NA TOR LE 
257 
| JANuARY 14, 1904] 
From the Gesellschaft fiir drahtlose Telegraphie we have 
received reprints of papers from the Elektrotechnische Zeit- 
schrift dealing with a new detector for wireless telegraphy 
and a new measurer for electric waves. The detector, which 
is described by Mr. W. Schloemilch, depends on the property 
that when electric waves fall on a polarised electrolytic cell 
placed in circuit with a source of current of slightly higher 
E.M.F., the current in the circuit is increased either owing 
to a decrease of the resistance due to polarisation or from 
some other cause. The name ‘‘ System Telefunken ’’ has 
been given to this new method of wireless telegraphy. 
In Science for December 18, 1903, Dr. G. F. Kunz and 
Prof. C. Baskerville describe a series of observations made 
on the conduct of the gems and gem material of the Tiffany 
Morgan collection, and on several other collections of 
diamonds, under the influence of radium, Rontgen rays, and 
ultra-violet light. The fluorescence and phosphorescence 
were tested for more than 13,000 verified minerals. Seeing 
that three different kinds of radiation are considered, and 
that a mineral may respond or fail to respond to any one 
of them, the ‘‘ number of ways’”’ (to quote the familiar 
question on permutations) is eight, and the authors propose 
a tentative classification of minerals based on these eight 
ways. It is further pointed out that we have here a series 
of discriminating tests which may be readily applied to 
various minerals with the use of comparatively simple 
apparatus. 
On March 16, 1882, the late Prof. Adolfo Bartoli com- 
municated a sealed packet to the Accademia dei Lincei, of 
Rome. This packet was opened at the meeting of the 
mathematical and physical section on February 1 of last 
year, and found to contain a paper on the transformation 
into electric currents of the radiations falling on a reflect- 
ing surface in motion. In this paper, which is published 
in the Atti dei Lincei, xii., 9, the author discusses a method, 
previously described, of conveying radiation from a cold 
body to a hot one by means of deformable reflectors, and 
among the various kinds of forces necessary to reconcile 
this result with thermodynamics, the author suggests 
pressure due to radiation, and the production of tangential 
currents when a reflecting surface is rotating rapidly in 
sunshine. It is interesting to note that the first explan- 
ation, which is now well established, led in Bartoli’s time 
to no conclusive results, while his experiments clearly in- 
dicated the existence of the currents required for the second 
explanation. 
A uist of the flora of the Valle Anzasca (Macugnaga), on 
the Italian side of Monte Rosa, is given by M. Francesco 
Ardissone in the Lombardy WRendiconti. The valley in 
question, which is rarely if ever explicitly mentioned in 
botanical works, is remarkable for its large representation 
of the order Crassulacez, and in addition the author de- 
scribes a new species of Androsace under the name 
A. heterophylla. 
In the Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History 
Prof. Jeffrey has published the first of a series of memoirs 
which will be devoted to the comparative anatomy and 
phylogeny of the Conifer. The genus Sequoia forms the 
subject of this paper, and considerable importance is 
attached to the distribution of the resin ducts. A similar 
distribution is found to occur in species of the’ genus Abies, 
whence Prof. Jeffrey is led to postulate the derivation of 
the living Sequoias from an abietineous stock. 
THE experiment of fixing a seed to the side of a dish 
containing mercury so that the root of the seedling may 
NO. 1785, VOL. 69] 
force its way downwards into the mercury is a common 
one. It is not generally known that with certain seeds the 
| penetration of the roots into the mercury may be effected 
without any fixation beyond the film of water which must 
be placed on the mercury to keep the root moist. In the 
Preceedings of the Amsterdam Royal Academy of Science 
Mr. P. van Harreveld discusses the controversies which 
have arisen out of this experiment, originally performed by 
Pinot in 1829. In a paper from the same source Dr. and 
Mrs. Th. Weevers bring forward evidence to show that 
alkaloids are formed synthetically in the young parts of 
such plants as tea, coffee, and cacao, and that in older 
parts they are wanting ; the conclusion is that they are used 
up in metabolism. 
Havine regard to the present and future condition of the 
cotton industry in this country, very great interest attaches 
to the results of the trials which are being made to in- 
troduce the cultivation of cotton into our colonies. For 
the benefit of those disposed to take up cotton growing in 
the West Indies, the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture 
has brought together in the last number of the West Indian 
Bulletin a series of articles dealing with the cultivation, 
chemistry and diseases of cotton. A point of primary im- 
portance is the careful selection of seed, for not only has 
the Sea Island cotton been improved by judicious selection, 
but the Rivers variety, which is resistant to the wilt disease, 
was obtained in the same way. Experimental plots were 
only started in St. Kitts, Antigua, Montserrat, and 
Barbados last year, so that it is too early as yet to obtain 
trustworthy data. 
Carrain Stantry FLower has favoured us with a copy 
of the second edition of the ‘‘ Guidebook ”’ to the Zoological 
Gardens under his care at Giza, near Cairo. A _ brief 
account of many of the more interesting species in the collec- 
tion is given. It is satisfactory to learn that the three 
specimens of the shoe-billed stork are still thriving. 
Tue January number of the Monthly 
Magazine contains several items of special interest. In 
one note Prof. T. H. Beare records the occurrence in two 
localities of a foreign beetle (Ptinus teetus) recently intro- 
duced into this country. The native home of this beetle 
is apparently Tasmania, but one of the introduced colonies 
came from the Levant. In another communication Mr. 
N. H. Joy records a Russian beetle, Euconnus maeklini, as 
Mr. W. E. Clarke, in recording several kinds of 
Entomolo gists’ 
British. 
insects—chiefly moths—observed at the Eddystone Light- 
house, touches a practically new subject, namely, the 
wanderings and migrations of insects. 
Mr. P. W. Stuart-MENTEATH has sent us a pamphlet on 
‘« Pyrenean Geology, part i., the Alpine Paradoxes ”’ (Dulau 
and Co., 1903, price 1s.). This is a controversial essay on 
the structure of the Alps and Pyrenees, and on errors in the 
geological maps of those regions. 
Tur Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society for 
December, 1903, contains the usual summary of current re- 
searches relating to zoology and botany (principally Inverte- 
brata and Cryptogamia), microscopy, Xc., and in addition 
there is part xv. of Mr. F. W. Millett’s report on the recent 
Foraminifera of the Malay Archipelago. 
Tue fossil echinoids of Japan have been described by Mr. 
S. Tokunaga (formerly Yoshiwara), the species being illus- 
trated by four plates (Journ. Coll. Science, Tokyo, vol. 
xvii., art. 12, 1903). No echinoids have been found in the 
Paleozoic strata of Japan; the Mesozoic strata have yielded 
Pygurus, Toxaster, Cidaris, Pseudocidaris and Hemici- 
