!92 



NATURE 



[January 17, 19 18 



pointed assistant at Potsdam in 1906, and at first was 

 engag^ed upon the measurement of the plates in the 

 Potsdam zone of the Astrographic Catalogue. In 19 10 

 he accompanied Prof. Miiller on the Potsdam eclipse 

 expedition to Teneriffe. His most important work was 

 also carried out in conjunction with Prof. Miiller — 

 the photometric Durchmusterung of the polar zone 

 + 80° to +90°. On the outbreak of war Dr. Kron 

 was engaged upon this work, and also upon an impor- 

 tant investigation of the absorption of rays of .short 

 wave-length in the earth's atmosphere, using a quartz 

 spectrograph. 



News of the death of Dr. Jean Clunet, a victim to 

 typhus in Rumania, has recently reached us. The 

 greater part of Dr. Clunet's scientific work was de- 

 voted to the subject of malignant disease. He was the 

 author of "Tunjeurs Malignes," a volume filled with 

 new experimental data, mostly original, upon the 

 forms and varieties of tumours, the evolution of neo- 

 plastic growths, and the action of X-rays upon malig- 

 nant tumours, human and animal. Dr. Clunet de- 

 voted a great amount of labour to these latter investi- 

 gations, and he was able to show the various stages of 

 degeneration through which malignant cells pass after 

 adequate exposure to X-rays. Perhaps his most im- 

 portant work was the production of malignant tumours 

 in rats by exposing them to repeated doses of X-rays. 

 On two occasions fte produced tumours in rats which 

 satisfied two of the criteria of malignancy, viz. histo- 

 logical conformation to malignant type of cell and 

 successful propagation with other normal rats. Since 

 the outbreak of war Dr. Clunet had served in a medical 

 capacity, at first with his regiment, and afterwards 

 in some special capacity at the Dardanelles, with the 

 Serbian Army at Corfu, and finally upon a mission of 

 hygiene to the Rumanian Army. His scientific pub- 

 lications during the war include " La jaunisse des 

 camps et I'epidemie de paratyphoide des Dardanelles" 

 and " La relation des accidents nerveux 6motionnels, 

 observes chez les naufrages de la Provence." Dr. 

 Clunet was made an honorary corresponding member 

 of the Rontgen Society in 1913. Those who had the 

 privilege of knowing him deplore the loss of a life so 

 full of promise of deeds to come. 



Ke-w Bulletin, Nos. 7 and 8, published together, are 

 occupied entirely with a list of economic plants, native 

 or suitable for cultivation in the British Empire. The 

 list is prefaced by some introductory remarks by 

 Dr. A. B. Rendle, keeper of the Department of Botany, 

 British Museum, South Kensington, explaining the 

 origin and object of the list. The suggestion of the 

 publication of the list arose at the British Association 

 meeting, 1916, of which Dr. Rendle was president of 

 Section K, and as Kew contained so much economic in- 

 formation in its museums, its preparation there was 

 most fitting. In the list many well-known and already 

 cultivated plants are mentioned, and references are 

 given to the more important papers dealing with par- 

 ticular products, but there are many little-known plants 

 to which reference is made which may be of value for 

 future developments. LTnder every plant the country 

 of origin is given and some particulars of its use. 

 The plants are arranged under the products they yield, 

 such as fatty oils, gums, etc. ; rubber, gOtta-percha, and 

 balata ; drugs, dyeing and tanning materials ; paper- 

 making, materials and timbers. 



The botany and physical geography of the Holy 

 Land are of considerable interest at the present time in 

 connection with the campaign in Palestine, and the 

 article on the subject from the pen of the veteran 

 botanist, Mr. J. G. Baker, published in the Gardeners' 



NO. 2516, VOL. 100] 



Chronicle for December 22 and 29, 1917, is most oppor- 

 tune. Several good illustrations' add to the interest 

 of the text. Though so small a tract of country^ 

 the flora, owing to the diverse physical features, is re- 

 marlcably rich, comprising some 4000 species, exclusive 

 I of the lower plants, such as mosses and fungi. Bois- 

 t sier's " Flora Orientalis " is, of course, the classic Vv^orlc 

 ! on this region, and additions to the list have been made 

 I by Sir Joseph Hooker and Sir Daniel Hanbury. The 

 i subtropical region of the Jordan Valley and southerxii 

 deserts contains many forms unknown further to the 

 west. Then there is the flora of the rich loamy coastal 

 i plains, with the limestone promontory of Mount Car- 

 mel ; the mountain region of Lebanon and Antilebanon, 

 above 4000 ft., rising on Lebanon to 10,000 ft., and 

 here, as in N. Africa, the familiar Arctic-Alpine plants, 

 found so far south as the Caucasus, are not repre- 

 sented, though they extend through to the mountains 

 of Central Asia and the Himalayas. Lists of the 

 more interesting plants are given for the different 

 regions. Palestine in its botany combines in a re- 

 markable manner the characters of the East and the 

 West, but the abnormal feature of the Jordan Valley 

 and the Dead Sea, deeply excavated below sea-level, 

 constitutes, both florally and geologically, its most in- 

 teresting feature. 



The Advisory Council of Science and Industry of 

 the Commonwealth of Australia appointed in August, 

 1916, a special committee to consider the problem of 

 worm nodule disease in cattle, which is a source of 

 serious loss to the Australian meat industry. The 

 report of this committee has now been published as 

 Bulletin No. 2 of the Advisory Council. The bulletin 

 includes a report on the occurrence of onchocerciasis 

 in cattle and associated animals in countries other than 

 Australia, and also a translation of an article by M. 

 Piettre on bovine onchocerciasis in South America. 

 Further sections deal with Australian investigations, 

 some of which have been recently dealt with here. The 

 committee makes recommendations for a generous pro- 

 vision of assistance for further investigations. 



In the Journal of Agricultural Research (vol. xi.. 

 No. 7) Messrs. W. Moore and J. J. Willaman give an 

 account of studies in greenhouse fumigation with 

 hydrocyanic acid. Evidence was obtained that the 

 fumigated plants absorbed more or less of the gas, 

 which led to a reduction in the activity of the oxydases 

 and catalase, and, hence, in respiratory activity. This 

 resulted further in an inhibition of photosynthesis and 

 translocation of carbohydrate, and a closing of the 

 stomata. Another result was an increase in the perme- 

 ability of the leaf septa, with consequent less rapid 

 intake of water from the stems and more rapid cuti- 

 cular transpiration. In cases of mild fumigation this 

 resulted in merely a temporary wilting, and the subse- 

 quent recoverv was followed in many cases by a rate 

 of growth and of fruit production (in the tomato) in 

 excess of the normal. Within a few hours after furni- 

 gation oxydase activity had returned to normal, while 

 the catalase and the respiratory activities exceeded the 

 normal. By this time the recovery of photosyntbetic 

 action was first apparent ; complete recovery, however, 

 of this and of translocation of food material was not 

 attained until after an interval of from two to three 

 days. Respiration remained above normal for several 

 days. The stimulation of growth may be due to at 

 least two factors— namely, to the increased activity of 

 the catalase and to the increased permeability of the 

 cell-walls, allowing readier exchange of food materials 

 and of gases. It is very improbable that the extra 

 nitrogen contributed by the cyanide exercises any 

 direct nutritive effect. 



