3o6 



NA TURE 



[July 28, 1904 



The papers in the July number of the Journal of Anatomy 

 and Physiology (xviii., part iv.) are almost all purely 

 anatomical in character. Prof. Arthur Robinson's third 

 Hunterian lecture on the early stages in the development 

 of mammalian ova and an obituary notice of the late Prof. 

 His are the only exceptions. 



To commemorate the centenary of the birth of M. J. 

 Schleiden, botanist and naturalist, a short account of his 

 life and works has been prepared by Dr. Mobius, and is 

 published by Engelmann, of Leipzig. Endowed with a 

 controversial temperament and possessed of a ready wit, 

 .Schleiden 's life was characterised by strenuous activity, but 

 he practically sacrificed his scientific career at an early age 

 in order to plunge into political matters. He is best known 

 for his " Grundzuge der Botanik," which may be described 

 as the first scientific text-book of botany. A collection of 

 lectures entitled " Die Pflanze und ihr Leben " was even 

 more successful, as it passed through six German editions, 

 and was translated into English, French, and Dutch. 



In addition to the general botanical surveys of a county 

 or a division of a county, there is considerable scope for 

 the investigation of ecological problems on a less extensive 

 scale. In the account of the botanical survey of a pasture 

 which appears in the Naturalist (April), Mr. R. C. Gaut 

 describes the characteristic plants which were found, and 

 discusses the causes which enabled the crested dogtail grass 

 to dominate a wet field, while hard by it was replaced by 

 tussock, Yorkshire fog, or foxtail grasses. 



In the West Indian Bulletin (vol. v. part i.) Mr. 

 Buttenshaw takes up the subject of West Indian starches, 

 their origin and characters. The majority of them are 

 obtained from roots and tubers, and the order Scitaminea; 

 provides a number of plants which store up starch. The 

 writer mentions that the bread-fruit yields a starch suit- 

 able for laundry work, and that farinaceous foods can be 

 prepared from the yam-bean, Pachyrhizus tuberosus, and 

 " cho-cho " root, Sechium edule. In the same number will 

 be found a report on the fruit industry of Jamaica by Mr. 

 \\. E. Smith, and a list of the birds of St. Vincent pre- 

 pared by .Mr. A. H. Clarke. 



A THIRD report of the special chloroform committee of 

 the British Medical Association has been published (.Brit. 

 Med. Journ., July 23, p. 161). Prof. Sherrington and Miss 

 Sowton have continued the perfusion experiments on the 

 isolated mammalian heart (see N.^ture, vol. Ixviii. p. 351), 

 and find that equal quantities of chloroform dissolved irl 

 physiological saline solution, in serum, and in blood re- 

 spectively exert on the heart very diff-erent degrees of de- 

 pression, chloroform in the salt solution depressing the heart 

 much more powerfully than when administered in blood 

 m the same percentage strength. Mr. Vernon Harcourt 

 gives the results of further tests with his inhaler, and 

 ..lessrs. Byles and Harcourt and Sir Victor Horsley discuss 

 the estimation of chloroform dissolved in blood. 



We have received a copy of the twenty-sixth annual 

 repoit of the Deutsche Seewarte, for the year 1903. This 

 report marks an important epoch in the history of the 

 Seewarte, owing to the retirement of Geheimrath Dr. G. v. 

 Xeumayer, with the title of " E.xcellenz," after twenty- 

 seven years of eminent service as director of the institution. 

 Under his able guidance the Seewarte has become one of 

 ihe best organised of the European services, especially in 

 the domain of maritime meteorology and international 

 weather telegraphy. Dr. Neumayer's successor is Rear- 

 Admiral A. Herz, who has the aid of a very efticient staff 

 NO. 18 I 3, VOL. 70] 



of assistants. We observe from the report that, like the 

 work of our own Meteorological OfiRce, the useful operations 

 of the Seewarte are constantly increasing. In the depart- 

 ment of ocean meteorology, 1169 log-books of various 

 classes were received in the year 1903 against 939 in the 

 previous year, which gave the very substantial increase of 

 72,563 sets of observations in the year 1903. In the depart- 

 ment of weather telegraphy and storm signals great activity 

 has been shown in perfecting the system of yh. a.m. reports, 

 and in extending it over the whole of Europe. Experi- 

 ments have also been made with the view of improving the 

 system of signals for giving warning of storms at night, by 

 means of white and red lanterns. Space prevents us from 

 specially mentioning the work of several other departments, 

 but we have frequently had occasion to refer to the valuable 

 publications issued by them from time to time. 



In view of the arrangements in progress for continuous 

 temperature observations at the observatory on Monte 

 Rosa, Dr. Emilio Oddone contributes to the Atti dei Lincei, 

 xiii. (i), S, a short note on the values of the mean tem- 

 perature for the different months of the year, estimated for 

 the Monte Rosa station from other observations. Three 

 different methods have been adopted. The first is based 

 on observations at lower levels combined vi'ith corrections 

 based on the temperature gradient ; the second is based on 

 temperature observations made in balloon ascents, and the 

 third on 800 temperature observations made in various 

 Alpine ascents, and reduced to the altitude and latitude of 

 the Monte Rosa station. In this way materials have been 

 collected from which it will be possible to infer, in the 

 light of future observations, to what extent the mean tem- 

 perature of a mountain station can be predicted from 

 observations made elsewhere. 



We have received the " Year-book " of the Austrian 

 Central Institute for Meteorology and Terrestrial Magnetism 

 for 1902. A more valuable series of observations and care- 

 fully prepared results could not be imagined ; the volume 

 contains daily observations or results for 409 stations, in- 

 cluding Jerusalem and two other foreign places. The rain- 

 fall observations of 2560 stations are separately dealt with 

 by the hydrographic department, and the Philosophical 

 Society of Briinn has also a separate system of some 200. 

 temperature stations, while the observations for Hungary 

 are published by the Hungarian Meteorological Office. The 

 distribution, as regards altitude above sea-level, of the 40^ 

 stations contained in the " Year-book " in question is worthy 

 of note : — from 0-500 metres, 252 stations ; 500-1000 metres,. 

 Ill stations; 1000-1500 metres, 33 stations; 1500-2000 

 metres, and 2000-2500 metres, 6 stations each ; i station 

 (Sonnblick Observatory), 3100 metres. We have here all 

 the necessary materials for determining the value of observ- 

 ations on mountain stations for the purpose of weather fore- 

 casting, and for discussing other interesting questions as 

 to the effect of altitude on the behaviour of various meteor- 

 ological elements. A report of an international expert 

 conference as to the usefulness (or otherwise) of the practice 

 of gun firing for the dispersion of hail-clouds (" weather- 

 shooting ") is published separately as an appendix to this 

 volume. The director of the Austrian Meteorological 

 Service is Dr. J. M. Pernter. 



.Although many attempts have been made to prepare 

 mi.\ed anhydrides of organic acids and nitrous or nitric 

 acid, they have always hitherto been fruitless. In the June 

 number of the Gazzetta, however, L. Francesconi and 

 U. Cialdea describe the method by which they have 

 succeeded in preparing the mixed anhydrides of nitrous 

 acid and acetic, propionic, and benzoic acids. These 



