November 19, 1891 



NATURE 



67 



season, and Mr. Turner kept him well supplied, for at that time 

 BO one seemed lo care much for it. His Excellency told Mr. 

 Turner he was very fond of the fruit for breakfast, and he used 

 to eat it spread on bread and butter, with pepper and salt added 

 to give it zest, and in various other ways. Mr. Turner did not 

 care for the fruit at first, but afterwards became as fond of it as 

 his tutor. So we are not unlikely to hear of the Alligator pear 

 by-and-by as a popular Australian product. 



Messrs. J. B. Baili.iere et Fils, Paris, have lately added 

 some good volumes to their well-known Bibliotheque des Con- 

 naissances Utiles. In one of them — " La Peche et les Poissons 

 des Eaux Douces '" — M. Arnould Locard presents a clear and 

 interesting summary of the various classes of facts which must 

 be understood by ail who desire to become expert in the art of 

 fishing in fresh waters. M. Lacroix-Danliard contributes a 

 volume on " La Plume des Oiseaux," dealing with the birds 

 whose feathers are utilized by man, and with the industrial 

 processes to which the demand for feathers has given rise. A 

 useful volume on '=Les Plantes d'Appartement et les Plantes 

 de Fenetres" is contributed by M. D. Bois. 



Under the title "Bibliotheca Accipitraria," Mr. J. E. 

 Harting has on the eve of publication a bibliography of fal- 

 conry, with critical notes. It deals with 378 works in various 

 languages, ancient and modem, and will be illustrated with 

 portraits of famous falconers by Holbein, Titian, Vandyck, 

 Frans Floris, Gerhardt, and other masters. The volume con- 

 cludes with an English gl ossary, and a vocabulary, in seven 

 languages, of the technical terms used by falconers. 



An important treatise on Salt-Range fossils has been issued 

 in the series entitled " Palaeontologia Indica," which contains 

 figures and descriptions of the organic remains procured during 

 the progress of the Geological Survey of India. Prof. Waagen, 

 the author of the treatise, in concluding it says he has tried to 

 make it as useful as possible both to Indian geology and to 

 geological science in general. 



Mr. Stuart A. Russell's new work on electric light 

 cables and the distribution of electricity will be issued shortly 

 in Messrs. Whittaker's " Specialists' Series." 



Messrs. Dulau and Co. have issued a catalogue of zoologi- 

 cal and palseontological books which they offer for sale. It 

 includes the following " parts " — Natural history publications of 

 the British Museum ; Protozoa, Bacteria ; Coelenterata. 



The last volume of the Memoirs of the Statistical Section of 

 the Russian Geographical Society contains an interesting work 

 by M. Borkovsky, who has devoted more than twenty-five years 

 of his life to the study of the grain-production of Russia, and the 

 directions in which cereals are transported within Russia both 

 for export and for home consumption. The results totally upset 

 the current theory as to Russia being a granary of Europe, and 

 are giimly confirmed by the famine which now prevails in 

 several provinces of the empire. It appears from M. Bor- 

 kovsky's figures and maps that Russia may be divided into two 

 parts, strictly dependent on her orographical structure : one of 

 them, which corresponds to the south-eastern slope of the broad 

 swelling which stretches across the country from south-west to 

 north-east, has an excess of grain during the years of good crops, 

 which excess sometimes exceeds twice or thrice the wants for 

 local use. But there is also another part — the north-western 

 one — which always has less corn than is wanted for its popula- 

 tion. Taking the years 1882-85, which were years of average 

 crops, a line traced from Kieff to Nijni-Novgorod and further 

 north-east divides Russia into two almost equal parts, of which 

 the south-eastern exports wheat and rye into the north-western 

 NO. 115 1, VOL. 45] 



part to the amount of no less than 710,000 tons of wheat and 

 508,000 tons of rye, the exports to foreign countries attaining at 

 the same time the respective figures of 1,780,000 and 1,029,600 

 tons. Taking into account the respective populations of the two 

 regions, and the amount of corn consumed by the distilleries 

 (which does not exceed 14 English pounds per inhabitant), M. 

 Borkovsky shows that the total consumption of wheat and rye 

 attains only the figure of 437 pounds per inhabitant (109 pounds 

 of wheat) in the exporting region, and the still lower figure of 

 382 pounds (46 pounds of wheat) in the region whith imports 

 corn. The average consumption throughout Russia thus attains 

 only 430 pounds per inhabitant, out of which 14 pounds must be 

 deducted for the use of the distilleries. These figures will cer- 

 tainly seem very low if it is remembered that the great mass of 

 the Russian peasants consume extremely small quantities of 

 meat — bread being their chief and almost exclusive food. It 

 appears, moreover, that if Russia exported no grain at all, and 

 the whole of the crop of cereals were consumed within the 

 country, the average consumption would nearly approach the 

 average consumption in France — that is, 505 English pounds on 

 an average year ; while the surplus obtained during years of ex- 

 ceptionally good crops would only cover the deficit during the 

 bad years, which recur in the steppes of South-East Russia with 

 almost the same regularity as in India, i.e. every ten to twelve 

 years. 



An important paper is contributed by M. Moissan to the cur- 

 rent number of the Coniptes rendtis describing' two interesting 

 new compounds containing boron, phosphorus, and iodine. A 

 few months ago M. Moissan succeeded in preparing the iodide 

 of boron (comp. Nature, vol. xliii. p. 565), a beautiful sub- 

 stance of the composition BI3, crystallizing from solution in 

 carbon bisulphide in pearly tables, which melt at 43" to a liquid 

 which boils undecoiuposed at 210^. When this subst.ance is 

 brought in contact with fused phosphorus an intense action 

 occurs, the whole mass inflames with evolution of violet vapour of 

 iodine. Red phosphorus also reacts with incandescence when 

 heated in the vapour of boron iodide. The reaction may, how- 

 ever, be moderated by employing solutions of phosphorus and 

 boron iodide in dry carbon bisulphide. The two solutions are 

 mixed in a tube closed at one end, a little phosphorus being in 

 excess, and the tube is then sealed. No external application of 

 heat is necessary. At first the liquid is quite clear, but in a few 

 minutes a brown solid substance commences to separate, and in 

 three hours the reaction is complete. The substance is freed 

 from carbon bisulphide in a current of carbon dioxide, the last 

 traces being removed by means of the Sprengel pump. The 

 compound thus obtained is a deep-red amorphous powder, readily 

 capable of volatilization. It melts between 190° and 200°. When 

 heated in vacuo it commences to volatilize about 170^, and the 

 vapour condenses in the cooler portion of the tube in beautiful 

 red crystals. Analyses of these crystals agree perfectly with the 

 formula BPL. Boron phospho-di-iodide is a very hygroscopic 

 substance, moisture rapidly decomposing it. In contact with a 

 large excess of water, yellow phosphorus is deposited, and 

 hydriodic, boric, and phosphorous acids formed in the solution. 

 A small quantity of phosphoretted hydrogen also escapes. If a 

 small quantity of water is used a larger deposit of yellow phos- 

 phorus is formed, together with a considerable quantity of 

 phosphonium iodide. Strong nitric acid oxidizes boron phospho- 

 di iodide with incandescence. Dilute nitric acid oxidizes it to 

 phosphoric and boric acids. It burns spontaneously in chlorine, 

 forming boron chloride, chloride of iodine, and pentachloride of 

 phosphorus. When slightly warmed in oxygen it inflames, the 

 combustion being rendered very beautiful by the fumes of boric 

 and phosphoric anhydrides and the violet vapours of iodine. 

 Heated in contact with sulphuretted hydrogen, it forms sulphides 

 of boron and phosphorus and hydriodic acid, without liberation 



