

NA TURt 



[February 14, 1895 



sterile sewage, whether the demise of the Utter woald be 

 bastened or retarded by ihcir presence. In these investigations 

 •we are informed that the respective microbes were inoculated 

 into the sewage a'»r«/ /ri-m broth cultures, so that we cannot 

 accept the results obtained as representative. It has been 

 repeatedly shown what an effect the presence of even minute 

 traces of culture miterial has on the vitality of particular 

 microbes in water, &c., and wh.-it confusing and conflicting 

 results have been obtained by different observers working with 

 the same microbe through neglect of this simple precaution. 

 It is to be hoped that if any further experiments in this direc- 

 tion are contemplated, Messrs. Laws and Andrewes will bear 

 this fact in mind. 



The inaugural lecture "On the Present Relations of Agri- 

 cnltunil Art and Science," delivered by Prof. R. Warington, 

 F.R.S., in the University Museum, Oxford, on the 4th insl., 

 has been published by Mr. Henry Frowde. By a few state- 

 ments of fact, the Sibthorpian Professor shows that the agri- 

 cultural industry can only be placed upon a sound basis by the 

 full adoption of scientific methods and the recognition of 

 research. It is very well known that the provision for 

 agricultural investigations in England is at present wholly 

 inadequate. We have the important experiment station at 

 Rothamsted, and the Royal Agricultural's Society's station at 

 Wobum. Experiments are also carried on at some of our 

 agricultural colleges; but this represents practically all that is 

 being done here for the elucidation of agricultural problems. 

 Compare this with the provision made in other countries. " In 

 the German Empire alone there are fifty-four agricultural 

 experiment stations, besides numerous public laboratories for 

 the .-inalysis of manures, and seed testing. The experiment 

 stations are supported by aid from the State. The whole 

 number of experiment stations on the continent of Europe 

 is about 190. There are besides these, about 120 public 

 laboratories devcted to special kinds of agricultural work. In 

 the United .States, a great effort has recently been made to 

 provide the whole country with experiment stations. Every 

 State in the Union has now at leasl one station, supported, 

 since the year 1887, «ith an annual income of about jClooo 

 paid to it by the nation. The total number of experiment 

 stations in the United Stales is at present fifty-five . . . the 

 practical working out of agricultural problems can only be 

 accomplished by the establislmient among us of a considerable 

 number of experiment stations ; only in this way can science be 

 bronght into touch with practices, anil the teachings of science 

 reduced to that concrete form in which they can be put to pro- 

 fitable use by the farmer. Why should not our County Councils 

 found and maintain .in .ngricultural experiment station in each 

 county? Such a station would become a centre of light and 

 teaching to a large district." 



Thb Proceeifiiii;! of the eleventh annual convention of the 

 Auociation of Official Agricultural Chemists, just distributed 

 bylheU..S. Department of Agriculture, enforces the remarks 

 Tcferrcd to above. The volume is literally full of facts iclaling 

 to agiictiltural chemistry. It contains many original articles, 

 abstracts of papett, analyses (iffeitiliscrK, foods, soils, and farm 

 products, and numerous reports. Unfortunately, the results of 

 such invest igal ions in the United Slates are not fully applicable 

 to British agriculture. What is wanted, as Prof. Warington 

 points out, is a central agricultural laboratory in England, 

 having as one of its duties the preparation of chemical 

 agricultural statistici. When thii has been established for a 

 few years, agriculturists will not have to confess ihnt they know 

 more about the composition and properties of German and 

 American produce than they 'I0 of similar products in our own 

 country. 



NO. 1320, VOL. 5 l] 



The tenth of the .\lembic Club Reprints, published by Mr. 

 W. F. Clay, Edinburgh, contains Graham's most valuable con- 

 tribution to pure chemistry, viz., the paper read before the 

 Royal Society in 1S33, entitled " Researcheson the Arseniates. 

 Phosphates, and Modifications of Phosphoric Acid." 



All that is readable about comets is to be found in Mr. 

 Thynne Lynn's "Remarkable Comets" (Edward Stanford), 

 the third edition of which has just been published. Though 

 but a slender brochure of less than fifty pages, this little treatise 

 comprises most of the interesting facts in the history of cometary 

 discovery. 



The new illustrated catalogue of electrical and other ap- 

 paratus, just published by Messrs Elliott Brothers, is capable 

 of giving the student of elementary science a liberal education 

 in scientific instruments. .Vlmost every important piece of 

 apparatus used in electricity is illustrated in the catalogue, as 

 well as the tools of research and education in other branches 

 of physical science. 



The Calendar of the Department of Science and Art, for 

 189s, has been issued. For the benefit of those unfamiliar 

 with this publication, it may be worth mention that the 

 Calendar comprises a history and general description of the 

 whole Department, with a summary of the rules, and a list of 

 the Science and Art Schools and Classes, cintaining the 

 number of students in each school and in each subject. 



In the Bullttin of the College of Agriculture of the Imperial 

 University of Japan (vol ii. N'o. 3), Prif. Sasaki gives a full 

 description of the scale insect of mulberry trees (Diasfis 

 fialelliformis, n. sp.) and of the principal features of its life- 

 history. A great deal of damage seems to be done by this 

 insect pest; and it would be well if tree-owners in Japan would 

 make use of the simple remedial measures reco'Timended by 

 Prof. Sasaki. The /}nllelin also includes a paper on the 

 spermatogenesis of the silkworm by K. Toyama. 



In 1881, the first edition of " Elementary Lessons in Elec- 

 tricity and Magnetism" (.Macmillan), by Prof. S. P. Thompson, 

 F. R.S.,was published. Since then the book has been re- 

 printed, with alterations and additions, many times, and an 

 entirely new edition has now been issued. We are reminded 

 in the preface that during the fourteen years which have elapsed 

 since the book first appeared, electrical science and the science 

 of magnetism have been greatly advanced. Striking progress 

 has been made in theory and in practice, and the expansion of 

 knowledge has necessitated an expansion of the book. Whoso 

 seeks a class-book on electricity and magnetism, containing an 

 elementary exposition of recent work, will find their want 

 .supplied by Prof. Thompson's Lessons. 



In Science JVo:;ress for February, Dr. C. S. Sherrington 

 F. R. S., describes the varieties of leucocytes. Mr. .\. C. 

 Seward concludes his second contribution on the structure and 

 formation of coal, with a paragraph which expresses his con- 

 viction that "the weight of evi<lence seems to lip the balance 

 of opinion very materially towards the theory of drifting and 

 subaqueous sedimentation, for the majority of the I'al.Tjnzoic 

 coal seams. " An account of the researches on the methods of 

 digestion in Ccclenterates, is given by Prof. S. J. Ilickson ; 

 Dr. W. F. Hume reviews works on geological folds and fault- 

 ing ; and Mr. Philip Lake adds to the literature of tectonic 

 geology, a paper on Neozoic — that is, Mesozoic and Cainotoic 

 — 6'°'°Ey '" Europe. 



At present the English Arboricullural Society hardly justi- 

 fies its name, for it is more or less limited to the North of 

 England. There is every prospect, however, of its extension 

 southwards in the future, both on account of the attention now 



