I So 



NA TURE 



[June 21, 1894 



generally ascribed to abaarmil conditions or to involution. 

 Although the existence of polymorphism among bacteria 

 may be inferred from the records of Metscknikoflf, Weibel, 

 Cornil and Bibes, Kiessling, Karlinski, and especially those of 

 truignard and Chirrin, as yet no absolute proof had been 

 adduced to make it a fact. The W'cekhlaJ v. It. TyJschrift r. 

 Gcmcsk. of April zS c mtains an article in which the writers 

 contend that aming pleomorphic bacteria there are some 

 species which, under different conditions, present different 

 forms. Last year, when testing the water from the waterworks 

 of Groningen, Ali Cohen and Uffelie, of the Hygienic Laboratory 

 of thit city, succeeded in cultivating in pepton Na CI, fluid, 

 spirilla which poisessel all the morphological and biological 

 properties generally ascribed to this species of organism. 

 These spirilla, transplanted in nutritive gelatine, speedily 

 developed colonies, but exclusively consisting of bacilli, 

 Theii bacilli, replaced in a solution of pepton, Na CI, 

 reproduced agiin spirilla, not all identical, however, but con- 

 sisting of commas, S forms, and short spirella. They repeated 

 their experiments for several consecutive months, always with 

 the sam; result. Daring these investigations another curious [ 

 fact cane under their notice. An organi.m which for several | 

 months, in alternate solid and fluid nutriment, had produced 1 

 the alternate form of spirillum and bacillus, although the con- 

 ditions of culture bad not been altered in any way, lost at last 

 the power of reproducing spirilla. The organism had retained 

 all its individual characteristic properties, but it was impossible 

 to revive this pjwer. These observations led the writers to 

 the conclusion that the present state of bacteriological science 

 dois not admit of ignoring the signs of polymorphy in bacteria, 

 and thil it is inaccurate to speak of normal and abnormal con- 

 diti')n^, or to recommend as appropiate only those nutrients 

 in which bacteria most speedily develop and accurately retain 

 the form under which they are described in the text-books. 

 The fact that mjst species of bacteria cultivated under glass 

 gradually lose their po*ef of multiplication, their loss of 

 pathological and other biol igical properties, make this apparent. 

 Even increased power of growth does not necessarily prove 

 the exterior conditions to be favourable. It is well known that 

 the bacillu> of diphtheria loses its virulence in proportion as its 

 power of development increases. In their opinion, therefore, 

 it will henceforth be unsafe to deny, on morphological basis 

 only, that the cholera spirillum may have developed from a 

 certain form of bacillus, and that it is not invariably produced 

 from an individual whom it morphologically resembles. 



The first volume has been issued of Dr. liowdler Sharpe's 

 " Handbook to the Birds of Great Uriiain." The book belongs 

 to the new cJition of Allen's Naturalist's Library, of which Dr. 

 Sbarpe is the editor, and Messrs. \V. II. Allen and Co. 

 arc the publishers. 



We have received an excerpt from the Transactions of the 

 Academy of Science of .St. Louis (vol. vi. p. 481). Mr. 

 Milton UpdegrafT is the author of the extracted paper, the sub- 

 ject of which is the determinations of the latitude, longitude, 

 and height above sea-lcvcl of the Laws Observatory of the 

 University of the State of Missouri, and the Observatory build- 

 ing and instruments. 



The /ittl/elin of the Royal Gardens, Kew, .\ppendix ii. for 

 1894, is entirely occupied by a list of new garden plants brought 

 into cultivation for the first time in the year 189J, including 

 botanical varieties and hybrids, as well as the most noteworthy 

 of those which have been reintroduced after being lost from 

 cultivation, and others now for the first time described or 

 published with aulheDticalcd names. 



Part ii. No. 4, of vol. Ixii. of the "Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal " contains two papers by Dr. G. King, the 



NO. 1286. VOL. 50] 



Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta: "On 

 some Indian Species of Canarium," and a continuation of his 

 "Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula"; also an 

 account of the Deep Sea Collection made during the season of 

 1892-93 in H.M. Indian Marine Survey steamer /nvesligator, 

 by Dr. A. .\lcock, Superintendent of the Indian Museum. 



We have received two important reprints from the " Sixth 

 .Vnnual Report of the Missouri Botanical Garden": North 

 American species of Sapllaria and Lophot:<arpus, by Jared 

 G Smith, illustrated by twenty-nine beautifully executed plates; 

 and a description, by W. Trelease, of Lcitneria Floruiana, a 

 Floridan tree now for the first time discovered in south-eastern 

 Missouri. The systematic po>ition of this monotypic genus 

 is still uncertain ; the author bein^ doubtful whether to place it 

 near the I'latanacea among Apetahe, or near the Dipterocarpe:e 

 or Balsamifluae among Polypetala;. This paper is also illus- 

 trated by fifteen excellent plates. 



The first edition of Dr. J. E. V. Boas' " Lehrbuch der 

 Zoologie (iir Studirende und Lehrer" (Gustav Fischer, Jena) 

 was reviewed in these columns at the beginning of 1S91 (vol. 

 xliii. p. 268). A second edition of the manual has now been 

 published. No alterations have been made in the p'an of the 

 book, but emendations and numerous additions h.we been 

 inserted here and there, so as to bring the matter in line with 

 recent work. Nearly fifty illustrations have also been added. I 



The tenth edition of "Quain's Elements of .Anatomy" 

 edited by Profs. E. A. Sch.afer, F.R.S., and G. D. Thane, is 

 slowly appro.iching completior. Messrs. Longmans, Green, 

 and Co., the pulilishers of the work, have just issued the third 

 p.artof vol. iii., dealing with the Organs of the Senses, and it is 

 announced that the second part of this volume (Peripheral 

 Nerve>) will be published shortly. The fourth part (Visceral 

 .■Vnatomy) is in preparation, and will complete tlie work. 



So long ago as 1883 we reviewed (vol. xxviii. p. ig5Uhe first 

 part of " Field and Garden Crops of the North-Western 

 Provinces of Oudh," by Mr. J. F. Duthie, the Director of the 

 Botanictl Department of Northern India. The second part 

 was published a year after the first, but the third and concluding 

 part, dealing almost entirely with garden crops, has only just 

 reached us. All important plants of this kind, grown in India 

 on comparatively small plots, are described and excellently 

 illustrated. Mr. Duthie has added to the usefulness of his work 

 by giving at the end of the part just received a general index to 

 all the parts. 



I.N' the Report of the U.S. National Museum for the fiscal 

 year ending June 30, 1S91, there are several papers describing 

 and illu'traling collections in the Museum, in addition to the 

 reports of the various curators. Dr. G. Brown Goode describes 

 the genesis of the Museum in an article full of information. Ihc 

 ethnological collections in the Mu-seum from Kilima Njaro, • I 

 East Africa, are enumerated by D.'. W. L. A ibott, and the 

 Korean collections by Mr. Walter Hough, both papers being well 

 illustrated. Mr. Romyn Hitchcock contributes three papers to 

 the volume, one on Shinto, or the myth ilogy of the Japanese, 

 another on the ancient burial mounds of Japan, and a third on 

 some ancient relics found in Japan. Finally, Mr. George H. 

 Boehmer's exhaustive history of the prehistoric naval architecture 

 of the Norih of Europe is included. This paper should be 

 referred to by all who are interested in the development of the 

 art of shipbuilding. 



Scarcely a week passes without our receiving several 

 voluminous reports on scientific work carried out under the 

 au'-pices of the United States Government. One of the last 

 volumes to come to hand is the Report of the U.S. Commis- 

 sioner of Fish and Fisheries for 1889-91. The Commissioner's 

 report alone is a valuable summary of work, but this covers less 



