shell-Collector's Hand-book for the Field," by Dr. J. 

 W, Williams, the editor of The Naturalist's Mon'hly, will be 

 published immediately by Messrs, Roper and Drowley. It will 

 give full directions as to the collecting and preserving of British 

 land and fresh-water shells, and will describe the habitat of 

 each. Every genus, species, and variety known to the Con- 

 chologicil Society up to date of publication will be noted. 



Mr. T. a. Walker's "History of the Making of the Severn 

 Tunnel " is, we understand, likely to appear about Christmas. 

 In addition to portraits on steel of some of the more prominent 

 engineers concerned in the enterprise, there will be numerous 

 Dlans and sections sho.ving '.the gradual progress of the work, 

 knd diagrams of the large pumping-engines, &c. Messrs. 

 Bentley and Son will be the publishers. 



Sir James Facet's address to the medical students at 

 Owens College, delivered at the opening of the session 

 1887-88, has been published. The subject is, the utility of 

 scientific work in the practice of medicine and surgery. 



