53« 



NATURE 



[October 28, 1909 



Papers oj Economic Interest. 



On Monday, August 30, Ihere was a joint discussion 

 on " wheat " by the chemical, botanical, and agricultural 

 sections. Most of the papers read at this discussion have 

 already been noticed in Nature (see the article on 

 " Chemistry at the British Association," October 14, p. 

 475, and that on " Agriculture at the British Association " 

 in the present number). The only one that need be further 

 dealt with here is an important botanical contribution by 

 Dr. O. Stapf (communicated by Lieut. -Colonel Prain), on 

 the history of the wheats. 



The wheats are generally divided into (a) the wheats 

 proper, with tough spindles to the spikes, loose grains, 

 and thick pericarps (N.B. — the first two of these characters 

 are of economic importance, as they greatly facilitate 

 threshing) ; (b) the spelt wheats, with brittle spindles, 

 giains tightly enclosed in the husks, and thin pericarps. 

 The former comprise the soft, hard, and English wheats, 

 together with the dwarf and Polish wheats. The latter 

 include the spelt wheats proper, the emmer and the einkorn 

 wheats, and also the wild Trilicuin aegilopioides and 

 T. dicoccoides. 



After careful investigation, and in the light of recent 

 discoveries. Dr. .Stapf concludes that all the varieties of 

 modern wheat may be traced to some four distinct primitive 

 wild types : — (1) the einkorn to Triticum aegilopioides, 

 with its original home in Asia Minor and the Balkans; 

 (2) the emmer and the hard wheats, as also the English 

 and Polish, to Triticum dicoccoides, recently re-discovered 

 by Mr. Aaronsohn in northern Palestine ; (3) the spelt 

 proper to Triticum cylindricuni, in an area extending from 

 Rumania to southern Russia ; (4) the common or soft, and 

 probably also the dwarf, wheats, to a still unknown species, 

 which probably occurred either in Syria or Mesopotamia. 



Dr. Stapf concluded his paper with an appeal for the 

 systematic collection of all the wheats at present cultivated 

 in the Old World, which must, he said, still include many 

 of the more primitive races ; also for a further exploration 

 of the Orient, which might well result in the discovery of 

 new wild forms. 



Other papers of agricultural interest were read by Prof. 

 H. Bolley (North Dakota), on the destruction of weeds in 

 field crops by means of chemical spravs ; and bv Prof. 

 Pammel (Iowa), on the delayed germination of seeds. 

 The latter author experimented with the seeds of a number 

 ol species of weeds. He found that if the seeds were 

 kept during the winter in paper packages, the percentage 

 germination was lower, and the dormant period longer, 

 than if the seeds were placed in sand and exposed to the 

 climatic conditions of an ordinary winter. 



On Thursday afternoon Mr. J. Parkin gave an interest- 

 ing account of the industrv of rubber cultivation. He 

 referred to the various rubber-yielding trees, and more 

 particularly to Hevea bra^iliensis. the Para rubber tree. 

 •After describing the introduction of the latter into the 

 eastern tropics, Mr. Parkin dealt with the methods 

 employed in tapping the rubber trees. He fully discussed 

 the relation between the yield of rubber and the pheno- 

 menon known as "wound response," and also the nature 

 of latex coagulation. The paper was fully illustrated with 

 specimens of the plants, commercial rubber, the instruments 

 •used, &c. Mr, Parkin also demonstrated the actual 

 coagulation of rubber latex. 



Other Papers. 



In contrast to the Dublin meeting, there was a notice- 

 able dearth of physiological papers. One, however, was 

 contributed by Prof. R. Willstatter, on the chemistry of 

 chlorophyll. One of the points emphasised by this author 

 was the essential difference between chlorophyll and 

 hiEmoglobin in respect to the metals bound up in their 

 respective molecules. Iron occurs in that of haemoglobin, 

 while in the case of chlorophyll the iron is replaced by 

 magnesium. The action of acids and alkalis on chloro- 

 phyll was also discussed. 



Mr. J. Parkin put forward some rather novel views as 

 to the evolution of the inflorescence. He is of opinion 

 that racemose inflorescences have been in all cases derived 

 from cymose. According to his view, solitary terminal 

 flowers were primitive ; these were succeeded by simple 

 NO. 2087, VOL. 81] 



dichasia, and these by compound dichasia. From the- 

 latter, racemose inflorescences may have been derived by 

 an increase in the number of lateral flowers, with sup- 

 pression of tertiary branching, and, finally, of the original 

 terminal flower itself. 



Miss E. J. Welsford described the life-history of Tricho- 

 discus elegans, an alga belonging to the Chffitophoraceas. 

 It was found in this species that various forms of repro- 

 duction may occur under identical e.xternal conditions. 

 These results are somewhat at variance with the well- 

 known experiments of Klebs. 



Dr. R. R. Gates (Chicago) discussed the effects of 

 tropical conditions on the development of certain English 

 Oenotheras. Two species were grown from seed in 

 a tropical greenhouse. The resulting plants were usually 

 found to continue indefinitely in the rosette stage. Even 

 when ordinary stems were produced they exhibited marked' 

 fasciation. 



The Semi-popular Lecture. 



This was given on the Friday afternoon by Mr. Harold 

 Wager. He chose for his subject the perception of light 

 in plants. The lecturer dealt with the problem as it affects, 

 both the lower, free-swimming organisms, such as Euglena, 

 Chlamydomonas, &c., and also the various orthotropic and 

 diatropic organs of the higher plants. With respect to the 

 latter, Mr. Wager criticised Haberlandt's view of the 

 ocellar function of the epidermal cells of leaves. While 

 agreeing that the optical behaviour of those cells may in 

 general be as Haberlandt suggests, the lecturer inclined 

 to the view that the chlorophyll grains, rather than the 

 cytoplasmic lining of the epidermal cells, constitute the 

 actual percipient organs. The lecture, which was 

 thoroughly appreciated, was well illustrated by a number 

 ol beautiful photographs. 



Several botanical excursions were arranged during the 

 meeting by the local secretary, Prof. Buller. One of these 

 was to Hedingly, where a fine bit of uncultivated prairie 

 was examined. .Another was to Winnipeg Beach, on the 

 shores of Lake Winnipeg. On a third occasion Elm Park, 

 on the Red River, was visited. Some of' the members of 

 Section K also took part in the western excursion, and so 

 had a further opportunity of witnessing some of the re- 

 markable types of vegetation to be found in travelling from 

 east to west across the North .American continent. 



UNIVERSITY AND 'EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



C.\MBRIDGE. — It is proposed that, in accordanc' with the 

 recommendation contained in a report of the council of 

 the Senate on the endowment of a professorship of German, 

 the generous offer of Messrs. J. Henry Schroder and Com- 

 pany of the sum of 20,000?. for the endowment in the 

 University of a professorship of German, to be known 

 as the Schroder professorship of German, be gratefully 

 accepted, and that the thanks of the University be con- 

 veyed to the donors. 



The superintendent of the museum of zoology has 

 appointed Mr. C. L. Boulenger to the office of assistant 

 to the superintendent of the museum of zoology for one 

 year from October i, iqog. Mr. H. H. Thomas has been 

 appointed curator of the botanical museum for a period 

 of three years from Michaelmas, 1909, and Mr. Gordon 

 Merriman has been appointed to the studentship in medical' 

 entomologv lately held bv Mr. F. P. Jepson. 



The Vice-Chancellor, Mr. R. F. Scott, Mr. Fitzpatrick, 

 Prof. Kennv, Dr. Anderson, Prof. Sorlev, Sir J. ]. Thom- 

 son, Mr. R. T. Wright, Mr. C. E. Grant, and Mr. _ H. 

 McL. Innes have been nominated a syndicate to consider ■ 

 the question of providing pensions for professors and others | 

 in the service of the University. 



London. — At the meeting of the Senate held on October 

 20, the degree of D.Sc. was granted to Mr. L. L. Fermor, 

 an external student, for a thesis entitled " The Manganese 

 Ore Deposits of India," and other contributions; and to 

 Mr. S. Russ, an internal student, of University '^ liege, 

 for a thesis on "The .Active Deposits of Radio-acti.e .Sub- 

 stances. " 



