June 29, 1905] 



NA TURE 



and species persecuted for the sake of their plumage. 

 Among other cases merdoned in the article on international 

 bird-protection, special reference is made to the wholesale 

 destruction of penguins in Macquarie Island, and perhaps 

 elsewhere, for the sake of their oil, a destruction which if 

 continued and extended can only result in the extermin- 

 ation of these remarkable and interesting birds. If certain 

 current reports be true, not only is there need of the best 

 efforts of the Bird Protection Society, but the Society for 

 the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has also a field for 

 its operations, if its arm be long enough to reach the 

 Antarctic. 



The amount of variation that was obtained in culti- 

 vating a five-ra)'ed form of TrifoUum pratense is the sub- 

 ject of a paper by Miss T. Tammes in part xi. of the 

 Botanische Zeitiing. The production of more than three 

 rays may be regarded as the dominance of the variety, 

 while the production of trifoliate leaves is a reversion to 

 the original form. In the early stages, that is, on first 

 order branches, the leaves generally showed more than 

 three leaflets, but later the trifoliate character was almost 

 constant. 



The avocado or alligator pear, Persea gratissiina, is 

 rapidly growing in favour with Americans as a salad fruit. 

 On this account Mr. J. H. Rolfs has prepared an account 

 of its cultivation in Florida, which forms Bulletin No. 6i 

 of the Bureau of Plant Industry. Budding affords the most 

 satisfactory method of propagation, as plants do not come 

 true to seed. Two forms are cultivated, the West Indian 

 and a smaller-fruited Mexican variety. The fruit, which 

 only resembles a pear in shape, is eaten like an egg, with- 

 out condiments or with salad accompaniments. 



Although sandal-wood is an important source of revenue 

 in the Indian States of Mysore and Coorg, the parasitic 

 nature of the sandal-tree has been little studied. Mr. 

 C. A. Barber, who originally pointed out that the sandal 

 is a root parasite, producing haustoria, by which it absorbs 

 nourishment from the roots of such host plants as 

 Casuarina and Lantana, has published in the Indian 

 Forester (April) an account of further investigations on 

 the subject. The haustorial tissue penetrates the root 

 along the line of the cambium, and thrusts aside the 

 cortex of the host, while absorbent cells and tracheae are 

 formed to abstract and carry off the food solutions from 

 the wood. 



In the Engineering and Mining Journal Mr. F. Danvers 

 Power, professor of mining in the University of Sydney, 

 publishes an important memoir on the Gympie Goldfield of 

 Queensland. The district is of special geological interest 

 in view of the enrichment of the gold-bearing quartz veins 

 where they pass through four beds of black shale contain- 

 ing graphite. The deepest shaft in the district has attained 

 a depth of 3130 feet. 



We have received from the Engineering Standards Com- 

 mittee three further reports, dealing respectively with 

 structural steel for shipbuilding, with screw threads, and 

 with pipe threads for iron or steel pipes and tubes. These 

 standard specifications have been drawn up by influential 

 committees composed of representatives of the Institutions 

 of Civil Engineers, Mechanical Engineers and Naval 

 Architects, the Iron and Steel Institute, and the Institution 

 of Electrical Engineers, and will doubtless be generally 

 adopted. In the case of screw threads, no departure from 

 NO. I 86 I, VOL. 72] 



the Whitworth thread is recommended, and terms used by 

 the British Association small screw gauge committee have, 

 to a large extent, been adopted. 



In a recent paper on the determination of sulphuric 

 acid in soils, attention was directed to the enormous loss 

 of sulphuric anhydride due to the solubility of barium 

 sulphate in ferric chloride solution. If such low results 

 are obtained when determining the sulphur in the presence 

 of small quantities of iron, what losses must be entailed 

 where large amounts of iron are present, as in the case 

 of iron ore? An experimental investigation of the subject 

 has been made by Mr. J. Howard Graham, and the results 

 are published in the Journal of the Franklin Institute. 

 They show that barium sulphate is not soluble in ferric 

 chloride to the extent mentioned, but rather that it acts 

 restrainingly upon the act of solution of the barium 

 sulphate in hydrochloric acid until too large quantities of 

 the acid are present. 



.StNCE their discovery, the various constituents of steel 

 have been the object of numerous researches ; but the 

 knowledge of the internal structure of steel has been to 

 a great extent obscured by the acrimonious controversies 

 that have been introduced into the discussion of this sub- 

 ject at meetings of the Iron and Steel Institute. An 

 attempt to reinove the existing confusion has been made 

 by Dr. Glazebrook and Prof. H. Le Chatelier by suggest- 

 ing the formation of an international committee to in- 

 vestigate the matter. The committee is composed as 

 follows : — France : MM. Charpy, P^rot, and H. Le 

 Chatelier ; Great Britain : Mr. Hadfield (president of the 

 Iron and Steel Institute), Prof. Arnold, Mr. Stead, F.R.S., 

 and Dr. Glazebrook, F.R.S. ; Germany: Prof. Martens; 

 Russia : Mr. Kournakoff ; Sweden : Messrs. Brinell and 

 Gunnar Dillner ; United States : Messrs. H. M. Howe and 

 Sauveur. The scheme of investigation is published in 

 the current issue of the Bulletin de la Society d' Encourage- 

 ment pour rindustrie niiiionale. 



The twenty-seventh report of the Deutsche Seewarte, 

 Hamburg, for the year 1904, shows that the work of 

 marine meteorology and weather prediction is being 

 prosecuted with the usual vigour shown by this useful 

 organisation, and that Admiral Herz is careful to maintain 

 the high efficiency which it attained under the able direc- 

 tion of Dr. von Neumayer. At the end of the year 1904 

 the number of observers at sea amounted to no less than 

 .S37 ; they are encouraged in their work by the presentation 

 of medals and diplomas, in special cases, in addition to 

 free distribution of atlases and sailing directions. Eleven 

 hundred pilot charts of the North Atlantic Ocean are pub- 

 lished monthly, and a similar publication is contemplated 

 for the Indian Ocean ; and twelve hundred charts for the 

 North Sea and Baltic are issued quarterly. These are in 

 addition to the publication of larger general discussions 

 at irregular intervals. In the department for weather 

 telegraphy and storm warnings, it may be mentioned that 

 the comprehensive daily weather report shows a consider- 

 able improvement by the insertion of kite observations 

 on p. I. Storm warning telegrams were issued on sixty 

 days, the number of messages to hoist storm signals 

 amounting to 2593. The report exhibits similar activity 

 in other branches of the Seewarte. 



The report on the currents at the entrance of the Bay 

 of Fundy and southern Nova Scotia for the year 1904 has 

 recently been issued. The season from May to September 

 was chiefly occupied by Mr. Bell Dawson, the surveyor in 



