34 



NATURE 



\Nov. 12, 1874 



class of Cerealia ; it is mentioned under that name by | 

 Lindley in his "Vegetable Kingdom;" and in the 

 '• Treasury of Botany " it is stated that " the large seeds 

 yield a considerable amount of food to the wandering 

 tribes of Indians, and feed immense flocks of wild swans 

 and other aquatic birds. It grows well in Britain when 

 it is once established, but it is liable to die away if not 

 cared for." It is asserted, indeed, that many of the wan- 

 dering tribes of native Indians depend on the harvest of 

 Zizania, known by them as " Tuscarora," as their principal 

 source of food during (he winter ; and that so palatable 

 is the grain that people who, at the period when it is ripe, 

 make their way into the region where it grows, never fail 

 to bring home a sackful as a present to their friends. 



It is not, however, as an article of food that we now 

 call attention to the plant, but in consequence of its 

 alleged value as a material for the manufacture of paper.* 

 If all that is stated respecting it is confirmed, it will be a 

 formidable rival to Esparto in the manufacture of the 

 various kinds of printing paper, yielding fully as much of 

 the raw material, and possessing the great and peciihar 

 merit of being comparatively free from sihcatcs ; it is 

 claimed, indeed, that paper made from it is quite as strong 

 and flexible as that made from rags. It is easily bleached, 

 economical in respect of chemicals, pure in colour, and 

 the paper presents a surface of perfect evenness remark- 

 ably free from specks and blemishes. The paper has the 

 further merit of receiving a very clear impression from 

 the printer's types. It would appear, indeed, to possess all 

 the merits, without any of the defects, ol Esparto. 



The Zizania belongs to the tribe Orj'zea;, closely resem- 

 bling the rice-plant both in structure and habit, except 

 that°the flowers, instead of being perfect, are unise.xual, 

 but monoecious. The number of stamens in both plants 

 is six. It is an aquatic plant, growing in swamps, ponds, 

 and shallow streams, filling them up, during summer, with 

 a dense annual growth. The average height is from 7 to 

 8 ft., but it not unfrequently reaches 12 or 14 ft. The 

 district in which it appears to flourish most abundantly is 

 the Canadian territory, on the shores of Lakes Erie, vSt. 

 Claire, and Ontario, from whence it can easily be trans- 

 ported to Montreal, and shipped to any European port. 

 It is stated that there will be no difficulty in obtaining an 

 annual supply of 100,000 tons; but that the chief obstacle 

 to its conveyance to Europe is the great bulk it occupies, 

 and the consequent heavy freight, which seems at present 

 to act as an almost entire prohibition on its importation. 



NOTES 



Professor Maskelvne has offered to give a short course of 

 lectures on Crystallography to those members of the Chemical 

 Society who may be desirous of studying this subject. It is 

 proposed, if a sufficient number of members intimate their inten- 

 tion of attending, that the lectures be delivered on Mondays and 

 Fridays, at 8.30 i>. M. during the months of November, December, 

 and January, commencing on the 23rd inst. Professor Maskelyne 

 hopes it will be understood that gentlemen attending those 

 lectures will be prepared to devote some of their leisure to 

 working at the subject in the manner to be indicated by the 

 lecturer. Crystallography cannot be studied without geometrical 

 reasoning, but it will be Mr. Maskelyne's endeavour to treat his 

 subject with as small an amount of mathematical detail as is 

 consistent with its due development. The lectures will be open 

 to anyone introduced by a Fellow of the Chemical Society. It 

 is particularly requested that members intending to attend these 

 lectures will communicate their intention, previously to the 20th 

 inst., to Dr. Russell. AVe congratulate the Chemical Society in 

 having initiated such a movement. We hope the lectures will 

 be largely taken advantage of, and that other societies will soon 

 follow this excellent example. 



News has been received from the Challenger up to Sept. 8, 

 giving an account of the voyage between the Fiji Islands and 

 Torres Strait. Occasional squalls were met with, and the usual 

 sounding, dredging, and trawling operations were carried on. 

 Shortly after leaving Api Island, New Hebrides, soundings were 

 taken in 2,650 fathoms, giving a bottom temperature of 357, 

 the same temperature being obtained at 1,300 fathoms. The 

 same phenomenon occurred for some distance, leading to the 

 conclusion that a valley exists at the place, surrounded by a ridge. 

 Several new specimens of fish were found, and the naturalists 

 explored Raine Island. From Cape York the ship proceeds 

 through Torres Strait and Arafura >Sea, visiting Manilla and 

 other places, and arriving at Hong Kong about the middle of 

 the present month, where she will stay till the end of December. 

 Letters should be addressed to Singapore till the mail of Jan. 22, 

 1875 ; then to Yokohama, Japan. 



O.N' Tuesday evening the winter session of 'the Royal Geogra- 

 phical Society was opened by an address from the president, Sir 

 H. C. Rawhnson, who reviewed the piogress of discovery during 

 the past year, and expressed a confident hope that a new polar 

 expedition would be despatched under the auspices of her 

 Majesty's Government in the course of the coming year. Lieut. 

 Payer was present, and the secretary read his narrative of the 

 Austrian Polar Expedition, the main details of which have 

 appeared in Nature. A letter was also read from Dr. Peter- 

 mann, strongly urging upon her Majesty's Government the expe- 

 diency of starting another polar expedition : this will be found in 

 another column. 



The following, we leavn from the Times, is the list of the new j 

 Council to be proposed for election at the anniversary meeting of I 

 the Royal Society on St. Andrew's Day, 30th inst. : — President, 

 JosephDalton Hooker, C.B., M.D., D.C.L., LL.D.; treasurer, 

 \Villiam Spiittiswoode, M.A., LL.D. ; secretaries, Prof. George 

 Gabriel Stokes, M.A., D.C.L., LL.D., and Prof. Thom.is Henry ■ 

 Huxley, LL.D. ; foreign secretary. Prof. Alexander William 

 Williamson, Ph. D. ; other members of the Council — Prof J. C. 

 Adams, LL.D., the Duke of Devonshire, K.G., D.C.L. ; John 

 Evans, Pres. G.S., F.S..\. ; Captain Frederick J. O. Evans, 

 ■R.N., C.B. ; Albert C. L. G. Giinther, M.A., M.D. ; Daniel 

 Hanbury, Treas. L. S. ; Sir John Hawkshaw, M. L.C.E. ; 

 Joseph Norman Lockyer, F.R.A. S. ; Robert Mallet, C.E., 

 M.R.I. A. ; Nevil Story Maskelyne, M.A. ; C. Watkins Meni- 

 field, Hon. Sec. I. N. A. ; Prof. Edmund A. Parkes, M.D. ; 

 Right Hon. Lyon Playfair, C.B., LL.D. ; Andrew Crombie 

 Ramsay, LL.D. ; Major-General Sir H. C. Rawlinson, K.C. B., 

 and J. S. Burdon Sanderson, M.D. 



The Cambridge Board of Natural Sciences Studies have 

 nominated Mr. F. M. Balfour, B.A., KtUow of Trinity College, I 

 and Mr. A. W. Marshall, Scholar of St. John's College, as i 

 students in the Zoological Station at Naples until the end of 

 next summer. 



The Worshipful Company of Clothworkers have offered to the 

 Board for Superintending Non-collegiate Students at Cambridge 

 three exhibitions of the value of 50/. per annum each, to be awarded 

 to non-collegiate students for proficiency in physical science, 

 each exhibition to be tenable for three years, so that one will be 

 available for competition annually. There will be an examina- 

 tion for one of these exliibitions on Thursday, January 14, 1875, 

 in the Censor's Room, at 9 .4.M. The exhibition will be open to all 

 non-collegiate students who have already commenced residence, 

 or those not in residence, provided they commence not later than 

 Michaelmas Terra 1875. Each candidate will have to satisfy 

 the examiners in at least two of the following subjects : — Statics 

 and dynamics, hydrostatics and pneumatics, heat ; and may be 

 examined in not more than two of the following : — Chemistry, 

 botany, physical geography, including meteorology. Candidates 



