536 



NA TURE 



[October i, 1891 



In the second place, Museums aiid Laboratories of Eco- 

 nomic Botany. Much good work in this direction has been 

 done in this country by the National Museum and by the 

 department in charge of the investigation of new plants. We 

 need institutions like those at Kew in England, and at 

 Buitenzorg in Java, which keep in close touch with all the 

 world. The founding of an establishment on a scale of mag- 

 nitude commensurate with the greatness and needs of our 

 country is an undertaking which waits for some one of our 

 wealthy men. 



In the third place, Experiment Stations. These may, 

 within the proper limits of their sphere of action, extend the 

 study of plants beyond the established varieties to the species, 

 and beyond the species to equivalent species in other genera. 

 It is a matter of regret that so much of the energy displayed 

 in these stations in this country, and we may say abroad, has 

 not been more economically directed. 



Great economy of energy must result from the recent change 

 by which co-ordination of action is assured. The influence 

 which the stations must exert on the welfare of our country and 

 the development of its resources is incalculable. 



In the last place, but by no means least, the co-operation of 

 all who are interested in scientific matters, through their obser- 

 vation of isolated and associated phenomena connected with 

 plants of supposed utility, and by the cultivation of such plants by 

 private individuals, unconnected with any State, Governmental, 

 or academic institutions. 



By these agencies, wisely directed and energetically employed, 

 the domains of commercial and industrial botany will be en- 

 larged. To some of the possible results in these domains, I 

 have endeavoured to call your attention. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Prof. Bonney will begin a course of about sixty lectures on 

 geology at University College, London, on Tuesday, October 6, 

 at noon, and a course of about eighteen lectures on geology for 

 engineering students, on Monday, October I2, at 2 p.m. A 

 class for students preparing for the B.Sc. degree in the 

 University of London will meet on October 6 at 2 p.m. 



The prizes to the students at the medical school of St. 

 Thomas's Hospital will be distributed to-day by Sir G. M. 

 Humphry, F.R.S. 



Lectures will be delivered in Gresham College, Basinghall 

 Street, E.G., on October 6, 7, 8, and 9, by Dr. E. Symes 

 Thompson, Gresham Professor of Medicine, on influenza and 

 its results. 



Several series of lectures for which the Salop County 

 Council has made arrangements have been begun. They are on 

 chemistry, botany, geology, agricultural chemistry, management 

 of stock, insect pests and crop diseases, mechanics, and principles 

 of agriculture, and are being given in various parts of the 

 county. Most of them are being delivered in connection with 

 the Oxford University Extension Scheme. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, Septeml^er 21.— M. Duchartre in the 

 chair. — Admiral Mouchez made some remarks on the second 

 volume of the Paris Observatory Star Catalogue, presented to the 

 Academy. The Catalogue contains stars between the right 

 ascensions 6h. and I2h., and about 500,000 observations made at 

 Paris during the last fifty years have been utilized in its con- 

 struction. — On the colour sensations excited in one eye by 

 coloured light which illuminates the retina of the other, by M. 

 A. Chauveau. From the experiments described it appears 

 ■that the excitation of one retina by coloured light influences, not 

 only the optic nerves of this retina, but also those of the opposite 

 side, so that the latter are able to awaken the sensation of the 

 colour employed whilst the excited retina only sees the comple- 

 mentary colour. Thus, if a white surface be observed for a 

 short time through a bit of coloured glass, using only one eye, 

 and screening the other, when the glass is taken away the white 

 ground appears to be tinted with a colour complementary to that 

 of the glass. This is an old experiment, but the point is that if 

 the first eye be closed and the screened eye opened the white 

 surface appears to be tinted with the same colour as the glass. — 



Observations of the asteroid discovered by Charlois on August 

 28, made with the cotidi equatorial of Algiers Observatory, by M. 

 F. Sy. Observations for position were made on August 31 and 

 September 7. — Observations of Wolfs comet (1884 e III.) made 

 with the conde equatorial (o*36m. aperture) of Lyons Observatory, 

 by M. G. Le Cadet. Observations for position were made on 

 September 9, lo, 11, and 12. — On the partial eclipse of Jupiter's 

 first satellite by the shadow of the second, by M. J. J. Landerer. 

 This phenomenon occurred on August 14. — The metamorphoses 

 o{ Acridium peregrinum, Oliv. , by M. Charles Brongniart. The 

 author has specially observed that locusts undergo various colour 

 changes at diff'erent stages of their existence. — On the grafting 

 of underground portions of plants, by M. Lucien Daniel. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Mechanics for Beginners ; Part 1, Dynamics and Statics : Rev: J. B. 

 Lock (Macmillan). — Manual of the Science of Religion : Prof P. D. C. 

 (ie la Saussaye ; translated by B. S. Colyer-Fergusson (Longmans), — 

 Solutions: Prof. Ostwald; translated by M. M. P. Muir (Longmans). 

 — Principles and Practice of Plumbing : S. S. Hellyer (Bell). — Lunar 

 Radiant Heat: O. Boeddicker (Williams and Norgate).— The Uni- 

 versal Atlas, Parts i to 6 (Cassell).— Mayhew's Illustrated Horse Doctor, 

 revised and improved : J. I. Lupton (Griffith). — Foods for the Fat, 3rd 

 edition: Dr. Yorke-Davies (Chatto). — On the Adjustment and Testing of 

 Telescopic Objectives : T. Cooke and Sons (York, Johnson). — Die geo- 

 graphische Verbreitung der Siiugetiere : Dr. A Nehring (Berlin, Pormetter). 

 — De Klimaten der Voorwereld en de Geschiedenis der Zon : E. Dubois 

 (Batavia, Ernst). — Economic Journal, No. 3 (Macmillan). — Journal of the 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. H.-f., Part 2, Nos. 4 and 5 ; Vol. lix.. Part 2, 

 Supplement No. 2 ; Vol. Ix., Part 2, No. i (Calcutta). — Journal of Physio- 

 logy, vol. xii., No. 4 (Cambridge).— Calendar of the University College of 

 Wales, Aberystwyth, 1891-92 (Manchester, Cornish).— Psychology : K. S. 

 Granger (Methuen). — Studies in Jewish Statistics: J. Jacobs (Nutt). — 

 Diphtheria: Dr. K. Thorne Thome (Macmillan). — Experiments in Aero- 

 dynamics : S. P. Langley (Washington). — The Story of the Heavens, i8th 

 Edition: Sir R. S. Ball (Cassell).— Deutsche Seewarte— Indischer Ozean, 

 Ein Atlas (Hamburg, Friederichsen). — Arithmetical'Exercises in Chemistry : 

 Dr. L. Dobbin (Edinburgh, Thin).— La Transcaucasie et la Pe'ninsule 

 D'Apcheron : C. S. Gulbenkian (Paris, Hachette). — Ueber die Finnland- 

 ischen Rapakiwigesteine : J. J. Sederholm (Wien, Holder). — Studien iiber 

 Archaische Eruptivgesteine aus dem Siidwestlichen Finnland : J. J. Seder- 

 holm (Wien, Holder). — The Eocene and Oligocene Beds of the Paris Basin : 

 Harris and Burrows (Stanford). — Versuch iiber die Erdgeschichtliche Ent- 

 wickelung: Dr. G. Pfeffer (Hamburg, Friederichsen). 



NO. I 144, VOL. 44] 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Bacteriological Examination of Water. By 



Prof. Percy F. Frankland, F.R.S 513 



Epidemic Influenza. By R. Russell 514 



General Chemical Mineralogy. By G. T, P 516 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Meredith: " Bush Friends in Tasmania " 517 



Taylor: "The Elementary Geometry of Conies." — 



R. T 517 



Ville: " Les Engrais Chimiques " 517 



Letters to the Editor :— 



The Bird-Collections in the Oxford University Museum. 



—Dr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S 518 



Variation and Natural Selection. — Dr. Alfred R. 



Wallace • • 518 



A Rare Phenomenon. — Arthur Marshall; W. Tuck- 

 well; F. C. Levander , . 519 



Instruments in Just Intonation. — Robt. A. Leh- 



feldt 519 



Unusual Frost Phenomenon. {Illustrated.) — A. H. 



White 519 



The Destruction of Mosquitoes. — W, Mattieu 



Williams 519 



A Tortoise inclosed in Ice.— F. H. Perry Coste . . 520 



The Soaring of Birds.— A. C. Baines 520 



Rain-making in Florida in the Fifties. — G. P. . . . 521 



A Dog Story.— John Bell 521 



Some Notes on the Frankfort International Elec- 

 trical Exhibition. IL {Illustrated.) By W, E. A, . 521 



The Giraffe and its Allies. By R. L .524 



Photographic Magnitudes of Stars 526 



Notes . . . . • 527 



Our Astronomical Column:— 



Influence of Aberration upon Observations of Solar 



Prominences 530 



New Asteroids 530 



Some of the Possibilities of Economic Botany. By 



Prof George Lincoln Goodale 530 



University and Educational Intelligence 536 



Societies and Academies 536 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 536 



