January 9, 1902] 



NATURE 



importance than the absolute correctness of the name from a 

 " priority " point of view. 



In Publication No. 56 of the Field Columbian Museum Dr. 

 G. A. Dorsey describes the results of a fortnight's digging in 

 the island of La Plata, Ecuador. It seems probable that for 

 a very long period the island was visited by people from the 

 mainland for ceremonial purposes, as none of the pottery ap- 

 pears to have had any utilitarian use, practically all being of 

 the nature of images of the human form ranging in height 

 from six to twenty inches, and most of them were provided 

 with whistles. There were found numerous engraved and 

 plain rectangular and circular discs and other problematical 

 objects. In a tongue of detrital soil near the shore was found a 

 grave which, from its contents, belonged to another occupation 

 of the island, and there can be little doubt that invaders fiom 

 Peru previous to the Spanish conquest were buried in this little 

 island so remote from their home. In the grave excavated by 

 Dr. Dorsey were found two gold human figures, one of silver, 

 one of bronze and one of copper, besides a gold cup and several 

 objects in gold, silver and copper, twelve earthenware vessels 

 and a magnificent ceremonial highly polished stone axe, igi 

 inches long and less than three-quarters of an inch thick, which 

 may be considered as one of the most remarkable stone imple- 

 ments ever found. The paper is illustrated with sixty-three 

 excellent plates and several figures. The letterpress is excep- 

 tionally condensed ; a little more amplification would have been 

 an improvement, and the sizes of the objects should have been 

 given. .\n English observer fails to see why what appears to be 

 a very evident alligator which surmounts a fragment of a human 

 head in pottery should be termed a " serpent head-dress." The 

 prominent valvular nostrils, the character of the eye, the keeled 

 dorsal scutes and the limbs are essentially crocodilian, as is also 

 the prominent lateral tooth in the upper and lower jaw ; the 

 latter cannot be the " projectile fangs of a serpent." 



At a recent meeting of the Linnean Society, Prof. S. H. 

 \ines gave the results of his recent investigations of the proteo- 

 Ij-tic enzymes of plants, especially that of the pitchers of 

 Nepenthes. The application of a chemical test — the pink or 

 \-ioIet colour produced by the addition of chlorine water — 

 shows that the enzyme in Nepenthes is tryptic, and not peptic ; 

 and this is probably the case with all ferments found in the 

 vegetable kingdom. Prof. Vines proposes the term nepenthin 

 for the ferment of Nepenthes. 



THEy»»r«a/of the Royal Microscopical Society for December, 

 igoi, contains the usual annual list of new biological terms 

 (zoology and botany) introduced during the year. In the 

 Transactions of the .Society is a paper by Miss A. Lorrain 

 Smith, on work carried on in the laboratory of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society, on fungi found on farm seeds when 

 tested for germination. .\ new genus of fungi, Stemphyli- 

 opsis, is described. 



The bulky part of the Journal of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society for December contains a full report of the Lily conference 

 held in the Gardens at Chiswick on July 16, 1901. The wide 

 spread of the lily-cult is shown by the fact that at that meeting no 

 fewer than eighteen papers were read, on the culture of lilies, 

 their species and varieties, their diseases, &c. The most im- 

 portant original paper in this number is one by Sir James 

 BIyth, on vine culture as exemplified at the Paris Exhibition. 



The Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West 

 Indies has just published pamphlet series Nos. I2 and 13. The 

 former, "Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 

 1900- 1901," is a summary of the report on sugar-cane experi- 

 ments conducted at Antigua and St. Kitts recently noted here. 

 NO. 1680, VOL. 65] 



The other, " Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, 1901," is a 

 summary of an address delivered to the Barbados Agricultural 

 Society by Prof. D' Albuquerque and Mr. Bovell, giving the 

 results of the experimental cultivation of selected canes during 

 last year. In the earlier stages of the experiments the weather 

 seems to have been all that could be desired, and things looked 

 so promising that a bumper crop was predicted ; but at the 

 critical moment, when good rains were essential for the complete 

 fulfilment of the prediction, an all but universal drought settled 

 down on the island and lasted until the canes were reaped. When 

 the harvest time arrived the wind dropped so light that the wind- 

 mills could not be worked. Thecanes were therefore growing long 

 after they ripened, and when cut they were often standing some 

 days at the mill door waiting for the wind to crush them. This 

 combination of adverse weather had much to do with the poor 

 quality of sugar that in many instances was turned out for sale. 

 Seedling B. 208 proved the best all-round cane, the indicated 

 muscovado sugar yield being 26 tons per .acre (being second in 

 1900 with 3-02 tons). White Transparent was second with 

 2-5 tons (in 1900 it was eighth with 2-41 tons), and B. 147 

 third with 2-4 tons (in 1900 first, with 3-1 tons). B. 156, 

 B. 306, B. 347 and Rock Hall cane produced impure juice and 

 D. 130 and D. 145 yielded such a small tonnage of canes that 

 their further experimental cultivation is undesirable. 



Messrs, Penrose .\nd Co. have sent us a copy of their new, 

 strongly bound and most luxurious catalogue of their apparatus 

 and supplies, which contains particulars of almost every appliance 

 or material known to be used in photomechanical processes, 

 and is the most complete catalogue of process appliances with 

 which we are acquainted. The book, which consists of 272 

 pages of matter printed on excellent paper, contains also 

 750 illustrations, many of which are by the half-tone process, 

 and there are also 1260 references in the index. It may be 

 added that the catalogue is supplied free of charge to regular 

 customers and will be sent to prospective customers on receipt 

 of half a crown, which will be refunded on the first order for 

 goods to the value of one pound or upwards. 



A v.^LUAiu.E collection of books and tracts on pure mathe- 

 matics exists in the Central Library, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and 

 the catalogue prepared by Mr. Basil Anderton, chief librarian, 

 and just issued by the Newcastle Public Libraries Committee, 

 should be the means of making the collection more widely 

 known than it is. Only works on purely mathematical problems 

 are included, but the extent of the collection may be judged by 

 the fact that the titles of such books and tracts in the reference 

 library occupy forty-five closely printed quarto pages. The 

 works are arranged alphabetically according to authors, and, so 

 far as possible, related writings by the same author have been 

 brought together. The committee of the Library is anxious 

 that the books should be abundantly used, and the catalogue 

 has been issued with this end in view. 



The Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1900 

 was received a few days ago, and, like the reports of previous 

 years, it is a volume which commands admiration. The account, 

 given by Dr. S. P. Langley, of the position and progress of the 

 Institution occupies 117 pages and is naturally of restricted 

 interest ; but following it are no less than forty-three papers, 

 occupying 643 pages, with numerous plates, selected from the 

 scientific publications of the year because of their importance in 

 illustrating directions of scientific thought, and containing trust- 

 worthy accounts of progress in physical and biological discovery. 

 It is scarcely too much to say that every subject in which the 

 world of science is interested finds its way in the course of time 

 into Dr. Langley's comprehensive repertory. The articles which 

 are reprinted or translated are chiefly by men of science of first 



