FEBRUARY 25, 1897 | 
NATURE 
399. 
spinning of England is finer than that of the United States, and 
the average of the latter varies greatly with geographical location, 
the finer spinning being done almost wholly in New England. 
The attention of the Weather Bureau having been called to the 
importance of the subject and to the probable extension of the 
manufacture of cotton over a much wider area than it has yet 
occupied, a comparison was instituted with a view of ascertain- 
ing how the natural humidity of certain portions of the United 
States, particularly the South, where the extension of the art is 
most pronounced, compares with that of the southern shore of 
New England. It is with the results of the investigation made 
in this connection that the Bz//e/772 deals, and we have no doubt 
that the observations and conclusions from them will be used to 
advance cotton manufacture in the United States. The idea 
that the tendency to concentrate the cotton manufacturing 
industry in Lancashire was originally due to the advantage of 
climatic conditions, is, of course, not entertained. Indeed, it 
appears from the report that thus far in the development of the 
cotton manufacturing industry too little account has been taken of 
climatic conditions as affecting the quantity or quality of the 
output. For the benefit of enterprising cotton manufacturers 
the suggestion is made that the control of both temperature and 
humidity by artificial means seems to be the final solution of the 
problem in all cases where the establishment of mills in a 
relatively dry district is contemplated. 
WE are pleased to notice a marked improvement in the first 
number of the new volume of the Azz7sta Sccentifico Industriale, 
published in Florence. The editor and founder, Dr. Guido 
Vimercati, has now the co-operation of Dr. Carlo del Lungo. 
The most noteworthy feature of the present number isa com- 
plete bibliography of all Italian works relating to Réntgen rays 
published in 1896. It is the intention of the editors to deal 
with other branches of physics in the same manner in subsequent 
issues. The number is accompanied by excellent stereoscopic 
figures of an optical bench for interference experiments, 
illustrating a paper by Prof. G. Grattarola. 
Dr. G. TOLOME!, writing in the same journal, describes an in- 
teresting series of experiments on the presence of argon in plants. 
The author inferred the absence of argon in fully-developed veget- 
abletissues. Experiments were also made with thenodule-forming 
Leguminose, and with their nitrifying bacteria, and the results 
were the opposite of that just cited. In the case of nitrogen 
obtained from the growing roots of a young pea, argon was 
obtained from the tissues, but in smaller quantities than from 
the culture of bacteria; and hence the author maintains that 
the argon fixed «by the bacteria does not enter into chemical 
combination, on the ground that if it did so, it would, if once 
absorbed, remain in the plant instead of disappearing in the 
older tissues. 
Pror. W. SOMERVILLE has carried out a series of com- 
parative experiments to test the value of the pure cultures of the 
various varieties of bacteria that inhabit the roots of our more 
important Papilionaceous plants, now sold under the name of 
“*nitragen.’’ The investigation was described before the 
Botanical Society of Edinburgh on January 14. Experiments 
were made with peas, broad beans, lucerne, and broad red 
clover. Only in the case of the peas did the application of 
nitragen result in an increase in the yield, and even then the 
variations in the weights of produce were too small to make 
it possible to say definitely that the inoculating substance affected 
growth either one way oranother. The experiments were carried 
out in a garden attached to the Durham College of Science, 
in which it may be assumed that peas and beans have frequently 
been cultivated during recent years. As the soil was thus well 
supplied with the bacteria that associate with the roots of these 
NO. 1426, VOL. 55] 
plants, Prof. Somerville agrees that it is not surprising that the 
application of a pure culture of these bacteria should have been 
inoperative. But as regards red clover and lucerne, neither of 
these plants has ever been cultivated in the garden, and the 
probability is that not a single plant of lucerne ever grew in the 
garden, or, indeed, in any fields in the neighbourhood. The 
conditions, therefore, were to be regarded as distinctly favour- 
able for exhibiting the action of the specific bacteria of these 
plants, and yet they failed to produce any effect. Apparently 
some improvements are required in the methods of manufacture 
or application in order to make nitragen of service in agriculture 
and horticulture. 
THE influence of intellectual work on the blood-pressure in 
man is the subject of a paper, by MM. A. Binet and N. 
Vaschide, in the January number of the Psychological Review. 
The instrument used by the authors was Mosso’s Sphygmomano- 
meter, which has the advantage of indicating the results by 
tracings. The method of experimentation consisted in taking the 
pulse under increasing pressure from 0 to 140 mm, of mercury : 
this test was made at first while the subject was in a state of rest, 
without excitement or preoccupation of any kind ; then the same 
experiment was repeated while the subject was absorbed ina 
difficult mental calculation. Two tracings were thus obtained 
for comparison, and the differences between them could be 
attributed to the intellectual labour, unless some chance cir- 
*cumstance—as an emotion, a shiver, &c.—prevented the two 
experiments from being strictly comparable. From the results 
obtained, it appears that the maximum amplitude of the pulsa- 
tion tracings was greater during rest than during intellectual 
work ; it was 5 mm. in the former case, and only 3°5 mm. in 
the latter. During all the mental calculations, there was evi- 
dently a diminution of the pulse, as the result of a more or less 
marked vascular constriction. In both states, the maximum 
amplitude of the pulse appears to have been reached when the 
blood-pressure was 80 mm. Beyond this pressure, the ampli- 
tude decreased more rapidly during the state of rest than during 
mental activity, and a pressure of from 100 to 120 mm. was 
found to completely suppress the pulsation both in a state of 
repose and in a state of intellectual labour. To determine the 
difference between the circulation in a state of intellectual labour 
and that of rest, a counter-pressure of 110 mm. was chosen. A 
register of the pulse with this pressure was made for about half 
a minute, and then the subject was told to commence a mental 
calculation. The first three or four pulsations after he was told 
to begin were of the same character as the preceding ones, but 
afterwards the pulsations became twice and, often, three times as 
great. This increase in amplitude maintained itself, in general, 
without increase or diminution, and with great regularity during 
the whole of the mental calculation. When the problem had 
been solved, the pulsation gradually diminished, and finally 
reached the original condition. 
THE fourth part of vol. ii, of ‘‘ Fresenius’ Quantitative 
Analysis,” translated by Mr. Chas. E. Groves, F. R.S., has just 
been published by Messrs. J. and A. Churchill. 
Tue following are the arrangements for science lectures at the 
Royal Victoria Hall, Waterloo Road, during March :—March 
2, “A Lump of Salt,” by Prof. Holland Crompton ; March 9, 
“© Cyprus,” by Mr. A. H. Smith; March 16, ‘‘ The Valley of 
Kashmir,” by Mr. Walter R. Lawrence ; March 23, ‘‘ Marine 
Food Fishes,” by Mr. Gilbert C. Bourne; March 30, ‘‘ Quick- 
silver,’ by Dr. H. Forster Morley. 
Tue Boletin del Instituto Geoldgico de México, by Dr. C. 
Sapper, describes the geology and physical geography of 
Yucatan. It includes chapters on the mineral and agricultural 
productions of the peninsula, and meteorological tables. 
