September 26, 1901] 



NA TUBE 



529 



In ihe International BtilUiin of the Academy of Sciences of 

 Cracow (1901, No. 4), Godlewski and Polzeniusz have an 

 exhaustive paper (in German) on the intramolecular respiration 

 and production of alcohol in seeds placed in water. They 

 conclude that the chemical processes which take place in the 

 respiration of plants are not uniform, but may vary in 

 diflerent circumstances. In a general w,iy they agree very 

 closely with the process of fermentation. 



An International Conference on Plant Breeding and 

 Hybridisation, to be held at New York in the autumn of 1902, 

 is announced by the Horticultural Society of New York. The 

 provisional programme includes the following papers, among 

 others : — Results of hybridisation and plant breeding in 

 Canada, by Mr. W. Saunders ; notes on plant breeding in 

 California, by Mr. E. J. Wickson ; plant breeding in New 

 Jersey, by Prof. B. D. Halsted ; hybrid plums, by Mr. F. A. 

 Waugh ; variations in hybrids not appearing in the first genera- 

 tion, but later, by Mr. E. 8. Goff; orchid hybrids,- by Mr. 

 Oakes Ames ; cytological aspects of hybrids, by Mr. W. A. 

 Cannon, Columbia University, New York City. 



The Bureau of Plant Industry of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture has been entirely reorganised. The work 

 has been divided into various groups, viz. ; — Vegetable patho- 

 logical and physiological investigations ; botanical investigations 

 and experiments ; pomological investigations ; grass and forage- 

 plant investigations ; experimental gardens and grounds ; 

 Arlington experimental farm ; Congressional seed distribution ; 

 seed and plant introduction ; tea culture experiments. Each 

 class of investigations has its own laboratory, in charge of a 

 skilled expert ; the chief of the Bureau and head physiologist 

 and pathologist is Prof. B. T. Galloway. 



The Reale Isliluto Veneto announces nine prizes for competi- 

 tion in the faculties of science, letters and arts, for which essays 

 have to be sent in at the close of the years 1901, 1902, 1903. 

 The subjects in science include the projective properties of the 

 two-dimensional algebraic surfaces of n dimensional space, the 

 geophysical and biological characters of the lakes of the Venetian 

 district excluding the Lago di Garda, and the development of 

 the respiratory apparatus of the pulmonate vertebrata. 



Ix the Physical Review for August, Mr. Martin D. Atkins 

 discusses the polarisation and internal resistance of electric cells. 

 The object of the paper, of which a further part is promised, is 

 to examine the two questions, firstly, is the change in the 

 resistance of an electrolytic cell with varying currents a real or 

 an apparent change ? and, secondly, does the Wiederburg theory 

 with its derived formulae satisfy the known conditions and the 

 characteristic curves of this change ? 



A SERIES of observations on the effects of Becquerel, 

 Rontgen and other rays on the eye are detailed by Messrs. 

 Himstedt and Nagel in the Berichte of the Freiburg Naturalists' 

 Society (1901). The fact that such action exists was pointed 

 out by Giesel. In the present investigations it is shown that 

 the effects are in many cases largely due to fluorescence of 

 neighbouring bodies, but that the rays appear to directly afi'ect 

 the rods of the retina. The authors also examined the effects of 

 Rontgen rays and those from an incandescent lamp on the 

 electromotive force set up in the eye of a frog, and the effects of 

 the two kinds of rays are very similar. 



We have received a reprint of M. Guillaume's report com- 

 municated last year to the Physical Congress on the transitory 

 deformations of solids. These variations, which differ from those 

 attributed to elasticity or plasticity, are produced either by 

 changes of temperature or by mechanical means, and M. 

 Guillaume has studied them both in glass and in nickel steel. 

 The author finds that the phenomena are governed by com- 

 NO. 1665. VOL. 64] 



paratively simple laws, and he considers that they may probably 

 be attributed to variations in Ihe chemical equilibrium of the 

 molecules. The effects of the deformations in question in con- 

 nection with the variations in thermometers render this subject 

 one of practical interest. 



The Meteorological Society of Mauritius has commenced the 

 issue of a new series of Proceedings and Transactions. Vol. i. 

 embraces the five years 1896-190D, and contains a number of 

 useful papers read before the Society — mostly drawn up by the 

 secretary, and relating chiefly to the rainfall and cyclones in the 

 South Indian Ocean. From want of funds and other causes no 

 volume of Transactions has appeared since the year iS54, and 

 it is pointed out in the preface to the present volume that 

 whatever the Society may have accomplished in the past has been 

 due, in a great measure, to the untiring energy of the late Dr. 

 Meldrum, who contributed many papers on the law of storms ; 

 two of his investigations, on the form of cyclones and an atlas 

 showing the cyclone tracks of the Southern Indian Ocean, have 

 been included among the publicatigns of the Meteorological 

 Council. The present honorary secretary of the Society is Mr. 

 T. F. Claxton. 



We have received a copy of a Report on the meteorological ob- 

 servations made at the Abbassia Observatory, Cairo, during the 

 years 1S9S and 1S99, together with the mean results derived 

 from the observations of the previous thirty years, prepared 

 under the superintendence of Captain H. G. Lyons, R.E., 

 Director-General of the Survey Department. In 1S59, the 

 Khedive ordered the reestablishment of the observatory which 

 had existed from 1845-50 at Bulaq, but had then been closed ; 

 the site was not selected until 1865, and the series of regular ob- 

 servations only commenced in 1868. The observatory is situated 

 about three miles north-north-east of Cairo, on the edge of the 

 desert. Meteorological observations have been made every 

 three hours, and magnetic observations have been taken recently, 

 as frequently as the staff available for the purpose could be 

 spared. In 1S89, Mr. J- Barois published a very complete dis- 

 cussion of the climate of Cairo, and his tables have been used in 

 the present report. All the observations have been made 

 directly by the observers, but commencing with the year 1900, 

 a complete set of self-recording apparatus has been brought into 

 operation. The volume is accompanied by twenty-two plates 

 showing the mean daily and annual variations of all elements ; 

 these greatly enhance the utility of the work, and show at a 

 glance the general results derived from the detailed tabular 

 statements, which are given in French measures. The discus- 

 sion is a very valuable contribution to meteorological science, 

 and both tables and plates are very carefully prepared and 

 plainly printed. 



The Ootober pilot chart of the North Atlantic and Mediter- 

 ranean, just issued by the Meteorological Office, shows that 

 during August and the early part of September there were scores 

 of icebergs on the Belle Isle steamer route, from the 4Sth to 

 the 56th meridian. One observer counted seventy-seven, another 

 one hundred bergs, another described them as innumerable. 

 Great numbers of them were very large, ranging up to a mile 

 long and 200 feet high. No field ice was reported, but there 

 were numerous low flat pieces of ice almost awash and dangerous 

 to navigation. Some bergs were also fallen in with in the 

 neighbourhood of the Flemish Cap, and a solitary one had wan- 

 dered away to the south-westward of the Bink of Newfoundland 

 to 43° N., 53" W. October witnesses a decided increase in the 

 frequency and the strength of the gales experienced over the 

 northern portion of the Atlantic, and in the remarks on the 

 inset cyclonic type chirt it is stated that during some part of 

 the month, usually in about the middle, very severe gales are 

 almost invariably experienced over the British Isles. Some of 



