572 



NA TURE 



[October 14, 1897 



these organisms are mainly responsible for these changes. This 

 presumption is rendered more likely by the fact that Freuden- 

 reich, studying Emmenthaler or Swiss cheese, found the same 

 coincidence between ripening and multiplication of lactic acid 

 bacteria, and Lloyd, in his investigations of English cheddar 

 cheese, arrived at the same result and came to a similar con- 

 clusion. The maximum period of bacterial development is 

 followed by a period of final decline ; in the course of time 

 cheese may become sterile, although an examination of a hard 

 dry skim cheese over two years old exhibited the presence still 

 ■of a few lactic acid bacteria. 



The Clarendon Press has issued an " Account of the 

 Herbarium of the University of Oxford," prepared by Prof. 

 Vines, from the collection made by Gregory of Reggio in 1606 

 <down to the present time. The herbarium includes, among 

 others, the very interesting collection of British plants made by 

 Dillenius to illustrate the third edition of Ray's Synopsis. , 



The early publication is announced of a monograph of the 

 British species of Potamogeton or pondweed, by Mr. Alfred 

 Fryer, an acknowledged authority on the genus. It will be 

 brought out by Messrs. L. Reeve and Co. in fifteen monthly 

 parts, royal 4to, each with four plates, coloured or uncoloured, 

 by Mr. Robert Morgan. 



Thk Journal de Physique for September contains papers by 

 M. R. Swyngedauw on the dynamical and statical explosion- 

 potentials of a condenser ; by M. L. Decombe, on multiple 

 resonance ; by M. Michel Petrovitch, on a graphic method of 

 integrating certain differential equations ; by M. A. Gouy, on a 

 heating-stove of constant temperature ; and by M. Potier, on 

 asynchronous motors. 



The Kew Bulletin for October contains an interesting cor- 

 respondence between the authorities of Kew and those of the 

 colony of Sierra Leone, on the economical value for trade pur- 

 poses of the oil of the "butter and tallow tree" of Sierra 

 Leone, Pentadestna butyracea, belonging to the Guttiferee. Its 

 application to the manufacture of soap is suggested. In this 

 number is also apian of the Botanic Garden at Freetown, Sierra 

 Leone. 



In connection with the Revue Semestrelle des publications 

 fnathematiques it is proposed to issue an index supplement to 

 the last five volumes (1893-1897). The subject-matter will be 

 tabulated under four different headings, namely, an index of 

 journals, a subject-matter index, a biographical index, and a list 

 of authors. As the Revue is issued by the Mathematical Society 

 of Amsterdam with the view of providing a summary of current 

 mathematical literature, the present volume should prove a 

 useful work of reference to specialists. 



A SERIES of chapters on "The Great Meteoric Shower of 

 November," which have been published in The Observatory from 

 fhe pen of Mr. W. F. Denning, of Bristol, have been reprinted 

 by Messrs. Taylor and Francis, and form a pamphlet of fifty- 

 two pages. The work is illustrated, and contains a large col- 

 lection of interesting facts with reference to the great shower of 

 Leonids, so it will be useful to intending observers of the brilliant 

 (displays expected during the ensuing few years. 



The latest number of the American Naturalist is the first 

 which has appeared under the new editors. Dr. Robert P. 

 Bigelow, of Boston, is now the responsible editor, and, follow- 

 ing the system under which Science, the Astrophysical Journal 

 and other American periodicals are conducted, he is assisted by 

 an editorial board consisting of a large number of associate 

 editors. The place which it is hoped the journal will take is 

 between the strictly technical serial and the general scientific 

 newspaper. " Every scientific man, as such " (writes the editor), 

 NO. 1459, VOL. 56] 



'* may well read two general scientific journals — the weekly 

 scientific newspaper and the monthly review of scientific 

 progress." The American Naturalist will aim at providing 

 investigators with the latter form of scientific information. 

 Authors of' papers intended for beginners, such as "Some 

 Birds of the Garden, "."Some Common Weeds," are politely 

 informed that their contributions are not wanted, and very 

 technical works of interest to only a limited number of specialists 

 will be declined. What the editors desire is scientific papers 

 written by scientific people and of interest to scientific workers 

 in more than one field. The desire is a praiseworthy one, 

 and we hope the fulfilment of it will exceed the editors' 

 expectations. 



The following are among the papers and other publications 

 which have recently come under our notice: — "P. J. van 

 Beneden, La vie et I'oeuvre d'un zoologist e," by Dr. Ad. Kemna 

 (Antwerp : J. E. Buschmann). This biography of a great in- 

 vestigator, with an analysis of his contributions to science, and 

 their bearing upon the progress of natural knowledge, is a 

 publication the like of which is not often met with in this 

 country. The account covers 135 pages, and forms a tangible 

 testimony to a life of service to science. — A geological map of 

 part of Trail Creek mining division. West Kootenay District, 

 British Columbia, has just been published by the Geological 

 Survey of Canada. — Part vi. of Mr. Oswin Lee's work, "Among 

 British Birds in their Nesting Haunts" (Edinburgh: David 

 Douglas) has been published. The ten plates contained in this 

 new part of Mr. Lee's attractive work illustrate nests of the 

 heron, crossbill, kestrel, wheatear, whitethroat, and solan goose. 

 — " On the Nature of the Rontgen Rays," by Sir G. G. Stokes, 

 F.R.S. This — the first Wilde Lecture of the Manchester 

 Literary and Philosophical Society — was delivered on July 2, 

 and appears in the latest number of the Memoirs and Proceed- 

 ings of the Society (vol. 41, part iv.). — "Recent Advances in 

 the Science of Hygiene," an address delivered to the Haslemere 

 and District Sanitary Aid Association, by the Hon. Rollo Russell 

 (London : Economic Printing and Publishing Company). 



A PAPER, by Prof. G. Linck, on the relations between the 

 geometric constants of a crystal and the molecular weight of its 

 substance {Zeitschrift fUr Krystallographiie, vol. xxvi. ) is 

 summarised in the October number of the American Journal of 

 Science. It is pointed out in the abstract that Prof. Linck has 

 already called attention to the fact that the characteristics of 

 crystals, that is, their geometric and optical constants, stand in 

 direct relation to the atomic or molecular weight of the elements 

 contained in them. This is most clearly shown in the eutropic 

 series : a eutropic series being defined as a series of substances, 

 crystallising similarly, but differing, only in that they each 

 contain a different element, though the elements are yet similar 

 according to the periodic system of Mendeleeff. If such a 

 series is arranged according to increasing molecular or atomic 

 weight, then the series, for all characteristics of the crystal, 

 remains unchanged. The fundamental law of these phenomena 

 the author has designated "Eutropy." For the present in- 

 vestigation it was necessary to know the system to which the 

 crystal belonged, its axial relations, the specific gravity and the 

 atomic weight. Tables computed from these data lead to the 

 following conclusions: (i) The actual volumes of the various 

 chemical compounds, if formed into equivalent crystals, stand 

 in a very simple relation to each other. (2) The weights of 

 these equivalent volumes stand in the same relations to each 

 other as the molecular weights. (3) The volumes in a eutropic 

 series increase with increasing molecular or atomic weights. 

 (4) The weights of equivalent volumes always increase with 

 increasing atomic weights. (5) Bodies which are isomorphous 

 but not eutropic likewise stand in a very simple relation to each 



