October 25, 1906] 



NA TURE 



649 



lichind the age, conservative in the highest degree. Science 

 has arisen and established her claim to equality. We have 

 liiiig had the Republic of Letters ; we now hail the Re- 

 jiublic of Knowledge. The ceremony of to-day bears tosti- 

 inuny to the growing power of Edinburgh L'niversity ; her 

 prominence as a teacher of one of the noblest of all pro- 

 fessions, perhaps the one in which those who practise it de- 

 vote gratuitously a greater part of Iheir time and attention 

 lh;in the members of any other profession, is not likely to be 

 lost. On the contrary, all evidence to-day leads to the oppo- 

 site conclusion. She is to remain famous for hor medical 

 school, and is now also destined to increase her reputation 

 ,is a scientific instructor through the possession of the 

 increased facilities now provided. The physical laboratory 

 ;md engineering school, which, with the cordial cooper- 

 ation of the municipal authorities, have been so ably 

 secured by the principal and the University Court, are the 

 necessary tools which will enable her to extend her work 

 in these important branches of knowledge. They mark 

 an epoch in her long career, and are to testify to future 

 generations that the officials in charge of her work in the 

 beginning of the twentieth century were alive to the duty 

 of keeping her abreast of the new knowledge, of enlarging 

 the field of her activities, and of welcoming the develop- 

 ment of tile scientific and so-called practical courses, thus 

 keeping her, true to her high mission, in the front rank 

 in all branches. I heartily congratulate the University of 

 Edinburgh upon to-day's acquisitions, from which I hope 

 are to come worthy successors of Faraday, Lockyer, 

 Becquerel, Curie, Rutherford, Rayleigh, Ramsay, 

 Mendeleeff, Kelvin, Tait, and others, to give her such 

 Tame in science as the names of Hume, Carlyle, Dugald 

 Stewart, Hamilton, Chalmers, Simpson, and others have 

 already conferred upon her in other fields of knowledge. 



c 



AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 

 OXDENSED Vegetable Milk.— Mr. T. Katayama, a 

 riter in a recent issue of the Bulletin of the Agri- 

 cultural College, Tokyo (Bulletin, College of .Agriculture, 

 'J'okyo Imperial University, vol. vii., i, April, 1906), de- 

 scribes the preparation of condensed vegetable milk, a 

 product which, though not yet in commerce, would appear 

 to have possibilities for tropical countries. The Japanese 

 prepare vegetable milk from soy beans by soaking, crush- 

 ing, and boiling in water. The liquid obtained is said to 

 be very similar in appearance to cows' milk, but it differs 

 widely in composition. The average composition of soy 

 milk is given as : — water, 92-5 per cent. ; protein, 302 per 

 cent. : fat, 2-13 per cent. ; fibre, 003 per cent. ; nitrogen- 

 free extract, i-88 per cent. ; ash, 0-41 per cent. To this 

 material Mr. Katavama added sugar and a little dipotassium 

 phosphate, the latter to prevent protein separating out ; he 

 then evaporated the mixture, and obtained a condensed 

 milk. This product is described as having a yellowish 

 colour, an agreeable taste like cows' milk, but a slight 

 iidour of beans. It is recommended for culinary purposes 

 ;is a cheap substitute for ordinary condensed milk. 



Cherry Leaf Scorch. — Mr. E. S. Salmon, mycologist at 

 the South-Eastern Agricultural College, Wye, directs atten- 

 tion (Journal, South-Eastern Agricultural College, Wye, 

 Xo. 15, July) to a danger which threatens the cherry 

 growers of Kent. For the past few years the cherry leaf 

 scorch {Gnomonia erythrostoma) has been gradually obtain- 

 ing a footing in the county. In 1901 Dr. Carruthers 

 pointed out the dangerous character of this disease, but 

 his warning, we are informed, was " wholly disregarded." 

 During the past spring Mr. Salmon visited all the districts 

 in which diseased trees were reported, and he publishes 

 a map showing that leaf scorch now occurs in many 

 orchards from Sevenoaks on the west to Selling on the 

 east, and from Tunstall on the north to Pluckley on the 

 south. It has thus already reached the borders of the 

 Sittingbourne and Faversham districts, and with the next 

 favourable season it will probably invade the valuable 

 orchards in these important cherry-growing centres. The 

 disease is easilv detected. The young leaves are infected 

 In spring, and in summer the leaves shrivel up and look 

 as if they had been scorched. They do not fall off in 

 Avinter, but persist until the following season, forming 



NO. 1930, VOL. 74] 



plague centres from which the young leaves are infected 

 as the buds open. The only thoroughly effective remedy 

 is the collection and burning of dead leaves ; it is a costly 

 process, but by this means the disease was banished by 

 Prussian fruit growers after it had devastated some of 

 their best orchards. Mr. Salmon also recommends the use 

 of Bordeaux mixture in spring to render the young leaves 

 proof against infection, and he is experimenting with this 

 mixture in orchards near Pluckley ; but he remarks that 

 unless growers cooperate in fighting the disease there is 

 little chance of getting rid of it. 



Prussic .icid in Fodder Plants. — In vol. i., part iii., of 

 the Agricultural Journal of India, Dr. J. W. Leather gives 

 some particulars about the occurrence of prussic acid in 

 fodder plants. It is well known to the Indian ryot that a 

 feed of green jowari (jlndropogon Sorghum) occasionally 

 proves fatal to cattle, while in recent years stock-owners 

 in this country have now and again been startled by cases 

 of poisoning arising from the use of imported beans. It 

 is only within the past year or two that the cause of such 

 mysterious cases of poisoning has been explained. Certain 

 plants contain glucosides which, when acted upon bv a 

 particular enzyme, produce prussic acid. Of such plants 

 Dr. Leather mentions, in addition to .Andropogon, flax, the 

 two common beans Dolichos lablab or val and Phaseolus 

 lunatus, the Rangoon bean, and the tapioca plant. The fer- 

 ment is present in the plant, but, except conditions favour- 

 able to its activity occur, no prussic acid is formed. Hence 

 it happens that a food, which is usually quite wholesome, 

 may suddenly develop poisonous qualities. Dr. Leather 

 analysed some green jowari, which had been fed to cattle 

 with fatal results, and found in it 1-25 grains of prussic 

 acid per lb. of green fodder. Analysing the same crop a 

 month later, he found that the poison had diminished to 

 075 grain. This is in accordance with the ryot's experi- 

 ence ; he is most afraid of young jowari. The leaves 

 were found to contain much more prussic acid than the 

 stalks, and ten times as much as the inflorescence. 



.Artificial Manures for India. — In connection with the 

 possible introduction of a sulphuric acid industry into 

 India, Mr. F. G. Sly, I.C.S., contributes a note on mineral 

 fertilisers to the .Agricultural Journal of India. He quotes 

 experiments which show that soluble phosphatic manures 

 would be of great value in Bengal, and he indicates that 

 a demand for such manures may arise in India before very 

 long. The native sources of mineral phosphates are not 

 particularlv promising, but it is suggested that Christmas 

 Island phosphate, which can be landed in Calcutta for 

 about 505. per ton, would supply suitable raw material 

 for the Indian manufacturer of superphosphate of lime. 



Agriculture in Egypt. — The bi-monthly Journal of the 

 Khedivial Agricultural Society of Egypt has given place 

 to a vear-book, and if subsequent issues maintain the 

 promise of the first number former readers of the journal 

 will appreciate the change. The first (iqos) volume of the 

 new vear-book, which has recently reached us, is a well- 

 printed, well-illustrated royal octavo book of 277 pages. It 

 comprises two sections, the first contributed by officers of 

 the society, the second by members of the staff of the 

 Khedivial School of -Agriculture. The greater part of the 

 volume is devoted to the cotton crop. The first paper, by 

 Mr. F. C. Willcocks, deals in detail with the cotton-worm, 

 the larva of the moth Prodenia littoralis, which appeared 

 in Egvpt about forty years ago, and for thirty years has 

 done serious damage. The Government has now adopted 

 stringent measures in the hope of ridding Egypt of this 

 plague. .All cultivators are required to notify its appear- 

 ance, and to collect and destroy the eggs at once. The 

 larva damages the plant chiefly by feeding on the under- 

 surfaces of the leaves, but it also attacks the buds and 

 voung bolls. This insect is very prolific, and there may be 

 seven generations in a season. In a second paper Mr. 

 Willcocks gives a very complete account of the cotton boll- 

 worm Earias insulana, which is the destructive boll-worm 

 of Egvpt as well as of India. For this pest no effective 

 remedv has yet been found. The cotton cut-worm .4,^ro(is 

 ypsilon Is also described and figured. The secretary of the 

 society, Mr. G. P. Foaden, writes a general article on the 

 selection of cotton seed, and directs attention to the 

 methods in use in the United States of .America. Of the 



