6i4 



NA TURE 



[April 30, 1908 



electric lighting. The principal conclusions are that, owing 

 to the better ventilation obtained by gas, the products of 

 combustion are not present in the air in anything like the 

 proportion that might be expected, the teinperature and 

 humidity in an occupied room being no greater than when 

 the room is lighted with electric light ; that carbonic acid 

 has not the injurious effects formerly attributed to it ; and 

 that products — heat, carbonic acid, and moisture — are 

 derived from the inmates more than from the illuminant. 



The work of improving the sugar-cane is still going on 

 at Barbadoes, and the results obtained during the season 

 1905-7 are recorded in a publication recently issued by the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West Indifs. 

 One of the new canes yielded as much as 2000 pounds of 

 saccharose per acre more than was obtained from the 

 ordinary White Transparent ; it is obvious that differences 

 of this kind are of prime importance to the sugar planter. 

 Manurial experiments are also recorded; these are intended 

 to find profitable combinations of manures. One result is 

 rather interesting ; nitrate of soda gave a larger yield of 

 sugar than sulphate of ammonia, although the latter is 

 commonly preferred in the West Indies. 



In the Indian Forester (February) prominence is given 

 to an article by Prof. M. Henry on forests and rainfall. 

 A theoretical discussion of the argument that the atmo- 

 sphere contains more moisture in the neighbourhood of 

 forests is clinched by the observation of an oflficer of 

 engineers that a balloon will descend when passing over 

 an extensive wooded area. It is also indicated how 

 forests increase the rainfall of a locality and help to 

 augment the supply of water from springs. A native 

 apparatus for distilling camphor oil from the leaves of 

 Cinnamoinum Tamala is illustrated by Mr. B. Gopaliah. 



The sixth number of the Quarterly Journal of the Liver- 

 pool Institute of Commercial Research in the Tropics 

 (January) has been received. Dr. E. Drabble contributes 

 several short articles on West African oil seeds, dealing 

 with Carapa procera, Poga oleosa, Irvingia gabonensis, 

 the source of Dika butter, and ScyphoccphaJium Kombo ; 

 also a comparison of the barks of the red {Rhizophora 

 mangle) and the white mangroves (Lagunctilaria racemosa) 

 from the same region. Mr. R. Newstead furnishes the 

 identifications and descriptions of several coccids infesting 

 plants in Madagascar, among them being the gum-lac 

 insect, Gascardia madagascariensis, that is allied to Cero- 

 plastes, but is very different from Tachardia, the Indian 

 lac insect. In connection with analyses of latex from 

 Ficus Vogelii, Dr. D. Spence directs attention to the high 

 percentage of magnesium and chlorides contained, as com- 

 pared with the l.-itex of Hevea or Funtumia, in which 

 phosphates are largely present, while chlorides are almost 

 absent. 



A SECOND paper dealing with the fern genus Nephrodium 

 is communicated by Mr. S. Yamanouchi to the March 

 number of the Botanical Gazette. It is concerned with 

 spermatogenesis, oogenesis, and fertilisation in the genus 

 as e.xemplified in the species Nephrodium molle. The 

 author obtained a very complete set of stages in the 

 ■development of the spermatozoid. Blepharoplasts, arising 

 in the cytoplasm, were observed in the sperm mother cell. 

 The important modification of this body occurs in tlie 

 sperm cell when it flattens out above the nucleus, becomes 

 band-sliaped, and finally wedge-shaped, with the narrow 

 end joined to the nucleus. Thus the anterior part of the 

 sperm is formed from the blepharoplast. The develop- 

 ment of the ovum is normal ; in fertilisation the sperm 

 XO. 2009, VOL. 77] 



remains unchanged for a period after entering the egg 

 nucleus, but eventually disintegrates with the formation 

 of a reticular structure, and mixes with the egg nucleus. 



Bulletin No. 14 of the Edinburgh and East of Scotland 

 College of Agricultvn-e contains a detailed statement of 

 the yield of milk and the percentage of fat therein obtained 

 from a herd of twenty-seven cows. The fact that cows 

 vary considerably in their milk yield is clearly brought 

 out, and farmers are urged to keep systematic records of 

 each cow's yield in order to improve the general standard 

 by eliminating the poor ones. 



No. 6 of the Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture 

 in India deals with the movements of water in the soil. 

 Perhaps no subject is of more importance to the agri- 

 culturist, or so little investigated in Great Britain and the 

 British dependencies. Dr. Leather furnishes an interest- 

 ing set of measurements which will prove of great value 

 if they succeed in attracting some competent physicist to 

 direct his attention to the numerous physical problems 

 awaiting investigation in agricultural science. 



The February number of the Agricultural Journal of 

 the Cape of Good Hope contains a report on the suitability 

 of various South African fibre plants for paper-making. 

 Four materials are discussed, matjesgoed fibre, palmiet 

 fibre, papkuil fibre, and bamboo ; samples of the first three 

 sent over to the South African Products Exhibition in 

 London yielded pulp valued at 61. or yl. per ton, wliilst 

 bamboo pulp is valued at gJ. to loZ. In view of the 

 abundance of fibre material in Cape Colony for which no 

 use at present exists, the possibility of preparing pulp on 

 the spot, and either exporting it or making it into paper,' 

 seems worthy of very careful consideration. 



A NEW' national forest, named the Verde, and consist- 

 ing of 721,780 acres, has just been created, says the 

 Scientific American, in Maricopa and Yavapai counties, 

 Arizona. The forest lies on the west side of the Verde 

 River, and constitutes a great part of its watershed. Most 

 of the reserve is covered with brush that has no com- 

 mercial value, but a small part has merchantable timber 

 on it. The protection of the brush-grown area is just as 

 important as that of heavily forested land, the scrub being 

 the only thing that conserves the water and saves the 

 watershed of the Verde River from erosion. 



In the Mittcilungen from German protectorates (vol. 

 xxi., part i.). Dr. P. Heidke continues the discussion of 

 meteorological observations made at Windhuk (Soulh- 

 West Africa) ^or the year ending June, 1906, commenced 

 in the previous volume of this publication, dealing with 

 the daily range of air-pressure and temperature and with 

 their harmonic constituents. The effect of the continental 

 climate is well shown in the small night minimum and 

 evening maximum of pressure, as compared with the large 

 morning maximum and afternoon minimum. The same 

 number contains a valuable compilation, also by Dr. 

 Heidke, of the monthly and yearly results, together with 

 harmonic constituents, for twenty-five stations in the East 

 African Protectorate, for the years 1903-4, deduced from 

 tri-daily observations. References are also given to the 

 periodicals in which the observations for previous years 

 are published. 



It is stated in Engineering of April 24 that H.M.S. 

 Tartar, the turbine topedo-boat destroyer, has satisfactorily 

 undergone a very severe series of trials, and has been 

 taken into commission. The Tartar is the fastest warship 

 afioat, its speed on the ofKcial trials being 35-672 knots as 

 a mean of six runs. During six hours' run the mean 

 speed proved to be 35-363 knots, while the fastest run was 



