NOVEMBER 15, 1906| INS IROG SG 5) 63 
that root-suckers play an important part in the regeneration | especially applies to the statistics relating to defective 
of some Indian trees, and the author instances the produc- | relatives and to the consanguinity of the parents. The 
tion of practically pure woods of Diospyros tomentosa and 
Ougenia dalbergioides by this means, so that the subject 
is worthy of careful inquiry and observation. 
Tue September number of the Quarterly Journal issued 
from the Liverpool University Institute of Commercial 
Research in the Tropics deals mainly with agriculture on | 
the west coast of Africa. Viscount Mountmorres writes 
a eulogistic article on the results achieved by the Gold 
Coast Department of Agriculture, comparing the gardens 
at Aburi very favourably with the gardens at Konakry, in 
French Guinea. Rubber and cacao are the primary pro- 
ducts at Aburi, and the instruction of the natives in their 
cultivation and preparation is an important branch of the 
work. An account of the agricultural resources of the 
Ivory Coast, contributed by Mr. E. Castaing, provides 
interesting information as to the commercial varieties of 
the indigenous rubbers, the nature and uses of kola nuts, 
and the native method of preparing palm-oil. 
AN account of the red-rot disease of sugar-cane caused 
by the fungus Colletotrichum falcatum occupies a con- 
siderable portion of the third memoir of the Department 
of Agriculture in India, which deals with fungus diseases 
of sugar-cane. The author, Dr. E. J. Butler, adduces 
evidence to show that the disease generally originates in 
the lower part of the plant, producing eventually character- 
istic red streaks in the vascular tissues. Amongst other 
fungal pests, Dr. Butler describes two stem diseases 
attributed to new species of Cystospora and Sphzronema, 
and a more serious leaf-spot disease caused by a species 
of Cercospora also differing from species hitherto re- 
corded. 
Tue Department of Commerce and Labour, Washington, 
has issued a report on the blind and deaf (including the 
deaf and dumb) in the United States, the data having been 
collected in connection with the twelfth census (1900). 
At the census itself, however, the work of the enumerators 
was restricted to a brief preliminary return showing the 
name, sex, age, post-office address, and nature of the 
existing defects in all persons alleged to be blind or deaf. 
More detailed information was then obtained by direct 
correspondence with the individuals named in the primary 
returns, or with their parents or guardians, questions 
being asked as to the total or partial character of the 
defect, the age at which the defect, if not congenital, was 
first remarked, the supposed cause, the relationship, 
if any, between the parents, the relatives who were 
similarly defective, and the school, if any, at which the 
defective person had attended. It is from the data con- 
tained in these personal returns that the report is com- 
piled. Dr. Alexander Graham Bell is responsible for the 
scope and conduct of the investigation, and the text of the 
report relating to the deaf. It may be noted that of the 
blind whose parents were cousins 25 per cent. were con- 
genitally blind, whilst of the blind whose parents were 
not so related only 7 per cent. were congenitally blind. 
Similarly, of the deaf whose parents were cousins 42 per 
cent. were congenitally deaf, whilst of the deaf whose 
parents were not so related only 15 per cent. were con- 
genitally deaf. The report is a valuable one, with much 
more, and more trustworthy, information than has yet been 
obtained in any similar investigation, but it suffers from 
a common defect, viz. the lack of comparative information 
of a similar kind relating to the non-defective, which is 
essential to a proper interpretation of the results; this 
NOWOZ 3, VOL. 751 
need is only partially met by the comparative figures for 
congenital and non-congenital defectives. 
A note by Signor Alessandro Artom on his system of 
wireless telegraphy, first invented in 1903, is contributed 
to the Atti of the Lincei Academy, xv. (1), 12. The 
peculiarity of this system is that by the use of two aérial 
conductors instead of a single antenna an unsymmetric 
electromagnetic field is produced, and it is thus possible 
to send messages in definite directions. Experiments have 
been made with the cooperation of the Italian naval 
authorities, chiefly between Monte Mario (Rome), Anzio 
(distant 55 km.), and the island of Maddalena. By vary- 
ing the orientation of the aérials, communication could 
be established or cut off at will. 
Tue new ‘‘ Dolomiten Strasse’’ brings many of the 
most interesting portions of the Dolomite region within 
easy access. Leaving Cortina, it rises rapidly over the 
Col di Falzarego, passing shoulder of Monte 
Nuvolau, and affording a fine distant view of the Marmo- 
lata ice fields. It then descends rapidly to Pieve Livin- 
allonga, where it skirts the hill-side at a considerable 
height above the valley, and it next rises by zigzags to 
the top of the Pordoi Pass, passing close by some of the 
most interesting members of the Sella group. From here 
it descends to Campitello, whence Botzen may be reached 
vid the Karersee. The new road is completed with the 
exception of the portion from the Col di Falzerego to 
where the old road is available for vehicular 
over a 
Cortina, 
traffic. 
A ‘“NaturE-KNOWLEDGE D1ary,’’ compiled by Mr. W. 
Percival Westell, has been published by Messrs. Blackie 
and Son, Ltd. Provision is made for plotting the daily 
barometer readings on a suitably numbered squared paper 
chart, but it does not seem to have occurred to the com- 
piler that thermometer readings are also worth plotting, 
and that the same charts can be used for this purpose. 
The general arrangement of the blank forms for record- 
ing observations, of which the diary is almost entirely 
made up, is likely to prove convenient. The price of the 
book is 6d. net. 
Tue eighth edition of Prof. R. Hertwig’s “ Lehrbuch der 
Zoologie ’? has just been published by Mr. Gustav Fischer, 
Jena. The work originally appeared fifteen years ago, and 
in Nature of June 22, 1893 (vol. xIviii., 
was reviewed 
p- 173)- 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 
Discovery oF A New Comet.—A telegram from the Kiel 
Centralstelle announces the discovery of a new comet at 
Copenhagen on November 10. Its position at 17h. 3:5m. 
(Copenhagen M.T.) was 
R.A.=oh. 16m. 3-2s., dec.=12° 28’ 31” N., 
and it is travelling in a north-easterly direction. The daily 
movement is given as +4-2m. in R.A. and +1° 10’ in 
declination. When discovered, the comet was about 8m. 
west of « Leonis, and is therefore travelling towards the 
constellation Leo. Its position rises, at present, at about 
II p.m. 
A second telegram from the Centralstelle informs us that 
this object was observed by Herr Rheden at Vienna on 
November 11, its position at 16h. 7-5m. (Vienna M.T.) 
being 
R.A.=ogh. 20m. gs., dec.=+13° 35’ 25”. 
Unfortunately no idea of the comet’s brightness is 
in these telegrams. 
given 
