January 14, 1909] 



NA TURE 



2>^1 



to the Pacific Steamship Company, equipped with the 

 Massic system. There appears to be only one vessel on 

 the Pacific carrying wireless apparatus. Other vessels are 

 said to be in course of equipment, and the wireless weather 

 service on that coast, in view of its supreme importance in 

 the matter of local forecasting, is to be prosecuted with 

 vigour. The wireless telegraphic weather service and code 

 have also been adopted by the U.S. Navy Department, and 

 all vessels of the U.S. Navy are instructed to transmit the 

 daily weather despatch while at sea. The wireless tele- 

 graphic stations controlled by the Navy Department arc 

 also required to receive weather messages from merchant 

 vessels and to transmit them to the Bureau, likewise to 

 dispatch the weather forecasts and storm warnings issued 

 by the Bureau to vessels at sea demanding them, free of 

 cost. The total number of wireless weather reports re- 

 ceived during 1907 from vessels at sea was 738. Of this 

 number, 679 were from Transatlantic liners distributed 

 along the route between Sandy Hook and longitude 44° 

 west. 



Recently, Indiana University came into possession of a 

 farm of about 180 acres, celebrated for its natural beauty 

 and for the possession of a subterranean stream, which 

 conies to the surface in two places before finally emerging 

 from the base of a cliff in one of the most picturesque 

 cave-entrances in America. Of the fauna of this tract a 

 comprehensive account is given by Mr. W. L. Hahn in 

 No. 1655 of the Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, 

 the most interesting element in this being formed by the 

 denizens of the caves and underground stream. 



In its report for the year ending on September 30 last, 

 the committee of the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery 

 refer to the visit to that institution paid by their Majesties 

 the King and Queen on the occasion of their coming to 

 the city to open the Royal Edward Dock at Avonmouth. 

 Lady Smyth, widow of Sir Grcville Smyth, of Ashton 

 Court, contributed during the year a munificent donation 

 for the purpose of fitting up a room for the display of the 

 collection of invertebrates made by her late husband and 

 presented by herself, this chamber to be called the " Greville 

 Smyth Room." 



The heronries of Lincolnshire and Somersetshire form 

 the subject of an article by the Rev. F. L. Blathwayt in 

 the Zoolo!;ist for Deceinber, 1908. Formerly the south- 

 eastern portion of Lincolnshire was renowned for the 

 number of its heronries, which included those of Leake 

 (near Boston), Spalding, Donington, and Cressy Hall, all 

 of which are now extinct. The Leake heronry occupied a 

 very large tree, which was literally covered with nests, 

 until it was felled about the year 1830; while the Cressy 

 heronry, which was described by Pennant in 1769, con- 

 tained some eighty nests. At the present day only five 

 heronries in the county are known to the writer, the 

 largest of which is reported to contain twenty pairs of 

 birds. 



The Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology 

 for November, 1908 (vol. xviii.. No. 5), contains an English 

 translation of a masterly address delivered before the 

 third congress for experimental psychology by Dr. Lud- 

 w-ig Edinger, on the relations of comparative anatomy to 

 comparative psychology. Great results, it is urged, would 

 ensue if these two sciences were practically studied 

 together, as is demonstrated by what has been already 

 accomplished whenever such a union has taken place. 

 The author lays great stress, from a psychological point 

 of view, on dividing the brain into a " palasencephalon " 

 NO. 2046, VOL, 79] 



and a " neencephalon," the latter comprising the hemi- 

 spheres, and the former all the remainder of the structure. 

 The palseencephalon is alone present in bony fishes, and 

 since in all vertebrates a totally different (neencephalic) 

 type of activities makes its appearance, the importance 

 of a close psychological study of fishes is self-evident. Not 

 only all the activities commonly termed reflex, but all 

 instincts are localised in the palreencephalon, as is demon- 

 strated by the fact that flight when surprised, migrations, 

 nest-building, courtship, and many other activities are 

 noticeable in the bony fishes. With the appearance of the 

 neencephalon the behaviour of the animal undergoes a 

 complete change. Soinething has been done in assigning 

 their proper functions to the various divisions of the brain, 

 but a vast amount of work still remains to be accomplished 

 in this field ; such investigations must, however, be carried 

 on both anatomically and psychologically at the same 

 time, when observations on the living animal are impos- 

 sible, if any good result is to accrue. 



In the December (1908) number of the Bio-Chemical 

 Journal (iii.. No. 10) Prof. Moore discusses the question 

 of variation of the amount of free hydrochloric acid of the 

 gastric contents in cancer, particularly in relation to some 

 recent criticisms of his results, and maintains that, gener- 

 ally, the free hj'drochloric acid of the gastric contents is 

 diminished in cancer cases, no matter in what part of the 

 body the disease is situated. 



In the Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital for 

 December, 1908 (xix., No. 213), Mr. Victor Bloede dis- 

 cusses a comprehensive scheme for dealing with tubercu- 

 losis. It contemplates the combined and simultaneous 

 operation of four agencies, each indispensable in itself : — 

 (i) the dispensary where the cases are investigated, 

 diagnosed, and classified ; (2) the hospital for advanced 

 cases ; (3) the sanatorium for incipient cases ; (4) the farm 

 colony for the after-treatment of arrested cases, where 

 the patients receive further benefit to their health and are 

 gradually restored to the rank of self-respecting workers, 

 as well as contributing something to the upkeep of the 

 institutions. 



We have been favoured with a copy of the exchange list 

 of seeds of hardy herbaceous plants and of trees and 

 shrubs issued by the director of Kew Gardens as Appen- 

 dix I. to the Ketv Bulletin of the current year. 



It is noted in the report for 1907-8 on the botanic 

 station, Montserrat, that the cultivation of cotton on the- 

 island is malcing very favourable progress, as the out- 

 turn was double that of the previous year. Of various 

 experiments carried out by the curator, Mr. Robson, the 

 one most generally interesting was intended to ascertain 

 whether the clean and fuzzy cotton seeds produced plants 

 true to type ; such was found generally to be the case, 

 and fortunately so to a larger extent in the case of the 

 fuzzy seed that is associated with the better qualitv of 

 lint. 



There is a conflict of opinion regarding the value of 

 the special bacterial cultures that have been introduced 

 with the view of increasing the nodule formation, and. 

 therefore the productiveness, of leguminous plants. Ex- 

 periments with nitro-bactrine, carried out at the Royal 

 Horticultural Society's Gardens, and described in the 

 Journal (vol. xxxiv., part ii.) by Mr. F. J. Chittenden, are 

 decidedly adverse. Trials were made with inoculated soil 

 and inoculated seed both on untreated and manured soil ; 

 but despite the fact that the soil is naturally lean, and' 

 therefore, it would be supposed, specially suitable for inocu- 



