June 15, 1905] 



NA TURE 



157 



We have received the year-book for iqo5 of the 

 Livingstone College, which gives interesting details of the 

 past year's work, experiences of past students from the 

 mission fields in all parts of the world, and a few hints 

 on risks to health in the tropics and how to avoid them. 



TriE Journal of the Royal Sanitary Institute (vol. xxvi.. 

 No. 5, June) contains notes on minimum sanitary require- 

 ments for building bye laws by Mr. Searles Wood, on 

 isolation hospitals by Dr. Davies, a lecture on canned foods 

 by Prof. Kenwood, and other interesting papers, reviews, 

 and notes. 



The Sitziingsberichte der kaiserl. Akad. der IWsscn- 

 scliaftcn (Wien, Bd. cxiii., Heft viii. and ix., .Abt. iii.) 

 contains a paper by V. L. Neumeyer on intraperitoneal 

 cholera infection in the salamander ; this animal he shows 

 is fifty to sixty times less susceptible than the guinea-pig, 

 an extremely active phagocytosis taking place on injection 

 of the microbe. Prof. M. Lowit contributes an exhaustive 

 ^ludy of intravascular bacteriolysis. 



LiELT. Christophers, I. M.S., in a third report (SciVii- 

 tific Mem. Gov. of India, No. 15), details experiments on 

 the cultivation of the Leishman-Donovan body of kala- 

 azar, a disease of Assam. Rogers and Leishman have 

 obtained flagellated protozoa in cultivations of the para- 

 site. Christophers corroborates this, and although the 

 flagellated forms are very like Trypanosomata, he does 

 not commit himself as to their exact nature. 



A FOURTH fascicle of Mexican and Central American 

 plants, described by Dr. J. N. Rose, and forming vol. 

 viii., part iv., of the Contributions from the United States 

 National Herbarium, contains several revisions of genera 

 in addition to the enumeration of many new species. 

 Synopses are provided for Mexican species of Ribes, 

 Parosela, otherwise known as Dalea, and Heterocentron ; 

 the opinion that Oenothera is a polymorphic combination 

 leads to the formation of a new genus Raimannia, con- 

 current with Hartmannia and Lavauxia, and several species 

 of Ternstrcemia are collated under the na*ne of Taonabo. 



The Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West 

 Indies has published the full report by Dr. F. Watts on 

 sugar cane experiments in the Leeward Islands during the 

 year 1903-4, and the results are presented in an abridged 

 form in the pamphlet series Nos. 33 and 36. Reference 

 has previously been made to the experiments with different 

 varieties of canes, in addition to which manurial experi- 

 ments have again been carried out. .^s the result of trials 

 for four years the conclusion is arrived at that when, as 

 is the custom, pen manure is worked into the soil, no 

 advantage attends the addition of other artificial manures, 

 and that phosphates may even tend to decrease the yield 

 of plant canes. It has, however, been found advantageous 

 to add nitrogenous manures to land planted with ratoon 

 canes. The importance of nitrogenous manures is also 

 aftirmed by Prof. J. B. Harrison in his report referred to 

 in the .-Igricultural News, May 6, which relates to sugar 

 cane experiments in British Guiana. 



We have recently received three circulars, Nos. 21, 22, 

 and 23, also a bulletin. No. 55, from the Forestry Bureau 

 of the United States Department of .Agriculture. Circular 

 No. 33, entitled " What Forestry means to Representative 

 Men," contains extracts embodying the opinions of fifty 

 experts, including President Roosevelt, regarding the value 

 of scientific forestry. They all agree without exception 

 that proper forest conservation is of vital importance to 

 NO. 1859, VOL. 72] 



the welfare of the country. That the Department of Agri- 

 culture thoroughly realises this fact is shown by circulars 

 Nos. 21 and 22, wherein is set forth the very liberal con- 

 ditions under which practical assistance is given to 

 farmers, lumbermen, and others in handling their forest 

 lands, as well as the practical assistance offered to all 

 tree planters. Bulletin No. 55, entitled "Forest Conditions 

 of Northern New Hampshire," gives a detailed account 

 of the condition, composition, and stand of timber in this 

 region, with valuable suggestions as to the possibility of 

 extended afforestation and the seemingly much needed 

 forest organisation and conservation in New Hampshire. 



The Century Magazine for June contains an interesting 

 article by Mr. Gilbert H. Grosvenor entitled " Our Heralds 

 of Storm and Flood," and gives a graphic description of 

 the work of the U.S. Weather Bureau. The author 

 rapidlv reviews the whole of the useful operations of this 

 service, but deals more especially with the predictions of 

 floods, cold waves, and storm warnings. The cost of the 

 Weather Bureau and its numerous branches is set down 

 at one million and a half dollars yearly, while the amount 

 of saving to property is estimated at thirty millions. One 

 of the most remarkable cases of flood prediction cited was 

 that of 1903, which was announced twenty-eight days 

 in advance, after torrential rains extending over some 

 300,000 square miles. This flood caused terrible damage 

 to property, but the public was prepared for it, and the 

 loss was many millions of dollars less than It otherwise 

 would have been. Much care is given to warnings of cold 

 waves in early spring and autumn ; the bureau aims at 

 giving at least twenty-four hours' notice of their occur- 

 rence, and occasionally issues many thousand telegrams 

 within a few hours. These blighting frosts sometimes 

 destroy in one night the prospects of the agriculturist for 

 the year. The storm warnings issued to the seafaring 

 community form, perhaps, the greatest success of the 

 efforts of the bureau. It is estimated that on the Great 

 Lakes alone, the loss to shipping caused by storms has 

 been reduced by 50 per cent. The article is beautifully 

 illustrated with photographic reproductions of damage by 

 floods, representations of clouds, and the freaks of 

 tornados; the fact of straws, S.-c., being driven into trees 

 can, fortunately, scarcely be realised in this country. 



Messrs. Armbrecht, Nelso.n and Co. have issued a 

 special price-list of the rare elements and their salts ; a 

 noticeable feature is the quotation for 16 oz. bars of 

 metallic calcium. This metal, which for so long has been 

 sold at a prohibitive price, is now obtained by a simple 

 electrolytic process, and has become a comparatively cheap 

 commercial article. 



The influence of a magnetic field on luminous radiation 

 forms the subject of the Nobel lecture which was delivered 

 by Prof. Zeeman before the Swedish Academy of Science 

 in 1903, and has recently been printed (Stockholm : P. A. 

 Norstedt & Fils). It deals with the history of the dis- 

 covery and the theoretical significance of the " Zeeman 

 effect." 



The fourth volume of Ostwald's " Annalen der Natur- 

 philosophie " contains a brief sketch, by B. N. Men- 

 schutkin, of the life and work of M. W. Lomonossoff. 

 Reference has already been made in these columns 

 (Nature, vol. Ixxii. p. 42) to Prof. Menschutkin's more 

 complete study in the Russian language of the work of 

 this eighteenth century philosopher ; the present abstract 

 being written in German deserves notice, as it will serve 



