Marcu 18, 1897 | 
NATURE 
471 
the temperature. The experiments connected with both of Dr. 
Holborn’s present papers, like those of the two preceding articles» 
were carried out at Charlottenburg. 
THE hostility often shown by farmers to the work or the 
Technical Instruction Committees of the County Councils may, 
perhaps, ‘be tempered a little by an examination of a report on 
manurial trials, conducted by Prof. W. Somerville, during the 
season 1896, under the auspices of the County Councils of 
‘Cumberland, Durham, and Northumberland, and the Durham 
College of Science. The experimental work furnishes agri- 
culturists in the North of England with very valuable information 
upon the effect of different manures and mixtures of manures 
upon crops. It has been proved that though increasing 
quantities of farmyard, or of artificial, manure will produce 
increasing yields up to a certain point, the profits per cwt. 
are greater for a moderate than for a large dressing. The 
addition of artificial manures to a fair dressing of farmyard 
manure appears to have exceedingly little, if any, effect upon the 
crop. This and other results show that there is need for manurial 
reform in the matter of the combined use of natural and artificial 
manure. Prof. Somerville has again demonstrated by experi- 
ment the extremely infectious character of the ‘‘ finger and 
toe” 
«nitragin” have failed to give positive results ; soit is doubted 
whether the new substance, in its present state, will prove of 
any service to agriculture. 
A QUANTITATIVE ‘study of correlated variation and of the 
comparative variability of the sexes has been made by C. B. 
Davenport and C. Bullard, by counting the Miillerian glands in 
the fore-legs of four thousand swine. The total number of 
glands on a single leg varies from 0 to 10 ; and the counting has 
shown that they are slightly less abundant in the female than in 
the male. The average numbers of the glands on the right leg 
and on the left leg, taken without regard to sex, are about 
equal. As to their variability, it appears that the variants are 
distributed in accordance with the probability curve, or very 
nearlyso. The degree of variability in the right and left legs is, 
especially in the case of the male, strikingly similar, being 
1°41089 and 1°41083 in the two cases respectively, the difference 
being within the errors of the method. The males are about 
2°5 per cent. more variable than the females. The degree of 
correlation in the variability of the right and left legs is about 
“777. The observations are described in the Proceedings of the 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (vol. xxxii. No. 4, 
December 1896). 
Tue April number of Scéexzce Progress will contain articles 
on the ‘‘ Physiology of Reproduction,” by Prof. H. Marshall 
Ward, F.R.S.; on ‘‘Condensation and Critical Phenomena,” 
by Prof. J. P. Kuenen; on “‘ Diseases of the Sugar-cane,” by 
Mr. C. A. Barber, late Superintendent of Agriculture in the 
Leeward Islands ; and on ‘‘ Coagulation of the Blood,” by Dr. 
Halliburton, F.R.S. 
THE volume containing the ‘‘ Results of Rain, River, and 
Evaporation Observations made in New South Wales” during 
1895, under the direction of Mr. H. C. Russell, C.M.G., 
F.R.S., has just been published. Inaddition to the usual statistics, 
the volume contains Mr. Russell’s paper on the “‘ Periodicity of 
Good and Bad Seasons,” already abridged in NATURE (vol. liv. 
p- 379), and also some instructive diagrams showing the relative 
values of the rainfall of the Colony for the past six years. 
A new “Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English and 
German Languages,” edited by Prof. Ed. Muret and Prof. 
Daniel Sanders, is in course of publication, in parts, by the 
Langenscheidtsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin. The work 
is being issued in two sections—English-German and German- 
NO. 1429, VOL. 55] 
disease; and, as already noted, his experiments with | 
English—and will be completed in about forty-eight parts. The 
last part of the former section will appear in a few months ; the 
first part of the German-English section has, however, only 
just been issued. Judging from this part, the Muret-Sanders 
““Worterbuch”’ will, when completed, possess advantages over 
all existing German dictionaries. The London agents are 
Messrs. H. Grevel and Co. 
Messrs. WILLIAM WESLEY AND SON have, since 1871, issued 
a number of excellent catalogues of scientific works, but they 
have not compiled a better catalogue than the one just pub- 
lished as Nos. 127 and 128 of their ‘‘ Natural History and 
Scientific Book Circular.” In the ninety-two pages of this list 
are the titles or more than three thousand works on every sub- 
ject connected with botanical science, both in its theoretical 
and applied branches. The works are classified into about fifty 
groups, and are arranged alphabetically, according to authors, 
in each group. Great attention appears to have been paid to 
careful description and correct classification, and we have no 
doubt that the catalogue will be of real use both to botanists 
and gardeners. 
NeW editions of two standard German scientific works have 
been received. One is Naumann’s ‘‘ Elemente der Mineralogie” 
(Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann), the thirteenth edition of which 
has been revised and enlarged by Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Zirkel. 
Only the first half of this new edition has as yet been published ; 
the second half will appear towards the end of this year.— 
Kirchhoff s ‘‘Vorlesungen iiber mathematische Physik *’( Leipzig : 
B. G. Teubner) has reached a fourth edition. The first volume, 
on mechanics, has appeared under the editorship of Prof. Dr. 
W. Wien. The original work was published twenty years ago, 
and the two following editions of it—the third in 1883—were 
seen through the press by the author himself. The present 
edition of Kirchhoff’s *‘ Mechanik” is thus the first which has 
been issued under the guidance of another. 
Herr A. SONNEWALD, veterinary surgeon, contributes a 
paper of considerable interest to the current issue of Deutsche 
Geographische Blitter, summarising present knowledge of animal 
epidemics in South Africa, and describing in particular the 
geographical distribution of the rinderpest. The paper refers 
specially to the work of Edington and Thompson. 
A point which strikes one on glancin,; through the annual 
report of Mr. Frederick J. V. Skiff, the Director of the Field 
Columbian Museum, is that a large number of expeditions are sent 
out by the Museum to collect specimens and make observations. 
The most important expedition of the year was one which went to 
Africa, under the direction of Mr. D. G. Elliot, Curator of the 
Department of Zoology, except ornithology. This party arrived 
at Aden last September with a splendid collection. Mr. C. F. 
Millspaugh, Curator of the Department of Botany, began his 
work last year on the forestry of the Mississippi Valley. The 
Curator of Geology went on expedition to the Republic of Mexico. 
He made a complete ascent of Popocatepetl and explored the 
crater, and ascended Ixtaccihuatl far enough to permit a study of 
its glacier. A great many mineral specimens and ores were ob- 
tained. Mr. G. K. Cherrie, Assistant Curator of Ornithology, 
spent three months collecting bird skins along the Gulf coast 
between New Orleans and Corpus Christi, Texas. Nearly one 
thousand skins were thus added to the North American division 
of this department. Mr. Miner W. Bruce arrived from Alaska 
after nearly two years absence, with a collection of 1200 or 
more specimens illustrating the arts and industries of the Eskimo 
of Alaska. He has returned again to the North with a com 
mission to add further material, and to extend his wo-k into 
Siberia. Mr. E. H. Thompson made a report on the recently 
examined ruins of NXkichmook, accompanied by specimens 
