February 8, 1906] 



NA TURE 



349 



necessary, and when worked out in details is quite absurd, 

 and that we have no right to claim that the egg is some 

 kind of a microcosm of the ontogeny and a short re- 

 capitulation of the phylogeny of the organism into which 

 it develops.' 



In the course of a paper on phosphorescent marine 

 animals, published in the January number of the Zoologist, 

 Prof. Mcintosh states that there are four distinct modes 

 in which the light is produced. First, there may be special 

 cells which secrete, in certain circumstances, phosphor- 

 escent mucus. Secondly, special cells may be phos- 

 phorescent without the emanation of any visible secretion. 

 Thirdly, light may be emitted without any differentiation 

 of tissue under nervous action. Fourthly, the phosphor- 

 escence may be due to light-emitting bacteria. One of 

 the most striking features connected with phosphorescence 

 is the simplicity of the mechanism by which it is pro- 

 duced and the entire absence of heat. "Thus," writes 

 the author, " the light of a firefly, or a Pholas, has no 

 sensible heat, whereas a temperature approaching 2000 F. 

 would be necessary to make it by the usual processes, 

 except the Geissler tube. So impressed were Prof. 

 Langley and Mr. Very with this feature that they contrast 

 it with the enormous waste in all industrial methods of 

 producing light. . . . The authors, in view of this remark- 

 able light without heat of the animals just considered, are 

 of opinion that there is yet hope of obtaining an enormously 

 greater result than we do now in the production of light." 



Bulletins Nos. 31, 32, and 33 (May and June, 1905) of 

 the Bureau of Government Laboratories, Manila, have 

 reached us. Bulletin No. 31 contains notes on a case of 

 h.nematochyluria with observations on the embryo nema- 

 tode, Filaria nocturna, by Drs. Wherry and McDill, and 

 a research on the indol and cholera-red reactions by Dr. 

 Wherry. Bulletin No. 32 deals with amoebic dysentery 

 and amcebiasis, three articles being contributed by Drs. 

 Strong, Thomas, and Woolley and Musgrave. Bulletin 

 No. 33, by Dr. Herzog, records further observations on 

 fibrinous thrombosis in the renal vessels in bubonic plague. 

 The bulletins are well printed and well illustrated, and 

 contain contributions of importance to medical science. 



The Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital for January 

 (xvii., No. 178) is an excellent number. Dr. Harvey 

 Gushing contributes an interesting and well illustrated 

 article on Dr. Garth, the " Kit-Kat " poet. Garth was 

 the single medical member of the famous Kit-Kat Club, 

 and besides being distinguished in his profession and de- 

 livering the Gulstonian lectures and Harveian oration at 

 the Royal College of Physicians, London, published many 

 poems, the most important of which is " The Dispensary." 

 Born in 1661, he died in 1718, and is buried at Harrow. 

 Other articles are the relationship of the State to the 

 tuberculosis question, by Dr. John Foster; a method of 

 estimating the opsonic content of the blood, by Drs. Simon 

 and Lamar ; tropical splenomegaly, by Drs. Musgrave, 

 Wherry, and Woolley ; reports of societies, reviews, 

 notes, &c. 



The Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture, Jamaica, 

 for December, 1905, contains articles on rubber cultivation 

 relating the progress made in Ceylon and south India, also 

 a caution to planters with reference to the appearance of 

 a cocoa disease caused by the fungus Phytophthora 

 omnivora. 



From the review of the teak timber trade in Burma, con- 

 tributed by Mr. T. A. Hauxwell to the Indian Forester 

 (November, 1905), it is seen that in the last fifteen years 

 NO. 1893, VOL. 7$] 



imports from Burma into Europe have diminished about 

 50 per cent., and prices have risen from n(. to 15/. per 

 ton ; imports to India, where the standard of requirement 

 is lower, show only a small decrease. The timber is ex- 

 tracted either by Government agency or by private lessees, 

 the advantages in the latter case being that all marketable 

 produce is extracted, and that the lessees have to share 

 the risks, in connection with which the cost of elephants 

 is a serious item. 



In the British West Indies, Jamaica easily leads the 

 way in the cultivation of tobacco, but Trinidad also re- 

 ceived an award at the recent Colonial and Indian Ex- 

 hibition, and it is probable that good results may be 

 obtained in certain parts of the other islands. A useful 

 handbook to the cultivation and curing of tobacco has 

 been issued by the Imperial Department of Agriculture as 

 No. 38 of the pamphlet series. Mr. T. J. Harris gives 

 a detailed and practical account of cultivation in the open 

 and of curing the leaf, based on his former experience at 

 the Hope Gardens, Jamaica, and Mr. W. N. Cunningham, 

 who succeeded him, writes on tobacco-growing under 

 shade. 



Our knowledge of the manner in which plants can 

 receive external stimuli has been greatly extended by recent 

 work, notably by the researches of Prof. Haberlandt. It 

 is interesting to find that Prof. Schwendener has recorded 

 his views on the subject in Naturwissenschaftlichc Wochen- 

 schrift (January 2). In connection with the statolith theory 

 of geotropism, a neat experiment is adduced as proof that 

 can easily be put to the test. Ordinarily, if the root of a 

 seedling is placed horizontal, curvature will ensue only 

 after a definite lapse of time ; assuming that starch grains 

 take some time to react, it may be possible to reduce the 

 interval by shaking or tapping the root. Fiat expen- 

 mentum. The article also discusses the focusing action 

 of certain epidermal cells of the leaf, and the mechanical 

 feelers in the shape of hairs or papilla? that are possessed 

 by insectivorous plants, the stamens of Berberis, and of 

 the Cynareas. 



In the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts 

 and Sciences for December, 1905, Mr. A. L. Rotch gives 

 an account of the first observations with registration 

 balloons in America. Although the successful experiments 

 at Blue Hill led to the extensive use of kites for meteor- 

 ological observations in other countries, unmanned balloons 

 were not employed in America until 1904, when the author 

 was enabled to make a series of four ascents at St. Louis 

 in September of that year ; at the maximum height, 

 10J miles, a temperature of -62°-5 E- was recorded. 

 Another series of ten ascents was made in the latter part 

 of November and the first part of December, mostly after 

 sunset, to avoid possible effects of insolation. Two of these 

 balloons travelled with a mean velocity of more than a 

 hundred miles an hour. An extreme height of nearly 10 

 miles was attained, with a temperature of -72°-4 F. ; and 

 a reading of ~76°-2 was once recorded somewhat below 

 7 miles. In order to continue these observations during 

 the winter, Mr. Rotch made a further series of nine ascents 

 during the latter part of January, 1905. On January 25 

 the extraordinarily low temperature of -m° F. was 

 registered at the height of about 9 miles, during the pre- 

 valence of a high barometric pressure at the ground. A 

 complete publication of the results will be made in the 

 Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard 

 College. 



