November 18, 1922 



NA TURE 



679 



Research Items. 



The Maori Mode of Drilling. — In the last issue of 

 the X ./ . Join mil of Science and Technology, Mr. Eldon 

 Best, of the Dominion Museum, contributes an article 

 on the methods of drilling used by the Maoris. The 

 type of drill formerly used by them was the cord 

 drill, which was used in ancient days in India and 

 is still employed in making the sacred fire. The 

 pump drill and bow drill were unknown to the Maori 

 in pre-European times. The European form of pump 

 drill was introduced by the early European settlers. 

 Had the Maori known the pump drill in former 

 times, it would have been the free-bar drill used by 

 the nations of the western Pacific. The pierced-bar 

 form was not known in that region in ancient times, 

 but was introduced by early European visitors and 

 residents. Mr. Best gives three photographs showing 

 the present use of the drill for piercing blocks of 

 stone. 



Relation of Transpiration to Dry Weight in 

 Tobacco Plants. — Many experiments have been 

 made to determine the relation between the rate of 

 transpiration in a plant during its growth and the 

 dry weight and ash content of the resulting plant. 

 Lawes made some experiments on the subject as 

 early as 1849. In a recent paper Mr. N. B. 

 Mendiola (Philippine Journ. of Sei., vol. 20, No. 6) 

 describes series of experiments with tobacco plants 

 grown in water culture, to deterntine the effect of a 

 dry or humid atmosphere and of light or shade. 

 He concludes that there is no absolute correlation 

 between the percentage of ash, the relative rate of 

 transpiration of the plant during its growth, and the 

 total dry matter produced. 



Phosphorescent Light of Fireflies. — Ever since 

 the classic experiments of Langley, the light of the 

 firefly has attracted attention on account of its 

 presumed high efficiency and the hope that we may 

 ultimately be able to produce synthetically substances 

 yielding useful phosphorescent light. Some experi- 

 ments by Dr. H. E. Ives, summarised in the Journal 

 of the Franklin Institute, show that the brightness 

 of the firefly is about 0-014 lumens per sq. cm. This 

 may appear so low as to be of little practical value 

 in comparison with the brightness of a typical white 

 sky (about 1 lumen per sq. cm.) and it is, of course, 

 far below the brightness of most artificial illuminants. 

 Yet if we could obtain such a steady brightness 

 synthetically, and cover fairly extensive surfaces with 

 the phosphorescent substance, it would be possible 

 to obtain a serviceable illumination. The examina- 

 tion of the distribution of energy in the spectrum 

 of the firefly is attended by great difficulty owing 

 to the feeble nature of the light. Dr. Ives employed 

 two methods, photography with panchromatic plates 

 and " extinction of phosphorescence," and deduced 

 that the radiation is confined between 0-5 and o-6|i, 

 which is the region of the visible spectrum where 

 perception of light by the eye is most acute. His 

 estimate of luminous efficiency is based partly on 

 reasoning involving assumptions of the total energy 

 of a glow-worm in relation to its weight, and is 

 therefore somewhat dubious. But he conjectures that 

 about 80 per cent, of the total radiated energy appears 

 as visible light. 



A New Textile Fibre. — The October issue of 

 Conquest completes the third year of its publication, 

 and throughout this period it has consistently carried 

 out its purpose of setting forth the progress of science 

 so far as it concerns our daily life. In this issue 

 Mr. A. S. Moore directs attention to the possibilities 

 of the -tew textile fibre " arghan," which Sir H. 



NO. 2768, VOL. I IO] 



Wickham noticed in native use in South America 

 and introduced four years ago into the Federated 

 Malay States, where the authorities granted 30,000 

 acres for its cultivation. It is a plant of the pine- 

 apple type, and its leaves split readily into fibres 

 5 or 6 ft. in length, which resemble silk and exceed 

 the best hemp and flax in strength. It resists the 

 action of sea water, and will be invaluable for nets 

 and ship cordage ; it spins and bleaches well and 

 retains all dyes, and makes a firm cloth when woven 

 either alone or in combination with cotton or flax. 



Indexing Scientific Literature. — We have 

 received from the National Research Council of the 

 United States the reprint of a paper bv Mr. Gordon S. 

 Fulcher on " The Indexing of Scientific Articles " 

 which deserves notice. Mr. Fulcher does not appear 

 to be well posted in the literature of his subject, 

 for he places in one category the " International 

 Catalogue of Scientific Literature," and the indexes of 

 the H. W. Wilson Co., which are prepared on entirely 

 different principles. For example under the scheme 

 of " The International Catalogue " a paper on the 

 flora of Formosa would appear under its author's 

 name, the geographical area of its flora, and under 

 the new genera or species described. Similarly a 

 paper of anthropological interest would be classed 

 under its period, locality, and subject matter. Mr. 

 Fulcher's scheme is practically on those lines; but 

 he goes one step further by advocating the elimination 

 of the author and title of the paper and substituting 

 a series of notes, dealing with the salient features 

 of each paper, which are subsequently arranged for 

 printing in alphabetical order. Our objections to 

 Mr. Fulcher's system are as follows : It is " 111 the 

 nature of real things to be inexhaustible in content," 

 hence if bibliographical unities are disregarded the 

 extent of analysis must be arbitrary, and uniformity 

 of work and phraseology rendered very difficult. 

 To bring it within the range of practice such a scheme 

 must be a classification of original matter arranged 

 under agreed subdivisions. Under Mr. Fulcher's 

 scheme the same subject appears under two or more 

 sub-heads, £.£. Nebulae: origin-planetary, etc. Nebulas: 

 planetary-origin, etc. Neither, however, of the above 

 methods are adapted to the indexing of scientific 

 papers. The elimination of the author's name divests 

 the paper of its proper authority ; while the substitu- 

 tion of the analytical note for the author's title 

 destroys the unity and purpose of the article. A 

 minutely-classified file of excerpts from the scientific 

 journals prepared by some central authority would 

 undoubtedly prove of great national service, but an 

 index prepared on Mr. Fulcher's lines would probably 

 be seldom consulted. 



Colour Filters in Microscotv. — Messrs. Kodak 

 have just issued the sixth edition of their booklet 

 on photomicrography. It has been revised so that 

 it now deals with cut films instead of plates, bringing 

 it into line with Messrs. Kodak's practice of making 

 films only on account of the many advantages that 

 they offer. It includes for the first time details of 

 .1 sei of Rheinberg's filters for differential colour 

 illumination in microscopy. Although this method 

 of illumination was introduced by Mr. Rheinberg 

 some 25 years ago, Mr. Rheinberg says that this 

 is the first time that the discs and rinys have been 

 made commercially in a suitable form and 111 suitable 

 colours. The book gives within its 40 pages a great 

 deal of information on the adjustment of the apparatus, 

 the use and properties of colour filters of all kinds, 

 exposure factors, and so on. 



