March 23, 1905] 



NATURE 



493 



porting Gegenbaur's theory of the origin of limbs. The 

 same material is thought by Mr. Punnett to favour the 

 hypothesis of gametic purity — a view from which Prof. 

 Pearson dissents for reasons given. Dr. Beddce's cranio- 

 metric formula, lately published in L' Anthropologic, is 

 vigorously impugned by M. A. Lewenz and Prof. Karl Pear- 

 son, who produce in evidence the " auto-icon " of Jeremy 

 Bentham preserved at University College. In another 

 paper, Prof. Edmond Gain deals with variation in the flower 

 and heterostylism in Piihnonaria officinalis. Local races are 

 shown to present significant differences in the former 

 respect. The miscellanea include interesting applications 

 of a new method of determining correlation. 



The Bureau of Forestry of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture has erected an extensive plant on the grounds 

 of the St. Louis Exposition for carrying out a series of 

 experiments under the direction of Drs. von Schrenk and 

 Hatt on the value and methods of preserving timber. 

 According to the general programme, which is outlined in 

 the Press Bulletin, No. 62, the timber will be subjected 

 both to static and impact tests. Preliminary results indicate 

 that steaming reduces the strength of the timber in pro- 

 portion to the pressure and duration of the process. 



Under the title " Place-constants for Aster prenan- 

 thoides," Mr. G. H. ShuU has contributed to the Botanical 

 Gazette (November, 1904) a biometric article based upon 

 the number of bracts and florets which were counted on the 

 inflorescences of this plant as collected in a specified area 

 during the autumn of 1903. In general, the first head to 

 bloom on any stem had the highest number of parts, and 

 the last to bloom the lowest, but precocious flowering on 

 the part of the weakest individuals produced a low mean at 

 the beginning of the season, and the belated flowering ol 

 a few vigorous specimens caused a rise towards the end. 



.\ PRACTICAL and detailed comparison of the cost of 

 production of sugar on a muscovado estate and in a 

 central factory using the vacuum pan with triple effect, 

 such as that given by the Hon. R. Bromley, administrator 

 of St. Kitts, in vol. v.. No. 3, of the West Indian Bulletin, 

 should carry conviction to the planters of Barbados and 

 other islands, who, trusting to the high saccharose yield 

 of their canes, and the profit on molasses, have preferred 

 to retain their simple process of manufacture. Apart from 

 the advisability of manufacturing a product of the best 

 quality, the figures show that the profit per ton of sugar 

 prepared in a central factory is four times that obtained 

 on a muscovado estate. 



The Soci^t^ Helv^tique des Sciences naturelles cele- 

 brated, at its eighty-seventh congress at Winterthur, the 

 fiftieth jubilee of the discovery of ancient pile dwellings, 

 described by Dr. Ferdinand Keller. The report and appre- 

 ciation of the work of Keller and others is written by 

 M. F. A. Forel. The same authority lately directed 

 attention (Gazette de Lausanne, January 19) to the dis- 

 covery at Boiron, near Morges, by the Lake of Geneva, of 

 a tomb or place of burial of the Bronze Age — the age of 

 the old lake-city of Morges. Human bones, cinders and 

 burnt earth, bronze trinkets, vases and other pottery were 

 found, but of special interest was the discovery alongside 

 the calcined human bones in the burial chamber, of leg- 

 bones of a goat uninjured by fire, and evidently deposited 

 with the flesh as an offering to the shades of the departed. 

 M. Forel concludes from the evidence that a belief in the 

 resurrection of the dead was held in the Bronze Age. 

 NO. 1847, VOL. 71] 



We have received a copy of the results of the meteor- 

 ological observations made at the stations in connection 

 with the Deutsche Seewarte (Hamburg) for the year 1903. 

 The stations number sixty-nine, and include hourly read- 

 ings at four first-order observatories. The tables are ar- 

 ranged as in previous years, and leave nothing to be desired 

 either in thoroughness of discussion or in detailed ex- 

 planation of the methods employed. Mid-European time 

 was adopted in Germany in April, 1893, but the observa- 

 tions are recorded according to local time as before, with 

 the exception of the occurrences in the remarks column, 

 which are stated in Mid-European time. A table is given 

 showing the difference of these times for each of the 

 stations. 



The last published Bulletin of the Philippine Weather 

 Bureau (for August, 1904) contains, in addition to the usual 

 useful summaries of meteorological and seismological ob- 

 servations at various stations, a valuable discussion of the 

 cyclones which affected the archipelago, with a map show- 

 ing their tracks. The director of the central observatory at 

 Manila, the Rev. J. Algu6, S.J., author of the valuable 

 work, "The Cyclones of the Far East," makes a special 

 study of these interesting phenomena, and his discussion of 

 their behaviour is most instructive. During the month in 

 question five typical cyclones are dealt with. One of them 

 (August 17-21) moved at the rate of thirty miles an hour; 

 this storm was experienced by the U.S. Army transport 

 Sherman, near Formosa, and an interesting account of it 

 is given by the second officer of that vessel. 



A su.MMARY of the present state of knowledge in regard 

 to long range weather forecasts, by Prof. E. B. Garriott, 

 has been published by the Weather Bureau of Washington. 

 It is accompanied by a paper by Prof. C. M. Woodward on 

 the planetary equinoxes. Prof. Garriott finds that at the 

 present time practically no value is to be attached to 

 weather predictions based on astronomical phenomena or 

 observations of birds, animals or plants. At the same time, 

 every attention is being given to the advancement of 

 meteorologv on such a basis as may lead to substantial 

 improvements in weather forecasting. In his prefatory 

 report Mr. Willis L. Moore remarks :— " It is to be re- 

 gretted that so many newspapers not only give space to 

 these harmful predictions, but actually pay for them. Fore- 

 casts of this description may properly be classed with ad- 

 vertisements of quack medicines — they are both harmful in 

 the extreme." 



I\ the February number of the Bulletin de la Society 

 astroHomique de France, M. J. Loisel presents his annual 

 summary of the climatology of the past year. On one chart 

 he shows the rainfall, the daily temperatures, the humidity, 

 the barometric pressure, the insolation, the amount of 

 cloud, and the declination and phase of the moon. Each 

 of the atmospheric elements is then discussed in detail 

 month by month. Among other outstanding features, one 

 sees that the temperature during July, 1904, was ab- 

 normally elevated, whilst that of December was higher than 

 that obtaining during November. The figures and the 

 curve indicating the number of hours of sunshine are 

 especially interesting, and show that in each of the months 

 May, June, July and August there only occurred one day 

 when the sun was completely obscured at Juvisy, whilst 

 in July the number of hours of effective sunshine amounted 

 to 72 per cent, of the theoretical number. A comparison 

 of the solar radiation during 1903 and 1904 shows an 

 increase of about 23,134 calories, or rather more than 

 16 per cent., in the latter year. 



