54: 



NATURE 



[April 9, 1908 



from the Botanical Laboratory of the University of Penn- 

 sylvania. Of conifers, Pinus Murrayana and Picea Engel- 

 manni are dominant in the Rockies ; Larix Lyallii is a 

 conspicuous tree at high elevations, and Tsuga Mertensiana 

 is another characteristic Alpine tree occurring in the west 

 of the region. Among flowering plants, the grasses, 

 sedges, Cruciferae, Rosaceje, and Compositae are the 

 largest orders. Numerous interesting Alpine plants are 

 found, as Erythronium grandiflorum, known as the glacier 

 lily, Aquilcgia formosa, Anemone Drummondii, various 

 saxifrages, Farnassia Kotzebuei, Lutkea pectinata, and 

 Vaccmium tnyrtilloides. The plants growing on Sulphur 

 Mountain, so-called because of the hot sulphur springs, 

 include Primula Maccalliana, Saxifraga caespiiosa, Draba 

 nivalis, and Hutchinsia calycina. 



A SEMI-POPULAR account of light-emitting plants, by Dr. 

 C. Miiller, is published in the February number of Himmel 

 und Erde. In 1815 Heinrich recorded the observation that 

 light is evolved by the wood of certain trees, and later 

 John Heller rightly ascribed the phenomenon to fungi. 

 Hartig identified one mycelium as that of Agaricus melletts, 

 and more recently Molisch showed that the mycelium 

 of other fungi produce the same effect. The fruiting 

 bodies of Agaricus Gardneri, A. igneus, and A. olearius 

 emit light, also the Australian fungi Panus incandescens 

 and Pleurotus cancscetis. The light observed in connec- 

 tion with dead animal matter, attributable to bacteria, is 

 due in certain cases to the presence of Bacterium phos- 

 phoreum, and it is peculiar that this organism only exists 

 at temperatures below 30° C. ; other bacteria produce the 

 luminous effect in connection with marine fishes and 

 animals. The emission of light at sea has been variously 

 attributed to bacteria, Peridineje, and PyrocistefE. A dis- 

 tinctly novel idea of utilising light-emitting bacteria to 

 provide a lamp was devised by Dubois and Molisch. 



We have received from the president of the International 

 Aeronautical Committee a summary of the places at which 

 scientific kite and balloon ascents were made in the months 

 September-December, 1907, in Europe, the United States, 

 and at Helwan (Egypt). Heights of 20,000 metres and 

 upwards were reached by registering balloons at Uccle, 

 Brussels (25,990 metres on September 5), Strassburg, and 

 Pyrton Hill (Oxon). The meteorological results are not 

 stated in the summary. 



The Deutsche Seewarte has published the results of 

 meteorological observations for 1906 at the stations under 

 its control, consisting of ten stations of the second order, 

 fifty-six storm-warning stations on the coasts of Germany 

 and hourly readings at four normal observatories. These 

 results have been published in practically the same form 

 for twenty-nine years, and owing to the great care 

 bestowed upon all details connected with the service, the 

 volume is one of the most valuable annual contributions 

 to the meteorology of Europe. 



Part iii. of the year-book of the Meteorological Observa- 

 tory of Agram contains the rainfall observations made in 

 Croatia and Slavonia in the years 1903-6. In the last 

 year there were 121 observing stations; the data form an 

 important contribution to the climatology of those parts, 

 the tables are worked out in great detail, and the precipita- 

 tion is particularised by the usual international symbols. 

 'vVe note, however, that, contrary to the method obtaining 

 in this country, the values are entered to the day of 

 measurement instead of to the previous day. 



The usual annual summary of the climatology of the 

 r^ast year, based on observations made at Juvisy, appears 

 NO. 2006, VOL. 77] 



in the February number of the Bulletin de la Socim 

 astronomique de France. It is pointed out, in discussing 

 the monthly temperatures, that only on five occasions since 

 the commencement of the nineteenth century has the mean 

 temperature for the month of July been lower than it was 

 in 1907. The relation between sun-spot activity and 

 terrestrial temperature is discussed, and it is shown that 

 from 1879 until 1897 the annual temperature curve followed 

 the sun-spot curve, with a maximum in 1893. The 

 parallelism was not continued, however, during the period 

 1897 to 1900, but in 1901-2 there was a temperature 

 minimum corresponding to that of sun-spots. The sun- 

 spot maximum of 1905 was not accompanied, in these 

 latitudes, by a thermic maximum, but it is suggested the 

 excessive rain of that year, with its resulting lowering of 

 temperature, was occasioned by the excessive evaporation 

 in tropical regioi.s. 



We have received from the Danish Meteorological 

 Institute its report on the state of the ice in the Arctic 

 seas for 1907. The report is in its usual form. 



The Bulletin of the American Geographical Society for 

 January contains an article by Prof. R. De C. Ward on 

 some problems of the tropics. Prof. Ward emphasises 

 the bounty of nature in providing all the necessaries of 

 life in tropical latitudes, and the tendency for natives of 

 such climates to make no attempts to attain higher 

 civilisation. None of the energetic and enterprising 

 nations of the world has developed under the easy con- 

 ditions of life in the tropics. In considering the labour 

 problem, the marked social gulf which is certain to ensue 

 if white men attempt to develop tropical countries by aid 

 of indolent natives is discussed. The white residents con- 

 stitute a caste, and tend to become despotic, while the 

 country is governed on the standards of the temperate 

 zone. Reference is made to the tendency of Europeans 

 to become enervated in a tropical climate, and the problem 

 of tropical government is illustrated by the example of 

 British India. After briefly discussing the seats of 

 primitive civilisation, Prof. Ward directs attention to the 

 migratory movements in history from colder to warmer 

 climates, mentioning the descent of the barbarous tribes 

 of the Himalayas into India, and the invasions of Greece 

 and Rome from the north. 



An account of the earthquake of January 2, 190S, by 

 Mr. Maxwell Hall, is published in the Jamaica weather 

 report. The principal origin of this shock lay in the 

 western part of the island, near Ipswich and Appleton. 

 Rocks were thrown down in a railway cutting between 

 these towns ; many houses suffered damage in the district 

 between Falmouth and Montego Bay ; at Black River it 

 is said that goods on shelves and in windows of shops on 

 the south side of the High Street were thrown into the 

 street, but those on the north side were thrown inwards. 

 At Chapelton, Mr. Maxwell Hall reports that undulations 

 of the ground could be seen as well as felt; this observa- 

 tion is interesting, as the shock was not severe, no damage 

 was caused, and the violence, as defined by Mr. Hall, 

 corresponds to about the fifth degree of the Mercalli scale. 



In an article in a Stuttgart newspaper, the Deutsche.t 

 Volksblatt, Mr. Schips endeavours to apply recent chemical 

 theories towards elucidating the origin and formation of 

 the diamond from quartz-bearing rocks. The diamond, 

 he points out, is always associated with silicates, and one 

 of the minerals with radium emanation is ahvays present. 

 He concludes, therefore, that the diamond has been formed 

 by the influence of the emanation on silicon. 



