l82 



NA TURE 



[June 



1905 



third communication Dr. R. Rossle insists on the import- 

 ance of immunity-reactions (that is to say, serum reactions 

 and blood-immunity) in determining the systematic 

 affinities of the higher animals, pointing out that by this 

 method the intimate affinities respectively existing between 

 fowls and pigeons, horse and ass, fox and dog, and sheep 

 and goats, have already been established. The trans- 

 lation of an article by Prof. Marcus Hartog, published in 

 the Proceedings of the Royal Society, constitutes the next 

 most important part of the contents of this issue. 



The most important articles in Indian Public Health for 

 May (vol. i., No. 10) deal with the milk question in India 

 and the Calcutta milk supply. 



Some interesting observations on the influence of the 

 root nodules upon the composition of soy beans and cow- 

 peas have been made by Messrs. C. D. Smith and F. W. 

 Robison (Bulletin No. 224 Michigan .State .Agricultural 

 College Experiment Station). The conclusion is arrived 

 at, after two years' work, that while on fairly fertile soils 

 the root nodules may not notably increase the yield, they 

 do cause an important and pronounced increase in the 

 relative and absolute amount of nitrogen in the plants. 



Bulletin No. 23, by Dr. Herzog, of the Bureau of 

 Government Laboratories, Manila, is devoted to a con- 

 sideration of plague, and a description of the pathological 

 findings in twenty cases which occurred in Manila. A 

 new species of rat flea (Pulex philippensis) is described. 

 Bulletin No. 24, by Dr. Wherry, gives a report of two 

 cases of human glanders which occurred in Manila, and 

 some notes on the bacteriology and morphology of the 

 Bacillus mallei. 



In the Bull. Internal, dc I'Acad. des Sciences de Cracovie 

 (No. I, January) M. Panek contributes a chemical and 

 bacteriological study of the Polish " barszcz," a product 

 of the fermentation of red beetroot. It is brought about 

 by a micro-organism, named by the author Bacterium 

 betae viscosum. which causes a fermentation of the cane- 

 sugar with the production of viscous substances and 

 mannite. M. Tochtermann describes the action of thionyl 

 chloride on thiobenzamide, M. Niemczycki discusses 

 syntheses effected by means of zinc chloride, and Madame 

 Krahelska the merogonic development of the egg of Echinus 

 microtuberculatus. 



There has been a considerable amount of uncertainty 

 with regard to the blackwood of southern India, whether 

 it was possible to distinguish two species. Mr. T. E. 

 Bourdillon, writing in the Indian Forester (March), is able 

 to show that Dalbergia sissoides and Dalbergia latifolia 

 should be regarded as distinct species. The natives re- 

 cognise dark blackwood, species latifolia, and pale black- 

 wood, species sissoides, and although there are several 

 points of distinction, the wood forms the best means of 

 identification. 



To the Cowlhorpc oak which grows near Wetherby, in 

 Yorkshire, and was illustrated in N.^ture of May 11 

 (p. 44), is generally assigned the honour of being the 

 largest tree in the British Isles. The claim is based upon 

 the girth and spread of the tree, as it is doubtful whether 

 it ever attained a great height. The Yorkshire Herald, 

 May 29, provides an illustration, reproduced from a paint- 

 mg, which is believed to be an accurate representation of 

 the tree as it appeared sixty years ago, and extracts are 

 given from a pamphlet issued with the picture. There is 

 no doubt that this oak passed through its seedling stage 

 NO. i860, VOL. 72] 



several centuries ago ; Dr. Jessop, in 1829, suggested an 

 age exceeding 1500 years, but this is mere conjecture, as 

 the tree has been hollow for at least two centuries. 



The eighteenth and latest volume of the Transactions of 

 the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society contains the 

 accounts of the society's meetings during 1904, the jubilee 

 year. The president, Mr. W. S. Fotheringam, in review- 

 ing the progress of the society, announced that the list 

 of members had reached a thousand. The yearly excursion 

 which was held in France provided an opportunity of 

 visiting some of the magnificent State forests. At 

 Champenou.x and Haye the forests are principally oak. 

 but beech and hornbeam are also grown, since they provide 

 useful cover. Previously the system adopted was coppice- 

 with-standards, but in both cases this is being converted 

 into high forest. A very fine forest of silver-fir worked 

 with a rotation of 144 years w-as inspected at Celles, in the 

 Vosges. 



Prof. E. \Viedem.\nn, of Erlangen, sends us a short 

 statement of observations described in his work on electric 

 discharges (Wicd. .inn., xx., p. 793, 1883I relating to the 

 effects referred to by the Rev. F. J. Jervis-Smith in our 

 correspondence columns on May 4 (p. 7). He agrees with 

 Mr. Jervis-Smith as to the action of ozone, and advises 

 persons who work for a long while with influence machines 

 not to have these machines situated in the working room. 

 " Ozone belongs to the poisonous gases and is the more 

 dangerous, since the injurious effects are not manifest at 

 the time ; on the contrary, breathing the gas produces at 

 first a feeling of exhilaration, but afterwards it has a 

 depressing effect on the nervous system. Binz has shown 

 that it may cause sleep. I may add to what I have 

 mentioned that during my observations I have suffered 

 somewhat severely from nervous disturbance (hyperasthesia 

 of the feet) due to breathing ozone. These lasted for one 

 or two years. Moreover, I always experience discomfort 

 after performing experiments in my lectures on Tesla dis- 

 charges." 



Since March, 1904, several meteorological stations have 

 been established by the Japanese Government along the 

 coast of Korea. In April of that year the Japanese 

 meteorological observatory in Chemulpo commenced to 

 record observations. Mr. H. Mukasa, writing from 

 Chemulpo, informs us that a new building for the observ- 

 atory was completed lately on the top of the highest hill 

 in Chemulpo (lat. 37° 29' N., long. 126° 37' E.), seventy 

 metres above mean sea-level, where observations have been 

 taken since January i last. At the invitation of Dr. Y. 

 Wada, the director, the important residents of Seoul and 

 Chemulpo visited the observatory on March 25 last. 

 V'arious pieces of apparatus relating to meteorology, a~ 

 well as the horizontal seismograph devised by Prof. F. 

 Omori, were exhibited. Among the visitors were the 

 Japanese, French, and British Ministers, and several 

 Korean dignitaries. The exhibition succeeded in arousing 

 the interest of the visitors in meteorology, and made a 

 deep impression on the Korean guests. 



We have received a copy of the first report of the 

 Transvaal Meteorological Department, containing observ- 

 ations for one year ending June 30, 1904, with an appendix 

 giving monthly and seasonal rainfall records for a number 

 of years, from observations taken before the establish- 

 ment of the meteorological department. This was only 

 constituted in April, 1904, consequently the records are 

 very incomplete, so far as official stations are concerned. 

 In some cases a complete year's observations are pub- 



