March 29, 1900J 



NA TURE 



519 



printed in exienso, filling three volumes of the Transactions of 

 the Royal Society of Edinburgh ; and by the gift of 3CXd/. just 

 received, the necessary clerical assistants will be engaged to 

 enable Dr. Buchan and Mr. Omond to lay before the scientific 

 world the results of the great experiment in meteorology under- 

 taken by the Directors of the Ben Nevis Observatories in 1881. 

 The Society for the Protection of Birds had a year of active 

 work to report upon at the annual meeting held a few days ^o. 

 Several new publications were issued during 1899, fifty-nine 

 lectures were delivered, and petitions were sent to various 

 responsible officials and authorities asking for their sympathy 

 and assistance. Steps have been taken to prevent the ex- 

 portation of Birds of Paradise and others from British New 

 Guinea ; the wearing of osprey plumes by the officers of the 

 Hussar and Rifle Regiments, and of the Royal Horse 

 Artillery has been discontinued ; and turbans have been sub- 

 stituted for the caps with birds' plumes formerly worn by the 

 body-guard of the Viceroy of India. Orders for the pro- 

 tection of rare birds are in force in many parts of the British 

 Isles, but they are numerous and complicated instead of being 

 few and simple. Efforts are now being made to obtain 

 Parliamentary approval of a Bill designed to simplify and 

 consolidate the present law relating to the protection of wild 

 birds, and practically introducing but one change, viz. to extend 

 protection during a close time to all species and their eggs, 

 leaving it to the various county councils to obtain orders 

 exempting from protection within their administrative areas 

 those species which are destructive or too numerous. Such a 

 law would be far easier to understand and administer than the 

 present intricate and varying regulations. 



An admirable summary of the methods used to preserve food 

 in ancient as well as in modern times was given by Dr. S. 

 Rideal in a paper read before the Society of Arts on March 21, 

 and published in the current number of the Society's Journal. 

 There are only a few early allusions to the use of salt, vinegar, 

 nd allied substances, to»keep food from putrifying, and none of 

 much importance. After either smoking, salting or drying, the 

 characters of fresh food cannot be restored. It was not till the 

 middle of the nineteenth century that it was discovered that 

 small quantities of certain antiseptics would enable the original 

 qualities to be retained, and prevent decay for a considerable 

 period, with less influence on digestion than the old curing 

 processes. Utilising the fact that fermented liquids remain 

 stable for long periods, Bethell, in 1848, patented a process for 

 preserving milk, which consisted in first boiling the milk to 

 expel all the air contained in it, and then saturating with carbon 

 dioxide ; when so treated, the liquid remains fresh for a long 

 time after being opened. More recently, compressed oxygen 

 and sterilised air have been tried for preserving milk. Butter, 

 when kept in carbonic acid, at a pressure of six atmospheres, 

 often remains unchanged for four or five weeks. But experi- 

 ments have shown that carbonic acid, though generally effective 

 for mineral waters, will not of itself prevent changes in milk or 

 meat. Moreover, with regard to the sterilising effect of carbonic 

 acid in mineral waters. Dr. Otto Hehner has examined many 

 such waters and found them swarming with germ life. A great 

 variety of substances containing boric acid are used as pre- 

 servatives at the present time, especially for the preservation of 

 milk, cream and butter. There is, however, a wide diflTerence of 

 opinion as to the effects of preservatives upon the consumer of 

 the food containing them, and the whole matter is being inquired 

 into by a Departmental Committee. 



Though we have as yet no agricultural experiment stations 

 comparable with those of the United States, Canada, and else- 

 where, a large amount of valuable work is being done in 

 connection with the agricultural departments of some of our 

 NO. 1587, VOL. 61] 



colleges, and by other organisatioi:|is. Two reports upon work 

 of this kind are before us— one containing the results of 

 experiments made by the agricultural department of the 

 Yorkshire College, Leeds, and the other the Proceedings of 

 the Agricultural Research Association, N.B. One of the 

 papers in the former describes the effect of various fertilisers 

 upon the production of meadow hay, which is one of the chief 

 objects of farmers in the West Riding. Among the conclusions- 

 arrived at as the result of experiments on clover are : — 

 "Nitragin, a preparation used for inoculating soil with the 

 bacteria that are found in the nodules of clover roots, did not 

 increase the crop." 



The work of the Agricultural Research Association covers a 

 very wide ground. Among the useful results of the investi- 

 gations carried on under its auspices are the following : — The 

 demonstration that insoluble finely ground mineral phosphate 

 is as effective as soluble phosphate. This led to the use of 

 coprolite and phosphatic slag instead of soluble phosphate, and 

 thereby reduced the cost of phosphate to the farmer ; dis- 

 covery of aperture in root hairs, giving explanation of the 

 absorption into the plant of insoluble matter ; determination of 

 the relative values of different forms of nitrogenous, phosphatic 

 and potash manures — leading to economy in the selection of 

 manures for turnip, grain and grass crops ; the cause of finger 

 and toe disease in turnips, and means for its prevention. 

 Inquiries on grasses and clovers which indicated the most 

 economical grass mixtures to use, explained the poorness of rye 

 grass pastures and showed the remedy, and led to the 

 suggestion of a ten -year rotation. This rotation is being 

 gradually adopted in practice. The chief subject of investi- 

 gation at present on hand is an inquiry into the natural cross- 

 fertilisation of oats. Most satisfactory confirmation has beer^ 

 got, during the past season, that an increase is attainable in the 

 yield of the oat crop by means of such natural cross-fertilisation. 

 It now appears that the increase that may be expected by this- 

 method is substantial, and it is one which does not involve any 

 outlay. Experiments are now being made to discover the cross 

 which gives the best crop. Several other inquiries are being 

 proceeded with, but they have not reached the stage for beiffig' 

 reported upon. We regret to see that certain of these inquiries 

 have had to be stopped for want of funds, but it is hoped that 

 an opportunity may soon arise to admit of their being taken up 

 again. 



We have received from Mr. R. C. Mossman a paper on the 

 price of wheat at Haddington from 1627 to 1897, read before 

 the Scottish Society of Economists. It is a rather laborious 

 compilation, for, although dealing with local wheat prices, it 

 necessarily has to take into consideration many conflicting 

 interests outside the district under discussion. The results are 

 clearly shown in a diagram, in which the mean annual tempera- 

 ture of the air in Edinburgh since 1764 is also given. Previous 

 to this date the observations were non-instrumental, and have 

 been extracted from such works as Lowe's "Natural Pheno- 

 mena." The relation between temperature and prices during 

 most of the period for which the information is available is clearly 

 seen on looking at the two curves. The most extraordinary 

 prices occurred in 1800 and 1812 (134^. 9d. per quarter). In 

 the first case heavy rains and a low temperature in August were 

 the chief causes. In the second case the high price was due to 

 the deficiency of the 181 1 crop, without the means of obtaining 

 any from abroad. Since 1873, when the price was 64J. 8.'/. per 

 quarter, there has been a rapid and almost uninterrupted fall in 

 price, the most potent factor being the great increase in the 

 wheat area of the United States, the lowest figure being 26s. 6d. 

 in 1894. The rise in 1879 (53J. 6d.) was due to the unparal- 

 leled severity of the weather, and the rise in 1891 (46J. 7</.), 



