so 



NATURE^ 



[September 13, 1917 



that the yeast-juice prepared by Hans Buchner (his 

 brother) and Martin Hahn, by grinding yeast with 

 sand and pressing out with kieselguhr, had the power 

 of fermenting sugar, although it was quite free from 

 yeast cells. Thus was solved a problem which had 

 defied the experimental resources of Pasteur and many 

 others of less renown, and thus was established the 

 fundamental principle that processes of fermentation 

 are not inalienably dependent on the life of the organ- 

 ism, but are carried out by chemical agents, which 

 may be removed from the cell without loss of function. 

 Buchner 's discovery, established in the face of strenu- 

 ous criticism by careful and thorough experiments 

 (collected and published in "Die Zymasegarung _"), 

 was received with intense interest by the scientific 

 world, and acted as a great stimulus to research ih 

 biochemistry, the effects of which are by no means 

 yet exhausted. Buchner himself was awarded a Nobel 

 "prize in chemistry (1907) and received the honours 

 bestowed by Gerniany with unsparing hand upon her 

 successful men of science. The experiments were ex- 

 tended to bacteria, and, although unexpected difficulties 

 were encountered, it was proved that the same prin- 

 ciple applied to these, the simplest of all living organ- 

 isms. The work of Buchner must be regarded as 

 marking a definite step forward in the exploration of 

 the mysteries of the living cell. By it the frontier of 

 chemical and physical explanation is advanced a stage 

 and the unexplained residuum is at once diminished 

 in area and more clearly outlined. 



Major A. N. Leeds, whose death on August 25 we 

 have already announced, was born at Eyebury, Peter- 

 borough, on March 9, 1847, and educated at the War- 

 wick Grammar School. His early ambition was to 

 enter the medical profession, but circumstances com- 

 pelled him in 1868 to take over the management of the 

 farm of his deceased father. There, in association with 

 his brother, Mr. C. E. Leeds, who vv^as then studying 

 at Oxford, he became interested in the fossil bones of 

 reptiles found in the brickfields in the Oxford Clay near 

 Peterborough, and he spent the leisure of the rest of 

 his life in collecting these fossils in a manner more 

 systematic and scientific than had ever been attempted 

 before. For about' twenty years the two brothers 

 worked together, until Mr. C. Leeds left this country 

 for New Zealand. After that Major A. Leeds con- 

 tinued the collecting alone, aided only in the work 

 of preparation by his accomplished wife, and occasion- 

 ally by one of his sons, Mr. E. T. Leeds, now of the 

 Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. From 1890 onwards all 

 the most important specimens in the Leeds collection 

 were gradually acquired by the British Museum, 

 where they now form a unique series illustrating the 

 osteology of the Ichthyosauria, Plesiosauria, Pliosauria, 

 and marine Crocodilia, besides parts of certain Dino- 

 sauria. They are specially valuable because all the 

 bones are completely extricated from the soft clay in 

 which they were embedded, and many of the skeletons 

 can be mounted like those of modern animals. The 

 marine forms are described by Dr. C. W. Andrews in 

 two exhaustive and well-illustrated volumes published 

 by the trustees of the British Museum. Major Leeds 

 also discovered many new fishes, which were described 

 by Dr. Smith Woodward. In recognition of the scien- 

 tific value of his work he was awarded the Lyell Fund 

 by the Geological Society in 1893. 



The Departmental Committee appointed to inquire 

 into the condition of the freshwater fisheries, as a pos- 

 sible emergency source of food, has issued an interim 

 report. The investigation, which was carried out 

 mainly by means of a questionnaire, dealt with trout, 

 eels, and other coarse freshwater fishes, but not with 

 salmon. The committee does not regard the available 

 NO. 2498, VOL. 100] 



stock of such fishes as of much importance as .'., 

 emergency food supply, and does not recommend an 

 interference with the existing rights of owners ani 

 anglers. Most of the waters afe privately owned, aiv 

 the fish are therefore private property, so that 0. 

 ceptional exploitation would imply the payment ( 

 compensation. There are, it is stated, considerab! 

 quantities of migratory fishes, such as grey mullet, i 

 the lower reaches of many rivers. Such waters uv 

 public ones, and the committee recommends the mod: 

 fication of any regulations which make the capture ( 

 these fishes difficult or impossible. The nutritive value 

 of coarse freshwater fishes is dealt with. There are 

 no available analyses of British species, but the com- 

 mittee gives a list of analytical results with reject to 

 American and French fish. The food value appears 

 to be very low. In a circular (Fisheries Notice, No. 8) 

 sent out together with the report the Board of Agri- 

 culture and Fisheries gives a number of recipes dealing 

 with methods of preparation, cooking, and smoking 

 of coarse freshwater fishes. 



The forty-sixth annual report of the Deputy-Master' 

 and Comptroller of the Mint for the year 1915 has 

 recently been issued. The outstanding feature of the 

 year, so far as coinage is concerned, was the very 

 great request for Imperial silver coin. The large de- 

 mands which followed the outbreak of the war appeared 

 to be satisfied by the spring of 1915. In August, how- 

 ever, when measures were taken to withdraw gold 

 coin from circulation, it became clear that further large 

 supplies of silver currency would be required. As 

 against an average of under forty million silver pieces 

 for the ten years 1905-14, no fewer than 105 million 

 new silver coins were minted. In all more than 206 

 million new coins, of the value of 29,148,392^., were put 

 into circulation. The issue of gold coin was also above 

 the average of the previous ten years, but was consider- 

 ably below that of the four years 1910-13. Returns of 

 gold coin held on June 30, 19 15, were made by sixty- 

 eight banks, and the total, iio,i88,io9L, is the largest 

 shown since the institution of the annual inquiry, ex- 

 ceeding the amount held in 19 14 by more than twenty- 

 seven million pounds. Compared with the results of the 

 inquiry in 1909, when the returns of holdings were 

 made on the same weekday, the total held in 1915 

 shows an increase of nearly 124 per cent. The profit 

 on the year's working was 4,710,291!., and was much 

 the largest in the history of the institution. The 

 increase was chiefly due to the profits on the large 

 sales of silver coin in the year. 



In vol. xii., part 10, of the Publications on American 

 Archaeology and Ethnology, issued by the University 

 of California, Mr. S. A. Barrett describes the cere- 

 monies of the Pomo tribe. Twenty years have passed 

 since the last of the Pomo ceremonies was held in 

 true aboriginal fashion. Elaborate rites of the more 

 recently introduced " Messiah " cult were held so late 

 as fifteen years ago, but these include onlv a few 

 features common to the indigenous tribal observances. 

 The details of the chief ceremonies have now been 

 collected from the recollection of aged members of the 

 tribe, and the description contains much that is in- 

 teresting. The tribal rites were characterised by the 

 absence of any fixed ceremonial season or sequence 

 of ritual, and they were not controlled by a powerful 

 priesthood or secret order in charge of the observ- 

 ances. The ritual mainly consisted of dances, some 

 of which were adopted as integral parts of certain 

 ceremonies, while others were merely incidental to 

 them. One ceremony had a definite mythological back- 

 ground, but at the present day no myths are told to 

 explain several parts of the rites. A distinguishing 

 feature was the prominent part played by the women. 



