20 



NA TURE 



[November 6, 1902 



the Psilotete ; on this ground, :tmong others, an affinity between 

 the fossil and the recent family appeared tenable. This view 

 has recently been supported by Prof. Thomas, of Auckland, 

 N.Z. , on evidence drawn from certain remarkable variations 

 which he observed in the genus Tmesipteris. On the view 

 suggested, the synangium of the Psilotese is neither a reduced 

 strobilus nor a septate sporangium, but a ventral sporangiophore 

 bearing a variable number of sporangia, normally two or three, 

 according to the genus. Mr. A. C. Seward, F.R.S., and Mr. 

 Arber gave an account of some fossil Nipa seeds from Belgium. 

 In the domain of plant morphology, several interesting papers 

 were communicated. Mr. John C. Willis, director of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, described the dorsiven- 

 trality of the Podostemaceae, and showed that it extends both to 

 the vegetative and floral organs. The more modified types 

 show a progressive increase in dorsiventrality of the vegetative 

 system followed throughout by an increase in that of the floral. 

 The same series, regarded ecologically, shows that though the 

 flowers are steadily more and more zygomorphic — a condition 

 usually regarded as an adaptation to insect visits — we have here 

 flowers which stand stiffly erect, and are more and more anemo- 

 philous and autogamous. Miss Sibille O. Ford (Cambridge) 

 gave an account of the morphology of the Araucariea;, which 

 include the two genera Araucaria and Agathis ; they are charac- 

 terised by the regularity of their branching and the persistence 

 of their leaves. The apex of the stem shows no definite apical 

 cell, but a somewhat irregular dermatogen. Well-marked 

 annual rings may be found in the wood, and bordered pits 

 are found on the tangential walls of the latest formed 

 summer wood. Mr. Herbert Wright (Ceylon) described the 

 sex relationships in Ceylon species of Diospyros. These 

 plants have hitherto been regarded as dioecious, but he finds 

 from an examination of fresh material frequent departures from 

 this condition, some being monoecious, others dioecious and 

 polygamous, and others dioecious, monoecious and polygamous. 

 Mr. Worsdell gave an account of the various theories as to the 

 nature of the sporangial v integuments in various groups of plants. 

 The author maintains Celakovsky's view that in the ferns the 

 poriferous segment of pinnule, bearing as a rule sporangia on its 

 lower (dorsal) surface, is the homologue of the outer integument 

 of the ovule in Angiosperms, and indusium that of inner inte- 

 gument. Mr. Worsdell also read a paper on the nature of the 

 vascular system of the stem in certain dicotyledonous orders, 

 in which he comes to the conclusion, from anatomical data, that 

 no hard and fast line exists between the two classes of dicotyle- 

 dons and monocotyledons. The flowering stem and peduncle, 

 as being those parts of the caulome which have undergone least 

 modification owing to the necessities of adaptation to external 

 conditions, exhibit, as a rule, most clearly the primitive structure 

 which in the vegetative parts has become obscured. Mr E. A. 

 Newell Arber (Cambridge) read a paper on the morphology of 

 the flowers in certain species of Lonicera. The genu; includes 

 about seventy species which belong to the section Xylosteum. 

 In this section, the gyncecea of a two-flowered dichasium are 

 more or less completely united together. In some cases, the 

 two inferior ovaries are united in one plane by the union of their 

 receptacular walls. In others they are for the most part free I 

 from one another, but surrounded by an outer parenchymatous 

 tissue, arising from the base. This tissue is the result of the 

 fusion of the bracteoles of the true flowers. Mr. Harold Wager 

 communicated some of the results of his recent observations on 

 the structure of the central body in various species of Cyano- 

 phycece which show that, although wanting some of the 

 characteristics of the nuclei of higher organisms, it must be 

 regarded as nuclear in character and possibly as a nucleus of a 

 simple or rudimentary type. In another paper, Mr. Wager 

 dealt with the function of the nucleolus. This body, in the 

 cases examined by him, appears to be intimately connected with 

 the nuclear network, and contains chromatin material which 

 contributes directly to the formation of the chromosomes. Prof. 

 Oliver and Miss Edith Chick had a paper on the morphology of 

 Torreya myristica, in which some interesting features of morpho- 

 logical importance were described. 



Among other papers brought before the Section were the 

 following contributions from mycologists : — Miss Lorrain Smith 

 described a disease of the gooseberry which attacks the hard 

 stem of the bushes above and below the ground level. The 

 inner bark is permeated and completely destroyed by the my- 

 celium of a fungus. The outer bark cracks and splits, and 

 sclerotia are formed on the outside or half embedded in the 



NO. 1723, VOL. 67] 



cortex. Mr. Barker (Cambridge) gave an account of the fungus 

 of Samsu, a fermented drink of Eastern Asia, obtained by the 

 distillation of a fermented liquor prepared from rice. The con- 

 version of the starch into fermentable sugars is due largely to a 

 species of Monascus. Hitherto this genus has been placed in 

 the Ilemiasci on account of a supposed formation of spores in a 

 sporangium, surrounded by an investment of hyphee. It is, how- 

 ever, one of the simplest sexual Ascomycetes. Mr. E. M 

 Freeman (Cambridge) contributed a paper on the darnel seed 

 fungus, in which several new and important facts were brought 

 forward. H w ° 



CARLSBAD MEETING OF THE GERMAN 



ASSOCIATION OF NATURALISTS AND 



PHYSICIANS. 



THE seventy-fourth annual meeting of the Association of 

 German Naturalists and Physicians was held on September 

 21-28 at Carlsbad, after an interval of not less than forty years. At 

 the meeting, very naturally, the hot springs for which the place is 

 famous suggested a suitable subject for discussion. Geologists 

 and chemists alike concentrated their attention upon them. 

 Prof, van 't Hoff, who may be regarded as the veritable 

 creator of modern theoretical and physical chemistry, was 

 there to elucidate the subject. Prof. Meyerhofer applied the 

 latest teaching of that particular science to the springs, exciting 

 a keen interest by his masterly method of dealing with the 

 subject, more particularly when entering into the newest dis- 

 coveries with regard to the theory of osmotic pressure and of 

 ions which van 't Hoff and Arrhenius have effectively established. 

 The entire organism in biology may be shown to be a collection 

 of osmotic cells, enclosing salijie solutions, and the movement of 

 liquids in them is to a high degree, if not entirely, determined 

 by the laws of osmotic pressure. 



The Carlsbad springs have been again and again subjected to 

 osmotic analysis, and this has led to a considerably deeper 

 insight into the cause of their hygienic action than the merely 

 chemical analysis which had first been judged sufficient. Mineral 

 waters of high osmotic pressure, so it has been ascertained, 

 remain in the stomach longer than waters of low osmotic 

 pressure, and this fact enables the physician the better to judge 

 what kind of water should be selected in dealing with any 

 particular affection of the stomach. The study of the waters 

 has been carried further, and the value of certain distinct rules 

 and modified methods has been ascertained as facilitating com- 

 parison in respect of osmotic pressure between mineral springs 

 and liquids occurring in the human body. Among other results, 

 it has been shown that natural mineral waters are much more 

 efficacious than artificial imitations. Very possibly this is due 

 to the presence in the natural springs of certain chemical sub- 

 stances held in solution in such infinitesimal quantities that 

 make them escape the notice of the purely chemical analyst. 

 Such undiscovered ingredients may very well act by catalytic 

 methods and so increase the efficacy of the solution. 



That question, indeed, requires further elucidation, which is 

 likely to prove of much benefit to balneological science, to the 

 relief of suffering humanity. 



Another lecture of great interest was that delivered by Prof. 

 Suess, of Vienna, on the nature of hot springs. The 

 mineral springs which are due to infiltration from surface water 

 go by the name of " vadose " springs ; they may be either cold 

 or hot, according to their depth. It has been proved in the 

 case of more hot springs than one that they run along earth 

 crevasses formed before their own origin. Thus at Carlsbad 

 the springs have followed the preexisting metallic veins (ore- 

 lodes) which thousands of years ago found an outlet from the 

 interior to the surface. The Carlsbad springs yield yearly about 

 5-6 million kilogrammes of solid ingredients which originate in 

 the interior of the earth and contain in correspondingly small 

 quantities the same elements as the ore-lodes the course of which 

 they follow. Carlsbad is therefore manifestly a "juvenile," i.e. 

 volcanic, water. Attempts made to search for an area of infiltra- 

 tion (as for "vadose" waters) or to estimate the depth of its 

 origin from any kind of a so-called thermal scale have proved 

 absolutely futile. Nor yet can the presence of mineral ingre- 

 dients be explained by the nature of the granite through which 

 they run to the surface. The cavities which were long supposed 

 to have been formed by the continual effusion of S'SS million 



