|a.\lakv 23, 1919] 



NATURE 



411 



ill from the original garden in Paris. About 

 80 acres would be devoted to collections oi fruit-trees 

 .mil 250 acres to flowers and cultivation under glass. 

 In addition, some 80 acres would be sit apart for tin 

 installation of laboratories and for providing land for 

 lerimental purposes. The site suggested would 

 appeal to b< an ideal one, as the soil is fertile, and the 

 land belongs to the State and offers almost unlimited 

 facilities foi expansion. Moreover, there are alread\ 

 at the hi. moii considerable collections of trees,dating 

 from the tini. ,,l Michaux. It might lie added thai 

 the Trianon is sacred ground for the botanist, for 



there originated the natural system of classification of 

 Bernard de Jussieu, which was developed in his 

 nephew, \ntoine Laurent de Jussieu, and afterwards 

 furth d in Augustin Pyrame De Candolle. 



The system had its birth in the arrangement adopted 

 by Bernard de Jussieu in the Royal Garden at the 

 Trianon. The new project is being actively supported 

 bj the powerful French Touring Club. 



Prof. II. II. Dixon (Scientific Proceedings of the 

 Royal Dublin Society, vol. xv., p. 431) describes the 

 microscopic characters of forty-five different kinds of 

 timbers which have been classed under the name 

 "mahogany." The name was originally applied to the 

 limber derived from Swietenia mahagoni (Cuban, St. 

 Domingo, and Spanish mahogany), a West Indian 

 species, and from S. macrophylla (Honduras, Tabasco, 

 and Colombian mahogany), a native of Central 

 America, but it is doubtful if any of the timbers now 

 on the market come from these sources, and certainly 

 most of them do not. C. D. Mell has recently listed 

 sixty-seven species of trees as supplying timbers the 

 characteristics of which sufficiently coincide with the 

 popular idea of mahogany to be marketed as that 

 wood (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Hull. 474, February, 

 I, and this list might be added to from our present 

 knowledge. The mahoganies come from all parts of 

 the tropics, and belong to very different families 

 besides the Meliaceae, to which Swietenia belongs. 



Prof. Dixon examines in detail the characters of these 



various timbers, and suggests a definition of mahogany 

 lo include all red or red-brown timbers in which the 

 fibres of the adjacent layers cross each other obliquely, 

 giving rise to a play of light and shade on longitudinal 

 surface,, known a- 'roe," thus greatly emphasising 

 ami enhancing the figure. In addition, a mahogany 

 should have scattered wood-vessels, isolated or in 

 small, mostlv radial,, groups ; the parenchyma round 

 the vessels should be narrow and inconspicuous, while 

 the medullary rays are, on the average, well under 

 j mm. in height, and not more than nine cells thick. 

 In otlur respects the woods classed as mahoganies 

 have very various properties; for instance, with regard 

 io density, hardness, presence or absence of year- 

 rings, pore-rings, size and contents of vessels, distribu- 

 tion of parenchyma, etc. Prof. Dixon gives a detailed 

 description of the microscopic characters, and also 

 1 )8 photomicrographic reproductions with a uniform 

 magnification of ; 1 diameters. 



Thf. columbines (Aquilegia) of North America form 

 a ver\ interesting group of some twenty-four species, 

 which is described in detail, with good illustrations, in 

 Contributions from the United States National 

 Herbarium (vol. xx., part iv., 10 18) by Mr. E. B. 

 Pay son. It is in the floral characters that the more 

 interesting features are to be found, and the author 

 draws a phvlogenetir chart based on the length of the 

 spurs and the character of the sepals and petals, which 

 is instructive. The flowers in sixteen of the species are 

 nodding with spurs less than 1-5 cm. long, while tin 

 remaining speci' s have erect How 11s with spurs rang- 

 ing from 3-5 cm. long to those of Aquilegia longtssima, 



■SO. 2569, VOL. 102] 



ihich are from 



„ cm. long. Ibis species is 

 probably the most highlj developed in the genus, and 

 is found in South Texas and Mexico. It is of interest 

 to notice that when grown in east,,,, \orlh America 

 this species will not set seed unless artificially pol- 

 linated, which points to the length of spur being cor- 

 related with some insect in its native habitat which 

 does not occur in other pan, of North America. The 

 author describes three new species and two new sub- 

 spi 1 II s. 



ALTHOUGH fungi, both fresh and dried, are largely 

 used in Italian cookery, it would appear that much 

 still remains to be done 1 ven in Italy in utilising thi m 

 for food. The " Federazione Pro Montibus," of which 

 the headquarters are ai 113 Via del Seminario, Rente, 

 publishes a pamphlet of twenty pages by Dr. Giulio 

 Trinchieri containing practical instructions for collect- 

 ing and preserving edible fungi. It is accompanied 

 by illustrations of eight species. Of methods of pre- 

 servation, drying is the most important, and might 

 with advantage be practised more extensively over 

 here even if only applied to the mushroom of com- 

 merce, which olten goes to waste for lack of this 

 simple expedient. The use of salt, vinegar, alum, and 

 methods of sterilisation are also mentioned in the 

 present pamphlet, which contains in addition a biblio- 

 graphy of some of the principal Italian books on the 

 subject. 



Brazil, among other countries, has suffered severely 

 owing to the restriction of exports of coal and other 

 fuel by Great Britain. On the other hand, this 

 embargo has had the effect of directing attention to 

 the vast fuel resources available in that State. Already 

 working operations are in hand in some regions, and, 

 according to the U.S. Commerce Reports, No. 276, 

 various mining companies are being subsidised by the 

 Brazilian Government to stimulate production, and the 

 home-produced supply will be favoured by the authori- 

 ties whenever possible in the future. Quite high-grade 

 briquettes are being made from coal which has been 

 "purified" by washing and crushing to reduce the 

 ash-content. As regards fuel-oil, the Parahyba shale 

 is reported to be richer than that of Scotland, the 

 former producing 165 litres of crude oil per ton 

 (165 per cent, oil-content), while the latter produces 

 100 litres (10 per cent, oil-content). Portions of the 

 shale suitable for distillation have already been found 

 at a number of points. Various companies have been 

 formed, and authorities have reported favourably on 

 the fuel for motor-vehicle and boat driving. Re- 

 afforestation schemes are also proposed for over- 

 coming the fuel shortage, experiments having shown 

 that eucalyptus trees can be successfully grown in 

 Brazil so as to yield wood at the end of five vears at 

 a cost of about 35. per cubic metre. 



In papers read before the American Society for 

 Testing Materials recently, Dr. Henry M. Howe and 

 Mr. A. D. Little discussed some aspects of the 

 organisation of industrial research. Dr. Howe 

 divided the four phases of research into selection, 

 planning, execution, and interpretation. In order that 

 all these conditions may be satisfied, there should be 

 a wider appreciation of the exact functions that a 

 research should fulfil and greater co-operation amongst 

 the scientific and technical men and bodies concerned. 

 For the selection of a research, prophecy and breadth 

 of view are essential; planning requires imagination 

 and administration; execution, skill and trustworthi- 

 ness ; and interpretation, a philosophical mind. After 

 enumerating the aims of research organisation, Mr. 

 Little admitted that industry must look to the higher 

 institutions of learning for the determination of funda- 



