April 24, 19 19] 



NATURE 



151 



psychological interest, such as memorising and the 

 speed of free associations. They tested the -effects of 

 doses of 30 c.c. and 45 c.c. of absolute alcohol in 

 ten subjects, and found a general depreciation of 

 function on the days on which alcohol had been ad- 

 ministered. One of their subjects showed the in- 

 jurious effect of the alcohol in far less measure than 

 the rest, although it produced certain general effects, 

 such as sleepiness and a feeling of intoxication, which 

 might have led one to expect the experimental tests 

 to show a lowering of function. Dr. Walter R. Miles 

 has now published a second volume entitled "Effect of 

 Alcohol on Psycho-physiological Functions " (Washing- 

 ton, iqiq), which is entirely devoted to a more exten- 

 sive study of this apparently resistant subject. Using 

 precisely the same methods as Dodge and Benedict, 

 and working in the same laboratory under the 

 same general conditions. Dr. Miles obtained results 

 agreeing fairlv closely with the general average of the 

 earlier investigation. In twenty-seven out of thirty 

 sets of results the effect of the alcohol was to lessen 

 the value of the subject's performance, and in eleven 

 cases this depreciation amounted to as much as from 

 10 to 37 per cent. The anomalous results of the first 

 investigation seem to have been due to the effect upon 

 the average of one or two days on which the subject 

 had done especially well after he had taken alcohol. 



The remarkable richness of the flora of South-West 

 China, especially in certain families, is illustrated by 

 several papers by Prof. Bayley Balfour, W. W. Smith, 

 and W. G. Craib which have recently appeared in 

 the Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical 

 Society of Edinburgh (vol. xxvii., parts 2 and 3) and 

 in the Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edin- 

 burgh (vol. X.). The plants were collected mainly by 

 Messrs. Forrest and Kingdon Ward. The place of 

 honour is held by the Rhododendrons, in which genus 

 fifty new species are described, including several from 

 Upper Burma and Bhutan. There are also a number 

 of new Primulas, some of which were collected in 

 the Himalayas, a few striking autumn-flowering 

 gentians, and two new genera of G«sneraceae, 

 as well as novelties in other families. Prof. 

 Balfour also describes some interesting observa- 

 tions on Rhododendron seedlings, in which a 

 juvenile character, the presence of an intense red 

 colour, due to an anthocyanin pigment, on the under- 

 surface of the leaf, persists for several years, and is 

 gradually replaced bv the peculiar hairiness which 

 characterises the adult leaf. * It is suggested that the 

 change is correlated with a change in climatic rela- 

 tion. The young plant passes from a position in 

 which its foliage is subject to the conditions of light, 

 moisture, heat, and air-current belonging to a stratum 

 at the soil-surface, to one some distance above the 

 surface in which the same external factors operate 

 in different intensity. Temperature and speeding-up 

 of metabolism are prime considerations in the first 

 environment, control of loss of water in the second. 

 The anthocyanin development is an adaptation to the 

 former, the hairy indumentum to the latter. Prof. 

 Balfour also discusses, under the title "The Genus 

 Nomocharis," a puzzling little group of lily-like plants 

 from western China, which combine some of the 

 characters of the true lilies and the fritillaries. 



The Experimental and Research Station at Turner's 

 Hill, Cheshunt. an offshoot from the Rothamsted 

 Experimental Station, continues its good work for 

 nurserymen and market-gardeners growing under 

 glass. The manurial experiments have been continued 

 on substantially the same lines as in previous years, 

 and have given practically the same results ; again it is 

 shown that farmyard manure is an efficient manure 



for cucumbers, and cannot adequately be replaced 

 either by hoofs or bone-meal. Tomatoes, on the other 

 1 hand, require potassic fertilisers and not so much 

 I nitrogen ; indeed, in the experiments nitrogenous fer- 

 I tilisers have actually reduced the crop, rhosphates 

 I also had less effect than had been anticipated. The 

 ; results recall those obtained at the Woburn Fruit 

 I Farm in their somewhat unexpected nature, and they 

 bring out the necessity for a detailed physiological 

 study of the phenomena of fruiting. The work on 

 partial sterilisation has been extended during the year. 

 Mr. W. B. Randall placed at the disposal of the 

 committee a sum of money enabling it to appoint 

 a special investigator, Mrs. D. J. Matthews (Miss 

 Isgrove), who is studying the effect of various sub- 

 stances on the noxious organisms of the soil. 

 Hitherto no agent has been found to be quite so 

 effective as steam, and it seems possible that a mix- 

 ture of substances will be necessary, one to deal with 

 animals and another with fungi. A beginning has 

 also been made with the study of the Noctuid moth, 

 Hadena oleracea, which has become a serious menace 

 to the tomato-growing industry ; during the current 

 year this work is to be extended considerably. A 

 remarkable phenorhenon is the zig-zag nature of the 

 curve showing the vields of tomatoes on successive 

 rows of plants. The outside row, as might be ex- 

 pected, shows the highest yield ; the other rows give 

 alternately high and lower yields. It is diflficult to 

 account for these observations, but the differences are 

 greater than are obtained by differences in manuring. 

 The report is full of interest to the plant physiologist. 

 According to the Journal of the Franklin Institute 

 for November, 1918, tests have been made to find the 

 transmission factors for several slightly diffusive 

 glasses for two kinds of illumination, viz. (i) a narrow 

 beam of light perpendicular to the surface of the 

 specimen, and (2) uniformly diffused light reaching 

 the specimen from all directions above its plane, 

 known as hemispherical illumination. The transmis- 

 sion-factor is, generally speaking, less for diffused 

 (hemispherical) illumination than for the narrow beam 

 of light. The transmission-factor of the glasses 

 studied depends upon the position of the glass with 

 respect to the source of light. For a narrow beam of 

 light the transmission-factors are usually considerably 

 greater when the rough surface faces the light than 

 when the smooth surface is towards it. This is 

 specially noticeable in ribbed glasses, but has not been 

 noticed in etched glasses. 



The two sections of Sciencei Abstracts for 1918 are 

 now completed by the issue of the index parts for 

 physics and electrical engineering. The former sec- 

 tion extends to 575, and the latter to 492, pages, of 

 which 62 and 37 pages are occupied by the indexes. 

 The number of abstracts in the two sections is 

 I 1283 and 886 respectively, which are both 25 per 

 j cent, less than those of three years ago. The average 

 [ length of an abstract, which has for some years been 

 greater in the electrical engineering than in the 

 phvsics section, has in the three years increased in 

 both sections by 3 per cent. So far as can be seen 

 from a glance through the volumes, this appears to 

 be due to a relatively small number of abstractors 

 supplying long abstracts rather than to a general in- 

 crease in length of all abstracts. The art of con- 

 veying information in a few concise and readable 

 lines is acquired onlv by practice, and a little editorial 

 admonition might lend to a considerable improve- 

 ment. Every physicist and every electrical engineer 

 anxious to keep abreast of the times owes much to 

 Science Abstracts, for without it his knowledge of 

 what has been done in enemy countries during the 

 last five vpar<; would hnvo hrpn vorv frngmontarv. 



NO. 2582, VOL. 103] 



