86 



NATURE 



[May 28, 1908 



1756. The L'oiirludiiij; portion now issued is mainly con- 

 cerned with William M'Nab, who was deservedly esteemed 

 both for liis capabilities as a gardener and for his 

 personality. He was a noted authority on heaths and 

 hard-wooded plants. The papers he published on the 

 planting of hardy evergreens and the cultivation of Cape 

 heaths are printed as an appendix to his biography. 



The list of new garden plants introduced during the 

 past year has been issued in the usual form of an appendix 

 (No. 3) to the Kew Bulletin for 1908. The record includes 

 new species of Bulbophyllum and Eria from Malaya and 

 India ; species of Lewisia are products of the United 

 States, and a large number of cactus specimens under the 

 genera Echinopsis, Echinocactus, Mamillaria, and Phyllo- 

 cactus have been introduced from Mexico, Argentina, 

 Paraguay, and other States of South America. Among 

 the small quota from China there occur species of Rhodo- 

 dendron, A'iburnum, and Berberis. 



With the view of making known the results of investi- 

 gations upon tropical American ferns' as they are under- 

 taken in the National Herbarium at W'ashington, it is 

 proposed to issue a series of studies similar to the series 

 "Studies of Mexican and Central American Plants." The 

 work is being entrusted to .Mr. W. R. Maxon, and the 

 first part is published as vol. x., part vii., of Contributions 

 from the United States National Herbarium. The part 

 contains critical notes on uncertain genera and species. 

 The limits of Asplenium salicifolium and the identity of 

 Aspleniiim rhizophylltim are discussed. A number of new 

 species are diagnosed, and the new generic name Anantha- 

 corus is suggested for Pleris angustifolia. 



An article contributed by Mr. F. Ramaley to the Uni- 

 versity of Colorado Studies, vol. v.. No. 2, describes the 

 plant distribution in the north-east of Latimer County, in 

 Colorado. The altitude varies from five to six thousand 

 feet ; the soil of the district is derived from sedimentary 

 rocks, largely Red Sandstone, except in parts where granite 

 rocks occur. The prevailing formation is a scrub of 

 Cercocarpus latifolius, dotted in parts with Pinus 

 scopuJorum ; grasses and species of Artemisia clothe the 

 valleys, but along the streams bushes and trees, such as 

 species of Pseudotsuga and Salix, find a congenial habitat. 

 The Cercocarpus scrub grows densely on the sandstone 

 soil, but is almost absent on the granite ; lichens and 

 Selaginella, on the contrary, prefer the granite areas. 



In Man for May Mr. D. I. Bushnell describes an ancient 

 ■site at Kimmswick, Missouri, with curious remains of an 

 ancient salt factory. The vessels used are remarkable as 

 liaving an impression of cloth on the outer surface. It is 

 supposed that a depression was first made in the earth or 

 sand of the size and form of the vessel desired. The 

 hollow was then lined with cloth, over which was spread 

 a thin layer of clay previously mixed with pulverised shell 

 and sufficient water to make it of the proper consistency. 

 When the vessel became dry and was taken from the 

 mould the cloth would be removed, the impression of 

 which, however, would remain on the outer surface. The 

 extensive cemetery adjoining the factory seems to belong 

 to a branch of the Shawnee tribe, who probably made 

 salt on this site. 



The March number of BuddJiisni, the organ of the 

 International Buddhist Society, which advocates the pro- 

 pagation of the faith in the West, contains a remarkable 

 article by Mrs. Rhys Davids on " The Value of Life in 

 Buddhism." The more advanced school of Buddhists have 

 come to see that the current conception of Nirvana as the 



NO. 2013, VOL. 78] 



cessation of sentient existence is a fatal obstacle to the 

 acceptance of the Dharma in Europe. .As the writer 

 observes : — " It is hardly conceivable that the West will 

 call such a creed anything but pessimistic, so long as the 

 West retains its peculiar view of life, and its conception 

 of the essential immortality of the self." Hence she pro- 

 poses to define NirvAna as " the perfected state of the 

 individual mind and heart, emancipation from all taint of 

 lust, ill-will and illusion." She endeavours to show tliat 

 Buddha, " in judging human individuals capable of real- 

 ising, now and again, a perfected humanity independently 

 of any transcendental outlook, raised life, or the possi- 

 bilities of life, to a very high value." The editor, in a 

 very cautious criticism of this theory, seems to prefer to 

 believe that " Buddha and his advanced hearers beheld an 

 interminable series of lives, with Nibbdna as the goal." 

 It seems unlikely that this attempt to put new wine into 

 old bottles will be accepted by the orthodox thinkers ' 

 of the East. But in view of the current belief in the 

 immobility of eastern faiths, the new development is 

 certainly interesting. 



Mr. F. Cohen, of Bonn, has published a beautiful con- 

 toured map of the Eifel, including Aix-la-Chapelle, 

 Coblentz, and Treves, on the scale of i : 200,000, prepared 

 from the Government Survey by Dr. H. Rauiif. The 

 height-zones are shown in clear shades of colour, the con- 

 tours being drawn at every fifty metres. For geographers 

 and cyclists, who may often be happily combined, this 

 large sheet, published at 3 marks, is a really notable 

 achievement. 



Prof. H. Potoni6 has issued a fourth and enlarged 

 edition of his brochure entitled " Die Entstehung der 

 Steinkohle " (Borntraeger, 1907, price 4 marks). This is 

 illustrated in the best sense by a number of landscape 

 views of actual vegetation in swamps, bogs, and forests, 

 with examples of stems found in situ in Coal-measures. 

 A strong case is made out for the theory of the produc- 

 tion of coal-seams in place and not by flotation, and stress 

 is laid on deposits of " sapropelite," from the decay of 

 various water-loving organisms and their excrement. A 

 form of carbonaceous rock results which in turn pro- 

 vides petroleum. All w^fio have to do with coal may read 

 this little book with pleasure, and they will be especially 

 grateful for the care with which the illustrations have been 

 brought together and reproduced. 



The results of the meteorological observations made at 

 Mount Tsukuba (Japan) during 1903 have recently been 

 received ; at the peak station (869'S metres) and at the 

 base hourly observations are given, at the middle station 

 (240 metres) for every two hours. The volume contains 

 an interesting discussion by Mr. T. Okada of a typhoon 

 that swept over the eastern part of Japan on September 

 28, 1902, with a violence that had not been experienced 

 for many years. An interesting fact is that the storm 

 centre passed very near Mount Tsukuba (lat. 36° 12' N., 

 long. 140° 5' E., approximately), so that the atmospheric 

 condition at the summit and base stations could be deter- 

 mined. On the same day another violent rytlone appeared 

 over the western part of the islands. 



The Denhschriften of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, 

 vol. Ixxxi., contain a very valuable contribution to the 

 meteorology of west Turkestan, compiled (at the sugges- 

 tion of Dr. J. Hann) by Heinz v. Ficker from the Russian 

 meteorological year-books and other sources, and based 

 on observations between 1894 and 1903 at seventeen 

 stations. The area, which embraces 8i° of latitude and 



