March 3, 1892 J 



NATURE 



421 



•still more. On that year's estimates ;^SOoo was set apart for 

 national prizes throughout the whole colony, and he believed 

 these prizes would be worth winning. 



The prevalent notion that the mistletoe is injurious to the 

 apple or other tree on which it grows is disputed by Dr. G. 

 Bonnier, the Professor of Botany at the Paris Sorbonne, who 

 maintains, not only that this is not the case, but that it is actually 

 beneficial to its host, the relationship being not one of simple 

 parasitism, but rather one of symbiosis. He determined from 

 a series of observations on the increase in the dry weight of the 

 leaves, that, while in summer the mistletoe derives a large 

 portion of its nutriment from the host, in winter these conditions 

 are reversed, and the increase in weight of the mistletoe is less 

 than the amount of carbon which it has obtained from the 

 atmosphere — in other words, 'that it gives up to its host a portion 

 of its assimilated substance. 



At a meeting of the Royal Botanic Society on Saturday last, 

 Dr. R. C. A. Prior presented ripe seeds of ^/-(Zi/carza/w^rjVa'a, 

 the monkey-puzzle tree of Chili, collected from a large tree 

 growing in the open air at Corsham, Wilts. He mentioned that 

 in this country the plant, though common, seldom ripens its 

 seeds. It was first introduced here loo years ago by Mr. Men- 

 zies, a Scotch botanist, who accompanied Vancouver's expedition 

 in search of a passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, 

 in returning from their attempt they put in at Valnaraiso, and 

 were hospitably entertained by the Viceroy of Chili. While 

 dessert was on the table Menzies observed some nuts he had not 

 seen before. Instead of eating his share he saved them, and, 

 taking a box of soil back with him on board ship, succeeded in 

 raising five plants, which he brought to England, and these 

 formed the stock from which most of the large trees now growing 

 in various parts of the country have sprung. 



Some time ago Mr. G. Brown Goode, of the U.S. National 

 Museum, delivered before the Brooklyn Institute a lecture on 

 "The Museums of the Future." This lecture has now been 

 printed, and is well worth reading. Mr. Goode's main idea is, 

 that •' the people's Museum should be much more than a house 

 full of specimens in a glass case." " It should," he says, "be 

 a house full of ideas, arranged with the strictest attention to 

 system." This conception he expresses epigrammatically by 

 defining a Museum as " a collection of instructive labels, each 

 illustrated by a well-selected specimen." In the course of the 

 lecture he offers many instructive and interesting remarks on 

 the Museums of the Old World. 



The first number of the new Zeitschrifl fiir Anorganische 

 Chemie, edited by Prof. Kriiss, of Munich, was issued on 

 February 27. As its title implies, the new journal is devoted 

 exclusively to the inorganic branch of chemistry, and the names 

 of the distinguished chemists throughout Europe and America 

 whose co-operation the editor has been fortunate in securing 

 would appear to promise well for its value and success. The 

 first number, now before us, contains the following six original 

 memoirs: "Phosphorus Sulphoxide," by T. E. Thorpe and A. 

 E. Tutton ; " The Double Acids of Heptatomic Iodine," by C. 

 W. Blomstrand ; ' ' The Action of Hydrogen Peroxide upon 

 certain Fluorides," by A. Piccini ; " Ammoniacal Platinum 

 Compounds," by O. Carlgren and P. T. Cleve ; "Preparation 

 of Tungstates free from Molybdenum," by C. Friedheim and 

 R. Meyer ; " A Lecture Experiment," by C. Winkler. 



A NEW Physical Review has been started by the publisher 

 J. Engelhorn, of Stuttgart. The editor is L. Graetz. The 

 object of this periodical will be to make German readers ac- 

 quainted with the work being done by physicists in other countries. 

 It is intended that it shall serve as a sort of supplement to the 

 well-known Annalen der Physik and Chemie. 



NO. 11 66, VOL. 45] 



We are glad to welcome the first number of Natural Scietue, 

 a monthly review of natural history progress. The object of the 

 editors will be " to expound and deal in a critical manner with 

 the principal results of current research in geology and biology 

 that appear to be of more than limited application." Articles 

 are contributed to the first number by Mr. F. E. Beddard, Mr. 

 J. J. H. Teail, F.R.S., Mr. A. S. Woodward, Mr. R. Lydekker, 

 Mr. J. W. Davis, Mr. G. A. Boulenger, Mr. J. W. Gregory, 

 Mr. G. H. Carpenter, and Mr. Thomas Hick. The publishers 

 are Messrs. Macmillan and Co. 



Messrs. Eason and Son, Dublin, will issue in April the 

 first number of the Irish Naturalist, a monthly journal of 

 general Irish natural history, and the official organ of all the 

 natural history Societies in Ireland. The editors will be Mr. 

 George H. Carpenter and Mr. R. Lloyd Praeger. 



A NEVir instalment (vol. i. No. 10) of the Records of the 

 Australian Museum has been issued. These Records are edited 

 by Dr. E. P. Ramsay, Curator of the Museum, and embody 

 the results of a great deal of serious scientific work. The 

 present number contains the following papers : — " On the 

 Occurrence of the Genus Palceaster in the Upper Silurian Rocks 

 of Victoria," by R. Etheridge, Jun. (plate) ; " The Operculate 

 Madreporaria Rugosa of New South Wales," by R. Etheridge, 

 Jun. ; " Notes on the Structure of Pedionomus torquatus, with 

 regard to its Systematic Position," by Dr. Hans Gadow. 



Messrs. Blackie and Son have issued an enlarged edition 

 of the well-known "Concise Dictionary of the English Lan- 

 guage," by Dr. Charles Annandale. The new matter consists 

 partly of a supplement giving definitions of additional words, 

 partly of several new appendices or lists for general reference. 



The General Report of the operations of the Survey of 

 India Department, administered under the Government of 

 India during 1889-90, has been issued. It has been pre- 

 pared under the direction of Colonel H. R. Thuillier, R.E., 

 Surveyor-General of India. The Report relates to trigono- 

 metrical, topographical, forest, cadastral, and traverse surveys. 

 There is also an account of electro-telegraphic longitude opera- 

 tions, tidal operations, and geographical surveys and reconnais- 

 sances. 



The following are the arrangements for science lectures at the 

 Royal Victoria Hall during March :— March i, Dr. W. D. 

 Halliburton, on "Nerves"; March 8, Prof. Reinold, on 

 "Sound and Music"; March 15, Dr. Tempest Anderson, on 

 "Iceland"; March 22, Prof. Weldon, on "Soles and other 

 Sea-Fishes"; March 29, Mr. A. Smith Woodward, on 

 "Elephants." 



A paper upon the preparation of amorphous boron is contri- 

 buted by M. Moissan to the current number of the Comptes 

 rendus. It was shown in a communication to the Academic des 

 Sciences upon February 15 ihat the substance hitherto regarded 

 as amorphous boron is a mixture of that substance with large 

 quantities of impurities, formed by the combination of the boron 

 at the moment of its liberation with a portion of the metal used 

 to replace it and with the substance of the vessel in which the 

 reaction is performed. M. Moissan now describes a method by 

 which he has succeeded in obtaining boron in a state of almost 

 perfect purity. The reaction which he employs is that of 

 metallic magnesium upon boric anhydride, a reaction previously 

 studied by several observers, and most recently by Prof. Winkler, 

 who employed the magnesium in the quantity calculated to re- 

 move all the oxygen from its state of combination with the 

 boron. M. Moissan shows that if only one-third of this quantity 

 of magnesium is employed, the yield of free boron is very much 

 enhanced, and the impurities are only such as can be removed. 

 He confirms Prof. W'inkler's statement that two borides of mag- 



