June 9, i9ioJ 



NATURE 



445 



eventually, therefore, on the composition of the soluble 

 components of the soil and the manures applied. Mr. 

 R. N. Lyne presented a paper on the causes contributing 

 to the success of the Zanzibar clove industry, in which the 

 importance of soil and climate in this connection was 

 insisted on, and not less the success of the Arab proprietors 

 of the plantations in accommodating their business methods 

 to the habits of the native population. 



Dr. S. S. Pickles submitted a paper in which the 

 characters and composition of the essential oils obtained 

 from a large number of Cymbopogon grasses grown in 

 Ceylon were given. These results are of great importance 

 in connection with Dr. Stapf's recent botanical revision of 

 this genus. 



In section 2 the principal topic of discussion was the 

 essential factors in the acclimatisation of European cattle 

 in the tropics, on which useful reports were submitted by 

 M. Meuleman, who is General-Reporter for this inquirv', 

 M. Douarche, of Tonquin, M. Peralta for Costa Rica, 

 Mr. Jarvis for Rhodesia, and Prof. Carmody for Trinidad. 

 The only general paper read in this section was one by 

 Mr. Barwick, of the Imperial Institute, on African wild 

 silks. 



The papers submitted in section 3 were of economic 

 and acBministrative importance rather than of scientific 

 interest, though reference may be made to the reports, 

 mainly by officials in British colonies, submitted by M. 

 Batalha-Reis on agricultural labour conditions in the 

 tropics. 



During the congress a special meeting of the Inter- 

 national .Association of Colonial .Agriculture was held, at 

 which Prof. Wyndham Dunstan, director of the Imperial 

 Institute, was elected president of the association in 

 succession to M. de Lanessan, formerly Governor of Indo- 

 China, who had held this office since the foundation of 

 the association in 1905. 



INDIAN PAL.EONTOLOGY. 



T^HE Geological Survey of India continues to publish 

 '- well-illustrated and exhaustive memoirs on the fossil 

 invertebrate faunas of the region with which it deals. 

 Two more on the Himalayan Trias have lately appeared, 

 and are of much interest for study in connection with 

 recent work on the Triassic fossils of other areas. The 

 first memoir (Palaeontologia Indica, ser. 15, vol. vi.. 

 No. I, 1909), on the Lower Triassic Cephalopoda from 

 Spiti, Malla Johar, and Byans, was begun several years 

 ago by the late A. von Krafft, who collected much of the 

 material. It has now been revised, completed, and brought 

 up to date by Prof. C. Diener. It begins with a synopsis 

 of the marine Lower Triassic formations of the Hima- 

 layas, which are proved to constitute a remarkably com- 

 plete series. The detailed descriptions of the fossils which 

 follow show that at least four distinct and successive 

 faunas occur in the rocks of the district under considera- 

 tion. Of these, the lowest or earliest is perhaps the most 

 interesting, because it seems to represent the dawn of 

 Triassic life in the sea. It is noteworthy for the complete 

 absence of the numerous types of Palaeozoic Brachiopoda, 

 which are the predominating element in the Permian rocks 

 of the Salt Range and the Himalayas. Both in the -Alps 

 and in the Himalayas the Permian and Trias are con- 

 nected by an uninterrupted sequence of sedimentary- 

 deposits. The second memoir, by Prof. Diener {loc. cit', 

 No. 2), is more special, treating of the fauna, chiefly 

 Cephalopoda, of the Thaumatocrinus Limestone of Paink- 

 handa. He returns to a discussion of the age of this 

 limestone, and shows that enough of its ammonites are 

 identical with (or closely allied to) species found in Europe 

 to justify its correlation with the Julie horizon, or zone of 

 Trachyceras aonoides. 



-Another memoir just received from the Geological Sur\ey 

 of India, though dated 1908, contains a valuable descrip- 

 tion of the Devonian faunas of the northern Shan States, 

 V Mr. F. R. Cowper Reed {Palaeontologia Indica, N.S.. 

 vol. ii.. No. 5). The fossils are chiefly corals, Bryozoa. 

 and Brachiopoda, with only few representatives of other 

 groups, but they constitute the richest collection of 

 Devonian age hitherto described from south-eastern Asia. 

 Most of them were obtained from Padaukpin, and many 



NO. 2 119, VOL. 83] 



appear to be identical with Europeam species which 

 characterise the lower part of the Middle Devonian. The 

 marine faunas of Middle and Upper Devonian times prove 

 to have been remarkably cosmopolitan ; but in all cases, 

 as at Padaukpin and other places in eastern Asia, there is 

 also a local element giving them a special character. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — Mr. R. H. Rastall, of Christ's College, 

 has been appointed additional demonstrator in geology 

 from June i, 1910, to May 31, 1915. 



The electors to the Frank Smart studentship in botany 

 give notice that they will shortly proceed to the election 

 of a student. -Any graduate of the university is eligible 

 for the studentship, provided that not more than fourteen 

 complete terms have elapsed after his first term of resi- 

 dence. The successful candidate must devote himself to 

 research in botany under the direction of the professor of 

 botany. The studentship is ordinarily tenable for two 

 years.' The student is in special cases eligible for re- 

 appointment for a third year ; he may be appointed for one 

 year only. The value of the studentship is lOoZ. per 

 annum. -A candidate must send his name, with a state- 

 ment of the course of research which he proposes to under- 

 take, and such evidence of his qualifications as he thinks 

 fit, to the Vice-Chancellor, Pembroke College Lodge, on or 

 before Tuesday, June 21. 



Oxford. — In a convocation held on Tuesday afternoon, 

 June 7, in the Sheldonian Theatre, the Chancellor of the 

 Universit)-, Lord Curzon of Kedleston, presiding, the 

 honorarv degree of D.C.L. was conferred on ex-President 

 Roosevelt, who then proceeded to deliver the Romanes 

 lecture. Taking as the subject of his discourse '* Biolo- 

 gical -Analogies in History," Mr. Roosevelt enlarged upon 

 the phenomena of the rise and extinction of species, 

 especially instancing the history of the mammalian fauna of 

 South .America from the Eocene epoch onwards, and draw- 

 ing parallels between the changes taking place in the 

 course of evolution among the lower animals, and the vicissi- 

 tudes of human political societies. The treatment of the 

 subject was interesting and suggestive, and the' lecturer 

 met W'ith a cordial reception. 



.A TELEGR.\M from the Times Ottawa correspondent on 

 June 2 announced that a commission has been appointed 

 by Federal authority to investigate the need for technical 

 education in Canada. Mr. J. W. Robertson, late principal 

 of the McDonald -Agricultural College, has been appointed 

 chairman of the commission. 



The current issue of the Battersea Polytechnic Magazine 

 is a double number, with an unusually varied and interest- 

 ing table of contents. Instances are given in one of the 

 articles of the lively interest shown by King George and 

 the late King in the work of the polytechnic. .Among 

 other contributions are an account of Brennan's mono- 

 rail, and the biological disposal of sewage. The reports 

 of the doings of the clubs and societies of the poh-technic 

 are good evidence of the activity of the institution. 



By the will of the late Mr. Isaac C. Wyman, of Salem, 

 Mass., a graduate of Princeton College, who died on 

 May 18 last, most of his estate, says Science, is bequeathed 

 to Princeton University. The daily papers estimate the 

 value of the bequest to be from 400,000/. to 2,000,000/. 

 From the same source we learn that the Jefferson Medical 

 College of Philadelphia has received a gift of 12,000/. from 

 Mrs. M. G. Horwitz, daughter of the late Prof. S. D. 

 Gross, to endow the " Samuel D. Gross Chair of Surgerj." 



The fifth issue of the " Girls' School Year Book (Public 

 Schools) " is now available, and it may be remarked that 

 the annual is, for the first time, the official book of refer- 

 ence of the Association of Head Mistresses. The book 

 continues to be useful, providing parents, schoolmistresses, 

 and girls themselves, as it does, with trustworthy informa- 

 tion respecting secondary education for girls. The second 

 part of the )Vork deals chiefly with the future career of 

 girls on leaving school, and will appeal specially to parents 

 and guardians, since the particulars given are of a 

 thoroughly practical nature. 



