March 22, 1917] 



NATURE 



who may almost be said to have ' seen ' in curves 

 (if not in spirals) succeeded in imposing their idea 

 of representation upon the simpler animal forms of 

 the folk with whom they mixed." 



The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquarians 

 of Ireland (vol. xlvi., part ii., for December, 1916) 

 contains two important contributions on Irish anti- 

 quities. Mr. T. J. Westropp continues his survey 

 of ancient forts and dolmens in western Ireland with 

 an account of those in Inagh and Killeimer, County 

 Clare, in which a number of hitherto unknown build- 

 ings are described. Mr. J. P. Condon has carried 

 out a similar survey of rude stone monuments in the 

 northern portion of Cork County, in which he extends 

 and brings up to date the catalogue of these erections 

 made by Borlase in his "Dolmens of Ireland" and 

 by other writers. Much destruction has taken place 

 since the holdings have fallen into the hands of the 

 peasant proprietar}', and it is well that these interest- 

 ing antiquities should be carefully described before it 

 is too late. 



The Psychological Bulletin (vol. xiv., No. i) con- 

 tains an article by C. S. Berry on the effect of 

 smoking on the speed and accuracy of adding figures. 

 Each evening, half-an-hour after dinner, the writer 

 added one hundred figures arranged in ten columns 

 of ten figures each, the length of time taken to per- 

 form the operation being noted and also the number 

 of errors. On alternate evenings he had smoked 

 one cigar immediatelv before p>erforming the test, and 

 he kept records for twenty days. The results of the 

 experiment, according to the author, are at variance 

 with those of other investigators, giving, contrary to 

 his expectation, an improvement of 7-7 per cent, in 

 the time taken on the "smoking" days; the differ- 

 ences in the number of errors made were so slight 

 as to be negligible. The author, however, does rot 

 say whether, prior to beginning the investigation, he 

 had had sufficient experience of the test to have over- 

 come the effect of practice, nor does he give the 

 daily variations for a similar length of time under 

 normal conditions. It is necessary to have had an 

 extended series of normal records preceding a drug 

 investigation before it can be confidently affirmed 

 that the differences, if any, are true drug effects. 

 Ordinary normal variations are surprisingly great for 

 many tests, and particularly so for intellectual opera- 

 tions. The present article may serve, however, to 

 stimulate further inquiry. 



A CURIOUS human abnormality — the "Hereditary 

 Absence of Phalaftges through Five Generations " — 

 is described by Dr. E. Cragg and Dr. H. Drinkwater 

 in the Journal of Genetics for December (vol. vi., 

 No. 2). This condition is more extreme than that 

 known as " brachydactyly," since each digit — except- 

 ing the thumb and great toe — has only one phalanx 

 and no nail. The deformity of the fingers behaves in 

 some respects as a Mendelian dominant, but more 

 rhan half the offspring in marriages between affected 

 nd normal persons are affected. The thumbs of these 

 abnormal individuals are often flattened, and perhaps 

 show a tendency to bifurcation. 



The New Zealand Defence Department has issued 

 a practical pamphlet on fly-control in military camps, 

 written by Prof. H. B. Kirk, of University' College, 

 Wellington. He has found that the breeding of flies 

 'Ti latrine-trenches may be stopped by ramming the 



irth hard ; while spraying latrine-pans with light oil, 

 •jt with a dilute solution of arsenic and sugar, kills 

 very many flies. Wires coated with " tangle-foot " are 

 found efficient for catching flies in rooms; vertical 

 wires from a foot to three feet long are best, " sus- 



NO. 2473, VOL. 99] 



pended from a horizontal wire or from any chance 

 support." An ingenious plan for trapping flies that 

 may gain access to garbage-bins is described. Many 

 ways of treating horse-dung for the destruction of 

 maggots are suggested, such as spraying with i per 

 cent, arsenical sheepx-dip in sweetened water, or peg- 

 ging tarpaulin or sacking along the base of stacks 

 to prevent the insects from escaping. 



In view of the considerable extension of our arable 

 area which is foreshadowed, the problem of the pro- 

 duction and dissemination of improved varieties of 

 agricultural seeds acquires still greater importance 

 than has yet been attached to it in this country. 

 .According to a writer in the Journal of the Board of 

 Agriculture (February, p. 1081), the introduction of 

 '"Plumage" barley alone has probably added at least 

 250,000/. to the value of the barley crop in this 

 countrj'. The lines upon which improvement must 

 be carried out have now been fairly well defined, and 

 the time would appear ripe for the development of a 

 national organisation for the production and control 

 of improved seed supplies. The writer of the article 

 suggests that the deaired end can only be secured 

 by means of a Seed Control Agency, to be adminis- 

 tered in association with the research institutes con- 

 cerned with plant-breeding, and supported, if neces- 

 sar)-, by the State. The agency should serve as a 

 centre of distribution, not only of new and improved 

 varieties of seeds, but also of guaranteed "pure" 

 stocks of the established varieties of proved merit. 

 A brief account is given of the work done on these 

 lines and the results achieved, at Svalof, in Sweden. 



A GOOD representation of the weather for London 

 is obtained from the Greenwich meteorological ob- 

 servations, and these also show generally the weather 

 conditions over England. The long series of observa- 

 tions affords a trustworthy comparison with past years. 

 Observations for the past winter, December to Feb- 

 ruary, are taken from the results published in the 

 daily weather ref>orts of the Meteorological Office. 

 The mean temperature for each of the three months 

 was below the average, the greatest deficiency being 

 46° Fahr. in February, and the mean for the whole 

 winter was 34° below the normal. The mean winter 

 temperature, 35-9°, was 7° colder than the preceding 

 winter, 1915-16, and was the coldest winter since 

 1894-95, when the mean was 35- 1°, and the lowest in the 

 last seventy-five years was 34-3° in 1890-91. Frost oc- 

 curred in the shade on fifty-two nights during the three 

 months, the occurrences being respectively 18, 19, and 15. 

 Frost also occurred during the latter half of November, 

 and it is occurring occasionally during the present 

 month. The aggregate rainfall was less than the 

 normal; the total measurement was 449 in., which is 

 86 per cent, of the average fall for the last sixty years. 

 December was the only month with an excess of rain, 

 and in all there were forty-eight days with rain. The 

 duration of brigrht sunshine was 63 per cent, of the 

 average, and there were forty-eight sunless days in 

 the three months, comprising in all ninety days. 



The Transactions of the Optical Society of London 

 for the session 1915-16 extends to more than 300 

 pages, twelve of which are occupied by subject and 

 name indexes to the sixteen volumes of Transactions 

 which have now appeared. One of the most valuable 

 papers in the volume is that of Dr. Boswell on the 

 properties which sand must possess to be suitable for 

 glass making, and especially for optical glass making. 

 Bv an examination of the optical glass sands of Fon- 

 tainebleau and of Lippe he finds that the ideal sand 

 for the purpose should consist of 100 per cent, silica, 

 be practically free from iron, organic and clayey 

 matter, and be in angiilar grains of the same size, 



