96 



NATURE 



[May 23, 1907 



three different types, according as they show (i) how much 

 plant food exists in a form immediately available for 

 plants ; (2) what proportions are present as a reserve stock ; 

 or (3) the aggregates of the plant-food constituents in the 

 soil. The third type of analysis may have its value for 

 the geologist, but only the first and second afford the 

 farmer any indications of the land's worth, the former 

 indicating its immediate productiveness and the latter its 

 permanent value. Until recently sufficient samples had 

 not been analysed by a method that could be taken as a 

 trustworthy means of ascertaining the reserve stock of 

 plant food' in the colony's soils, nor had the Geological 

 Commission progressed to an extent sufficient to enable 

 it to be used as a working basis. Furthermore, the soils 

 that had been analysed had been selected from definite 

 fiscal divisions without regard to geological conditions. 

 Some 200 soils had, however, been selected from the 

 number hitherto analysed and taken as fairly representative 

 of various geological formations. Of the soils derived from 

 the pre-Cape rocks, those from the Malmesbury slates in 

 the south-western part of the Colony were found to be 

 poor all-round on the average. In the northern portion of 

 the country, where the Campbell Rand series extended 

 over a large area, the soils were rich in lime. The soils 

 derived from the Table Mountain series, which were the 

 lowest rocks of the Cape system and consisted of little 

 else than silica, lacked all the essential mineral ingredients 

 of plant food. Above the Table Mountain series lay the 

 Bokkeveld beds, and these produced soils with satisfactory 

 proportions of plant food. The highest rocks of the Cape 

 system, namely, the Witteberg series, produced soils which 

 may be anticipated to resemble those of the similar Table 

 Mountain series, and the few that had been analysed bore 

 out this view. This was the district in which bone-diseases 

 in cattle prevailed. Of' the soils of the Karroo system, 

 those derived from the Burghersdorp beds and Stormberg 

 series were found to be well supplied with potash and 

 phosphates, and contained large proportions of lime. This 

 was also the case with the soils formed from the Uitenhage 

 series, in the Cretaceous system. For hundreds of miles 

 fertile silts were transported by rivers in flood. To the 

 silts thus brought down from tlie Karroo, the Oudtshoorn 

 division owed its fertility, and the soil of that division 

 was now undergoing transportation to the sea, except 

 where deposited in the Riversdale and Mossel Bay divisions 

 en route. — Some new fossil reptiles from Victoria West : Dr. 

 R. Broom. A description is given of three new reptiles 

 found by Mr. T. J. R. Scholtz at Victoria West, in beds 

 which are believed to correspond to the Lystrosaurus beds 

 of Colesberg, Middelberg, and Cradock. Hitherto almost 

 the only fossils known from these beds have been the 

 aquatic Lystrosaurus and fish. — Solifluction ; Prof. 

 E. H. L. Schwarz, Solifluction is a term coined by 

 Andersson for the flow of saturated soil down mountain 

 sides. Originally used only for regions covered with ice 

 and snow, the object of the present paper is to show 

 that the same action goes on in temperate countries, only 

 to a smaller extent, producing stone courses in the moun- 

 tainous districts, and a gradual downward creep of soil 

 and subsoil in parts of the country which have less relief. 

 Under the same term must be included the flow of volcanic 

 ashes saturated with water, which are characteristic of 

 the so-called mud-volcanoes in South America, Java,' &c. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, M.^v 23. 



Royal Society, at 4.30.— The Relation of Thallium to the Alkali 

 MetJs : a Study of Thallium Sulphate and Selenate : Dr. A. E. H. 

 Tutton, F. R.S.— On the Frictional Resistances to the Flow of Air 

 through a Pipe: Dr. J. H. Grindley and A. H. Gibson. — Chemical Reaction 

 benveen Salts in the Solid State: Dr. E. P. Perman.— Studies on 

 Enzyme Action, IX., The Nature of Enzymes : Prof. H. E. .\rmstrone, 

 P.R.S., and Dr. E. F. Armstrong.— Studies on Enzyme Action The 

 Enrj'me.s of Yeast : Amygdalase : R. T. Caldwell and S. L. Courtauld.— 

 On Light EUiptically Polarised by Reflection especially near the Polar- 

 ising Angle : a Compari-on with Theory ; Prof. R. C. Maclaurin. 



Royal iNSTtrUTlON, at 3. — Chemical Progress — Works of Berthelot, 

 MendelitfT, and Moissan : Sir James Dewar, F.R.S. 



Institution of Electrical Engineers, at 8.— The Present State of 

 Direct Current Design as Influenced by Inlerpoles: F. Handley Page 

 andFielder J. Hiss.— Hot Wire Watt Meters and Oscillographs: J. T. 

 Irwin. 



FRIDA V, May 24. 

 Royal Institution, at o. — Recent Contributions to Electric Wave 



Telegraphy: Prof. J. A. Fleming, F.R.S. 

 LiNNEAN Society, at 3.— Ant.iversary Meeting. 

 Physical Society, at 5.— On the Measurement of Mutual Inductance by 



the Aid of a Vibration Galvanometer : A. Campbell.- Note on the Rale 



of Decay of the Active Deposit from Radium : W. Wilson and W. 



Makower.— Exhibition of Apparatus for Relay Working of Long 



Submarine Telegraph Cables : S. G. Brown. 



MONO A Y, May 27. 

 Royal GEOGRAfHlCAL Society, at 3. — Anniversary Meeting. 

 Sociological Society, at 8. — Functional Relations of the Family and the 



City : Dr. W. Leslie M.-ickenzie. 

 Victoria Institute, at 4.30.— Mencius: Rev. F. S. Turner. 



rUESDA y. May 28. 

 Royal Institution, at 3.— Malaria, Sleeping Sickness, Tick Fever, and 



Allied Diseases: Prof. C. H. F. Nultall, F.R.S. 

 Zoological Society, at S.30. 

 Society ok Arts, at S.— bhefSeld Plate and Electro Plate: Sherard 



Cowper-Colei 



Faraday Society, at 7.50. — Annual General Me' 



buiions to the Chemistry of Gold: F. H. C 



Oxides, Sulphides, .-vc, by Means of Metallic ( 



Pcrkin.— Exhibit of Thermostatic Apparatus : D 



H'EDlfESDA.Y, May : 



British Astronomical Association, at 5. — Mr. 

 Work at Kodaikdnal. 



Society of Arts, at S. 



THURSDA Y. May 30. 



Royal Society, at i -1,0.- Probable Papers: The Solubility of Ait 

 Fats, and its Relation to Caisson Disease: Dr. H. M. Vernon.— Mil 

 in Proliferating Epithelium : Dr. J. O. Wakelin Barrett.— An E 

 mental Inquiry into the Nature of the Substances in Serum which 

 Influence Phagocyto>l5 : George Dean. — The Correlation of Ovarian and 

 Uterine Functions : E. S. Carmichael and F. H. A. Marshall. 



Royal Institution, at 3. — Chemical Progress — Work of Berthelot, 

 MendelceflT, and Moissan : Sir James Dewar, F.R.S. 



Society of Arts, at 4.^0. — Irrigation Colonies in India: Laurence 



ng.— At 3.15.— Contri 

 npbcll.— Reduction c 

 Icium: Dr. F. Mollw. 

 T. M. Lowry. 



. Michie Smith on hi 





Roberl 



Royal Institution, 

 Savage Landor. 



FRIDAY,lAtM-i^. 

 X 9. — Recent Journey Ac 



Africa ; A. Henry 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Mendelism 73 



Certain Aspects of Scientific Work. By Prof. G. H. 



Bryan, F.R.S 74 



Ancient and Modern Leicester. By R. E. T. ... 75 



A New Life of Huxley. By F. A. D • • 75 



Physical and Inorganic Chemistry. By H. M. D. . 76 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



" Practical Coal Mining" 77 



Deshumbert : " Morale de la Nature" 77 



M. G. B. : " Spring Harbingers and their Associations " 77 

 Letters to the Editor: — 



. The Structure of the Ether.— Prof. O. W. Richardson 78 



Radium and Geology. — Rev. O. Fisher 78 



Eye Migration in Flat-fishes and Lamarckianism. — 



Arthur J. Hawkes 79 



Two Works on Indian Ethnography. (Illustmted.) . 79 

 Astronoinical Observations in Prague, 1900-1904. 



(Illiislniled ) 81 



The Discovery of Stone Implements of Palaeolithic 



Type in Veddah Caves. By A. C. H 82 



An Italian Monument to Linnaeus at the End of the 



Eighteenth Century. By Prof. Italo Giglioli . , 82 

 Dr. Alexander Buchan, F.R.S. By Dr. W. N. Shaw, 



F.R.S 83 



Notes 85 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Comet 1907(5 89 



The Value of the Solar Parallax 89 



Early and Late Perseids 89 



New Elements of Jupiter's Seventh Satellite 89 



The Computation of Cometary Orbits 89 



Astrographic Catalogue Work at the Perth Observatory 



(W:a.) 89 



The Total Solar Eclipse of August 30, 1905 89 



The Eruption of Krakatoa and the Pulsation of the 



Earth. By Prof. H. Nagaoka 89 



Report on Arctic Magnetic Observations. By Dr. C. 



Chree, F.R.S 91 



Development of Lemuroids. By R. L 91 



Maiine Biology on the West Coast. By Frank 



Balfour Browne 91 



Incandescent lUuminants. By J. Swinburne, F.R.S. 92 



University and Educational Intelligence 93 



Societies and Academies 93 



Diary of Societies 96 



NO. i960. VOL. 76] 



