February 3, 1921] 



NATURE 



743 



delicate structure with an abumlant blood-supply, and 

 no doubt the lysin reaches it through the maternal 

 and fatal circulation. 



So far, of course, there is no question of any trans- 

 mission of somatogenic modifications, or " inheritance 

 of acquired characters." Tin- authors have shown, 

 however, that when the young rabbits with defective 

 eyes in their turn produce offspring the defect is in- 

 herited. Moreover, it does not gradually diminish 

 and finall) disappear in succeeding generations, like 

 the curious somatogenic modification of the shell 

 investigated by Agar in Siniocephalus, but actually 

 tends to increasi> from generation to generation, until 

 the whole eye may almost disappear. The transmis- 

 .-ion has now been observed through six generations, 



and — what is still more important as showing that we 

 are dealing with a true case of the " inheritance of 

 acquired characters " — the defect may be transmitted 

 through the male parent only, thus precluding the 

 possibility that it may be due to the action of the 

 maternal blood upon the offspring i« utero. 



How the germ-cells arc affected by the lens lysin is, 

 of course, entirely unknown, and Messrs. Guyer and 

 Smith are commendably cautious with regard to 

 theoretical considerations. It would seem, however, 

 that we have here as clear-cut a case of the inherit- 

 ance of somatogenic characters as we are ever likely 

 to obtain, and one which may be expected to 

 throw much light on the problem of heredity in 

 general. 



The Planet Mars. 



MR. (.. li. II.VMILTOX (Lowell Observatory 

 Hulletui, No. 82) givTCs a detailed account, with 

 many drawings, of his observations of the planet 

 Mars at Flagstaff during the apparition of 1918. His 



•bservations closely corroborate those of Lowell. He 

 notes that the dark band round the polar cap appears 



>nly when the cap is melting ; when it is forming, its 

 .-dges are indistinct. This difference is oppo.sed to 

 the merely optical character of the dark band upheld 

 by some authorities. He also saw a large lake travel- 

 ling away from the polar cap until it joined the Lucus 

 Hyperboreas. It behaved like surface-water resulting 

 from the melting cap. Mr. Hamilton also claims to 

 have seen the same seasonal development of the 



mals, proceeding equatorwards, that Lowell 

 ■ iesrribcd. He notes that the .seeing depends on the 

 Martian atmosphere as well as on our own ; the 

 • letails were sometimes blurred and dim, with excel- 

 lent local seeing. 



Coiifercnzc e I'rolusioni for December last contains 

 .1 lecture on Mars by Prof. Pio L. Emanuelli, of the 

 Vatican Observatory. Prof. Emanuelli denies the 

 existence of the geometrical canals, pinning his faith 

 to the results of the largest telescopes. He quotes an 

 •nteresting observation by Prof. Hale made with the 

 '").in. reflector at Mount Wilson in 11)09. The seeing 

 .1..1S very good, permitting the use of a power of 800; 

 rhe structure of the surface appearwl exceedingly 

 lomplex, far more so than could be shown in a sketch ; 

 the dark areas were covered with fine details, not, 

 howe\ier, arranged in geometrical patterns. The two 



canals from the Sinus Sabaeus were seen as broad 

 stripes, resolved into minute detail like interrupted 

 and twisted filaments. Prof. Emanuelli quotes 

 similar results from the Yerkes Observatory, and 

 those made in 1909 by NL Antoniadi with the 30-in. 

 refractor at Meudon. He makes, however, no allusion 

 to the necessity of prolonged observation, at various 

 .seasons of the Martian year, required to gain an 

 insight into the nature of the processes going on on 

 the planet's surface. 



The Journal of the .\stronomical Society of India 

 (vol. x., Nos. 7, 8, and 9) contains an article on Mars 

 by Dr. D. N. Mallik, who confines himself, however, 

 to the single question of the Martian origin of the 

 stray wireless signals, concerning which there was 

 considerable discussion in the daily Press last year. 

 Dr. Mallik has no difficulty in establishing the utter 

 improbability of such an origin, though he inclines 

 to the view that animal and vegetable evolution on 

 the two planets would proceed on similar lines, so 

 that if higher forms of life are present on Mars they 

 would be comparable with those on the earth. He is 

 less convincing on the subject of the hopelessness of 

 arranging mutually intelligible signals, assuming the 

 simultaneous desire to communicate and the conquest 

 of the mechanical difficulties. There is little doubt 

 that under these conditions the unilvd intelligence of 

 the two planets would at least make some progress 

 in communication. The problem recalls the decipher- 

 ment of cuneiform, being easier in some respects and 

 more difficult in others. \. C. D. C. 



Land Reclamation. 



A TTEMPT.S are being made to reclaim some of 

 ' ■* "■ the many waste acres in the British Lsles, and 

 iie problems of reclamation are fullv discussed in the 

 .')iq volume of the Journal of the i^oyal .Agricultural 

 S<Kiety of EnglarKl. The general problem is dealt 

 with by Mr. W. Gavin. There is no definite informa- 

 tion available as to the extent of either the total 

 uncultivated land or the uncultivated land likely to be 



■ apable of cultivation in this country, but Sir Daniel 

 Hall in his report to the Reconstruction Committee 



■ ntativelv sugj;ested 350,000 acres as the probable 

 lea reclaimable for agricultural purposes. I^nd re- 

 I imation has been going on more or less continuously 

 inre the be>;innin£f of agriculture, and in a closely 



^••ttlid country like England the greater part of the land 

 ^bowing prospects of immediate profitable cultivation 

 has been reclaimed. Therefore, to reclaim the remain- 

 ing waste land generally requires an expenditure in 

 excMS of the immediate value of the land when re- 

 NO. 2675, VOL. 106] 



claimed. In some few districts there is land which 

 would pay to reclaim, and in many cases private 

 owners could do the work more cheaply than could 

 the State. On the other han<l, such reclamation adds 

 to the national wealth more than the actual value of 

 the land, so that the State can afford to spend more 

 than a private owner. Further, in times of industrial 

 depression it may be of .social advantage to the State 

 to provide employment by starting some reclamation 

 schemes. 



At a time such as this, when maximum home pro. 

 duction is of vital importance to the well-being 

 of the country, Mr. Gavin appeals to all landowners 

 and occupiers to endeavour by some means to increase 

 their cultivated-land area, even though it may not yield 

 immediate profits. It must \w remembered that some 

 years must elapse before the full value of anv reclama- 

 fion sclteme becomes apparent, though in any case the 

 labour expended is never in vain, since the reclaimed 



