3/6 



NA TURE 



[January 28, 1909 



account of three Chinese brains in the museum of the 

 Royal College of Surgeons. Special interest attaches to 

 the model of the kitten's brain on account of the fact 

 that very few such models illustrating the early stages 

 of mammalian cerebral development have hitherto been pre- 

 pared. It is noteworthy that this brain presents a striking 

 resemblance to that of the human foetus at the third 

 month. 



We are indebted to Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell for certain 

 desirable corrections in a note published in Nature for 

 November 12, 1908, on Jiis article in the American 

 Naturalist for September of the same year on the Miocene 

 fresh-water beds of Florissant, Colorado. He points out 

 that it is the genus Trichophanes, and not the Florissant 

 representative thereof, tliat was first described from 

 Nevada. Also, it is the e.xisting genus Percopsis, and not 

 Trichophanes (which is solely Miocene), that lived in open 

 glacial water during the Florissant period. In place of 

 expressing a definite opinion on the bearing of the 

 Florissant fauna and flora on the problem of a former 

 connection between the southern continents, the author 

 leaves the question open. We may take this opportunit\ 

 of mentioning that a case containing a representative 

 series of the Florissant fossils was recently placed on 

 exhibition in the reptile gallery of the geological depart- 

 ment of the Natural History Museum. 



An illustrated paper, read at the Ipswich Conference of 

 1908, on the history of the museum at Ipswich, by the 

 curator of that institution, forms the opening article of 

 the Museums Journal for December last. This is one of 

 the few local museums established in the eighteenth 

 century, dating from 1791, when the Rev. William Kirby, 

 the well-known entomologist, was granted the use of a 

 room in the Town Hall as a museum. From this humble 

 beginning the present institution, with its invaluable collec- 

 tion of Crag vertebrates, has been gradually evolved. A 

 great impetus was given in 1846 by a member of the 

 local firm of Ransomes and Sims, when a special build- 

 ing was erected ; another advance was made in 1868, when 

 the erection was enlarged, while in 1881 the present hand- 

 some building was opened to the public. It is mainly to 

 the energy of the late Prof. Henslow that Ipswich owes 

 its collection of phosphatic nodules containing vertebrate 

 remains from the Crag. 



.'\t the Physiological Laboratory, London University, 

 South Kensington, the opening lecture of the year was 

 delivered by the director, Dr. A. D. Waller, F.R.S., on 

 January 10, the Vice-Chancellor, Sir William J. Collins 

 presiding. Dr. Waller took as his subject the positive 

 and negative phenomena attendant upon the activity of 

 living matter, as illustrated by the electrical phenomena 

 aroused in the retina by light. He showed experiments 

 demonstrating the double effect of light upon the retina, 

 and demonstrated similar currents in response to electrical 

 stimuli. Experiments on nerve were shown in illustration 

 of the same principle, and the effect of aneesthetics at 

 definite percentage was demonstrated with the aid of Dr. 

 Waller's chloroform balance. The effect upon muscle of 

 anaesthetics in solution was demonstrated as a lantern 

 experiment, the physiological equivalence brought out by 

 this method being that one molecule of chloroform is 

 physiologically equivalent to ten molecules of ether and to 

 100 molecules of alcohol. This method is also convenient 

 for the physiological standardisation of drugs. The Vice- 

 Chancellor, Sir William J. Collins, spoke of the laboratory 

 as fulfilling in one subject, physiology, the general aim of 



NO. 2048, VOL. 79] 



the University, since its re-constitution, to become a scat 

 of learning, to bring to a focus at the headquarters of the 

 University the knowledge and talents of the distinguished 

 men in the many colleges of the metropolis, and con- 

 gratulated Dr. Waller on the success that had attended 

 his efforts during the last seven years. The Vice- 

 Chancellor referred to the liberal donors who had supported 

 the work financially, Sir Walter Palmer and Mr. George 

 and Mr. Alfred Palmer at the University, South Kensing- 

 ton, and Dr. Ludwig Mond and Dr. Plimmer at the 

 University, University College. 



In connection with the proposed utilisation of the river 

 Tuolumne, flowing through part of the famous Vosemitc 

 National Park, California, as the source of a water-supply 

 for San Francisco, Mr. J. Muir contributes a short articU- 

 to the Century Magazine (January) on this valley, the 

 Iletchy-Hetchy. It is not difficult to understand that this 

 is the home of magnificent specimens of California live- 

 oak and white pine, below which the ground is tufted 

 " with ceanothus and manzanita bushes, azalea and brier- 

 rose." Fortunately, the conversion of a valley into a 

 water-reservoir does not necessitate the annihilation of 

 natural scenery, and this article will serve its purpose if 

 such a disaster is averted. 



Ax investigation of the nuclear changes during the first 

 division in the pollen mother-cell of species of CEnothera, 

 undertaken by Mr. R. R. Gates to look for an explana- 

 tion of the hybrid and mutant formation in the genus, is 

 described in the Botanical Gazette (July, 1908). The early 

 stages of the first heterotypic division appear to favour the 

 end-to-end rather than the lateral union of homologous 

 chromosomes. It was observed that frequently pairing of 

 the chromosomes on the nuclear spindle fails to take place, 

 with the result that two chromosomes of a pair proceed 

 to the same instead of to opposite poles, and so enter the 

 same daughter nucleus. If the chromosomes are trans- 

 mitters of definite characters, one nucleus would then be 

 lacking in a certain character, and thus a hypothesis may 

 be deduced for explaining the peculiarities noted. 



The recently published number of the Transactions of 

 the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society (vol. xxii., 

 part i.) contains the report of a lecture by Sir Herbert 

 Maxwell on the need for scientific management and 

 extension of the forests in the United Kingdom. He points 

 out that the proportion of woodland to the total area is 

 about 4 per cent., less than in any other European country, 

 and that the existing woods are a source of great expense 

 instead of producing revenue. It is instructive to contrast 

 with this an article on the Zurich woods by Mr. F. Story. 

 These date back to the fourteenth century, and yield a 

 good annual profit. Beech forms the bulk of the hard- 

 wood forest ; sycamore and ash come next in importance, 

 while oak is practically disregarded ; spruce is the most 

 valued conifer. Within modern times a saw-mill and 

 turnery, also apparatus for drying and impregnating 

 timber, have been introduced. 



In a memorandum on the meteorology of India during 

 October and November, 1908, Dr. G. T. Walker, director- 

 general of observatories, discusses in detail the conditions 

 likely to affect the precipitation of January and February. 

 From present data and from experience gained from the 

 indications of previous years, the inference drawn is that 

 it is " probable that the amount of rainfall in northern 

 India and of snowfall on the neighbouring mountain areas 

 will, at any rate during the earlier part of the season, 

 approximate closely to the average." 



