May 1 8, 1905 J 



NA rURE 



65 



TiiF. fact is not generally known that species of the 

 rycad Zamia can be artificially multiplied by cuttings. 

 The subject of regeneration in Zamia is treated by Dr. 

 J. M. Coulter and Mr. M. A. Chrysler in the Botanical 

 Gazette (December, 1904). As a rule, new growth proceeds 

 from meristematic tissue of the cork, but an instance is 

 mentioned in which a portion consisting only of cortex 

 gave rise to new shoots and root. 



The Department of Agriculture at Nairobi has instituted 

 a series of leaflets which should be most useful to settlers 

 in British East Africa. The first, issued in January, gives 

 the native names in different dialects for the principal crops. 

 A second provides some useful hints for cotton cultivators. 

 Egyptian seed is recommended in preference to Sea Island 

 or upland American, because, so far as experience goes, 

 It has produced heavier crops, and also because it has been 

 loss affected by unfavourable conditions of the weather. 



We have received vol. xxvii. of Aus dem Archiv der 

 deutschen Seewarte, for the year 1904. , This valuable 

 work, like its predecessors, contains some important dis- 

 cussions of meteorological and kindred subjects by well 

 known men of science. One by Dr. W. J. van Bebber, 

 entitled " Barometer and Weather," is of especial interest 

 to meteorologists. He discusses, with reference to Ham- 

 burg more particularly, the relations of barometrical con- 

 ditions to rainfall, temperature, and weather generally for 

 the year, seasons, and months, for a period of twenty-five 

 years. On this subject he brings to bear the special know- 

 ledge obtained as chief for many years of the Hamburg 

 weather forecast department. 



The Meteorological Office has issued a circular stating 

 that it will, as before, supply forecasts of weather by 

 telegraph to agriculturists during the coming harvest 

 season, at the cost of telegraphy only. These forecasts 

 are prepared each afternoon from June i to September 30, 

 except Sundays ; but in view of the suspension of agri- 

 cultural ' work on that day the office will, if required, 

 transmit special forecasts on Saturday evening, giving, in 

 very general terms, the prospects of the weather for the 

 ensuing forty-eight hours. In the last published annual 

 report of the office it is stated that many of the recipients 

 of these forecasts keep a record of the weather experienced 

 during the time the forecasts are sent, and return them to 

 the office for the purpose of checking the results. From 

 this comparison it appears that about 50 per cent, of the 

 telegrams were completely successful. 



.Messrs. Carl Zeiss, of Jena, have issued a new cata- 

 logue (in English) of their photomicrographic outfit for 

 use with ultra-violet light of wave-length o>275 ju, in addi- 

 tion to several catalogues of new ordinary microscope 

 stands. The whole of the glasses — eye-piece, objective, 

 slips and cover glasses — are of fused quartz, and the source 

 of light is supplied by the current of sparks of a Leyden 

 jar between cadmium electrodes. We notice one correc- 

 tion — dissolving power should be resolving power. 



Amsler's planimeter is so well known to mathe- 

 maticians that there is no need to direct their attention 

 to its usefulness. We have, however, just received a small 

 pamphlet by Mr. William Codd (London : E. and F. N. 

 Spon) entitled " Land Area Computation made Easy," the 

 object of which is to show non-mathematical readers how 

 simple is the process of computing areas from maps or 

 plans with this instrument. Mr. Codd has also, we learn, 

 published " land area tables " to facilitate reduction to 

 acres, roods, and perches, thereby saving the tedious calcu- 

 lations which are unnecessary in countries using the metric 

 system. 



NO. 1855. VOL. 72] 



A SERIES of observations on respiration at high altitudes 

 is described by Prof. Angelo Mosso in the Atti dei Lincei, 

 xiv. (i) 6. A special feature of these observations is the 

 effect of carbon dioxide as a remedy for mountain sick- 

 ness, a property regarding which experiments performed 

 both on human subjects and on monkeys have led to most 

 conclusive results in Prof. Mosso 's hands. It is recom- 

 mended that about S per cent, of carbon dioxide should be 

 added to the compressed oxygen carried for use in high 

 balloon ascents, as pure oxygen is not in itself sufficient 

 to remedy the effects of great barometric depressions. 



In the Transactions of the Institution of Engineers and 

 Shipbuilders in Scotland (xviii., 5), Mr. John Riekie dis- 

 cusses the various systems of compound locomotive engines, 

 and describes a new form with which he has e.xperimented. 

 In it there are two equal high-pressure cylinders and one 

 low-pressure cylinder of about i\ times the volume of the 

 combined pair. It appears to differ from the well known 

 " Webb " compound in that the crank-rods are all con- 

 nected to a single three-throw crank set at angles of 120°, 

 instead of working on the cranks of the axles of the two 

 different driving pairs. It requires no special starting 

 gear. 



The Atti of the Lincei Academy (xiv., 4) contains the 

 announcement of the foundation by the King of Italy of 

 a new international institution of agricultural studies. 

 Among the advantages likely to accrue from the establish- 

 ment of such an institution, the advancement of our know- 

 ledge of the best methods of combating against plant- 

 diseases is specially mentioned. On this latter branch of 

 study an interesting paper occurs in the same number of 

 the Atti, by Dr. Vittorio Peglion, on the pathology of 

 Euonymiis japonica. This shrub, so common in Italian 

 gardens, has been for many years subject to diseases, 

 traceable in the first place to a scale insect, and in the 

 second to a species of Oidium described by Saccardo and 

 Arcangeli under the name of Oidium evonymi-jnponicae, 

 with which the present paper deals. 



From a copy of the Corriere di Catania received from 

 the Observatory of Catania, we gather some interesting 

 particulars of the sudden eruption of Stromboli which took 

 place about four weeks ago. On April 16, at about 

 2.q p.m., a tremendous explosion as of a big cannon was 

 heard, and the whole of the eruptive portion was enveloped 

 in a ' dense black smoke. A large number of masses 

 about one metre in diameter, and other smaller ones, were 

 projected to a distance of 200 metres, and rolled down the 

 Sciara del Fuoco to the sea, raising clouds of dust in their 

 descent. Four or five minutes later there was a fall of 

 scorije, about 5 cm. in diameter, over an area 4 kilo- 

 metres long and 400 metres broad running E.N.E. 

 of the volcano, in which direction the wind was blowing. 

 A shower of ashes followed, and a quarter of an hour 

 later a slight shower of rain occurred. At the time of the 

 eruption Dr. Schulze was 300 metres to the south of the 

 eruptive cone, where he was wounded in the head and leg 

 by falling stones, fortunately not seriously. According to 

 him, the opening by which this explosion took place is m 

 the centre of the six others ; it is known as No. 4. A 

 considerable panic occurred throughout the island, and 

 many of the inhabitants declare that such an eruption has 

 never been witnessed before. 



In the Journal of the Russian Physical and Chemical 

 Society (1904, No. 4) we notice the following papers :— 

 An elaborate sketch and scientific analysis of the work, in 

 organic chemistry, of Prof. Egor Egorovitch Wagner, by 



