84 - NATURE 
gave it life and intellect. Whether the idea that Enlil 
cut off his head will be corroborated from other cunei- 
form sources we cannot tell at present. Meanwhile 
the present discovery is obviously of the highest im- 
portance, 
In the May number of The Irish Naturalist (vol. 
xxii, No. 5), Mr. N. Colgan gives an interesting 
account of the renascence flora of certain areas on 
Killiney Hill, Co. Dublin, formerly covered with old 
gorse but burnt out in July, 1911. Three months after 
the fire the burnt areas showed thirteen species of 
flowering plants, partly survivals from old root-stocks, 
partly immigrants from adjacent unburnt areas, and 
partly perhaps the product of seeds that had retained 
their vitality throughout the fire. Later observations 
showed that eighteen months after the fire a re- 
nascence flora of sixty-four species, including nine 
cryptogams, had taken possession of the areas burnt 
clear of all vegetation. Of these species, forty-five 
had certainly or very probably entered from adjacent 
unburnt areas, thirteen were survivals, and the re- 
maining six could not with certainty be placed among 
either immigrants or survivals, and are classed as of 
doubtful origin. The cryptogams covered much more 
ground than the flowering plants, the most abundant 
species, dominating above all other plants in the burnt 
ground flora, were the mosses Funaria hygrometrica 
and Barbula fallax; other common bryophytes were 
three species of Polytrichum and the liverwort Mar- 
chantia polymorpha; while two species of the lichen 
genus Parmelia were also frequently found. Among 
the phanerogamic immigrants the grasses were 
strongly predominant, and the immigrant flora as a 
whole consisted largely of plants provided with special 
adaptations for seed dispersal, one of the most pro- 
minent of these plants being Senecio sylvaticus. The 
most interesting fact arising from this new flora is the 
conflict between its higher and lower members, the 
phanerogams and the cryptogams, the latter having 
so far kept in check the much more varied phanero- 
gamic flora. The probable successive changes in the 
vegetation are outlined by the author. 
WE have received a reprint of an interesting paper 
by Dr. C. B. Crampton, ‘‘The Use of Geology to the 
Forester’? (Trans. Argyll Foresters and Gardeners, 
1912), pointing out some of the geological facts that 
have a bearing upon the nature and origin of the 
various types of surface occupied by plants, and 
emphasising the importance to foresters in particular 
of a knowledge of the nature of the ground under his 
charge in so far as it reacts with the vegetation, and 
the reasons for differences in the surface and in these 
reactions. The author indicates the geographical and 
geological factors upon which depends the nature of 
a habitat for trees or other plants, with special refer- 
ence to the action of gravity in screes and landslips, 
the erosive action of wind and streams, coastal erosion, 
glacial erosion and deposition, and the characters of 
soils and subsoils. 
IN a recent number of The Herts Advertiser it is 
stated that, in consequence of Dr. Sambon’s remarks 
on pellagra at a recent meeting of the British Medical 
NO. 2290, VOL. 92] 
[SEPTEMBER 18, 1913 
Association, Dr. Blandy, of the Lunatic Asylum at 
Napsbury, near St, Albans, undertook an examination 
of the patients in that institution, with the result that 
no fewer than eleven were found to be suffering from 
that disease. As the majority of these come from the 
moist, low-lying district of the Colne Valley, support 
is afforded to the opinion that the disease is propa- 
gated by insects. 
As a result of the examination of the large series of 
specimens of mammals and birds collected in East 
Africa by the Roosevelt and other American expedi- 
tions, very considerable additions have been made 
recently to the list of species and races from that 
area, the descriptions having been published for the 
most part in various issues of the Smithsonian Mis- 
cellaneous Collections. The latest of these papers 
include one by Mr. E. Heller (vol. Ixi., No. 7), on 
new races of antelopes, and another, by Mr. E. A. 
Mearns (ibid., No. 9) on new weaver-birds. As re- 
gards the antelopes, it must suffice to mention that 
some of the new races are founded on very slight 
differences from previously known forms, and it is 
thus rendered difficult to see where the modern fashion 
for excessive splitting is to stop. 
In connection with the preceding paragraph, it may 
be mentioned that in the current issue of the Zoological 
Society’s Proceedings three additions are made by 
Messrs. Barrett-Hamilton and Hinton to the British 
mammal-fauna, all three being from the Inner 
Hebrides. The most interesting of these is a shrew- 
mouse (Sorex granti), distinguishable at a glance 
from the common English S. araneus by the contrast 
presented by the light-coloured flanks to the dusky 
upper parts. As it also exhibits certain dental pecu- 
liarities, its right to specific rank seems undoubted. 
The other are field-mice; one (Evotomys alstoni) a 
species from Mull, and the other (Microtus agrestis 
macgillivraii) a race from Islay. 
Tue September number of The Museums Journal 
contains an illustrated account of Mr. J. A. C. Dean’s 
method of *‘showing’’ objects in museums and art 
galleries to blind persons, as explained at the Hull 
meeting of the Museums Association. The method 
appears to have attained considerable success, and to 
have awakened a new interest in the class for which 
it is intended. It may be remarked—as indeed was 
hinted by the president at the close of the discus- 
sion—that if this mode of demonstration is adopted 
in up-to-date zoological museums it will be necessary 
for each to have a separate series of stuffed specimens 
for this purpose. 
In the Verhandlungen der Naturforschenden Gesell- 
schaft in Basel (Bd. xxiv.) will be found a paper by 
the late Fr. Burckhardt, entitled ‘‘ Die Stellung des 
Osterfestes im christlichen Kalender.” It is a con- 
tribution to the historical side of the question, and 
contains several original documents of some interest. 
An extract from the writings of Luther is given, in 
which he advocates a fixed date for Easter, not merely 
without regard to the moon’s phases, but also, like 
Christmas, without regard to the days of the week. 
Other documents refer to the adoption of the reformed 
