October ii, 191 7] 



NATURE 



113 



with the Royal Society of Arts, of which he was secre- 

 tary from 1879 until his recent retirement. Among 

 the distinguished representatives of applied science who 

 were chairmen of the council from that year onwards 

 were Sir Frederick Bramwell, Sir William Siemens, 

 Sir J. Wolfe Barry, Sir William Preece, and Sir Wil- 

 liam White. Dr. Dugald Clerk has just retired from 

 the chairmanship, and has been succeeded by Mr. 

 Campbell Swinton. The society played a large part 

 in the foundation of the Great Exhibitions of 1851 and 

 1862, and, through these, of that long series of inter- 

 national exhibitions which had such far-reaching in- 

 fluence on the arts, as well as on industry and trade. 

 Sir Henry had much to do with the organisation of 

 the Health, Inventions, and Colonial Exhibitions at 

 South Kensington, the Paris Exhibition of 1889, and 

 the Chicago Exhibition of 1893, for which the Govern- 

 ment appointed the council of the Society of Arts as 

 the British Commission. With regard to this exhibi- 

 tion. Sir Henry, who managed the British Section in 

 Chicago, said: — :"The amount given by our Govern- 

 ment, though fairly liberal, was nothing compared 

 with that which the German and French Governments 

 gave. The Germans had never exhibited at big exhibi- 

 tions before, because they had all been held in France, 

 and after the Franco-Prussian War they would have 

 nothing to do with them. They gave their commis- 

 sioner an absolutely free hand. He told me himself 

 he had as much money as he could do with. The 

 result was that they made a much finer show in build- 

 ings than we could do. I do not think their actual 

 exhibits were as good as ours, but the way in which 

 they were shown was infinitely superior." Throughout 

 his long association with the society. Sir Henry was 

 always ready to assist other organisations having the 

 application of scientific knowledge as their object. In 

 the early days of the British Science Guild his active 

 co-operation in many directions, and the hospitality 

 afforded by the society as regards the use of rooms for 

 meetings, were of the highest assistance; the aid thus 

 given will long be gratefully remembered. 



In the issue of Knowledge just published 

 (No. 582) MM. Albert and Alexandre Mary 

 describe experiments, in continuation of the 

 late Dr. Charlton Bastian's work, on the develop- 

 ment of micro-organisms in carefullv sterilised 

 solutions of certain salts, e.g. potassium "ferrocyanide 

 and ferrous sulphate. Tubes after being charged were 

 sealed and sterilised for ten minutes at 130° C. The 

 tubes, after standing for a year and a half, were opened 

 and examined, and all yielded growths of micrococci 

 which could be cultivated in iron lactate solutions. 

 They affirm, therefore, the correctness of Dr. Bastian's 

 work. In the same number Dr. Butler Burke, com- 

 menting on Mr. Onslow's communication to Nature 

 of February 22 last on a repetition of Dr. Bastian's 

 experiments with negative results, suggests that some 

 kind of radiation other than sunlight, such as radio- 

 activity, may prove to be the stimulant required to 

 start vital processes in non-living matter, and so to 

 cause the spontaneous generation of the living from 

 the non-living. 



Mr. J. A. CusHMAN has published (Bulletin 71, U.S. 

 Nat. Mus., pp. 103, 52 text-figures, 39 plates, 1917) 

 the sixth and last part of his work on the Foraminifera 

 of the North Pacific, which deals with the single 

 family Miliolidae. Preceding the systematic account 

 of the species recorded are detailed descriptions of the 

 development of nine genera (and observations on their 

 derivatives), beginning with Cornuspira. 



In the report of the Dove Marine Laboratory at 

 Cullercoats for the year ending June 30 Prof. A. Meek 

 NO. 2502, VOL. 100] 



and Miss Stone record the results of examination of 

 about 3000 herrings caught off the Northumberland 

 coast. These show that the year 19 16 was abnormal 

 in that the herring caught were for the most part a 

 year older — their scales having four winter rings— 

 than those obtained during the years 1912-15. Miss 

 Jorgensen gives a short description of the development 

 of the common shore sponge, Grantia compressa. 

 She agrees with Prof. Dendy that the oogonia arise 

 from collared cells. Prof. Meek contributes a brief 

 account of the Phoronidea, making special reference 

 to Phoronis ovalis, which was rediscovered recently by 

 Dr. Harmer in a shell obtained ofT the Northumber- 

 land coast. Prof. Meek states his reasons for believ- 

 ing that Actinotrocha branchiata is the larva of P. 

 ovalis. He reports on larval lampreys collected in the 

 North Tyne, but although the larvae are so common, 

 efforts made to secure the adults have thus far failed. 

 He directs attention to the serious nature of the pollu- 

 tion of the Tyne in the neighbourhood of Newcastle 

 and the consequent destruction of descending kelts and 

 smolts and of sea-fish which are drifted up the river» 

 and urges that steps should be taken to render effluents 

 innocuous before they are poured into the river. 



In his presidential address to the Quekett 

 Microscopical Club, published in the Journal, 

 vol. xiii.. Prof. A. Dendy gave an interest- 

 ing account of the development of the chess- 

 man spicule of the sponge Latrunculia, and discussed 

 the view that the position of the whorls of outgrowths 

 on the spicule correspond with the nodal points of a 

 vibrating rod. The evidence suggests that the forma- 

 tive cells of the spicule are sensitive to vibrations and 

 avoid the internodes, taking up their positions on the 

 surface of the young spicule at the points of compara- 

 tive rest of the vibrating rod, and thus the whorls 

 present in the adult spicule are formed at these points 

 by local accumulations of silica. Profs. Dendy and 

 Nicholson have since published (see Nature, June 14, 

 p. 318) an account of their mathematical study of a 

 spicule with simpler whorls, the observed positions of 

 which correspond closely with the calculated positions 

 of the nodes in a vibrating rod similar in form to that 

 of the shaft of the spicule when the nodes are com- 

 mencing to develop. In the same volume of tne 

 Quekett Club's Journal Mr. G. T. Harris gives the 

 results of studies on the desmid flora of Dartmoor, 

 based on two hundred gatherings made in July-Octo- 

 ber, 1915 and 1916. The total number of species and 

 varieties recorded is about 400. Some of the rarer 

 species are figured and are the subject of special notes. 

 The richness of the desmid flora of Dartmoor lends 

 support to the view that "the rich desmid areas corre- 

 spond geographically with pre-Cambrian and older 

 Palaeozoic outcrops." 



The principal features of scientific interest in the 

 current number (vol. xlii., parts 2 and 3) of the Journal 

 of the Royal Horticultural Society are the reports on 

 the experimental work at Wisley and a report of in- 

 vestigations relating to Paradise apple stocks, which 

 is contributed by Mr. R. G. Hatton as the first report 

 of the Wye College Fruit Experiment Station, East 

 Mailing. The latter is a detailed record of experi- 

 mental work on this important subject which has 

 been carried out at the station since November, 19 12. 

 Nine distinct types have been identified from English 

 sources, whilst six other types have been obtained from 

 German sources. The report is profusely illustrated, 

 and reveals substantial progress towards the solution 

 of what has long been regarded by fruit-growers as an 

 important problem. 



Agriculturists are indebted to Prof. T. B. Wood 

 for a useful series of tables of the composition and 



