June i8, 1896] 



\ 

 NATURE 



15: 



Prof. J. S. Bassett, in his " Slavc-ry and Servitude in Ihe 

 Colony of North Carolina " (Johns ffopkins Univ. Sliidui in 

 Hist, and Polit. Sd. Studies, 14th ser., iv.-v.), has receillly 

 published a valuable study on the history and sociology of 

 slavery in North Carolina. In the West Indies the Spaniards 

 early destroyed the native population, and so they imported the 

 negro, and established colonies of slaves, ilriving them to the 

 fields and back to the barracks, and treating them much as (he 

 Romans did their slaves. The ideal of the Virginian planter 

 was that of an English county gentleman : he wanted to group 

 his slaves around him, and deal personally with them. There 

 were, however, two main obstacles : ( I ) the Indians must be 

 either exterminated or driven into the interior, for fear of 

 ma-ssacres ; (2) the white population must become dense enough 

 to resist any insurrection among the negroes, hence large 

 numbers were not introduced at first, .\bout 1712, these ob- 

 stacles were practically removed. The first slaves in .\merica 

 were Indians ; but as they were fierce and caused trouble, they 

 were never very numerous. The first labourers the English 

 took to the New World colonies were whites ; these consisted 

 of indented servants, transported felons, and kidnapped persons, 

 usually children. From 1661-1671 the conscience of the 

 English public was awakened, so that only properly registered 

 emigrant servants could be taken across the Atlantic ; besides, 

 negro slaves were found to be cheaper than white servants. It 

 was the survival of the fittest. Both Indian slavery and white 

 servitude were to go down before the black man's superior en- 

 durance, docility, and labour capacity. 



Dr. Bassett's account of the social conditions of the natives 

 is also interesting ; nor is the history of the attitude of religion to 

 the slave question less so. .\t first, at all events, the planters 

 were unwilling to allow the conversion of negroes, there being a 

 doubt in their minds whether conversion would not enfranchise 

 them. When the negroes happened to be professed Christians 

 they might join any church they liked, but till 1741 they were 

 not allowed to have a church organisation or building among 

 themselves. With the e.xception of the Society of Friends, who 

 became unanimous on this point in 1776, none of the sects 

 opposed the ownership of slaves. 



A TRANSLATION of Dr. Carl Freiherr v. Tubeuf's " Diseases 

 of Plants due to Cryptogamic Parasites," by Dr. W. G. Smith, 

 is about to be published by Messrs. Longmans. 



Dr. J. DOERFLER, of Vienna, has published his Botaniker 

 Adressbuilt , a guide to botanists throughout the world. It con- 

 tains upwards of 6000 addresses of botanists, as well as those of 

 botanical gardens, botanical institutes, societies, and journals. 



We have received vol. iii. , No. 4, of the " Bulletin from the 

 Laboratories of Natural History of the State University of 

 Iowa," containing several papers on the fauna and flora of 

 Iowa, as well as of Mexico, Arizona, and Nicaragua. The 

 Botanical Gazette has long been urging .\merican naturalists to 

 compile their local fauna; and flora; on some more satisfactory 

 lines than the often very arbitrary division-lines between the 

 States. 



M. J. Daveau describes, in the Tounial de Botaniqiie, a 

 remarkable example of proterandry extending over a whole 

 season, in the case of a palm (species not given) belonging to 

 the genus A'entia (Ho^ea) grown in the open air in the Botanic 

 Garden at Lisbon. The flowers are grouped together in clusters 

 within the spathe, each cluster consisting of three flowers, two 

 male and one female. The female flower in each cluster is only 

 in a very rudimentary condition, even after the male flowers 

 have shed their pollen and dropped ; they remain in this con- 

 dition through the autumn and winter, and expand only at the 

 same period in the next summer, when the male flowers in other 

 newly-formed inflorescences are discharging their pollen. 

 NO. 1390, VOL. 54] 



Scientific book-hunters will be glad to have their attention 

 called to two lists just issued. One comes from Messrs. Mac- 

 millan and Bowes, Cambridge, and contains the titles of more 

 than seventeen hundred books and papers on pure and applied 

 niathematics, astronomy, meteorology, chemistry, and other 

 branches of physical science, from tlie libraries of the late Prof. 

 Henry Smith and Mr. Cowper Ranyard ; the other contains the 

 titles of 341 works on branches of natural .science, offered for 

 sale by Messrs. Williams and Norgate. 



Messrs. J. B. Lippincott Co. have pubhshed a second 

 edition of " .\ Manual of North American Birds" by Mr. Robert 

 Ridgway. The work now runs into 653 p-iges, and is illustrated 

 by 464 outline drawings of the generic characters. The know- 

 ledge of North .\merican birds gained since the publication of the 

 work in 1887, has been fully utilised in the preparation of the new 

 edition ; and the new species and sub-species. added since that 

 date are given in an appendix. Ornithologists, and particularly 

 those in the United States, will be glad to have this carefully 

 revised edition of a valuable manual. 



OB.SERV.ATIONS of local meteorology carried on in a systematic 

 way, as they are in the Observatory of the South port Town 

 Council, furnish data of more than local value. The report of 

 Mr. Joseph Baxendell, Meteorologist to the Corporation, upon 

 the results of observations made in 1895 ^' places within and 

 around the borough of Southport, has just been received, and it 

 testifies to a large amount of careful work. In the course of his 

 introductory remarks, Mr. Baxendell refers to "the serious 

 differences between the indications of the Campbell-Stokes 

 Standard and the Jordan Photographic Sunshine Recorders." 

 It is hardly satisfactory that the duration of sunshine should be 

 recorded so differently by the two classes of instruments. 



The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society has published 

 its sixty-third annual report, being for the year 1895. 

 For many years the Falmouth Observatory, in connection 

 with that Society, has been one of the principal stations 

 of the Meteorological Council, and in addition to the 

 records of the photographic and other self-recording instruments 

 required by that body, it publishes results of magnetic and sea 

 temperature observations. During the year in question. Prof. 

 Riicker spent some time at the observatory for the purpose ol 

 comparing the magnetic instruments with those at Kew, and his 

 report bears testimony to the skill and accuracy of the observer, 

 and to the thoroughness of the work done. The Society holds 

 an annual exhibition, when any special features are intro- 

 duced by which industry may be encouraged, and visitors 

 interested and instructed. The report contains accounts of 

 interesting lectures on the old Falmouth Packet Service, by Mr 

 A. H. Norway, and on some senses in fishes, by Mr. M. Dunn 



Under the title " Lloyd's Natural History," Messrs. Edward 

 Lloyd (Limited) is issuing in parts the works which Messrs. 

 W. H. Allen and Co. have for the past two or three years been 

 publishing as "Allen's Naturalist's Library," and which is 

 itself a revised and enlarged edition of "Jardine's Naturalist's 

 Library." The first part of this rechauffe series has just been 

 received, and we may be pardoned a little surprise at finding 

 that no reference is made in it to the original edition, so that to 

 the general public "Lloyd's Natural History" appears as a 

 new work. The present part comprises 112 pages and eleven 

 coloured plates, and is a section of one of the volumes on 

 "British Birds" contributed by Dr. Bowdler Sharpe to "Allen's 

 Naturalist's Library." We are glad to see the issue of this 

 series in parts, notwithstanding the information withheld as to 

 the origin of it. In spite of the many unsatisfactory figures, 

 the work is sound and methodical, and its serial publication wil 

 undoubtedly increase the number of students of natural history. 



