476 



NA TURE 



[Sept. 14, 188 



treatise on the oyster, and an account of experiments on 

 oyster culture, which we have not space to discuss in the 

 present number. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



Wanderings South and East. By Walter Coote. Maps 



and Illustrations. (London : Sampson Low and Co., 



1,32.) 



Pioneering 111 the Far East, and Jonrneyings to Cali- 

 fornia in 1849, and flu: W'liite Sea in 1878. By Ludwig 

 Verner Helms. Illustrations. (London : Allen and 

 Co., 1S82.) 

 Although these two volumes cover a very wide field, 

 neither of them can be said to break on new ground. 

 Mr. Coote does not profess to be much more than a 

 tourist, but as he tells the story of his wanderings plea- 

 santly, and touched at a few places concerning which our 

 information is scanty, he may be held to have sufficient 

 excuse for bringing the record of his journey before the 

 public. He spent some time in the Australian Colonies 

 and Fiji, and visited Norfolk Island. His wanderings 

 further embraced the Hawaiian Islands, the New Hebrides, 

 the Banks and Torres Islands, the Santa Cruz and 

 Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and the Loyalty Group. 

 China and Japan, and Central and South America were 

 also embraced in his extensive tour. Mr. Coote' is a good 

 observer, and the information he gives concerning what 

 he saw in the less frequented islands, the New Hebrides, 

 the Santa Cruz, Solomon and Loyalty Islands, is a welcome 

 addition to existing knowledge. He is chiefly interested in 

 the people, habits, houses, implements, and weapons, 

 and therefore the ethnologist may find something in his 

 volume that will be of service. The illustrations are 

 good, and the volume as a whole is extremely pleasant 

 reading. 



Mr. Helms is an old traveller, and most of his volume 

 takes us back about thirty years ago. He spent consider- 

 able time in Bali and Borneo, where he took a prominent 

 part in the events connected with Rajah Brooke ; visited 

 Cambodia and Siam, China and Japan, and spent some 

 little time in California during the height of the gold fever. 

 He brings together much curious and interesting informa- 

 tion about Bali and Borneo, especially at the time of his 

 sojourn, the condition of the people, their manners and 

 customs, the state of trade, &c. He gives a very vivid 

 description of an instance of suttee which he witnessed. 

 His account of what he saw in California is interesting, 

 and he finishes oft" with the record of a visit to the 'White 

 Sea, in connection with some mining operations. Alto- 

 gether his book is quite worth reading. 



Geographische Charakter-Bilder fur Schule and 

 Hans. Herausgegeben unter Padagogischer und Wis- 

 senschaftlicher Leitung, Yon Dr. Josef Chavanne, K. 

 v. Haardt, V. Prausek, Prof. V. Marilaun, Dr. Fried. 

 Simony, Dr. Fr. Toula, Dr. K. Zehden, &c. (Vienna : 

 Edward Holzel, 1882.) 

 We have already referred, in connection with Hirt's 

 Geographische Bildertafeln, to the comprehensive idea of 

 geography entertained in Germany, and the admirable 

 methods adapted for infusing into the teaching of the sub- 

 ject as much of reality as possible. For enabling the 

 pupil to realise the features about which he reads in his 

 text-books, we have never seen anything to equal the 

 Charakter-Bilder whic 1 .ire being issued by Holzel of 

 Vienna, and edited by a large staff of some of the 

 best teachers. These pictures are on a very large 

 scale, are coloured by the oleographic process, and have 

 all the appearance of good oil-paintings. Each picture is 

 devoted to one subject, and measures something like z\ 

 feet by 2 feet. The aim is evidently to illustrate the 

 leading features of the earth's surface, and bring before 

 the pupil the main characteristics of the different countries. 



N ine of these pictures have already been published ; their 

 subjects are the Ortler Region, the Shoshone Canons and 

 Waterfalls of North America, the Gulf of Pozzuoli, the 

 Sahara Desert, the Bernese Oberland (a double picture), 

 the Rotomahana Region of New Zealand, the Sierra 

 Nevada, the Eastern Border of the Anahuac Plateau. 

 Thus, it will be seen, the subjects are very varied. To 

 each picture there is a separate explanatory text, entering 

 with somewhat minute detail into the characteristics of 

 the region illustrated, its topographical features, geology, 

 biology, eic. ; the text being accompanied with wood 

 engravings still further to help in the understanding of the 

 subject. We need scarcely point out what an important 

 help these pictures and their text must be in the study of 

 geography, nor how admirably calculated they are to lead 

 children to interest themselves in the subject. To the 

 household library they would be an important addition, 

 and even those who have long left school might turn 

 them over with pleasure and profit. We should like to 

 see them brought within the reach of English schools. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 

 or to correspond wilh the writers of, rejected manuscripts. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. 



[ The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters 

 as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great 

 that it is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even 

 of communications containing interesting and novel facts.] 



Researches on the Division of the Chlorophyll- 

 Granules and upon the Occurrence of Hypochlorin 

 in the Cyanophycese and Bacillariaceae 

 I, in the year 18S1, made a considerable series of examina- 

 tions of the division of the chlorophyll-granules of phanero- 

 gamous and cryptogamous plants, and upon the occurrence of 

 Pringsheim's hypochlorin in the lower alga;, especially in the 

 order Bacillariacece and Cyanophyceie (Phycocbromacese). The 

 investigations are in detail described in my paper, "A chlo- 

 rophyll es a novenyi sejtmag niorphologiajahoz. Irta Schaar- 

 schmidt Gyula. Rajzokkal egy pbotogrammon. Kolozsvart, 

 K. Papp Miklos orbkoseinel, 1881. 56 pp. 16° " (Contributions 

 to the Morphology of the Chlorophyll and Vegetable Nucleus. 

 With photograms. Kolozsvar, 1SS1, &c.), which is published 

 in the Hungarian language. 1 take the liberty of briefly com- 

 municating the chief results, by way of insuring rny priority. 



I. The division of the chlorophyll granules was discovered by 

 Carl Nageli in the year 1S44. After him Milde, Wigand, Hof- 

 meister, Rosanoff, Sachs, Kny, Strasburger, Velten, Hahcr- 

 landt, Mikosch found that the chlorophyll-granules multiply 

 by division in the lower and the higher plants. According to 

 these authors, the granules are divided by a constriction in the 

 middle ; the green colouring-matter retires to the poles ; conse- 

 quently the protoplasmatic isthmus between the daughter- 

 granules is colourless. The new daughter-granules increase in 

 size, until they become as large as their parent-granules. When 

 detached, each divides again, and the process is repeated. But 

 the process is, according to my observations not ^o simple. We 

 find here an example of division that is very similar to the multi- 

 plication of the nucleus described and drawn by Hanstein, Stras- 

 burger, &c. The green colouring-matter retires before the divi- 

 sion to the two poles of the oval-shaped granules, and in the 

 middle a colourless band is thereby formed. In this state will 

 be seen with | owerful lenses (2000-3000 lin.magn.), and by 

 careful preparation with alcoh. ahs. and Unction of anilin, that 

 in the protoplasmatic isthmus small threads (filaments) are formed. 

 The extremity of the threads is immediately fixed in the proto- 

 plasmatic matter of the granules. If we examine the double 

 granules, which are now lying detached at a little distance (united 

 solidly by the threads), we see the threads between the daughter- 

 granules expanded. This figure reminds us of the state of 

 nucleus division called " cell tun " (Zell-J'onne) by Strasburger. 

 The new daughter-granules separate further and further ; the 

 threads are more and more extended, until the intervening space 

 equals that occupied by two to three granules. During this time 

 the inner portions, as they extend, develop more and more of 

 the circle, until each becomes a perfect hemisphere. The 



