496 
NATURE 
| Marcit 21, 1907 
Tere is a chance of uninténtional misrepresentation or 
exaggeration when reports of scientific discoveries are pre- 
sented by non-scientific writers, a notable instance having 
recently occurred in certain accounts of plant experiments 
made by Mr. L. circumstances, an 
authentic account by a competent critic was desirable, and 
such is found in the article contributed by Prof. Hugo 
de Vries in the Century Magazine for this month. While 
it has happened that owing to the neglect of European 
records, horticultural productions have been incorrectly de- 
Burbank. In these 
scribed as new in America, there is no doubt as to the 
novelty of many interesting sports collected and developed 
by Mr. 
and the scarlet Californian poppy attracted Prof. de Vries’s 
Burbank; the Bartlett plum, thornless brambles, 
notice as he was on the look-out for. possible mutations. 
But in so far as statements have been made that the prac- 
ticul results are opposed to scientific theories, such as the 
laws of Mendel, Prof. de Vries cencludes that Mr. Burbank 
has not studied these theories, being chiefly concerned with 
the practical value of his varieties. 
Mr. W. E. Cottincr, head of the department of 
economic zoology of the University of Birmingham, sends 
us particulars of a new gooseberry pest identified by him 
as a result of recent work upon the genus of mites known 
as Eriophyes, of which E. ribis (Nalepa), 
causing big 
bud” on black currants, is perhaps the most famili: 
example. Mr. Collinge has long held the opinion that 
many other fruit trees would ultimately be found to possess 
these mites. During the past week he has found a mite 
of the genus Eriophyes in a number of gooseberry cuttings 
received from Evesham. ‘The species, which appears to be 
a new one, is rather longer than E: ribis, and a full 
scription of it will be published. It is proposed to name 
the mile Eriophyes grossulariae. The purpose of the pre- 
sent communication is to direct the attention of all goose- 
berry growers to the new wood of their trees, upon which 
the buds appear to be dead or drying up. Such should be 
cut off and immediately destroyed by burning. 
de- 
Tue Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., which claims 
to be “the only preparatory school in the world that 
pessesses a fine museum and department of archeology,” 
has issued two Bulletins prepared by Mr. W. R. Moor- 
field, the curator of the Peabody Museum in connection 
with that institution. The greater part of the first is 
devoted to an account of the exploration of the Chaco 
group of Pueblos in New Mexico, from which many 
specimens of a familiar type were disinterred. More novel 
and interesting is the description of Flint Ridge, which 
in the opinion of the author ‘ furnished more material 
for aboriginal usages than did any given area in the 
United States. Arrows and knives made of its multi- 
colored chalcedony- and chert are found in western New 
York and far down the Mississippi.’’ The second 
Bulletin is a study of the ‘‘ so-called gorgets,’’ a class of 
perforated articles made of slate, so named because they 
are generally supposed to be neck ornaments. Various 
uses have been suggested for these curious objects—that 
they ornaments or decorations without religious 
significance; that they were used as beads, buckles, or 
buttons; as spindle-whorls ; 
were 
weights or for games; or, 
The authors, after a review of these 
various suggestions, conclude that they were used as neck 
ornaments with some religious significance, as ‘* bracers,”’ 
or wrist-protectors in using the bow, and for twine-twist- 
ing or netting: but the subject is far from being ex- 
hausted, and their origin and use are still obscure. On 
NOL 1951, VOL. 75] 
finally, as amulets. 
the whole, these pamphlets are a welcome indication of 
the importance of anthropological studies in the United 
States. 
Tue Transactions of the Institution of Engineers and 
Shipbuilders in Scotland (vol. |., part iv.) contains a paper 
by Mr. J. G. Johnstone on the stability of submarines. 
Accidents have happened to several navigable submarine 
vessels, and as these vessels were of the type known as 
the diving submarine, there has been much discussion 
regarding the stability of vessels of that special type. 
The author gives results of investigations into the static 
stability and the stability of motion of a special case- 
As the speed of future types is to be made greater, the 
more important becomes the necessity for such investi- 
gations, and it is urged by the author that tank experi- 
ments would be of special value. 
Tue coal-dust problem 
is discussed by Mr. James 
Ashworth in Engineering of March 15. Dust of any sort 
is a source of danger in every mine that produces fire- 
damp. ‘The records of various explosions show that the 
only certain arrestment of a coal-dust explosion occurs 
when there is an excess of dust, which smothers the flame 
through lack of air to maintain combustion, and that the 
most favourable atmosphere to encourage the spread of 
an explosion is that which contains a maximum percentage 
vapour and a normal quantity of floating coal- 
dust. is therefore limited to 
safe lighting and safe blasting. The watering of dusty 
roads, which is compulsory in Westphalia, is no deterrent 
of water 
Protection against disaster 
to wholesale devastation. 
In the Journal of the Franklin Institute (vol. clxiii., 
No. 2) there is an exhaustive article by Mr. E. S. Sperry 
on the manufacture of rolled sterling-silver. Within the 
past twenty-five years this manufacture has undergone a 
remarkable change. Instead of being confined to the 
wealthy, sterling-silver is now found in very general use, 
the reason being, not the reduction in the price of silver, 
but in the cost of manufacture due to the use of rolled 
sheet-metal. Articles which formerly were made from rods 
are now made by stamping from sheet-metal, with the 
employment of modern machinery in place of hand labour. 
The various operations employed in the production of the 
sheet-metal which is the foundation of the manufacture 
of modern sterling-silver ware are described and illustrated 
by Mr. Sperry. 
Tue Geographical Journal for March contains a valuable 
discussion of the existing observations of the heights of 
the central African lakes and mountains, by Captain T. T- 
Behrens, R.E. The surfaces of the three principal African 
lakes having been connected with each other and with 
the Indian Ocean by a complete set of trigonometrical 
operations, Captain Behrens compares the results with 
earlier determinations by hypsometer and barometer, and 
he also deals with the heights of the principal peaks, which 
have been connected trigonometrically with more or less 
accuracy. <A list of heights, based on mean sea-level at 
Mombasa, and carried to Lake Victoria by Uganda rail- 
levels, is compared with means from travellers’ 
observations, and also with obtained by Dr. 
Kohlschitter, who employs a modification of the usual 
which allows for the influence of local climatic 
factors. The results seem to indicate that the barometric 
and hypsemetric observations give closer approximations 
to the truth than is gencrally supposed. 
way 
values 
formula 
