Nov. 20, 1884] 



NA TURE 



63 



The presentation of prizes and certificates to the students of 

 the Finsbury Technical College, and of the South London 

 School of Technical Art, and also to the candidates at the 

 Technological Examinations held this year in London will take 

 place at the Fishmongers' Hall on the 4th proximo at 7.30 p.m. 

 The Lord Mayor will preside, and the prizes will be presented 

 by the Lord Chancellor. 



News from Japan states that Prof. Milne, of Tokio Uni- 

 versity, is about to establish a subterranean observatory at Jaca- 

 shima, a very deep coal-mine not far from Nagasaki. The 

 object of this observatory is to determine what connection exists 

 between the earthquake phenomena and meteorological pheno- 

 mena belonging to the earth's surface, such as storms, baro- 

 metrical pressure, tides, tidal waves, &c. 



M. Ha.nsen-Blangsted contributes to V Exploration an 

 interesting article on the struggle between trees in the Danish 

 forests. The chief combatants are the beech and the birch, the 

 former being everywhere successful in its invasions. The paper 

 refers especially to the district of Silkeborg in the heart of Jut- 

 land. Forests composed wholly of birch are now only found in 

 sterile sandy tracts ; everywhere else the trees are mixed, and 

 wherever the soil is favourable the beech rapidly drives out the 

 birch. The latter loses its branches at the touch of the beech, 

 and devotes all its strength to its upper part, where it towers 

 above the beech. It may live long in this way, but it succumbs 

 ultimately in the fight — of old age if of nothing else, for the life 

 of the birch in Denmark is shorter than that of the beech. The 

 writer believes that light is the cause of the superiority of the 

 latter, for it has a greater development of its branches than the 

 birch, which is more open, and thus allows the rays of the sun 

 to pass through to the soil below, while the tufted, bushy top 

 of the beech retains them, and thus preserves a deep shade at 

 its base. Hardly any young plants can grow under the beech 

 except its own shoots ; and while the beech can flourish under 

 the shade of the birch, the latter dies immediately under the 

 beech. The birch has only been saved from total extermination 

 by the facts that it had possession of the Danish forests long 

 before the beech ever reached that country, and that certain dis- 

 tricts are unfavourable to the growth of the latter. But wher- 

 ever the soil has been enriched by the decomposition of the leaves 

 of the birch the battle begins. The birch still flourishes on the 

 borders of lakes and other marshy places, where its enemy can- 

 not exist. In the same way in the forests of Zeeland the fir 

 forests are disappearing before the beech. Left to themselves 

 the firs are soon replaced by the beech. The struggle between 

 the latter and the oak is longer and more stubborn, for the 

 branches and foliage of the oak are thicker, and offer much re- 

 sistance to the passage of light. The oak also has great lon- 

 gevity, but sooner or later it, too, succumbs, because it cannot 

 develop in the shadow of the beech. The earliest forests of 

 Denmark were mainly composed of aspens, with which the birch 

 was apparerjtlj • ociated ; gradually the soil was raised and the 

 climate grew milder ; then the fir grew and formed large forests. 

 This tree ruled for centuries, and then ceded the first place to 

 the holm oak, which is now giving way to the beech. Aspen, 

 birch, fir, oak, and beech appear to be the steps in the struggle 

 for the survival of the fittest among the forest trees of Denmark. 



We learn from Science that the U.S. Signal Service is about 

 to undertake the publication of a general bibliography of 

 meteorology and allied topics (such as earthquakes, terrestrial 

 magnetism, and meteors), and requests from the writers of all 

 countries a complete list, of their contributions to the literature 

 of these subjects, including the titles of all separate works, 

 papers, and published observations. The number of titles 

 already on hand is about 35,000. Especial attention is invited 



to the importance of full titles, with details of size, and place 

 and date of publication. References to periodicals should be on 

 this pattern : — 



" Quetelet, Lambert Adolphe Jacques, 



Sur les orages du mois d'Avril, 1865. 

 Bmxelles, Acad. Sci. Bull. XIX., 1865, 535-537-" 

 Correspondence should be addressed to the Chief Signal Officer, 

 U.S. Army, Washington. 



Ermanxo Loescher of Turin has just issued the fifty-first 

 catalogue of the literary treasures contained in his " Libreria An- 

 tiquaria. " The present number is devoted chiefly to geography, 

 travel, and antiquities, and the contents are conveniently ar- 

 ranged under four heads : America, Africa, China with Japan, 

 Geography and Travels. Amongst the entries, which number 

 429 altogether, the bibliophile will find much to interest him. 



Herr J. Olsen, a Norwegian botanist, who has been study- 

 ing the fungi in the vicinity of Bergen during the summer, has 

 found a Gomphidius gracilis at Hovland. This variety has never 

 before been found in Scandinavia, and belongs to England. Of 

 other varieties new to Norway which he has discovered may be 

 mentioned Rhizopogon luteolus and a Boletus. The flora of 

 Tysnses Island is stated to be identical with that of England. 



The following letter has been received by Prof. E. Ray 

 Lankester, F.R.S., the Secretary of the Marine Biological Asso- 

 ciation, announcing a donation from the Royal Society in aid of 

 the fund (now approaching 5000/.) which is being raised for the 

 purpose of building and fitting a marine laboratory and experi- 

 mental aquarium at Plymouth :—" Royal Society, Burlington 

 House, London, W., Nov. 1, 1884. Sir,— Your letter relative to 

 the Marine Biological Association was laid before the Council 

 at their meeting on Thursday last, and I am directed to inform 

 you that the Council have voted the sum of 250/. from the 

 ' Donation Fund' in aid of the ' Marine Biological Association,' 

 as a token of their sympathy with an effort which, they have 

 every reason to believe, will contribute largely to the progress 

 of biological science in this country. — I beg to remain, yours 

 obediently, M. FOSTER, Sec.R.S." 



AMONG other interesting papers in the Proceedings of the 

 Perthshire Society of Natural Science for 1883-84 we notice : 

 dimorphism in oak-gall makers and in their galls, by Prof. J. 

 W. Trail, F.L. S. ; evolution and some things said regarding 

 it, by Rev. G. Milroy, D.D., in which a "creative" and "spon- 

 taneous" view of the origin of life is discussed with studied 

 dispassionateness. We are glad to observe the flourishing state 

 in which this Society seems to be. 



Prof, de Lacouperie is bringing to a conclusion a work on 

 the aboriginal and non-Chinese races of China, which will be 

 published shortly by Messrs. Field and Titer. It will deal with 

 one section of the learned author's researches into the origiites 

 Sinicoe, in which he has been engaged for several years, and 

 which have been so successful in some important respect-. One 

 of the most curious results of the work will be to demonstrate 

 the real youth of the Chinese as a homogeneous and powerfu. 

 people. It is based wholly on original researches into Chinese 

 literature, and this is, we believe, the first time that the 

 ethnology of early China has been studied from the works of 

 the Chinese themselves, or indeed at all. The work deals with 

 the various tribes which have successively occupied China 

 proper, and which are intimately connected with the Indo- 

 Chinese races, the latter being in fact the modern representa- 

 tives of the early occupants of China. The originality of the 

 subject, as well as of the sources from which it is treated, should 

 render the volume one of great scientific and general interest. 

 The work was originally prepared as an introduction to Mr. 

 Colquhoun's new book "Among the Shans," but it gradually 



