i6 



NA TURE 



[May 7, 1908 



to a hot spring near Lake Maquata, where the water gave 

 a temperature of 120° F. Two species of the algal genus 

 Phormidium, and a new species of rain-water fish, Lucaiiia 

 brownii, were taken there. 



The Geological Survey of Western Australia has issued 

 an important report (Bulletin No. 29) upon the geology of 

 the Cue and Day Dawn districts, Murchison goldfield, by 

 Mr. H. P. \^■oodward. Owing to the voluminous character 

 of the report, it has been issued in two parts, the first of 

 which is confined to the Cue and Cuddingwarra centres, 

 and the second to the Day Dawn centre. Much of the 

 latter is occupied by an elaborate report upon the Great 

 Fingall mine, the subject being dealt with, not only from 

 the standpoint of the geologist, but also from that of 

 the mining engineer. This mine, which produced 95-38 

 per cent, of the total production of 778,606 ounces from 

 the district up to the end of 1906, is a low-grade property, 

 which, owing to excellent management, is being worked 

 at a profit. The reports are illustrated by five large geo- 

 logical maps, twenty-three mine plans, and nineteen 



T.iiHngs DuiT.p of the Crsat Fii^gall Mine. 



admirable photographs. Particularly striking is the view, 

 here reproduced, of the waste heap to which the sands 

 from the cyanide process are delivered by belt-carriers. 

 This heap, being more than 100 feet in height, forms a 

 conspicuous landmark. 



A VIGOROUS article on the crisis in the French vineyard 

 appeared in the Times (.April 25), in which the author. 

 Prof. L. Daniel, traces the sequence of events that have 

 led to the present disastrous conditions. Primarily the 

 fault is ascribed to the indiscriminate confidence placed 

 in grafting as a panacea for combating phylloxera. The 

 grafted vines also gave a large yield that suggested in- 

 creased profits, so that growers were ready to overlook 

 any possible disadvantages, such as deterioration in quality. 

 As a result, there has been a large production of inferior 

 wines, that are also unsuitable for storing. Prof. Daniel 

 attributes the inferiority to the difference in root-growth, 

 the .American vine being a surface feeder, while the roots 

 of the French vines penetrate deeper. It is noted how, in 

 the course of time, grafted plants have deteriorated, and 



NO. 2010, VOL. 78] 



evidence has accumulated to show that phylloxera is 

 amenable to treatment ; in these circumstances growers are 

 being officially advised to return to old methods, and aim 

 principally at quality. 



Three bulletins have reached us from the University of 

 Wisconsin, all dealing with matters of considerable prac- 

 tical importance. One describes the conditions necessary 

 for growing lucerne, a crop which is common enough in 

 the United States as a rule, but is not as yet much grown 

 in parts of Wisconsin. Since the development of the plan' 

 depends on the presence of the proper bacteria in the 

 soil, farmers are recommended in doubtful cases to inocu- 

 late the land by scattering on each acre about two tons 

 of soil from old lucerne land. If no such soil is available, 

 the University Experiment Station is willing to supply 

 hundred-pound lots so that a start may be made on a 

 few rods of land, from which, of course, a considerable 

 area can afterwards be inoculated. Another bulletin deals 

 with the necessity for properly housing pigs, and the third 

 urges the importance of systematically examining herds 

 for tuberculosis, and slaughtering 

 all animals that give the tuberculin 

 reaction. 



\ REPORT on the delimitation ot 

 the Turco-Egyptian boundary (June- 

 September, 1906), by Messrs. 

 E. B. H. Wade, B. F. E. Keeling, 

 and J. T. Craig, which has just 

 been published by the Survey De- 

 partment of the Egyptian Ministry 

 of Finance, furnishes an excellent 

 example of 'the application of 

 modern methods of surveying so as 

 to yield a maximum of accuracy 

 in result with a minimiim expendi- 

 ture of tiine. The survey operations 

 consisted in running a traverse 210 

 kilometres in length, from a point 

 on the beach at Taba, on the Gull 

 of Akaba, to Rafa, on the Mediter- 

 ranean coast, fourteen points being 

 determined on the route. The 

 method employed was that of lati- 

 tudes and azimuths, an assumed 

 longitude being first taken for Taba, 

 where the work began, and a final 

 longitude obtained for Rafa, w'here it ended, by exchange 

 of telegraphic signals with the Helwan Observatory, near 

 Cairo. Notwithstanding the difficult nature of the country, 

 both as regards topography and the troubles from dust-haze 

 and mirage incident to work on a heated desert plateau, 

 the traverse was completed in thirty-one days, including 

 the computations and plotting of the boundary. The 

 demarcation by permanent signals occupied fifteen days, 

 and it is further interesting to note that the total cost of 

 the survey operations amounted to ;£rE46o. The report 

 includes detailed examples of the observations and reduc- 

 tions, and is valuable as a specimen of this class of work. 



A coxvENiEXT and handy form of refrnctometer, 

 especiallv adapted for the rapid determination of the re- 

 fractive indices of faceted gem-stones, but also applicable 

 for liquids, has been designed by Dr. G. F. Herbert Smith, 

 and two patterns of the instrument have been constructed 

 and placed on the market by Mr. J. H. Steward. With 

 the later (1907) pattern it is possible to determine a faceted 

 stone in whatever form of mounting it may be set, and 



