NATURE 



[April 17, 19 13 



particular species or groups of kindred species of 

 hosts, the author directs attention to the remarkable 

 fact that certain kinds of these lice are to be found 

 on hosts completely sundered from one another by 

 geographical barriers. The European and the 

 American avocets have, for example, two species in 

 common, while the Old World and New World bit- 

 terns have one. To explain this the author suggests 

 that the parasitic species has been handed down prac- 

 ticallv unchanged to its present hosts from their 

 common ancestor, and consequently that the species 

 of bird-lice are much older than the birds they infest. 



In a report on wheat experiments in the United 

 Provinces (Bull. 32, 1912, Agricultural Research In- 

 stitute, Pusa), Mr. H. Martin Leake and Ram Prasad 

 direct attention to the high yields often obtained. 

 Whereas the average outturn of grain per acre for the 

 Fatehpur area is given as 1250 lb. for irrigated, and 

 600 lb. for non-irrigated land, yields of 1700 to 

 2000 lb. were often obtained in these experiments, 

 whilst a yield of 2200 to 2400 lb. may be expected 

 under favourable conditions. These relatively high 

 returns are not attributable to the use of manures 

 or to rich soil, but are probably due to the adoption 

 of hot-weather cultivation. Actual experiments show 

 the value of this practice and indicate it to be cumula- 

 tive in effect. 



An interesting account of experiments on the utilisa- 

 tion of pasteurised milk for Cheddar cheese-making 

 has been published by Messrs. J. L. Sammis and 

 A. T. Bruhn (Research Bulletin 27, Univ. Wisconsin 

 Agric. Exp. Stat.). In practice, the processes of 

 cheese-making have been subject to daily variation 

 on account of qualitative and quantitative differences 

 in the initial bacterial flora of the milk, and the 

 resulting product has varied accordingly. The above 

 investigators have now devised a method by means of 

 which these initial differences are eliminated. The 

 milk is first pasteurised at 160 to 165 F., whereby 

 about 99 per cent, of the bacteria are killed ; the 

 reaction of the milk is then corrected, by the addition 

 of hydrochloric acid, to 025 per cent, acidity (stated 

 as lactic acid) ; a pure culture of lactic acid bacteria 

 is added, and all subsequent processes can be carried 

 out according to a time schedule. It is also claimed 

 that the quality of the product is more uniform than 

 that of cheese produced by the ordinary method ; the 

 cheese may be safely stored at high temperatures ; the 

 losses of fat are lower, and the average yield is higher 

 than under ordinary conditions. In addition to pro- 

 viding a means of destroying pathogenic organisms 

 contained in the milk, the method may prove of value 

 in connection with research on the processes of cheese- 

 ripening. 



An article by Mr. N. Mori, on the formation of 

 "tree-frost" in northern Japan, appears in the 

 February issue of the Journal of the Meteorological 

 Society of Japan. The author distinguishes this from 

 hoar-frost, which is formed at or about freezing-point, 

 observing that "tree-frost" — which appears on various 

 objects, but principally upon the branches of trees — 

 follows on early morning mist and a temperature of 

 NO. 22(58, VOL. 91] 



from 10° to 30 below freezing-point. In appearance 

 "tree-frost" is quite different from hoar-frost, re- 

 sembling white blooms. The author regards the 

 phenomenon as due to the direct freezing on to the 

 tree-branches of the minute watery particles of mist 

 formed at a temperature below freezing-point. Mr. R. 

 Hirano, of the Tadotsu Meteorological Station, has an 

 article on shignre, or drizzling rain, in which he seeks 

 to draw scientific deductions from references to the 

 subject in Japanese poetry ranging over a period of 

 more than a thousand years. Among other matters 

 of interest is an account, by Baron Yoshida, of a 

 cloud pillar observed in Kaga province, on the Japan 

 Sea coast, on the afternoon of December 25, 1912. 

 Snow had been falling and covered the ground to a 

 depth of 4 or s in., but had ceased, and the sky was 

 clear, with the exception of some cumulo-stratus 

 clouds. Among them a curious ash-white cloud made 

 its appearance, and from this suddenly was seen to 

 rise a whirling column, which moved off in a northerly 

 direction. A smaller column was formed in its rear 

 and followed it at an equal distance. Both columns 

 vanished in about eight minutes, the smaller being 

 the first to disappear. 



In the issue of Nature for July 28, 1910 (vol. lxxxiv., 

 p. 118), attention was directed to the method of treat- 

 ing storage cells seriously reduced in capacity by 

 sulphating, which had been used with great success 

 by Mr. J. O. Hamilton, of the Kansas State College. 

 At a recent meeting of the American Electrochemical 

 Society, Messrs. C. W. Bennett and D. S. Cole, of 

 the electrical engineering department of Cornell Uni- 

 versity, described the results of applying a similar 

 method to the college batter}' of fifty-two cells, which, 

 owing to sulphating, had a capacity of only 30 instead 

 of its rated capacity of 60 ampere hours. The acid 

 was removed from the cells and replaced by a 10 . er 

 cent, solution of pure sodium sulphate. The battery 

 was then charged for 53 hours, and the plates 

 removed, washed, and replaced in their proper acid. 

 The capacity was found to be increased to 58 ampere 

 hours, and the total cost of the treatment worked out 

 at \od. per cell. An abstract of Messrs. Bennett and 

 Cole's communication will be found in "the Electrician 

 for March 28. 



The Journal of the Franklin Instill ': for March 

 contains an article by Mr. H. T. Herr, of the Westing- 

 house Machine Company, on recent developments in 

 steam turbines. This articje gives an excellent 

 account, with drawings, of the present turbine prac- 

 tice of the Westinghouse Company. The author 

 states that scarcely any turbine of anybody's make 

 ever gave trouble due to blades breaking or coming 

 out because of centrifugal force. Breakages are 

 accounted for by vibrations, and until lashing of the 

 longer blades was resorted to, breaking was caused 

 by individual vibration. The lashing, or shrouding, 

 must not be continuous, as provision for unequal ex- 

 pansion due to heating must be taken account of; 

 hence, all lashed blades must be arranged in seg- 

 ments not exceeding 2 ft. for large diameters. These 

 segments may vibrate as a whole, but the lashing 

 has the effect of increasing the frequency and 



