Ii6 



NATURE 



[November 30, 1899 



Stebbing (Chairman), Rev. J. O. Bevan, Mr. G. J. Symons, 

 Prof. W. W. Watts, and Mr. T. V. Holmes (Secretary). 



A short report, stating that the resolution passed at the Bristol 

 meeting of the conference of delegates on the desirability of 

 securing the co-operation of the coastguard as observers of coast 

 erosion had been favourably received by the Admiralty, and 

 giving copies of the forms issued to the coastguard for the pro- 

 motion of uniformity in their observations was in the hands of 

 every delegate present, and was taken as read. Then Rev. T. 

 R. R. Stebbing, after alluding to the result of last year's discus- 

 sion on coast erosion, read a short paper on the living subter- 

 ranean fauna of Great Britain and Ireland. 



The first undoubted mention of an underground crustacean 

 seemed to be that of an amphipod found in London and named 

 by Dr. Leach, of the British Museum, in 1813. Since that time 

 many valuable treatises on the subterranean fauna of various 

 parts of the globe have appeared in many European languages, 

 Polish among others. The English student might be advised to 

 study "The Cave Fauna of North America," by Dr. Packard, 

 published in the Memohs of the National Academy of Sciences, 

 vol. iv., Washington, 1888. Also "The Subterranean Crus- 

 tacea of New Zealand," by Dr. Charles Chilton, published in 

 the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, 1894. 

 Packard enumerated 308 European cave animals and 102 

 American. This list of 410 included a few Protozoa, a sponge, 

 two hydras, a few worms, one mollusc, several Crustacea and 

 myriapods, numerous arachnids and a host of Coleoptera, the 

 other insects being chiefly Thysanura. The vertebrates consisted 

 of four American fish and one European batrachian, the cele- 

 brated Proteus anguineus. The known well fauna of Great 

 Britain and Ireland comprised only four species which belong 

 to the amphipoda. These, however, de Rougemont would 

 reduce to a single species. In addition, it may be men- 

 tioned that an insect and a copepod have been found in the 

 recesses of coalpits in Scotland and northern England. After 

 noticing the colourlessness and blindness characteristic of subter- 

 ranean fauna, Mr. Stebbing remarked, in conclusion, that it 

 would be strange should the caverns and wells of Great Britain 

 and Ireland not yield, on investigation, a fauna comparable in 

 some degree to that found in other parts of the world. In this 

 research he hoped that some members of our local scientific 

 societies might take a share. 



In answer to a question as to the best way of catching the 

 well shrimp, Mr. Stebbing replied that a good plan was to wait 

 till the well was nearly empty, then let down a bucket and with- 

 draw it as quickly as possible. Sometimes well shrimps were 

 brought up when pumping was going on. 



Some discussion then arose, in which Rev. J. O. Bevan, Mr. 

 T. Workman, Mr. Hotblack and Mr. Stebbing took part, as 

 to whether the bats in the Mammoth Cave at Kentucky passed 

 all their time there. The matter could not be absolutely settled, 

 though there seemed to be a presumption against their doing so ; 

 Mr. Workman stating that he had not found them in the depths 

 of the cave, though they were in large numbers near the mouth. 

 , Second Meeting of the Conference, September 19. 



The Corresponding Societies Committee were represented by 

 Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing (Chairman), Dr. Garson, Mr. G. J. 

 Symons, Prof. W. W. Watts, and Mr. T. V. Holmes (Secretary). 

 After a long and desultory debate on the best ways of in- 

 creasing the usefulness of the meetings of the Conference, during 

 which Mr. Stebbing was obliged to leave, and Prof. W. W. 

 Watts became Chairman, Mr. Hugh Blakiston, Secretary of the 

 . " National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural 

 Beauty," delivered an address on the aims and work of the 

 Trust. 



Section A. — Mr. G. J. Symons stated that the Committee for 

 Seismological Observations was much in need of a home. 



Section C. — The Chairman remarked that the Erratic Boulders 

 Committee had presented a report. The Geological Photo- 

 graphs Committee would be glad to receive contributions of 

 photographs. They hoped shortly to be able to publish a 

 selection of typical photographs. Their duplicate collection of 

 prints and slides would be sent to any local society wishing to 

 exhibit them. 



Section Z>.— Rev. T, R. R. Stebbing said that the Secretary 

 of Section D recommended the study of the fauna of wells and 

 caverns to the Corresponding Societies. 



Section A'.— Mr. H. Wager had to inform the delegates that 

 the Section had appointed a committee to consider the geo- 

 graphical distribution of mosses. 



NO. 1570. VOL. 61] 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY.^ 



A N important address has been recently delivered by Prof. 

 •^~*- Maercker, of Halle, to the German Chemical Society 

 (Ber. 1897, p. 464), summarising the advances which have been 

 made in agricultural chemistry during the last twenty-five years. 

 Prof Maercker pointed out that the term Agricultural 

 Chemistry meant more at the present time than the mere 

 application of chemistry to agriculture, as shown by the fact 

 that the agricultural chemist, in his efforts to assist the farmer, 

 was often more concerned with the biological sciences than 

 with chemistry ; while, in addition to his purely scientific work, 

 he was required to take account of economic questions of the 

 day possessing special interest to agriculturists. The following 

 account of the most important parts of the address is given 

 under the following heads :— I. Plant-food ; II. Soils and 

 Manures ; III. Artificial Selection. It is reproduced here by 

 the kind permission of the editor of the Imperial Institute 

 Journal. 



I. Plant-food. 



In supplying nourishment to plants we must know what sub- 

 stances are necessary, and in what form and quantity they 

 should be provided. Little progress was made in our know- 

 ledge of the subject till the quite recent introduction of the 

 method of water-cultures of Sachs, Knoop, and Nobbe and the 

 method of sand-cultures of Hellriegel permitted of the conduct 

 of experiments in pure media, and thus rendered it possible to 

 ascertain not only what substances are essential for plant-life, 

 but also the part played by each substance in the plant cell. 

 Thus we know now that phosphoric acid is essential for the 

 formation of nitrogenous substances in the plant, because the 

 albumens, which are of fundamental importance in the trans- 

 formations of substances in plants, result from an intermediate 

 phosphoric acid compound, as is indicated by the regular 

 occurrence of lecythin in protoplasm. Again, iron is an 

 essential constituent of chlorophyll and sulphur of albumen, 

 and hence must be supplied to plants. The true function of 

 calcium was for long doubtful ; its action is now known to be 

 of a medicinal character, since it serves to neutralise the 

 poisonous oxalic acid, which is always an intermediate product 

 of the oxidation of the carbohydrates. It was formerly thought 

 that calcium fulfilled some important function in the leaves, 

 being chiefly found in the foliage of plants. Since, however, 

 the leaves are also the chief seat of the oxalic acid, this 

 distribution of the calcium is easily explained. 



The part played by potassium has only within the last three 

 years been explained by Hellriegel, who, by exact experiments 

 with beet-root showed that the amount of sugar in the beet 

 stands in close relation to the amount of potassium provided for 

 the plant. P. Wagner has made the interesting observation that 

 the potassium may ht partly replaced by sodium. 



The exact value of magnesium to plants is not yet well under- 

 stood, but it appears to be of importance in the formation of 

 the nitrogenous substances of seeds, as in these considerable 

 quantities of magnesium phosphate occur. 



Nitrogen is an indispensable plant-food, for it is an essential 

 constituent of albumen. 



In addition to the quantities of mineral substances required by 

 plants to enable them to exhibit a healthy growth, further 

 quantities are found to be essential to satisfy what has been 

 termed, though not very aptly, the '^mineral-hunger'^ of the 

 plant. This is best explained by an example. E Wolff found 

 that for the production of 100 parts of oat-plant (dried), "5 parts 

 of phosphoric acid were necessary, when the remaining mineral 

 substances were supplied in excess to the plant. By other 

 similar experiments he showed that the following quantities of 

 mineral substances were necessary for the production of 100 

 parts of oat-plant : — 



Phosphoric acid 

 Potash 

 Lime 



Magnesia ... 

 Sulphuric acid 



•50 parts 

 •80 „ 

 •25 „ 

 ■20 „ 

 •20 ,, 



1 "95 parts. 



A total or i 95 parts of mineral substances is therefore 

 necessary in the case of the oat-plant. However, there is no 

 oat-plant in nature which contains so little as i'95 per cent. 

 1 Reprinted from the Kew Bulletin (No. 144). 



