April 2, 1903J 



NA TURE 



521 



latter more or less completely coalesced. We have thus 

 further evidence of the derivation of mammals, firstly 

 through forms allied to the American pelycosaurians, and 

 then through the Old World theriodonts, from the primitive 

 rhynchocephalian type. 



Mr. F. Finn has sent us a copy of a paper on variation 

 in birds, reprinted from the Journal of the Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal. Among the abnormalities is a five-toed quail ; 

 while colour-variations are well illustrated by a plate show- 

 ing three different phases in the pintail snipe. As regards 

 variation under domestication, the author believes this to 

 be due to conditions favouring the preservation of abnormal 

 individuals rather than to an inherent tendency to vary. 

 Neither, he believes, is climate directly conducive to varia- 

 tion. The coarse and heavy body form noticeable in so 

 many domesticated birds, especially waterfowl, appears to 

 be due to the aggregate result of small tendencies in this 

 direction, which, in the wild state, would have been soon 

 eliminated. Possibly the ultra development of fleshy struc- 

 tures, such as combs and wattles, among many domesticated 

 birds is due to this tendency towards a coarse and heavy 

 habit. 



The investigations of Prof. Vines upon the nature of 

 ferments in plants which act upon proteids — on which sub- 

 ject a second paper appears in the Annals of Botany — 

 suggest that these are of two kinds. The ferment found 

 in seeds and fruits, notably pineapples and figs, or other 

 storage organs, can break down the more complex proteids, 

 but the digestive substance detected in many leaves, stems 

 and roots can only act upon simpler proteid bodies ; this 

 may correspond to the ferment termed erepsin, which has 

 been discovered in the small intestine of animals. 



Information from the neighbourhood of Newfoundland 

 and Nova Scotia indicates that this is likely to be a great 

 ice season. Before the end of February vessels were already 

 being seriously delayed by extensive ice-fields and floes, and 

 scores of large bergs. In some cases it has been necessary 

 to steam southward for many hours to get clear of the 

 danger. The bergs are met with well to the eastward of 

 the Newfoundland bank, and it will not be surprising if 

 they drift as far as the 40th meridian, or even to 35 W, 

 judging by the welling-up, thus far to the eastward, of the 

 very cold water of an under current which probably comes 

 from the ice region. Round 50 N., 35 W., in December 

 and January last, such exceptionally low sea temperatures 

 as 32 to 40° were observed. 



Dust storms and ice are amongst the interesting features 

 of the Meteorological Office pilot chart for the month of 

 April. It is now a comparatively easy matter to explain 

 the fall of dust which was so generally observed over the 

 south of England and in many Continental countries, from 

 the Bay of Biscay to Austria, on February 22-23 ' asc - The 

 meteorological logs from various ships show that since 

 the middle of December immense quantities of sand have 

 been borne by the African harmattan wind over the Gulf of 

 Guinea and out on the Atlantic to about 30 W. longitude. 

 At first the phenomenon was limited to the tropical region, 

 but in February, when we had such a remarkably persistent 

 southerly to south-westerly wind in the British Isles, the 

 north-east trade was displaced by a south-easterly to south- 

 westerly breeze, at least down to the latitude of 13 N. 

 The dust was therefore carried northward by this current, 

 and there are a number of records of falls in various lati- 

 tudes. On February 21, the day before the fall in Europe, 

 a fine, light reddish dust was deposited on a ship in 40 N., 

 -3?° W*i the dust coming up from south-south-west or 

 Nr>. 1744. VOL. 67] 



south-west. There seems to be sufficient evidence available 

 to negative the theory that the dust falls had their origin 

 in the West Indian volcanic outbursts of last year. 



Messrs. Charles Griffin and Co., Ltd., have reissued 

 at 6s. net the third edition of " A Short Manual of Inorganic- 

 Chemistry," by Dr. A. Dupre, F.R.S., and Dr. H. W. 

 Hake. 



An eighteenth edition of Trautwine's " Civil Engineer's 

 Pocket-Book " has been published by Messrs. John Wiley 

 and Sons in New York, and Messrs. Chapman and Hall in 

 this country. The new edition is larger by about 100 pages 

 than its recent predecessors. Numerous new articles have 

 been introduced, and about twenty others have been re- 

 written. It is thirty years since the first edition of the 

 pocket-book appeared, and in its new form it should have 

 another long lease of life. 



The second part of the second German edition of Prof. 

 J. H. van 't Hoff's " Vorlesungen iiber theoretische und 

 physikalische Chemie " has been published by Messrs. F. 

 Vieweg and Son, Brunswick. It will be remembered that 

 the work is based upon lectures delivered in the University 

 of Berlin, and contains a clear and concise statement of the 

 principles of physical chemistry. The first part deals with 

 chemical dynamics, and the part before us is concerned with 

 chemical statics. The price of this part is four marks. 



The Berichte for March 7 contains a very striking- paper 

 by Messrs. Bamberger and Seligman on the tertiary nitroso- 

 paraffins. The theee compounds described are blue when in 

 a monomolecular state, but, like nitrogen peroxide, readily 

 polymerise to colourless bimolecular compounds. Thus the 

 blue ethereal solutions deposit colourless crystals, and the 

 evaporation of the last trace of ether is accompanied by an 

 abrupt bleaching of the whole mass. The change is, how- 

 ever, by no means instantaneous, and a solution of the white 

 polymer onlv gradually develops the normal blue tint. By 

 determining at intervals of a few minutes the freezing point 

 of a freshly-prepared solution in benzene, the gradual course 

 of the depolymerisation was followed, and it was found that 

 the decrease cf molecular weight, which continued during 

 four hours, exactly corresponded with the development of 

 the blue colour. Depolymerisation takes place most rapidly 

 when the compounds are dissolved in chloroform or benzene, 

 and least rapidly when oxygenated solvents such as ethyl 

 acetate or acetic acid are used. Aqueous solutions become 

 blue very slowly, and even on heating to the boiling point 

 the development of colour is not instantaneous. These re- 

 sults are directly contrary to what has previously been 

 observed with reference to the influence of solvents on the 

 velocity of chemical change, and further investigations 

 should yield important results. The contrast with nitrogen 

 peroxide is further illustrated by the fact that the white 

 and blue compounds differ not only in solubility, but also in 

 smell, the white form being odourless, whilst the blue form 

 has a sharp, pungent smell. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include two Chanting Hawks (Melierax 

 musicus) from South Africa, presented by Mr. A. W. 

 Guthrie ; a Nonpareil Finch (Cyanospisa ciris), an Indigo 

 Bird (Cyanospiza cyanea) from North America, presented by 

 Miss Anne Ricardo ; a Broad-fronted Crocodile (Osteoloemus 

 tetraspis) from Nigeria, presented by Mr. C. V. Fox; a 

 Hagenbeck's Mangabey (Cercocebus hagenbecki) from the 

 Upper Congo, a Black-handed Spider-Monkey (Ateles 

 geoffroyi) from Central America, deposited ; eight Mandarin 

 Ducks (.Ex galericulata) from China, received in exchange. 



