68 
NATURE 
[Marcu 21, 1912 
An interesting paper in The Agricultural Journal 
of India (part vi., vol. iv.) deals with the manufac- 
ture of palm sugar in Upper Burma. Both the 
male and the female trees are tapped for their juice 
from the time the first flowers appear until late in 
the year, i.e. about eight months. The juice is boiled 
down to a syrupy state, is then allowed to cool, and 
rolled into balls, which are exposed to the sun to dry. 
The methods, needless to say, are very wasteful, and 
necessitate a large consumption of wood for fuel, 
which for centuries has led to indiscriminate forest 
cutting. There is evidence to show that dense virgin 
forests stood in the past where only sun-burned arid 
areas now are, and unless the timber wasting is 
stopped serious results are bound to follow. 
We are in receipt of part ii. of Mr. J. H. Holland’s 
“Useful Plants of Nigeria.” Part i. was noticed in 
Nature for December 30, 1909, where the scope of 
the work was described in detail, and the importance 
of the natural resources of that country was alluded 
to. The present part covers the natural orders from 
Connaracez to Araliacez, and includes, therefore, the 
order Leguminose. For variety of economic pro- 
ducts this order can hardly be surpassed. Food- 
stuffs, timbers, dyes, drugs, gums, and resins are 
those which are of most importance to Nigeria. The 
work, which is published as “ Additional Series IX.” 
to The Kew Bulletin, is not only invaluable to those 
interested in Nigeria, but contains a wealth of in- 
formation for all engaged in the study of economic 
products of this nature. 
Dr. G. PraTtanta contributes an interesting paper 
on the oscillations of the sea on the coasts of Sicily to 
the last number of the Bollettino of the Italian Seis-+ 
mological Society (vol. xv., pp. 223-72). These 
oscillations, which are known by the name of 
marrobbio in the district referred to, were made the 
subject of simultaneous observations at various places 
in Sicily during the months of April and May, 1905, 
and more recently at several stations, and especially 
at Mazzara on the western coast. The oscillations 
vary greatly in amplitude, sometimes exceeding the 
total range of the semi-diurnal tide. The periods are 
also very variable, those at Mazzara ranging about 
the values 1o-r8 and minutes, the smaller 
average agreeing fairly with the period of oscillation 
in the open bay. The occurrence of the marrobbio 
seems to depend on the existence of a cyclonic dis- 
tribution of atmospheric pressure in the neighbour- 
hood of the Sicilian coasts. 
21-26 
Ix The Geographical Journal for March, Prof. H. 
Bingham, the director of the Yale Peruvian Expedi- 
tion, describes the results obtained. Careful topo- 
graphical work was done in surveying a series of 
areas on large scales from 1: 4500 to TI: 3600, with 
the necessary contour lines. Lake Parinacochas was 
also surveyed, and the altitude of Mount Coropuna 
determined by triangulation. A considerable amount 
of geological and physiographical work was accom- 
plished,. furnishing evidence of past climatic changes 
and of a complex history, for the coastal terraces, 
showing that a submergence took place in Tertiary 
NO. 2212, VOL. 89| 
times and that a later erosion is still in progress. 
Human bones were found near Cuzco buried under 
75 ft. of gravel, and the conclusion was arrived at 
that they were interstratified with this deposit. The 
object of the expedition was primarily to reconnoitre 
the region, and other expeditions to follow up the 
more important discoveries are contemplated. 
THE summary of the weather issued by the Meteor- 
ological Office for the week ending. March 16 shows 
that for the fifth week in succession the mean 
temperature was in excess of the average over the 
entire area of the United Kingdom. The excess was 
decidedly less than in some of the preceding weeks, 
although it amounted to 4° in the east of England, 
and was nowhere less than 2°. The excess of 
temperature, as almost continuously throughout the 
past winter, was due to a persistent southerly wind 
from off the Atlantic. The rains last weelk were 
generally less heavy than of late, although the amount 
was in excess of the average over nearly the entire 
kingdom. At Greenwich the thermometer in the 
shade registered 61° on March 14, which is 12° above 
the average for the season, and is as high as in any 
previous year on the corresponding day since 1841. 
To the Journal of the Meteorological Society of 
Japan for November last, Prof. T. Okada contributes 
an article entitled ‘‘ Geometrical Constructions for 
Finding the Motion of a Cyclone by Observing the 
Shift of Wind,” in which the law of wind gyration 
during the passage of a storm is rendered in a more 
definite form, based upon the following two assump- 
tions, neither of which may be strictly true :—(1) that 
the angle between the direction of the wind and the 
gradient is constant in the cyclonic region under con- 
sideration; (2) that the cyclonic centre is making a 
uniform rectilinear motion during the interval of time 
under consideration. The solutions of the problems 
which are given for cases when a ship has come to 
a standstill or is moving are useful and interesting ; 
at the same time, we think that captains of vessels 
would prefer to adhere strictly to the ordinary rules 
laid down in their handbooks, which have been care- 
fully drawn up by the Admiralty and others for deal- 
ing with storms in all circumstances. 
ATTENTION has been directed to a somewhat un- 
fortunate omission in the review by Prof. Bryan of the 
Bulletin of the Calcutta Mathematical Society 
(NatuRE, February 29, p. 583) which appears to 
overlook the valuable collections of abstracts published 
in Europe in the Jahrbuch iiber. die Fortschritte der 
Mathematik, the Revue semestrielle, and, we may 
add, the International Catalogue of Scientific Litera- 
ture. While regretting this oversight, the reviewer 
still thinks that an opening exists for a journal pub- 
lished regularly, and at frequent intervals, giving an 
up-to-date summary of what is happening in the 
mathematical world in the smallest possible compass, 
and modelled largely on the journal described. 
Annuals like the Jahrbuch in no way meet this want. 
A new determination of the atomic weight of 
radium has been made recently by Dr. O. H6nig- 
|! schmid, of Vienna, who had at his disposal 1-5 grams- 
