NATURE 



[January 5, 1905 



market. To a few ports this might apply, but as a general 

 rule the fish-train for Billingsgate leaves the coast towns 

 about six or seven in the evening, the fish reaching the 

 central market by van first thing in the morning. The 

 actual reasons for this preference for night-fishing are 

 many. In the case of pilchards taken in drift-nets, the 

 habits of the fish themselves furnish the e.vplanation. In 

 the case of trawlers, the reasons are diverse. In some cases 

 the water is so shallow that the nets would be seen and 

 avoided by the fish in daylight, and this, in fact, is still more 

 the case with the drift-nets. Klscwhere, they trawl at night 

 because they want soles, just as many Plymouth boats 

 trawl by day because their best market is for the rougher 

 kinds of fish. There is no night-trawling in Cornwall by 

 reason of the local regulations, which clear the sea by 

 night of other fishing craft in order that the drifters may 

 work without interruption or risk. F. G. Ailalo. 



14 Westovcr \'illas, Bournemouth, Hants. 



The Cost of Chemical Synthesis. 



In your review of Prof. Meldola's..'.' S.ypthesis of Vital 

 Products," your reviewer argues that though certain pro- 

 <lucts, viz. 'alizarin and indigo, " can be synthesised so 

 cheaply that natural products cannot compete with them in 

 the market"; yet this is of little interest from the bio- 

 chfjmical point of view. 



May I point out that this argument is even stronger than 

 it ?eems, for the cheapness is quite accidental, and due to 

 the. fact that the world requires coal gas, and iron. 



If the syntheses above were dependent on anthracene and 

 naphthalene obtained from coal treated strictly ad hoc this 

 *-heapness would disappear. R. J. Friswell. 



43-45 Great Tower Street, London, E.C., January 2. 



"Bastard" Logwood. 



The Jamaica Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture 

 for .November, 1904, prints a very interesting article on this 

 subject by B. C. Gruenberg and William Gies, contributed 

 <;riginally to the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 



During the past few j'ears the growers of logwood in 

 Jamaica have been greatly disturbed by an apparent in- 

 crease on their properties of an unmerchantable variety of 

 the plant known as " bastard " logwood ; the exportation 

 of this wood along with real logwood has served to condemn 

 all tlie logwood from the districts w-hich have shipped it. 



" Hastard " logwood differs from the genuine varieties, 

 from the dyer's standpoint, in yielding little or no hfema- 

 tbxvlin, but instead a yellowish-green pigment which is of 

 no value, and which, when mixed with the commercial 

 extract, reduces ■ the characteristic tinctorial properties. 

 Chips of the " bastard " logwood present a yellow, pale 

 pink, white, or even chocolate coloured surface, instead of 

 the dark red or deep purple bronze-tinted colour of the best 

 logwood. There appears great uncertainty, even when the 

 trees are cut down, as to whether a tree is really a 

 " bastard " tree or not. What is known as a " bastard " 

 tree is frequently dark enough when first cut to lead one to 

 believe that it is a good red-wood tree, but instead of 

 darkening with age it remains the same colour, or becomes 

 lighter rather than darker. " Bastard " wood is not the 

 result of disease or of any lack of vigour ; the trees pro- 

 ducing it are perfectly healthy and normal. 



It is not the result of soil or climatic conditions, since 

 bastard and normal trees are found growing side by side 

 under absolutely identical conditions. 



It is not the result of immaturity ; aged trees may produce 

 bastard wood. 



These facts point to heredity as the probable cause of 

 the trouble, that is, certain trees produce " bastard " 

 wood because they grow from seed of a " bastard " tree; 

 in other w^ords, " bastard " logwood is a variety of 

 Haeinatoxylin Campechianuni that normally produces little 

 or no ha^matoxylin. The chemical differences existing 

 among all these logwoods are qu.intitatively very slight. 



and there are no striking structural differences among all 

 I the varieties of logwood. 



There can be no doubt that " bastard " logwood is a 

 distinct variety or .subspecies of Haematoxylin Campechi- 

 anum, notwithstanding the slight morphological difference 

 that distinguishes it from the " red " logwood and blue 

 logwood. 



The Jamaica Bulletin has dor.e good service to the colony 

 in bringing the fact prominently before the planters that 

 the admixture of useless wood w-hich has been the source 

 of unnecessary loss to them mav be avoided. 



S. N. C. 



Intelligence of A. im^ls. 



The instance of intelligence in a cat recorded by Mr. 

 T. S. Patterson on p. 201 is not unusual. I have known 

 several cats, all of them males, that were accustomed to 

 rattle the handle or some part of the lock in order to get 

 a door opened. V. J. Allex. 



Cambridge. 



A ^E\V COXTRIBLTIOiX 



luyroRV.' 



TO .4>.Sli?/.4.V 



NO. 1836, VOL. 71] 



I N a handy little volume, to which we have much 

 ■^ pleasure in directing the attention of our readers, 

 Mr. L. \V. King, 01 the British Museum, has pub- 

 lished the cuneiform text and a translation of a very 

 important historical .Assyrian document, which has 

 been recently exhibited in the Assyrian and Babylonian 

 room in the British Museum. This document is a slab 

 of limestone, about 155 inches long and 115 inches 

 wide, which is inscribed with sixty-seven lines of 

 cuneiform text, thirty-seven lines being on the obverse 

 and thirty on the reverse. The writing is in bold, well 

 formed characters, but it seems to have been cut some- 

 what hurriedly, for the mason was obliged to make 

 nine erasures, and in two passages he has left out a 

 sign, apparently without having detected the omission. 

 We need not discuss the palajographical importance 

 of the text, which is of considerable interest, and it is 

 only necessary to state that it exhibits the style of 

 Assyrian characters employed in monumental inscrip- 

 tions in the early part ol the thirteenth century before 

 Christ. 



The contents of the text, which is actually the official 

 summary of the principal events in the reign of Tuliulti- 

 Xinib I., King of .Assyria about B.C. 1275, fall readily 

 into four divisions, which respectively record the king's 

 name and titles, his military expeditions, the found- 

 ation of the city Kar Tukulti-Ninib, and an appeal to 

 future rulers. The stone tablet or slab which supplies 

 this information was either placed in a niche in the 

 wall or laid in a box of stone or clay, and then built 

 up in the foundation of the city Kar Tukulti-Ninib. In 

 passing, Mr. King discusses briefly but clearly the 

 question of foundation deposits, both in Egypt and 

 .Assyria, and shows how the ideas concerning them 

 in the two countries agree in some respects and difTer 

 in others. 



Turning now to the campaigns of Ttikulti-Ninib I., 

 we find that in the first he conquered the Kuti and the 

 inhabitants of four other districts; in the second he 

 became master of the land of Shubari, and ten other 

 provinces; in the third he vanquished forty kings of 

 the land of Na'iri; and in the fourth he defeated 

 Bibcashu, King of Babylon, and completely subjugated 

 the regions of Sumer and .\ccad. The last campaign 

 was undoubtedly the most important of all, for with 



1 "Records of the Reicn of Tukulli-Ninib I., King of .Assyria, abo"' 

 n.c. I275." ByL W. Kme, M.A., F.S.A. Pp. xvi + 185, and 11 illust.a 

 tions. (London: Luzac .ind Co., 1904.) Price 6.c. net. 



