322 Book Notice. 



but only a kind of saponin not precipitated b}^ baryta water 

 and seemingly similiar to the scillain of Squill ; there was no 

 free sugar or phloroglucin ; most of the mucilage was extracted 

 by dilute soda ; there was much reserve starch and oxalate of 

 calcium (localised in the cells immediatelv beneath the palisade 

 tissue). The ash amounted to 16.6 per cent., and had 50.7 

 per cent, soluble salts, 4.3 silica, 17 lime, 5.2 magnesia, 3.8 

 P-0^, 2.5 SO^, and 6 chlorine. The foregoing analysis is 

 evidently that of a nitrate plant, with no mycorhiza, and no 

 strong water-excretion, but a powerful producer of starch, 

 carotin, chlorophyll, and oxalates. The ' saponin ' of the 

 roots and seeds is most probably a decomposed glucoside. 

 Oxalate of calcium is deposited in all the organs. 



HULL MUSEUM PUBLICATIONS, Nos. 61, 62, 64=72. 



The Hull Municipal ^luseum has been established o\'er nine years, 

 and it might be supposed that by now the rate of progress, so far as addi- 

 tions to the collection are concerned, would show a tendency to fall off. 

 It is therefore very gratifying to learn from the Annual Report for 1909 that 

 on no previous occasion have there been so many valuable additions as 

 during that year, and that these are not confined to a few departments, 

 but embrace almost all. A perusal of the four quarterly records of additions 

 fully bears out this statement. Coins and tokens, stone implements, 

 Roman remains, Anglo-Saxon and old-English antiquities of various kinds, 

 forgeries and counterfeits, old chinaware, ethnographic specimens, bio- 

 graphy and portraiture, natural history and geology contribute to the 

 general stock of interest and information. The rapidly increasing collection 

 of exhibits appropriately placed in the Wilberforcc Museum, must be a 

 source of pleasure and pride to every Hull man who takes any interest in 

 his native city. The fact that the well-illustrated guide has reached a 

 third edition is strong evidence that the house and its contents meet witi: 

 wide appreciation, and have served to attract to themselves rare portraits 

 and other objects of whose existence very few had any knowledge. The 

 special pamphlets on Anglo-Saxon vases, East Yorkshire Neolithic imple- 

 ments, Roman antiquities from South Ferriby are of great interest, and the 

 excellent plates elucidate the text and make the work of permanent value 

 to those w'hom fortune has placed at too great a distance from Hull to 

 study the things themselves on the spot. The educational character has 

 also been well sustained, and the additional museum at Wilberforce House 

 has not only created a fresh centre, but has extended the scope of the 

 instruction given. The teaching of history ceases to be mere words to 

 which the scholar pays no more attention than the personality of the 

 teacher demands. Here, however, in Wilberforce House, lessons may be 

 given on the histroy of Hull and the abolition of the slave trade, subjects 

 which may be treated from many points of view, and illustrated step by 

 step with exhibits ready to hand. The scholar must be dull indeed, who 

 fails to enjoy these lessons gi\-en by such a splendid teacher as the Curator 

 is known to be. — E.G.B. 



Naturalibt, 



