NoveMBER 23, 1916] 
source of inspiration, and do much towards that 
standardisation of methods and equipment which is, 
in regard to many aspects, very urgently needed, A case 
in point is furnished by the different sizes adopted at 
the present time for stretchers and for ambulances, so 
that a stretcher that is La: up to place in an 
ambulance often cannot be taken in. If a standard 
gauge could be agreed on the work of handling the 
wounded would be greatly facilitated, and this agree- 
ment would be the more fruitful if such standardisa- 
tion could be international. Where and by what body 
such a museum should be erected and controlled is a 
matter for debate. It has been suggested that the 
Royal Army Medical College might well undertake the 
task, as the French Army Medical Service has already 
done for France. The Museums Journal suggests that 
such a museum might well form an appendage to the 
Wellcome Medical Museum, or the Royal United 
Service Museum, Whitehall. But as the whole scheme 
is still very much in the air, the problem of housing 
can scarcely be said to have arisen, so much depending 
on the range of the activities which are to be under- 
taken. ; 
Tue old-fashioned plan of exhibiting stuffed birds in 
museums has, it is to be hoped, gone for ever. In 
place of it has come the practice of mouhting selected 
types amid their natural surroundings during the 
breeding season. In some of the American museums 
it has become the custom to reproduce not merely the 
immediate surroundings of the nest, but, by the aid 
of skilfully painted scenic backgrounds and cunningly 
concealed artificial lights, also large areas of 
the general environment. Miles of landscape are ap- 
parently surveyed, and the teaching value of the exhibit 
is thus immensely increased. But the use of these 
spectacular effects must be strictly limited to this par- 
ticular purpose, or there is a grave danger of our 
natural history museums degenerating into peep-shows. 
An example of the reality of this danger has just been 
furnished by the Brooklyn Museum, N.Y., where, 
according to the Brooklyn Museum Quarterly, vol. iii., 
No. 2, half a dozen Cape pigeons and three “ whale. 
birds”? have just been mounted as in full flight, and 
as seen from the deck and through the rigging of 
“some sailing vessel, off-shore, beating against a fresh 
Atlantic wind. Models of others, reduced to give the 
proper perspective, carry the vista back towards the 
faint sky-line.” This is all very pretty, but it is of 
doubtful value from a scientific point of view. All the 
information the public will gain from such an exhibit 
is that petrels fly over the sea! 
A PAMPHLET entitled ‘‘ The Nicolson Observatory Bee- 
Hive, and How to Use It,” by Mr. J. Anderson, 
issued by the North of Scotland College of Agricul- 
ture, is before us. The elephant and the sheepdog 
might smile sarcastically could they be confronted with 
Maeterlinck’s opinion that the Hymenoptera, “of all 
the inhabitants of this globe, possess the highest de- 
gree of intellect after that of man.’? When the famous 
beemaster mentions “‘ the intelligent substitution of flour 
for pollen, and of an artificial cement for propolis,” 
one is tempted to think of the intellectual vegetables 
which also readily avail themselves of man’s auxiliary 
devices. Apart from controversy, however, observa- 
tion of the hive will always make a strong appeal to 
the curious for its own sake, to the teacher for. its 
value as a lesson in biology, to men of research for 
the unknown possibilities of. suggestiveness. Mr. 
Anderson’s observatory hive claims, apparently with 
good reason, to make the*business of the spy as little 
objectionable as possible, allowing the bees to perform 
their various tasks in a perfectly normal way while 
actually unconscious that they are being observed. 
NO. 2456, VOL. 98] 
NATURE 
235 
ee 
His pamphlet describes the latest improvements, with 
all that is required in the way of superintendence. 
Among other things, ‘‘it is essential that the possessor 
of a Nicolson observatory should have charge also of 
one or more full-sized hives.” 
For several years experiments on the effect of over- 
head, electrical discharges on crops have been carried 
out at Lincluden Mains, Dumfries, by Miss E. C. 
Dudgeon, with the scientific co-operation of Prof. J. H. 
Priestley and Mr. I. Jorgensen. The results obtained 
in 1915 with an oat crop on adjoining plots of 14 acres 
each are briefly summarised by Mr. Jérgensen in the 
October issue of the Journal of the Board of Agricul- 
ture. The leakage of discharge over the control plot 
was largely, but not entirely, prevented by the inter- 
position between the plots of a well-earthed wire screen 
reaching 3 ft. above the level of the charged network. 
Despite this leakage, the electrified plot showed the 
remarkable increase of 30 per cent, in grain and 58 per 
cent. in straw as the presumptive effect of the dis- 
charge, which was applied on the average five hours 
daily for 108 days. The crops were not heavy, but the 
superiority of the crop on the electrified plot was 
marked from the earliest stages of growth, and it 
suffered less from the dryness of the season. 
DurinG recent years trichloroethylene has been used 
to a limited extent for the extraction of the oil from 
soya beans. The résidual extracted meal has been 
disposed of as food-for stock, and as trichloroethylene 
is not poisonous when given in comparatively large 
doses to cattle little risk would appear to be involved 
in the use as food of the extracted meal. Cases of 
poisoning of cattle attributed to soya meal have, how- 
ever, been brought to the notice of the Board of Agri- 
culture, and the results of their investigations, which 
are summarised in the October issue of the Journal, 
throw strong suspicion on the meal obtained by the 
use of trichloroethylene. The cases of poisoning, both 
on the farms and in the investigations, were limited 
entirely to cattle, and in no case was a sudden effect 
produced. Experience with soya extracted with 
naphtha makes it very improbable that the poisonous 
principle could have been inherent in the meal. It 
would appear more probable that it was either a non- 
volatile impurity present in the trichloroethylene or a 
product of interaction between the trichloroethylene and 
some ingredient of the soya beans. 
La Nature of October 21 contains an article by 
M. Alfred Renouard directing attention to the interest- 
ing renaissance in the use of natural dyestuffs 
which the war has brought about. Certain of 
these dyestuffs, such as indigo, old fustic, logwood, 
red sandal wood, sapan wood, etc., have continued 
to be used, some of them in large quantities, in spite 
of the severe competition of synthetic dyes, and this 
use has increased greatly owing to the war. Most of 
the increase is due directly to the war, indigo being 
required for the cloth for naval uniforms, fustic for 
kkhaki, and logwood for black cloth. The area under 
indigo in India has increased, and special efforts are 
being made in the British West Indies and elsewhere 
to increase the output of fustic and logwood. Ex- 
tremely high prices are being obtained for these dye- 
stuffs, but the producer probably benefits but little from 
this increase owing to, the enormous rise in freight 
rates. M. Renouard expresses the hope that some 
means will be found of retaining this increased trade 
in natural dyestuffs after the war. 
An interesting article in the issue of the Engineer 
for November to deals with the new water supply for 
Guayaquil, chief port and most important city of the 
Republic of Ecuador. The port stands upon ai 
