36o 



NATURE 



[March i6, 1922 



difference between the laticiferous systems of Hevea 

 and Funtumia, and the presence in Castilloa, Fun- 

 tumia, and Landolphia of a striking development of 

 laticiferous tissue in the xylem (medullary rays), 

 connecting the latex-tubes in the phloem radially 

 with those in the pith, are but instances of a significant 

 state of affairs. A thorough study of this question 

 could not fg.il to lead to important scientific knowledge 

 which, in competent hands, might well result in 

 practical applications. Again, such striking facts' as 

 the occurrence in Funtumia elastica of an excellent 

 latex rich in caoutchouc, while in the closely related 



F. latifolia (often found growing with the former 

 species) there is a commercially useless latex contain- 

 ing abundant " resins " in place of caoutchouc, present 

 problems, difficult indeed, that might well receive 

 more attention at the hands of biological chemists. 

 The preliminary anatomical work would be best 

 carried out in the tropics, but with a little organisation 

 much might be accomplished in this country, as is 

 evident from the fact that observations which may 

 prove to be the key to the correct understanding of a 

 baffling disease of Hevea have recently been made in 

 London. 



Dairy Cattle and 



THE urgency of the problem of milk supply has 

 of late years caused much attention to be de- 

 voted to the improvement of dairy cattle, and to the 

 increase of milk supply on an economic basis. During 

 the last twenty-five years the Danish Milk Recording 

 Societies (Journ. Min. Agric, October and November 

 1 921) have been working towards the improvement 

 of herds by the gradual elimination of unproductive 

 cows, and Government grants have been made to 

 aid them in the formation of strains of dairy cattle 

 producing a higher yield of butter. The keeping of 

 private and official handbooks is encouraged, and a 

 special feature is made of two-year competitions 

 between entire herds, the best herds being awarded 

 prizes and officially recognised as breeding centres. 

 The earlier work dealt entirely with the yield of cows, 

 but later it was realised that the character of the 

 bull was of equal importance with regard to milk pro- 

 duction, as high milk-yielding capacity is a character 

 that can be inherited through the sire as well as the 

 dam. By close observation of records and careful 

 breeding, attempts have been made to obtain bulls 

 with a good influence on the milk yield, with con- 

 siderable success. As Denmark is chiefly a butter- 

 producing country, the main object of the milk- 

 recording societies has been to raise the percentage 

 of butter fat, thus aiming at improvement of quality 

 more than at increase of quantity. 



The milk problem is by no means confined to 

 European countries, but various aspects of dairying 

 are being investigated elsewhere, as in the Madras 

 Agricultural College, India (Bull. No. 79). Special 

 consideration is given to business aspects as well as 

 to the technical methods of dairying. Approved 

 methods of selection are applied to the dairy herd, 

 unprofitable cows being weeded out, and pedigree 



Milk Production. 



registers are maintained. A creamery is also run 

 for the preparation of butter on a commercial scale, 

 milk being purchased from outside to supplement the 

 home supply. The prospects of success are good, and 

 a future seems to be before the dairy industry of 

 India if it is managed with scientific and business 

 knowledge. 



One point which has a close bearing on dairy- 

 farming is the varying cost of milk production, which 

 has ranged from 3^^. to 4s. j^d. per gallon since 

 1908 on Yorkshire farms for which records are avail- 

 able {Scottish Journ. Agric, vol. 4, No. 4). Some of 

 the factors concerned are not under the control of the 

 producer, and are due to increase in the labour and 

 food bills, and to the increased depreciation of the 

 cows. In pre-war time the cost of attention per cow 

 per week varied from is. 6d. to is., but owing to 

 the rise in agricultural wages it is now 45. dd. to 

 6s., an increase which is estimated to have added ^d. 

 per gallon to the pre-war cost of milk production. 

 The cost of food has risen on every hand. Grazing 

 is far more expensive owing to increased cost of 

 manure and upkeep, home-grown food costs at least 

 twice as much to produce, and, above all, purchased 

 food has risen so much in price that it is probably 

 the one factor more than any other which has been 

 responsible for the high prices of milk during recent 

 years. During the war, too, the difference in value 

 between in-milk and dry cows greatly increased, 

 and this depreciation in value has had its efiect upon 

 the cost of milk production. The tables drawn up 

 indicate that in some cases the total costs have ex- 

 ceeded pre-war costs by 300 per cent., but happily 

 there are indications that the inflated prices are easing 

 off, and they show signs of being still lower in the 

 near future. W. E. B. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Cambridge.^ — The Smith's prizes have been awarded 

 to E. A. Milne, Trinity College, for an essay on 

 " Studies in the Theory of Radiative Equilibrium," 

 and to G. C. Steward, Gonville and Caius College, 

 for an essay on "The Aberration-Diffraction Problem." 

 A Rayleigh Prize has been awarded to T. A. Brown, 

 Trinity College, for an essay " On a Class of Factorial 

 Series." 



J. A. Carroll, Sidney Sussex College, has been 

 elected to an Isaac Newton Studentship, and the 

 Studentship of W. M. H. Greaves, St. John's College, 

 has been renewed for a year. 



Regulations have been proposed for the degrees 

 of M.Litt. and M.Sc. The chief difference from the 

 Ph.D. regulations are that a student must for these 

 degrees do research for two years as against three 

 for the Ph.D. The Board of Research Studies 

 pubhshes its second annual report. There have now 

 been 143 research students admitted, of whom 5 

 have already taken the degree of Ph.D. Of these 



NO. 2733, VOL. 109] 



95 are working in scientific subjects — physics with 

 22, chemistry with 16, and botany with 12, head tlie 

 list. 



London. — The under-mentioned French professors 

 in the Facility of Medicine of the University of 

 Paris will lecture (in French) at the Rooms of the 

 Royal Society of Medicine, i Wimpole Street, W.i, 

 at 5 P.M., on the dates stated : — 



March 20, Prof. H. Roger (Dean of the Faculty^), 

 " Les fonctions du Poumon " ; March 23, Prof. 

 A. Chauffard, " Syndrome Humoral de la Goutte " ; 

 March 27, Prof. P. Duval, " Donndes actuelles de la 

 Chirurgie Intra-Thoracique." 



Prof. H. R. Dean has been appointed as from 

 June I next to the University "Chair of Bacteriology 

 tenable at University College Hospital Medical School. 

 Since 1915 Prof. Dean has been Professor of Patho- 

 logy and Pathological Anatomy in the University of 

 Manchester. He has been Horace Dobell Lecturer 

 for the Royal College of Physicians, and is the author 

 of numerous papers on pathological and bacterio- 

 logical subjects. 



