496 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. II., No. 36. 



and practicable ; and its adoption is an impor- 

 tant reform, whicli is deserving of hearty snp- 

 port and encouragement. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 Phalansteriuin digitatum Stein. 



There is no published evidence that the infusorial 

 colony here referred to has been seen by any observer 

 excejjt its German discoverer. It is stated not to 

 occur in English waters ; and this uncommon animal- 

 cule had not been taken in America, until the writer 

 recently found it in considerable profusion, attached 

 to the leaflets of Myriophyllum from a millpond near 

 this city. The colonies and the enclosed zooids dif- 

 fer from their German relatives in no essential char- 

 acter, the only perceptible divergence being in the 

 somewhat smaller size of the American Infusorium. 



The tubular colonies, which take an irregular digit- 

 like form, and branch somewhat dichotouiously, are 

 in great part built up of granular digestive rejecta- 

 menta remarkable for their coarseness. The distal 

 extremity of each tubule is slightly inflated, each 

 zooid sitting singly in the hollow thus formed, except 

 after having undergone the reproductive process, 

 vphen two or more may be present, the flagellum alone 

 extending beyond the aperture. 



The conical collar, embracing the flagellum for 

 some distance above its point of origin, is often 

 thickened by an outward flow of the body-sarcode ; 

 hut whether a regular circulation takes place in the 

 collar substance could not be determined. 



Although the zooids are apparently entirely free 

 from all connection with the walls of the zoocytium, 

 they have tlie power of suddenly darting back into 

 the tubules for a distance equal to two or three times 

 their length. They seem to exercise this accomplish- 

 ment at pleasure, but especially when any unwelcome 

 object comes in contact with the flagellum. I have 

 seen a large animalcule glide across the front of a 

 colony, and each zooid in regular succession, as its 

 flagellum was touched, shoot back into the tube, re- 

 maining there some minutes before cautiously reap- 

 proaching the aperture. - 



I have several times witnessed the reproductive 

 process, and have verified the statement that it takes 

 place by transverse fission. An interesting fact in 

 this connection is, that the only other species of the 

 genus reproduces itself by dividing longitudinally, a 

 method directly the opposite of that which obtains 

 ■with the present form. 



The two posteriorly located contractile vesicles pul- 

 sate at intervals of about thirty seconds. 



Dr. Alfred C. Stokes. 



Trenton, N.J. 



Solar constant. 



I enclose a translation of a portion of a letter to me 

 from Dr. Josef Pernter of the Austrian meteorologi- 

 cal service. Dr. Pernter writes : — 



" Speaking of radiation, I remember to have read several times 

 in Science, under the ' letters to the editor,' various things con- 

 cerning the solar constant,— lately, a letter from John LeConte, 

 but which, like former communications, appears to make the 

 subject a little unclear. 



" The solar constant is a quantity of heat, and the number which 

 is the expression for the solar constant must mean calores. If, 

 for example, Viollc says the solar constant is 2.54, then it must 

 be 2.64 calores. But since the solar radiation is a summation, 

 during time, extending over space, the duration and the surface 

 certainly come into the question. The minute has been taken 

 as the unit of time, and the square centimetre as the unit of 

 space. 



" That the solar constant is 2.54 calores, means, therefore, that 



the sun's rays bring to the outside of our atmosphere, in each 

 minute, 2.54 heat-units upon each square centimetre. What be- 

 comes of llRsr iKiitiiiiits, or calores, does not belong at all to 



the conci'i'liiin ^i tin.- >u!;tr constant. 



"Thcncu s. liar c.ih.-lant of r.,anglcy, 2. 84, signifies, consequent- 

 ly, tliat till- ;iiiiiniiil "I liiMt furnished per minute per square centl. 

 metre by solar radiation is 2.S4 calores. But this number, 2.84 

 calores, must be comprehended. Lately the term 'ealore' has 

 been used in two signiflcatiuiis, — the large ealore, or the amount 

 of heat that raises one kilogram uf water 1' : and the small ealore, 

 or the amount of heat which rai-^ies a Lxrain of x\ ater 1°. The laU 

 ter, or small ealore, is applied to llie solar cnnstant. Expressed 

 in large calores, the solar constant of LauKkv would not be 2.84, 

 but .U02S4 calores; that is, 1,000 times sinalk-r. 



" After these explanations, one can immediately say how many 

 great or small calores fall upon the square ractic per minute from 

 the solar radiation; viz., 10,1100 times as many as on the square 

 centimetre." 



FRANii Waldo. 



Deutsche seewarte, Hamburg, Germany, 

 Sept. 16, 1883. 



Dissemination of Phlox. 



I have bad for some time past, on my table, some 

 capsules of Phlox Drummondii, which is so com- 

 monly cultivated in gardens. The capsules were 

 picked while still green, and had dried gradually. 

 Several times I have been puzzled at finding small 

 seeds and parts of the capsule of a plant on the table, 

 and could not think where they came from ; but, a 

 day or so since, I heard a sharp pop, and, looking up, 

 saw that one of the capsules had burst, and sent the 

 seed several feet away. Since then it has often oc- 

 curred. This is an evident means for the dissemina- 

 tion of the seed. The most of the capsules I have 

 e.^amined have perfected only one seed, instead of 

 three; and the sudden opening of the capsules have 

 sent the seeds flying far and wide. 



.los. F. .Tames. 



Cincinnati, O. 



The Iroquois institutions and language. 

 The very courteous and complimentai-y manner in 

 which my work on the Iroquois book of rites has been 

 noticed in a recent number of this journal has made 

 me reluctant to take exception to any portion of the 

 review. On further consideration, however, I must 

 beg to be allowed, in the interests of both science and 

 history, to refer to one or two of the remarks of my 

 friendly critic. He expresses the opinion that ' the 

 sceptical reader ' may be inclined to regard the por- 

 tion of the work which relates to ' the league and its 

 founders ' rather as ' classic liistorical romance ' than 

 as history; and this on the sole ground (as 1 under- 

 stand his suggestion) that the Iroquois cannot be 

 supposed to have been capable, five hundred years 

 ago, of the intellectual efforts implied in this narra- 

 tive. This suggestion, it will be seen, opens up the 

 entire question of the comparative mental capacity of 

 civilized and uncivilized, or rather unlettered, races. 

 The question is one altogether too large to be fully 

 discussed in this place. But as regards the particular 

 subject now referred to, I may remark that the exist- 

 ence of the league itself, with all its judicious and 

 statesmanlike regulations, is a fact of which there 

 can be no possible question. Any one can see this 

 remarkable constitution in full and vigorous opera- 

 tion among the three thousand Iroquois on their Cana- 

 dian reservation. There is ample evidence to show 

 that this league existed in its present form when 

 the people who maintained it first became known 

 to European explorers. It is clear, therefore, that 

 whatever intellectual power was needed for its for- 

 mation was possessed by the Iroquois before they ac- 

 quired any tincture of foreign civilization. 



But why should their capacity for forming such a 

 government be questioned? The Iroquois tribes, when 



