‘Marcu 10, 1904] 
NATURE 
441 
that the operation is most successful in November and 
December, and that if delayed until January the results 
are not so serviceable, as flowering plants can then be 
obtained in the ordinary way. 
It is surmised that the anzesthetics act by causing the 
removal of the water from the protoplasm, thus drying 
it up to a certain extent and causing a suspension of its 
activity. Dr. Johannsen’s observations are summarised 
in a brochure published in French by M. Maumené, and 
entitled ‘‘ Nouvelle méthode de culture forcée des 
arbustes et des plantes soumis a l’action de 1’éther et 
du chloroforme,’’ Paris 1903. Abstracts from these 
publications have been given in various Continental 
and English horticultural journals, particularly in the 
October part of the Journal of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, which contains a paper on the subject by M. 
E. Lemoine, of Nancy, to which reference may be made 
for fuller details. 
M. O. CALLANDREAU. 
T is but a short time since one read in the Bulletin 
Astronomique the words of generous 
ciation and sympathy with which M. Callandreau 
committed to the grave the remains of his friend and 
colleague M. Prosper Henry. There was no suspicion 
then that in a very short time his own funeral oration 
would have to be spoken, or that the staff of the Paris 
Observatory was so soon to suffer another almost 
irreparable loss by the removal of another zealous 
officer equally renowned, equally devoted to the 
interests of the observatory, but adding to its reputa- 
tion in a very different direction. 
For many years attached to the service of the observ- 
atory, M. Callandreau took part in the routine observ- 
ations, more especially confining himself to the extra- 
meridional work. Small planets, comets, double 
stars, each in turn came under his notice, but though a 
skilful and painstaking observer, he will not be 
remembered for his diligence in this direction. 
Trained in a school directed by profound mathe- 
maticians, in which, perhaps, the influence of Gylden 
can be recognised, and gifted with an unusual analy- 
tical skill, he attacked nearly all the questions of 
celestial mechanics, and everywhere left traces of his 
powerful and inventive mind. His acquaintance with 
all the resources of analysis as applied to the practical 
needs of astronomy enabled him not only to improve 
the methods employed in some of the more recondite 
applications of mathematics to astronomical problems, 
but induced him to open up new paths of inquiry, which 
are likely to exercise no inconsiderable influence on 
many questions of abiding interest and prime import- 
ance. It will be sufficient here to refer to his method 
of treatment of definite integrals which occur in the 
calculations of planetary perturbation, to the consider- 
ation he gave to the troublesome question of perturb- 
ations of small planets in which the mean motion is 
nearly commensurable with that of Jupiter, to his 
occasional references to the theory of the moon, to the 
figures of the planets, to problems in geodesy, to 
show how wide an outlook he possessed over the 
necessities and the difficulties of mathematical 
astronomy. It is perhaps in some measure to be re- 
gretted that his attention wandered over a variety of 
inquiries, for if everywhere he illuminated the subject 
under discussion, greater concentration in a particular 
subject might have added to his reputation and left a 
deeper mark on the history of his time. Perhaps his 
‘“Contributions to the Theory of Cometary Capture ”’ 
comes nearest to a complete treatise, and his services 
in this department of astronomy will be long remem- 
bered. Some of his papers bear marks of being 
NO. 1793, VOL. 69 | 
appre- | 
suggested by his professorial work in connection with 
the Ecole Polytechnique, where he occupied the chair 
of astronomy. His life was a busy one, divided 
between his duties at the observatory and his pro- 
fessorial engagements, while his kindness of disposi- 
tion induced him to give willing assistance to those 
who applied to him. ‘The writer of these few lines 
gratefully acknowledges more than one kindness he 
has received at the hands of this distinguished mathe- 
matician and astronomer. 
Member of the Paris Academy of Sciences and 
honoured in his own country and among his colleagues, 
we look in vain for his name among the foreign 
associates of the Royal Astronomical Society. The 
kind of work on which he concentrated his attention 
does not appeal to a numerous class of astronomers, 
especially would it fail to collect the suffrages of 
amateurs. But those who read his numerous papers 
will admit the ability by which they are distinguished 
and the informing character of their contents. We 
extend a respectful sympathy to the institution that is 
bereft of his services, to his colleagues who lose an 
illustrious example, and to his pupils who are deprived 
of an able and encouraging teacher. Wie 1s 1s 
NOTES. 
An important step has been taken by the Colonial Office, 
in conjunction with the Imperial Institute, in giving expert 
assistance to a project of the British Cotton-Growing 
Association to start cotton growing on a large scale in 
southern Nigeria. A detailed examination is to be made of 
several promising districts in the Protectorate, in order to 
determine the suitability of the soil, climate, &c., for plant- 
ing cotton, the most important of these districts being the 
Sobo plains near the coast, where the Ethiope and Jamieson 
Rivers enter the sea. Mr. W. G. Freeman, of the scientific 
staff of the Imperial Institute, formerly of the Department 
of Agriculture of the West Indies, has just left England 
under instructions from the Colonial Office to cooperate in 
this matter with Mr. P. Hitchens, the local forestry officer 
in southern Nigeria, whose services have been placed at the 
disposal of the British Cotton-Growing Association by the 
local Government. In the event of a fayourable decision 
being arrived at, the Colonial Office intends to render every 
assistance to the British Cotton-Growing Association in 
organising the arrangements for cotton cultivation in 
southern Nigeria, which will be commenced this season, and 
on the results of these preliminary operations the extension 
of cotton cultivation in the Protectorate will depend. 
AFTER practically fifty years’ connection with the Berlin 
Observatory, Prof. Forster proposes to retire from the 
directorship, to which he succeeded on the retirement of 
Encke. The knowledge that he can survey a long period 
of activity and of successful work, and that he carries with 
him the hearty appreciation of his colleagues, will be to him 
a source of satisfaction in his well merited retirement and 
leisure. The observatory that he leaves to his successor 
and the problems that engage attention now are different 
from those that he took over from Encke. It would be 
interesting to compare the present state of the observatory 
and its instrumental equipment with the condition in which 
Prof. Férster found them when he joined the staff. In 
those ancient days the work of the observatory was to some 
extent hampered by the preparation of the national 
ephemeris, which, under the title of * Encke’s Astro- 
nomisches Jahrbuch,’’ attained such well deserved consider- 
ation. Gradually the Rechen Institut has separated itself 
more and more from the observatory, until the name of the 
