April 25, 1895] 



NATURE 



61 



as demonstrated by Sir John Lawes and others a few years ago, 

 appears to be steadily acquiring additional confirmation in 

 different parts of the country, and the economic importance of 

 the question is beyond all doubt. We are afraid that confusion 

 is likely to arise from the adoption of a practice in vogue at 

 some of the American experiment stations, where the word 

 "legume" is used to denote "leguminous (papilionaceous) 

 plant." In this report we read, "Legumes (i.i. tares, peas, 

 clover, lucerne, &c.)." The word "legume" has already a 

 definite meaning attached to it by English botanists, whilst in 

 colloquial use in France it has another and a wider application. 

 Exception should also be taken to the use of the term tuber- 

 cules {or tubercles) to denote the structures on the roots of 

 leguminous plants. Lawes and Gilbert have, with admirable 

 consistency, adhered throughout to the word " nodules," and it 

 is unfortunate that this example has not generally been followed. 

 Students of agriculture are hearing more and more of tubercle in 

 animals, and of the disease termed tuberculosis, and there is a 

 tendency, at least on the part of beginners, to think that all 

 tubercles must be alike. The general adoption of the word 

 "nodules," as used by Lawes and Gilbert, would lessen the 

 possibility of confusion. 



Miss Christine Ladd Franklin publishes au interesting 

 paper on "The Normal Defect of Vision in the I'ovea" in 

 the current number of the Psychological Kevie-M. Recent in- 

 vestigations of Kbnigs on the relative absorption of different 

 portions of the spectrum by the visual purple, the curve of which 

 corresponds with the curve which expresses the distribution of 

 brightness along the spectrum for (i) the totally colour-blind 

 and (2) the normal eye in a faint light, suggest that vision both 

 in (l) and (2) is conditioned by the presence of visual purple in 

 the retina. But this visual purple is absent in the fovea. If 

 this be so, the eye in (i) and (2) should be blind in that part 

 of the retina. Careful observations and experiments were made 

 to test the validity of this conclusion. " The blindness of the 

 fovea for faint light did not at once reveal itself ; the act of 

 fixation means holding the eye so that an image falls on the part 

 of the retina best adapted for seeing it, and hence it would in- 

 volve keeping the image out of the fovea in a faint light, if the 

 fovea were then really blind. But after the total disappearance 

 of the small bright object looked at had several limes occurred 

 by accident, it became possible to execute the motion of the eye 

 necessary to secure it at pleasure. It was then found that the 

 simple device of presenting a group of small bright objects to 

 the eye of the observer was sufficient to demonstrate the 

 'normal night-blindness of the fovea' without any difficulty — 

 one or other of them is sure to fall into the dark hole of the 

 fovea by accident." Observations on a totally colour-blind 

 boy showed the blindness of his fovea. The function of the 

 retinal purple is, it is suggested, for the reinforcement of waning 

 light, and is especially adapted for the absorption of the faint 

 green light of dense forests. 



The Calendar of Queen's College, Galway, for 1894-95, has 

 just been published, and also that of the Royal University of 

 Ireland, for the year 1895. 



The current number of the Journaloi the Royal Agricultural 

 Society of England contains a long report, by Sir J. li. Lawes, 

 F.R.S., and Sir J. H. Gilbert, F.R.S., on "The Feeding of 

 Animals for the Production of Meat, Milk, and Manure, and 

 for the Exercise of Force." 



A NEW edition has been published of " Stephens' Catechism 

 of Practical Agriculture " (\V. Blackwood and Sons), revised and 

 largely rewritten by Mr. James Macdonald. . The popularity of 

 the book is vouched for by the fact that more than twenty-one 

 thousand copies have been sold. 



NO. 1330, VOL. 51] 



TwENTV-EiGHT short cssays by Dr. Jean Rey, " On an in- 

 quiry into the cause wherefore tin and lead increase in weight 

 on calcination," form the contents of No. 1 1 of the .\lembic 

 Club Reprints. The essays, which originally appeared in 1630, 

 are interesting because they contain descriptions of experiments 

 and results which anticipated, to some extent, the work done by 

 Lavoisier a century and a half later. 



P.\RT3 of the first and second editions of Malthus' essay on the 

 principle of population, have been published, in a handy volume, 

 in Messrs. Macmillan's series of Economic Classics, edited by 

 Mr. J. Ashley. Of the first edition, published in 1798, about 

 one-third has been reprinted ; but of the second edition, which 

 contained ab:)ut four times as much matter, the selected 

 chapters are only one-twentieth of the whole work. 



An account of principles and practice of the methods adopted 

 by Dr. T. Schott in the treatment of chronic diseases of the 

 heart by means of mineral baths and exercises, has been written 

 by Dr. Bezly Thorne, and published by Messrs. J. and A. 

 Churchill, together with a description of the Nauheim baths, 

 and of the therapeutic exercises. The volume is full of diagrams 

 and other illustrations of interest to students of cardiac 

 affections. 



A German edition of Mr. Benjamin Kidd's " Social Evolu- 

 tion," with a preface by Dr. \. Weismann, has just been 

 published by Gustav Fischer, Jena. 



Five new volumes belonging to the " Encyclopciie scienti- 

 fique des Aide-Mcmoire " have come to us from the joint 

 publishers, GauthierVillars and G. Misson, Paris. They are : 

 " Le Fonctionnement des Machines a Vapeur," by G. Leloutre ; 

 "Des Maii-es," by P. Hatt ; " Balistique des Nouvelles Pou- 

 dres," by E. Vallier ; "La Thcorie des Procedes Photo- 

 graphiques," by A. de la Bau'me Pluvinel ; and " La Distilla- 

 tion," by E. Sorel. 



Indexes to the literature of cerium and lanthanum, by Dr. 

 W. G. Magee, have been published together as No. 971 of the 

 " Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections," in accordance with 

 the recommendation of the Chemical Literature Committee of 

 the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

 The difficulty and labour involved in the preparation of these 

 indexes can only be fully understood by thosi who have 

 attempted similar tasks. All chemists should be grateful to 

 Dr. Magee for his very valuable bibliography. 



A FULL notice of the life and numerous works of the late Mr. 

 F. Buchanan White appears, with a portrait, in the April num- 

 ber of the Annals of Scottish Natural History. A report on the 

 remarkable visitation of the Little .Vuk to Scotland, during the 

 past winter, is contributed to the same number by Mr. W. E. 

 Clarke. The whole of the records of occurrences of the bird 

 from December 22, 1894, to February, are shown upon a map 

 which accompanies the report, and arc also precisely tabulated 

 in chronological sequence. 



Dr. Henry Maudsley's "Pathology of Mind" (Mac- 

 millan) has recently been published in such an altered and 

 enlarged form, that it is virtually a new book, " for," to quote 

 from the preface, "while old matter has been left out, and much 

 fresh matter added, the whole jhaj been recast, the form of the 

 presentation changed, and the text entirely rewritten." The 

 present contents of the work, as expressed by the new sub- 

 title, constitute a study of the distempers, deformities, and 

 disorders of the mind. 



In the third Bulletin of the Madras Government Museum 

 appears a revised edition of Mr. Edgar Thurston's " K.imes- 

 varam Island and the Fauna of the Gulf of Manaar." The 



