54- 



NA TURE 



[April 5, 1906 



March, of the troubles which have beset attempts to 

 establish it in similar situation'; in America, especially in 

 Pennsylvania. The wood of the tree is excellently suited 

 for making feme posts and railroad ties, but, unfor- 

 tunately, as soon as the stems attain a sufficient size to be 

 ol use they are liable to be destroyed by the burrowing 

 larva of a longicorn beetle (Cyllene robiniae) ; and so 

 persistent is ibis lie, lie in its attacks, that Dr. White 

 considers the further planting ol these trees to be sheer 

 ■•■ a te 'if labour and money. 



Tut: second number of the Bio-Chemical Journal con- 

 tains lour papers of considerable interest, and if the present 

 standard be maintained we predict a long and useful 

 " life " for this new publication. Mr. Leonard Hill dis- 

 1 usses filtration as a possible mechanism in the living 

 organism, and concludes that it does not occur under 

 natural conditions; Mr. G. S. Haynes, writing on the 

 pharmacological action of digitalis, strophanthus, and squill 

 on the heart, considers that it is essential that ties, .hugs 

 should be standardised, as the amounts of active con- 

 stituents vary much. He finds that strophanthus is 8 to 10 

 limes as toxic as digitalis, and that squill is an excellent 

 cardiac stimulant. Dr. Roaf and Mr. Whitley contribute 

 a paper on the action of acids, alkalies, and salts on the 

 tadpole ; and Dr. MacLean details observations on the 

 Fehling test for dextrose in urine, proving that creatinin 

 is the cause of the masking of the sugar reaction which 

 sometimes occurs in urine-testing. 



A brief description appears in the Journal of the Royal 

 Microscopical Society (February) of a newly discovered 

 synangium that, as the writer, Mr. D. M. S. Watson, 

 states, would two years ago certainly have been regarded 

 as the fructification of a marattiaceous fern. The 

 synangium consists of from four to seven sporangia grouped 

 round a central receptacle that is hollowed out into a 

 cup at the top, thus bearing considerable resemblance to 

 the sporangia of the recent fern Kaulfussia and of the fossil 

 species Ptychocarpus unitus. Having regard to Mr. 

 Kidston's discovery that the synangium of Crossotheca, 

 formerly considered to be that of a marattiaceous fern, was 

 I he male fructification of Lyginodendron, Mr. Watson 

 leaves it open whether the new species, Cyathotrachus 

 altus, should be placed in the ferns or cycadofilices. 



In connection with the work of the instructors in horti- 

 culture that have been appointed by certain county councils 

 in Ireland, it has been found that there is need of a 

 scientific journal that will help to supply the knowledge 

 required by small farmers and occupiers of holdings. To 

 meet this want a new monthly publication, Uisli Garden- 

 ing, has been started, the first number having been issued 

 this month. After a short note of encouragement from 

 Sir Horace Plunkett, Mr. F. W. Moore provides an appro- 

 priate article on the present condition of horticulture in 

 Ireland. The use and value ol horticultural demonstration 

 plots is discussed by Mr. J. G. Toner, and a trite com- 

 parison of English and Irish potatoes is contributed by Prof. 

 J. Wilson in which, while upholding the quality of the 

 Irish potato, he suggests that there is scope for new Irish 

 varieties. Judging from these articles and the numerous 

 notes on various topics, the new journal promises to fulfil 

 its purpose of directing attention to the scientific prim iples 

 that underlie good garden practice. 



The discussion on " The Origin of Gymnosperms " at 

 the I.innean Society, arranged for the meeting on March 15, 

 • hew a very large audience. Prof. F. W. Oliver, in 



NO. I9OI, VOL. 73] 



opening the discussion, referred to the generally accepted 

 view that the line of descent of the gymnosperms had 

 proceeded through the ferns anil cycads, this view being 

 supported by the discovery of multiciliate spermatozoids 

 in Ginkgo and in cycads. and by the recognition of the 

 fossil group of cycadofilices. The discovery of seeds in 

 connection with several of the Palaeozoic " ferns " had led 

 to their transference to a new and rapidly increasing 

 group of pteridosperms. If the Palaeozoic were ,\n " age 

 of pteridosperms" rather than an "age of ferns," was 

 the filirinean origin of the gymnosperms weakened, and 

 should a lycopodiaceous origin be sought? Personally, he 

 favoured a derivation of the pteridosperms and eventually 

 the cycads and Cordaitea from the ferns. Mr. F. A. N. 

 Arber, dealing with the earlier geological records of the 

 true ferns, also expressed his adherence to the fern-cycad 

 line ,,t descent. He instanced the Botryopterideaa as true 

 ferns existing in the Carboniferous and Permian ages, and 

 pointed out that the connection of gymnosperms and 

 ferns must have been far back in the Palaeozoic epoch. 

 Prof. A. 1 Seward, while accepting the filicinean origin 

 for the cycads, dissented from the view that the conifers 

 followed the same line of descent. His recent investi- 

 gations of the Araucarieae pointed to their being a very 

 ancient group of gymnosperms, and for them, if not for 

 conifers generally, he considered a lycopodiaceous deriva- 

 tion as the more probable. Owing to the late hour, Dr. 

 D. H. Scott was unable to give his address, as announced, 

 so the proceedings were postponed to the meeting fixed for 

 May 3, when an opportunity will be afforded for other 

 members to take part in the discussion. 



The work of the expedition dispatched by the Smith- 

 sonian Institution of Washington to the Canadian Rockies 

 and Selkirks, under the direction of Prof. W. II. Sherzer, 

 of the Michigan State Normal School, is described in the 

 report of the late Dr. S. P. Langley for the year ending 

 June 30, 1905. The expedition had a successful season's 

 work on the glaciers along the line of the Canadian P. a 1 1 1 . 

 Railway. A selection was made of those five glaciers 

 which are most accessible to the student of glacial geology, 

 and these were found to exhibit the characteristics of 

 glaciers throughout the world, hour or five days of com- 

 fortable railway travel places an investigator in the midst 

 of snow-fields rivalling those of Switzerland, and the ice 

 bodies descending from these fields may be studied from 

 modern hotels as a base, and a horse may be ridden to the 

 feet of the glaciers studied by the expedition. So far as is 

 known, there is in this district the most magnificent de- 

 velopment of glaciers of the Alpine type on the American 

 continent, and the purpose of the survey was to gather 

 as much information as possible concerning them. Many 

 photographs illustrating the details of glacial structure were 

 obtained, and a full report of the expedition may be 

 expected later. 



We have received a copy of the results of the meteor- 

 ological observations made at stations under the control 

 of the Deutsche Seewarte for the year 1904. These observ- 

 ations include those made at ten stations of the second 

 order, at which readings arc taken three times daily ; at 

 four of these stations, viz. Hamburg, Wustrow, Memel, and 

 Borkum, hourly values and means obtained from self- 

 recording instruments are given in addition. For all days on 

 which stormy weather was experienced on the German 

 coasts, observations for several times a day are published 

 from those of the fifty-six storm signal stations affected. 

 This valuable publication forms one of the series of " Meteor- 

 ological Year-books " issued by the various organisations 



