October 26, 1905] 



NA TURE 



639 



Till- Biillclin ilu JiirJin impirM botanique de St. Pelers- 

 h.'tiri^, vol. v., part iii., contains a description of new 

 lichens from Central Russia and Siberia, by Mr. A. EIrnl<in, 

 nnd an account of the vegetation on the chalk cliflfs in the 

 l>.isin of the river Chopcr, by Mr. W. Dubjansky. 



In hi^ report for 1Q04— 5, the curator of the botanic 

 ^ration in L^ominica states that spineless lime plants are 

 in groat demand, but that he is unable to furnish an 

 adequate supply, as the fruits contain very few seeds ; also, 

 nwing to the labour involved, the supply of budded orange 

 ~tock is limited. Other plants in request are cacao, rubber 

 — both Castilloa and Funtumia — and ordinary liiries. 

 Judging from the mimurial experiments with cacao, extend- 

 ing over three years, the application of phosphate and 

 potash with dried blood may be expected to give substantial 

 increases in yield, while mulching with grass has produced 

 even better results. 



The Department of .\griculture for British East .\frica 

 has issued a leaflet on the cultivation and commercial 

 products of the cocoanut. The industry is one that requires 

 some capital, as the pltints only come Into bearing in the 

 >ixth year, and meantime the cultivator is dependent upon 

 ihe maize, ground-nuts, or any other crop that he may 

 L;row between the trees. The most lucrative product in 

 i;ast .\frica is icmbo, a liquor obtained from the cut end 

 I't the very young flowering spike. The Department of 

 I'orestry in the same colony has also inaugurated a scries 

 I if leaflets, the first of which deals with timber trees, in- 

 cluding a juniper, a Podocarpus, Pygciiiii nfricunuin, and 

 Mlophylus abyssinicus. 



We have received a pamphlet entitled " The drowlh of 

 Oak in High Forest," by Prof. W. R. Fisher, president 

 of the Royal English Arborlcultural Society, in which the 

 author points out the desirability of having a model cal; 

 high forest as an adjunct to the forestry school at Oxford. 

 In spite of the fact that oak forests and oak timber havr 

 |)layed such an important part in the history of England, 

 we have not at the present day a typical example of oak 

 high wood, that is, an area where all stages from the 

 sredling to the mature tree are represented. In the above 

 pamphlet Prof. Fisher proposes to have a working section 

 of the oak wood in Wind.sor Park set aside for this 

 ]iurpose. The area required, 1200 acres, could surely be 

 spared for this important purpose, and the author clearl\ 

 shows how the present crop could with time be replaced 

 bv a series of age classes representing all stages In the 

 growth of the tree and the forest from the beginning lu 

 the end of the rotation. The financial returns would be 

 vastly Increased thereby, more than counterbalancing ar.d 

 justifying any small initial sacrifice. The scheme deserves 

 every encouragement, and we trust will be looked upon 

 with favour by those in authority. 



One of the best concise accounts of the Liege Inter- 

 n.itional Exhibition yet published Is contributed by Mr. 

 E. Ramakers to the October issue of the Engineering 

 Maga:^ine. Some excellent illustrations are given of the 

 mechanical, mining, and metallurgical features. Several 

 large engines for operation with blast-furnace waste gas 

 were shown, notably a 1200 horse-power four-cycle double- 

 acting horizontal tandem engine for the direct driving of 

 .1 rolling mill at the CockerlU works. Another gas engine 

 shown by the same firm Is a 500 horse:-power four-cycle 

 double-acting twin cylinder for operation with coke-oven 

 waste gas. .'V gas-producer of novel type was exhibited 

 bv the Deutz Gas Engine Works, the fuel for which 



NO. 1878, VOL. 72] 



consists of brown-coal briquettes. The same firm showed 

 an eight horse-power locomotive with a benzene motor. 



From the Rationalist Press Association there come cheap 

 reprints of " The Fundamental Principles of the Positive 

 Philosophy" and of Haeckel's "The Wonders of Life." 

 The former book contains a translation of the two intro- 

 ductory chapters of Comte's " Philosophic Positive," that 

 is, the account of Comte's main theses, of the law of the 

 three states of knowledge and the nature of positive philo- 

 sophy, together with the fulminations against introspective 

 psychology which are now completely out of date. 

 Haeckel's work Is a supplement to the " Ri"ddle of the 

 Universe," and discusses life, death, morality, and many 

 other things. 



OLR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Recent Large Sun-spot. — The accompanying repro- 

 duction shows the form and extent of the large sun-spot 

 group referred to in these columns last week. This photo- 

 graph was taken at 12 o'clock noon on Thursday last, 

 October 19, when the group was plainly visible to the 

 naked eye. A rough measurement shows that the group 

 was then more than 100,000 miles long and about 55,000 



, — Photogr.iph of the Sun showing 



October 19, 12 o'clock t 



miles across its greatest breadth. The smaller spot, seen 

 in the N.W. quadrant, was of particular beauty, showing 

 a very dark circular umbra surrounded by a symmetrical 

 penumbra. 



A second " naked-eye " spot havmg a large black 

 nucleus was seen near to the eastern limb of the sun on 

 Monday last. This is the second occasion during the 

 present year that the sun has pre.^enled the unusual pheno- 

 menon of two naked-eye spots visible on the disc at the 

 same time. 



Further Results of the French Eclipse Expeditions. 

 — Yet another batch of the preliminary results obtained by 

 French expeditions during the recent total eclipse of the 

 sun is published In No. 15 of the Coniptes rendiis. 



Prof. Janssen, who was in charge of the expedition 

 stationed at Alcosebre (Spain), describes the observations 

 which were made and the Instruments which were 

 employed at that station, and separate reports are pre- 



