December 12, 1895] 



NATURE 



m 



TiiK American Ornithologists' Union held its thirteenth 

 annual congress in Washington at the middle of last month. 

 We understand from the New York Nation, that a new feature 

 was a special memorial session, at which the late Mr. G. N. 

 Lawrence was eulogised by Mr. D. G. Elliot, and the late Prof. 

 Huxley by Dr. Kllioii Cmies. The regular scientific sessions 

 •were opened by an exhibition of unpatlished water-colour paint- 

 ings by Mr. Louis Agassiz Fuertes, a student of Cornell Univer- 

 sity, on whom some of the members seemed to think that the 

 mantle of Audubon himself had fallen. Mr. W. T. Blanford 

 was promoted from corresjwnding to honorary membership, and 

 Isir. W. H. Hudson was admitted to the former. Mr. William 

 Brewster, of Cambridge, succeeded Dr. Coues in the presidency) 

 and the Union meets at Cambridge, Mass., next year. 



The recently-published numlier of the Proceedings of the 

 L.iverpool Geological Society (vol. vii. jmrt 3) contains the 

 address on " Chemistry as an Aid to Geology," by Mr. Dickson, 

 the retiring President. He jwints out, among other things, the 

 value of chemical analyses in tracing the source of drift-deposits, 

 and particularly insists on the importance of discriminating be- 

 tween true clay and the rock-Jlotir which commonly passes by 

 the same name. Other papers in the same number deal with 

 matters of local geology, including descriptions of new railway 

 ■cuttings near Seacombe, and a moraine in the Brecknock 

 Beacons. An imjx>rtant discovery of abundant Lepidostrobi, 

 exhibiting various stages of development, and in actual connec- 

 tion with the branches of I-epidodendron, is recorded from St. 

 Helens by Mr. Lomas, who also contributes an account of the 

 Faroe Islands. 



Messrs. C. W. Faui.knicr and Co. have sent us a number of 

 specimens of their Christmas publications, including Christmas 

 •cards, photogravure pictures, calendars, and games. What 

 connection there is between these things and science may not 

 be very clear at first sight. We are so used to calendars that 

 •we forget that time was when men had to look to the skies 

 " for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years." This 

 duty is now relegated to astronomical observers and computers, 

 while the average man concerns himself with more mundane 

 affairs. The pictures upon the Christmas cards are not gaudy 

 abominations, but attractive reproductions from photographs of 

 bits of scenery ; they should remind people of the gifts of 

 science to art, and, with the photogravure pictures, they show 

 what excellent illustrations can now be obtained by photo" 

 graphic processes. As to the new games received in Messrs- 

 Faulkner's packet, they are ingenious and offer means of pleasant 

 relaxation from mental work. 



The first number of the Scientific African, which has come 

 to hand, gives promise of a useful existence, as an exponent of 

 South African science, arts, and crafts. The journal has a 

 large region, full of objects and wonders of transcendent interest, 

 as its sphere of influence. It can do much to stimulate scientific 

 observation, and in its pages one may hope to find valuable 

 information on the animals, minerals, and industries of South 

 Africa. We notice in the number before us an article in support 

 of the geological survey of Cape Colony, showing that the 

 immediate undertaking of the .survey is necessary : {a) in the 

 interests of pure science, {b) in treating the land, (<■) for the sake 

 of the water supply, {d) for the development of the mineral 

 resources. There is also an article on the white-tailed wilde- 

 beest or gnu, accompanied by a photograph of a male and female 

 contained in the Selous collection in the South African Museum. 

 Among other contributions are articles on natural gas and 

 petroleum, a biographical notice (with portrait) of Dr. P. D. 

 Hahn, an account of the Brandulei hot spring near the city of 

 "Worcester, South Africa ; several letters, science notes, a notice 

 NO. 1363, VOL. 53] 



of Pasteur, and a brief report of the British Association meeting 

 at Ipswich. We wish the new journal a long and successful life. 



The forty-fifth volume of the Jahrbuch der k.k. Geologischm 

 Reichsanstalt opens with a valuable series of analyses made in 

 the laboratory of that institution by C. von John and C. F. 

 Eichleiter. The first group of analyses are of coals of various 

 ages and from various localities in Austria. The rest comprise 

 ores, sedimentary rocks, water, metals, &c. This is followed by 

 a paper on the distribution of the minerals in the lodes of 

 Strebsko near Pribram. Kerner contributes a description of 

 some Cretaceous plants from Lesina, which are of interest owing 

 to the abundance of Cycadeiv. Felix Karrer issues two further 

 instalments of his studies on the Cainozoic deposits of the 

 Vienna basin. Dr. F. E. Suess gives the results of his investiga- 

 tions as to the earthquake which occurred around Neulengbach, 

 near Krems on the Danube, on January 28, 1895. He discusses 

 previous shocks in the same district, and concludes that the 

 transverse axis of this earthquake area follows the strike of the 

 mountains. C. Zahalka discusses the stratigraphical position 

 of the " Bischitzer Uebergangsschichten," which Anton Fric 

 regarded as the lowest member of his Iserschichten group. 

 Zahalka divides the Bohemian chalk into ten zones, and on Erie's 

 view the Bischitzer passage beds would belong to zone No. 8 

 of this series. The author, however, maintains that it belongs 

 to his zone No. 4, or the Upper Drinower Knollen of Fric ; 

 that is to say, in English terminology it is transferred from the 

 Senonian to the Lower Turonian. A second important paper on 

 the Bohemian Chalk is contributed by J. J. Jahn, who advances 

 the important conclusion that the Iser Schichten of Eastern 

 Bohemia, are only a local representative of the Teplitzer 

 Schichten, instead of being a distinct formation and of an 

 earlier age. 



Bulletin vol. ii.. No. 4, of the College of Agriculture, 

 Imperial University, Tokio, Japan, contains much gratifying 

 evidence of scientific activity in the Far East. Dr. Oscar 

 Loew, the professor of agricultural chemistry, continues his 

 paper on " The Energy of the Living Protoplasm," and Mr. G. 

 Daikubara has a second paper on "The Reserve Protein in 

 Plants." Then follow four papers by Mr. Y. Kinoshita, dealing 

 severally with the consumption of asparagine in the nutrition of 

 plants, the assimilation of nitrogen from nitrates and ammonium 

 salts by phsenogams, the presence of asparagine in the root of 

 Nelumbo niuifera, and the occurrence of two kinds of mannan 

 in the root of Conophalhts konyakn. Mr. K. Yoshimura has a 

 note on the chemical composition of some mucilages, and makes 

 incidental reference to the facts, of industrial importance, that 

 the mucilage of Sterctilia plalanifolia and of Kadzura japonica is 

 used in Japan for sizing paper, and that the tuberous rootstock of 

 Colocasia antiquorutn serves as a valuable food in Japan, where 

 it is largely cultivated. Mr. M. Inouye deals with the preparation 

 and chemical composition oitofu, which consists principally of the 

 protein-matter of the soya bean, is said to be as easily digestible 

 as beef, and can therefore be used to make up the deficiency of 

 proteids in rice, the staple food of man in Japan and China. 

 The same author has a note on nnkamiso, which is rice-bran in 

 a state of lactic fermentation, and is used to soften certain vege- 

 table foods, such as the radish and the fruit of the egg-plant, 

 which are rendered palatable and easily digestible when left in a 

 large quantity of nnkamiso for about twenty-four hours. Mr. J. 

 Cho answers in the negative the question, Does hydrogen per- 

 oxide occur in plants ? Mr. \'oshimura, previously mentioned, 

 has a note on the behaviour of hippuric acid ; he concludes that 

 decomposition of hippurates proceeds more quickly in the 

 surface soil than in the subsoil, that it is attended with libt-ration 

 of ammonia, and that it is chiefly deiiendent upon the action of 

 micrococci. 



