KNOWLllDGI-: 



December, 1912. 



aggregating power in Nature liosides gravitation, 

 consisting of a scries of agencies acting chiefly on 

 elements t)f low atomic weight, and hence api^rojiri- 

 ately called Levitation. Every step of this reasoning 

 has been examined by able mathematical physicists, 

 and stated to be mathematical " xvna' caiisne." 

 This new discovery alone is of such scientitic 

 importance as to absolutely remove the cosmic 

 ajiplication of the theory of dissipation of energy, 

 with its dismal doctrine of eternal death. It shows 

 the scheme of creation to be infinite and immortal. 

 It shows that gravitation and levitation mutually 

 correllate each other and are complementary agents 

 in an eternal rhythm. Gravitation tends to collect 

 and concentrate the heav)- elements into dark stars, 

 and mav be looked upon as the chief factor of death : 

 whilst levitation collects the light elements and 



gives birth to primordial systems — cosmic systems 

 of the hrsl order. Then, by the interpenetration and 

 interfusion of the two, we get virile sidereal systems : 

 of which our galaxy is a type. Imminent astronomers 

 tell us in unmistakable language that within this vast 

 sidereal system of which the solar s\stem is a part, 

 thev can observationally trace every characteristic 

 that deduction says such a mode of origin should 

 present. The onrush of the primordial and effete 

 systems can still be traced. The rejuvenating 

 mechanism of eternal physical life is thus actually 

 seen in process within the galaxy itself. The whole 

 mechanism of cosmic re-birth being thus not merely 

 shown to be true by irrefutable d\namical deduc- 

 tion, but also confirmed, decades afterwards, by 

 the latest observations of the most refined of astro- 

 nomical methods. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



FF.KTILISATKJN OF THE FIG. 



To the Editors of " Knowledge." 



Sn<s. — The interesting questions raised by your correspon- 

 dent " I.L.J.", and some similar inquiries addressed to nie by 

 other readers of " Knowi.i;dgk " with reference to my article 

 on the above subject in the August issue of this journal, call 

 for some further e.xplanations, for which I trust you will be 

 kind enough to aftbrd space in these columns, and which I 

 ought perhaps to have incorporated in that article. 



The article in question was based, as stated, upon the recent 

 interesting investigations made by Kavasini and communicated 

 by Tschirch on the wild and cultivated figs of Italy (Ravasini 

 has himself just published his results in a German memoir), 

 but I might have pointed out more explicitly than I did that. 

 as suggested by " I.L.J.". the complete life cycle of the Fig, 

 as worked out by Kavasini in Italy, is by no means realised 

 in more northerly countries. As cultivated in Britain, the 

 fig tree produces only two generations of inflorescences each 

 year, and of these only one, as a rule, ripens outside. The 

 first generation or crop is produced in early sununer from 

 buds of the former year, the second in autumn from those on 

 the spring shoots ; these apparently correspond respectively 

 to the '■ pedagnuoli " and the " cimaruoli " of Italy and the 

 Mediterranean countries generally, the " fiori di fico " being 

 absent from the northern countries, though by growing 

 selected varieties in a hothouse all three crops may be obtained. 

 In outdoor plants in this country, the first shoots usually 

 appear in May and bear young figs in July or August; but 

 these rarely ripen properly owing to the shortness of our 

 summer. The later midsummer shoots produce young inflor- 

 escences, and these do not develop until the following spring — 

 it is upon these alone that the British grower can depend, as 

 a rule, for a crop of ripe figs. 



I have not yet been able to ascertain whether or not 

 experiments have been made in this country concerning the 

 production of fertile seed by figs grown here, though I have 

 examined microscopically large numbers of " ripe " figs grown 

 in various parts of Southern England and the Channel 

 Islands, and have never found either wasps, male flowers, 

 nor embryo-containing seeds. It should, of course, be noted 

 that the inflorescences become enlarged and succulent quite 

 apart from fertilisation, though they are not mature in the 

 sense of containing fertile seeds as do those imported in the 

 dried condition from Asia Minor. Until recently, it was 

 thought that the production of mature seed-bearing figs was 

 absolutely dependent upon having in the vicinity of the 

 ordinary female tree one or more of the male trees (the 

 " Caprificus "), and excellent results in the form of improved 



fruits have been obtained by introducing the " Caprificus." 

 or the Wild Fig, into countries where only the female fig tree 

 had been previously cultivated — the pollinating wasps being, 

 of course, introduced siumltaneously with these plants which 

 they infest. This course was adopted, for instance, in 

 California a few years ago, and had already been resorted 

 to in various European countries. The wasps are extremely 

 small, only about a millimetre across, and can, therefore, easily 

 enter the narrow orifice of the inflorescences. However, until 

 the question of the fertilisation of the fig has been thoroughly 

 investigated in Britain, it is difficult to say in how far 

 Ravasini's observations apply to figs grown outside of Italy 

 and the other Mediterranean countries. It has been suggested 

 that the better maturation of the fruit resulting from the 

 intervention of the wasps or from " caprification " is attribut- 

 able to the stimulus induced by the insect's ovipositor, and 

 not to the pollination of the female flowers, and that the mere 

 thrusting of a straw into the inflorescence may have the same 

 effect. Moreover, some recent writers have described the 

 production of fertile seeds, capable of germinating and giving 

 rise to new fig plants, in the complete absence of the male 

 flowers and the wasps — that is to say, should these observa- 

 tions be confirmed, the fig will have to be added to the smalt 

 but growing list of plants in which parthenogenesis is known 

 to occur either occasionally or regularly, the egg-cell in the 

 ovule developing into an embryo without the entrance of a 

 male germ-cell. 



I must, however, apologise for the length of this com- 

 munication, and for the lack of definite information which I 

 have so far been able to obtain concerning the life cycle 

 of the fig tree as grown in Britain. .As a matter of fact, one 

 of the reasons for my having contributed to " Knowledge " 

 the gist of Ravasini's important work on the fig in Italy was 

 the hope that some of your readers might feel inclined to 

 take up an interesting branch of study and help in 

 clearing up some of the difliculties of the " fig problem." 

 It would be interesting to have the results of observa- 

 tions in different parts of this country, which might con- 

 tribute to our knowledge by answering the following and 

 other questions. — Does the ordinary fig tree produce 

 any male flowers in its inflorescences ? Does it pro- 

 duce fertile seeds containing an embryo and cap.ible of 

 germination ? Does the production of such fertile seeds 

 depend upon the presence of the male tree or Caprifig ? Do 

 the fig wasps ever occur in the inflorescences of the ordinarj' 

 Fig in this country ? Does the Fig produce fertile seeds by 

 parthenogenesis? p CAVFRS 



Goldsmiths' College, 

 London, S.E. 



