October 25, 1900] 



NATURE 



629 



observations of De Vries and Correns are referred to, but not 

 the most recent ones by Webber ; and several of the sections are 

 illustrated by excellent wood cuts. 



Messrs. C. Baker, of High Holborn, send us their illustrated 

 catalogue of microscopes and accessories, and stains, reagents, 

 &c., for use in pathological and bacteriological research, in- 

 cluding necessaries for the study of tropical diseases and exam- 

 ination of blood. Tlie slide-lending department existing in 

 connection with this firm appears to meet a distinct want. 



The Hampstead Astronomical and Scientific Society 

 encourages interest in natural knowledge by popular lectures 

 and instructive papers on scientific subjects. A course of six 

 lectures upon the astronomy of the spectroscope and photo- 

 graphic camera will be delivered on Monday evenings at the 

 Hampstead Library by Mr. P. E. Vizard, commencing on 

 November 12. The programme of papers to be read at the 

 meetings is an attractive one, and should be the means of 

 increasing the membership of the Society. 



Four public lectures will be given in the library of the 

 Sanitary Institute under the auspices of the Childhood Society, 

 which exists for the scientific study of the mental and physical 

 conditions of children. The lectures will be as follows : " Treat- 

 ment of Feeble-Minded Children in Asylums," by Rev. T. W. 

 Sharpe, C.B. ; "The Training of Teachers," by Prof. W. H. 

 Woodward; "Physiology for Teachers," by Prof. C. S. 

 Sherrington ; " Causes of Failure in the Health of School 

 Girls," by Mrs. D. Colman. 



The list of announcements of the firm of Gebriider Born- 

 traeger, Berlin, has just reached us, and is as follows :— " Samm- 

 lung geologischer Fuhrer " : vol. v. Elsass (Vogesen), by Drs. 

 Benecke, Bucking, van Werveke and Schumacher ; vol. vi. 

 Riesengebirge, by Dr. Giirich ; vol. vii. Schonen (Schweden), 

 by Dr. Hennig ; " Lehre von den Erzlagerstiitten," by Prof. 

 R. Beck (Part i.) ; "Flora der Deutschen Schutzgebiete in der 

 Sudsee," by Drs. C. Lauterbach and C. Schumann ; " Werden 

 und Vergehen," by Carus Sterne, fourth edition, vol. ii. 



The British South Africa Company has issued a pamphlet on 

 the rubber industry of its territories. The rubber-producing 

 plants of the territory are described as being mostly gigantic 

 creepers belonging to the natural order Apocynaceae. The 

 pamphlet is chiefly occupied with hints on the administrative 

 policy desirable for the protection and encouragement of the 

 industry. Apparently no serious effort has yet been made either 

 to ascertain the rubber-producing value of the native trees and 

 shrubs, or to encourage the cultivation of those species which 

 are found to be most valuable. 



The edition of Darwin's " Origin of Species," just published 

 by Mr. John Murray for half-a-crown, is the cheapest scientific 

 book we have had before us for many a day. The volume is 

 clearly printed, has more than seven hundred pages, and a 

 collotype portrait of Darwin appears as a frontispiece. The 

 first edition of the work was published on November 24, 1859, 

 so the copyright will shortly expire, and probably other editions 

 will be issued by various publishers, but the book which Mr. 

 Murray has brought out will be able to hold its own against all 

 that follow it. If there is a person who claims to be a naturalist, 

 or even to have an interest in natural history, and does not 

 possess a copy of Darwin's immortal work, he should make 

 haste to add the new book to his library. 



The Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company have issued a 

 list of apparatus d2si;;ned anJ used hy Prof. Ewing, F.R.S., for 

 the teaching of mechanics in engineering laboratories, and now 

 manufactured in their works. Several of these pieces of 

 apparatus relate to experiments on the elasticity of materials, 

 and to measurements of the modulu.ses of elasticity, by various 

 methods. Amongst these are the latest forms of Prof. Ewing's 

 NO 1617. VOL. 62I 



microscope extensometer. The remaining instruments and 

 devices are designed to enable students to make quantitative 

 experiments in mechanics. The importance of such mechanical 

 laboratory work, carried out by the students themselves, as a 

 supplement to their study of theoretical mechanics by books or 

 lectures, is now generally recognised. Well-made instruments 

 such as are supplied by the Cambridge Company are essential 

 to ensure accurate work by advanced students. 



In the last number of the Berichle, E. Fischer gives an account 

 of further investigations on the division of racemic amido-acids 

 into their optical components. He found previously that by 

 replacing hydrogen in the amido-group in these acids by a benzoyl 

 group, compounds of much more strongly marked acid cha- 

 racters are produced, which are capable of forming well crystal- 

 lised salts with bases. By crystallising such salts of the active 

 alkaloids, strychnine, brucine, cinchonine, the amido-acids in 

 the form of their benzoyl derivatives have been divided. 

 Alanine, aspartic acid and glutaminic acid were the first to be 

 resolved by this method, and these have now been followed by 

 leucine, amidocaproic acid, phenylalanine and o-amidobutyric 

 acid. 



In the same journal, v. Baeyer and Villiger discuss the action 

 of permanganate on hydrogen peroxide and assail the views of 

 Berthelot and Bach on the existence of oxides of hydrogen 

 higher than the dioxide. Berthelot found that at a low temper- 

 ature permanganate is decolourised without evolution of oxygen, 

 which he ascribes to the formation of hydrogen trioxide (HjOj). 

 The authors, on the other hand, find that at - 16°, though more 

 slowly, the same volume of oxygen is evolved as at the ordinary 

 temperature. Bach concluded that, as an excess of oxygen 

 above the calculated quantity was evolved with permanganate, 

 "Caro's acid" (hydrogen peroxide in sulphuric acid) contained 

 hydrogen tetroxide. The authors find this observation correct, 

 but the interpretation at fault. Tliey ascribe the decomposition 

 to the catalytic decomposition of Caro's acid, due to the presence 

 of manganous sulphate. Of the nature of the process which 

 occurs when hydrogen peroxide and permanganate react, the 

 authors bring facts in support of the view of Weltzien and M. 

 Traube,who consider that the permanganate oxidises the hydro- 

 gen of the peroxide, thereby liberating the oxygen of the latter, 

 and not that the free oxygen is made up of oxygen atoms derived 

 from both peroxide and permanganate. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Patas Monkey ( Cercopithecus patas) firom 

 West Africa, presented by Mrs. Creighton Hall ; a Green 

 Monkey ( C<'rtY>///A^fM.f callilrkhus) from West Africa, presented 

 by Mr. Cecil T. Reaney ; a Bonnet Monkey {Macacus stnicus) 

 from India, presented by Mr. Anthony J. Smith ; a Macaque 

 Monkey {Afacacus cynotnol^ts) from India, presented by Mr. 

 G. H. Jalland ; two Muscat Gazelles {Gazella tnuscateusis) from 

 Arabia, an Indian Desert Fox (Cants leucopus) from India, 

 presented by Mr. P. Z. Cox ; a Bonnet Monkey {Macacus 

 sinicns) from India, a Sooty Mangabey {Cercocebtis fult- 

 ginosus) from West Africa, a Ruffled Lemur {Lemur varius), 

 a Black-headed Lemur {Lemur bninneus) from Madagascar, 

 a Short-tailed Wallaby {Macropus brachyurns), a Great 

 Kangaroo {Macropus giganteus), four Brown's Parrakeets 

 {Platycercus browni) from Australia, a Blue-necked Casso- 

 wary {Casuarius intensus), two One-Wattled Cassowaries 

 {Casuarius uniappendiculatus) from New Guinea, seventeen 

 Speckled Terrapins {Clem my s guttata), three Painted Ter- 

 rapins {Ckrysemys f'icta), ten .Mligator Terrapins {Chelydra 

 serpentina) I'rom North Amerl .a, an Elephantine Tortoise 

 {Testudo elephantina) from \\\z Aldabra Island, an Oldham's 

 Terrapin {Cycfemys dhor) from the Malay Peninsula, a Missel 

 1^x\x^i\v{Turlnsvisc^vorus), European, deposited. 



