1 84 



NA TURE 



[June 20, 1907 



Iropical plants that lose their vitality if only a small per- 

 ( intage of water is rcinovod. A botanical irregularity in 

 the shape of a nutmeg-tree bearing both staminate and 

 pistillate flowers is recorded from the island. Allusion is 

 also made to a variety, longipcdiinciilala, of the palm 

 Pritchardia pacifica, distinguished by the length of the 

 flower stalks, of which plants have been raised from seed 

 originally supplied from British Guiana. 



An irregular scries of nuclear changes in the develop- 

 ment of the embryo-sac of Pcpcromia liispidiila, differing 

 slightly from the development in Pepcromia pcllucida, is 

 described by Prof. D. S. Johnson. .Sixteen nuclei arc 

 formed in the embryo-sac, of which two become the nuclei 

 of the ovum and one synergid respectively, while the re- 

 maining fourteen fuse to form the endosperm nucleus ; 

 also the divisions of the endosperm nuclei are at once 

 followed by the formation of cell-walls, so that the endo- 

 sperm is cellular from the start. A preliminary notice 

 with illustrations is published in the Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity Circular (March), wherein Mr. W. D. Hoyt records 

 the observation of crops of sexual cells of Dictyota 

 dichotonta at monthly intervals at Beaufort, North Caro- 

 lina, as comp.ired with fortnightly crops observed by Mr. 

 J. Lloyd Williams at Barigor. 



We have received from the Engineering Standards Com- 

 mittee copies of the British standard specification for ingot 

 steel forgings for marine purposes (No. 29, price 2s. td. 

 net), and of the British standard specification for steel 

 bars for use in automatic machines (No. 32, price 2s. 6d. 

 net). The former is based on the present .specifications of 

 the Admiralty, the Board of Trade, and the three leading 

 registry .societies, whilst the latter is based upon evidence 

 collected from users and manufacturers. The mechanical 

 tests and chemical analyses of steel bars for use in auto- 

 malic machines are also based on the evidence obtained, 

 supplemented by the results of actual testing. Owing to 

 the widely different results when bars of small diameter 

 arc subjected to mechanical tests, it has been decided not 

 to include such tests for steel bars less than half an inch 

 in diameter. 



In 1003 the Canadian Government appointed a com- 

 mission to investigate the different electrolhcrmic processes 

 for the smelting of iron ores and the making of steel in 

 operation in Europe. Since that date experiments have 

 been made by Dr. P. H^roult at Sault Sainte Marie, 

 Ontario, under Government auspices, in the smelting of 

 Canadian ores in a specially designed electric furnace. 

 The superintendent of mines. Dr. E. Haanel, has now 

 issued a detailed report ■ (Ottawa : Department of the 

 Interior, 1907) containing in 149 pages a statement of the 

 work done and of the results obtained, with analyses of 

 the pig iron and slag produced and of the iron ores 

 employed. Illustrations of the furnace and machinery used 

 are given. The results obtained were most gratifying, 

 and were briefly as follows : — Canadian ores, chiefly 

 magnetites, can be smelted as economically as ha'matites 

 in the electric furnace. Ores high in sulphur can be con- 

 verted into pig iron containing only a minute proportion 

 of sulphur. The silicon content can be varied as required 

 for the class of pig iron to be produced. Charcoal, which 

 can be cheaply produced from wasle material, and peat- 

 coke can be substituted for coke. Nickeliferous pyrrholite 

 and tilaniferous iron ores containing up to 5 per cent, of 

 titanium can be successfully treated. The far-reaching con- 

 sequences of these results will be apparent. Many magne- 

 tites are too high in sulphur to be di; ll wih 'n the blasl- 

 MC IQ64, VOL. 7' ' 



furnace, and consequently have hitherto been of no com- 

 mercial value. The introduction of electric smelting, too, 

 will render it possible to utilise water-power that cannot 

 at present be profitably employed for any other purpose, 

 and to utilise peat bogs and mill refuse or sawdust, for 

 which there has hitherto been no use. An appendix con- 

 tains an account of recent improvements in electric smelt- 

 ing made in Sweden and in Germany. 



I\ the Rendicoiili of the Lombardy Institution, xl., 8, 

 Prof. Torquato Taramelli gives a short obituary notice 

 of the work of Dr. Benedetto Corti. This work consists 

 largely in the study of the fossil microzoa of the Tertiary 

 and Quaternary deposits of Lombardy, and forms an 

 important contribution to Italian geology. 



Dr. Giovanni Z.ippa, writing in the .\tti of the Lince! 

 Academy, discusses the possibility of the instruments in 

 the observatory at Padua being affected by tides in the 

 .Adriatic. The author makes calculations of the gravita- 

 tional effects, based on tide tables, using a method of 

 triangulation as a basis of rough computation, but the 

 results appear to he too small to have any appreciable 

 effect even on the seismographs at Padua. 



In the Bulletin of the .St. Petersburg Academy of 

 Sciences, Prince B. Galitzin describes an experimental 

 verification of Dopplcr's principle for light rays, conducted 

 in collaboration with J. Wilip. Use was made of rotating 

 mirrors, as in the experiments of Bielopolsky, but by 

 means of the graduated spectroscope (.Stufenspektroscope) 

 described previously by Prince Galitzin, it was possible to 

 photograph and measure the displacements of the spectral 

 lines of a mercury arc lamp used as the source of light. 

 In this way quantitative results were obtained within the 

 limits of experimental error. 



Mr. C. E. Benmam, writing from Colchester, June 4, 

 points out that it is a common practice in lantern demon- 

 strations, when it is desired to minimise the heat radi- 

 ation, to interpose a cell of alum solution, though distilled 

 watei" is actually more athermanous than water with alum 

 in solution. The common belief that an alum solution is 

 very opaque to thermal rays was disproved many years 

 ago, but evidently has not yet quite disappeared even at 

 the present time. 



The supplement to Mitlcihiiigcii aiis Jen dcutschcii 

 Schutzgcbictcn (vol. .\x., part ii.) contains the observations 

 made in the year ended June, 1906. Taking into account 

 the results from all stations, the rainfall was favourable, 

 but less in amount than in the two previous years. The 

 annual falls vary, according to position, from 27-5 inches 

 to 03 inch ; May to August arc practically rainless months. 

 The largest amount recorded in one day was 45 inches, at 

 .Seeis, in the central district, on January 30, 1906. The 

 stations now number seventy, against sixty-seven three 

 years previously, notwithstanding that two-thirds of them 

 were destroyed or necessarily abandoned after the outbreak 

 of the war. 



Owing to a slight accident, Mr. Francis Galton was 

 unable personally to deliver his Herbert Spencer lecture at 

 Oxford, referred to in last week's Nature (p. 15S), but the 

 lecture was read by his cousin, Mr. A. Galton. 



An illustrated guide to holiday resorts in the I'nited 

 Kingdom has been published under the title of " 1 he 

 Holiday Whitaker " by Messrs. J. Whitaker and Sons, 

 Ltd. The present edition is intended as a guide to resorts 

 for the summer season, and it is proposed to issue another 

 and different edition for the winter season. 



