August 31, 1905J 



NA TURE 



435 



exhibition " and the " curiosity-house " were devoted more 

 to the exhibition of rare and interesting animals, 

 monstrosities, &c., and from these, by the elimination of 

 the "freak" element, are derived the, modern American 

 scientific museums. Reference is made to the camel 

 exhibited in London in 1650, the Indian rhinoceros (de- 

 scribed by Dr. Parsons) in 1685, and to Wombwell's un- 

 recognised gorilla. Less well known is the case of the 

 first great ant-eater exhibited in the London " Zoo," which 

 was purchased about 1850 from two sailors, by whom, it 

 had been brought from Rio, for 300Z. ; and also that of 

 a full-grown mandrill captured on board a slaver, and 

 exhibited in Bristol in 1828, and later on in London. 

 The most interesting record in the article is, however, 

 the reference to a pair of South African giraffes imported 

 into America in 1836, the same, year in which the London 

 gardens received their first representatives (of the northern 

 race) of the species. In slating that the London establish- 

 ment received its first representative of the southern form 

 in 1805 the author makes a pardonable error, the fact 

 being that the true southern race never has, so far as we 

 know, been e.xhibited alive in this country. 



The most generally interesting feature in the report of 

 the Indian Museum, Calcutta, for 1903-4 is the reference 

 to a suggestion made by the director of the natural history 

 branch of the British Museum that all the Indian type 

 specimens might be transferred to the institution under 

 his charge. The suggestion — which Major Alcock refers 

 to in his section of the report as " most reasonable " — 

 was largely based on the fact that the climate of Calcutta 

 renders " types " as objects of reference almost useless, 

 and that the interests of science would accordingly be 

 advanced by their transference to the chief natural history 

 centre of the British Empire. By the terms of their trust 

 the trustees found themselves, however, unable to hand 

 over the " types " formerly belonging to the Asiatic Society 

 of Bengal, while they were disinclined to accede to the 

 request as regards other " types " for fear of handicapping 

 workers in India. Commenting upon this decision and its 

 consequences. Major Alcock directs the attention of the 

 Government of India to the administration of the museum, 

 stating that the zoological staff is altogether inadequate. 

 " An imperial museum of natural history," he writes, 

 " such as the zoological section of the Indian Museum was 

 designed to be, should be at once a complete and modern 

 index of the fauna of the country, an object lesson in the 

 more important general principles of zoology, an unfailing 

 magazine of well-preserved material for research and dis- 

 tribution, and a centre where natural science is advanced 

 by the discovery and publication of new facts. The facts 

 that the Museum receives a grant for teaching-preparations 

 from the local Government, and has decided that its 

 ' types ' must be kept on the spot for reference, indicate 

 that this is the standard the Trustees wish realised. But 

 grants of money and the possession of historic ' types ' 

 are not enough ; equally essential are well-qualified paid 

 assistants and reliable machinery for collecting new 

 material and replenishing old." 



A VERY interesting paper is contributed on the magic 

 origin of Moorish designs to the journal of the Anthropo- 

 logical Institute (July-December, 1904) by Dr. Wester- 

 marck. The magic consists entirely in the methods 

 employed to ward off the evil eye, the fear of which is 

 so potent in countries bordering the Mediterranean. The 

 designs consist of hands, crosses, eyes, rosettes, squares, 

 octagons, triangles, and innumerable conventional em- 

 broidery patterns ; but they are all grouped round one 

 NO. 1870, VOL. 72] 



central idea, the intention being to throw back the 

 evil influence emanating from the eye, by some counter- 

 charm. This is usually done by stretching out the five 

 fingers of the right hand, and Dr. Westermarck shows 

 how all these various designs can be traced to some 

 elaboration of fives, originally representing the five fingers, 

 or of eyes, for if baneful energy can be transferred by 

 the eye, it can obviously also be thrown back by the eye. 

 Sixty-two illustrations of these counter-charms accompany 

 the article. 



In the course of a note on the supply of water to leaves 

 on a dead branch, printed as part ii. of vol. xi. of the 

 Scientific Proceedings of the Royal Dublin Society, Prof. 

 H. H. Dixon adduces evidence, based on experiment, to 

 show that when a portion of a stem is killed by heat, the 

 cells give off poisonous or plasmolysing substances; for 

 some such reason it appears that leaves attached to a 

 dead branch wither much more rapidly than leaves on a 

 living twig. In the first part of the same volume Mr. J. 

 Adams discusses the effect of very low temperatures on 

 moist seeds. 



Mr. D. Hooper has a historical and explanatory note 

 on the ancient eastern medicine known as lycium or 

 rusot in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 

 (vol. Ixxiii., part ii.. No. 4). The identity of rusot with 

 the Indian lycium of the ancients was first pointed out 

 by Dr. J. F. Royle, who found out that it is an inspissated 

 extract prepared from .the wood and roots of several species 

 of Berberis. Mr. Hooper's analyses of four specimens 

 indicate an amount of berberine varying from 3 per cent, 

 to nearly 8 per cent. The dried stem of Berheris aristata 

 is officinal in India,, and a tincture is often recommended 

 in the treatment of fever. 



In the island of St. Vincent the Imperial Department 

 of Agriculture for the West Indies controls an agricultural 

 school and a land settlement scheme in addition to the 

 botanic gardens. In the report for 1904-5 Mr. \V. N. 

 Sands, the agricultural superintendent, registers a dis- 

 tribution of nearly 30,000 plants, of which more than 

 two-thirds were cacao, and, besides, smaller numbers of 

 sisal bulblets, coffee, lime, and other economic plants. 

 Many of these were distributed to allottees on the land 

 settlement estates who cultivate cacao, canes, cassava, 

 yams, and sweet potatoes. Mr. Sands, reviewing the 

 progress of the cotton industry, has the satisfaction of 

 recording that much of the sea-island cotton was the best 

 produced under the auspices of the British Cotton Growing 

 Association-, and had realised seventeen pence per pound. 



Mr. W. E. Cooke, Government astronomer for Western 

 Australia, has sent us a communication explaining a novel 

 plan that he has adopted for giving more definiteness to 

 the weather forecasts issued in that colony. Each fore- 

 cast for a definite district is subdivided into specific items, 

 to each of which a figure is attached, " i " representing 

 that the occurrence prognosticated has only the barest 

 possibility of being successful, and so on, up to " 5," 

 which indicates that the prediction may be relied upon 

 with almost absolute certainty. Each item of the forecast 

 has therefore a " weight" attached to it; on the whole, 

 Mr. Cooke states that the new method has proved a dis- 

 tinct success, and that while people find that whenever the 

 figure 5 appears the forecast is fulfilled in 99 cases 

 out of 100, they do not feel so disappointed in case of 

 failure when the lower numbers are attached, or as when, 

 under the usual method, equal weight is attached to the 

 whole forecast. 



