September 21, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



377 



briefly the results obtained with dried cotton 

 cultures in competition with pure ctdtures on 

 agar obtained from Hiltner of Munich, by the 

 Board of Agriculture of Great Britain. This 

 test was conducted by thirteen different agri- 

 cultural colleges and experiment stations dur- 

 ing the year 1905. The general plan of the 

 experiment was as follows : 



1. Laboratory experiments with sterilized 

 soil and sand. 



2. Pot cultures in unsterilized soils from 

 various sources. 



3. Experiments in accord with actual agri- 

 cultural or horticultural practise. 



The results of these experiments are pub- 

 lished in detail, and to any one examining 

 them it can not but be evident that the con- 

 tention that the nodule-forming bacteria prop- 

 erly dried upon cotton will not live is entirely 

 erroneous. In spite of the fact that the cotton 

 cultures were in some instances a year old 

 and had undoubtedly been subjected to various 

 unfavorable conditions, there was no ad- 

 vantage whatever in the Hiltner fresh pure 

 culture over the dried cotton culture. The 

 conclusion reached by the board speaks for 

 itself : 



The experiments in which positive results were 

 obtained shoto that in many cases hoth Moore's 

 and Hiltner' s eultures were alive, and capable of 

 infecting the plants for which they were designed 

 and producing an increased yield. 



Concerning the statement that no United 

 States experiment station has been able to 

 obtain 'good results ' from dried cotton cul- 

 tures it would seem that in view of the re- 

 sults obtained either by experiment stations, 

 or under government supervision, in Great 

 Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South 

 Africa, China and other foreign countries^ 

 to say nothing of the unquestionable ability 

 of those reporting success in this country — 

 that the ' psychological ' explanation should 

 be applied to the experiment station reports 

 rather than to those obtained from successful 

 users of dried cotton cultures. Furthermore, 

 an analysis of the reports from those experi- 

 ment stations which I have had an opportunity 

 to examine does not reveal the worthlessness 



of the cultures which it seems so desirable to 

 demonstrate, and finally it is not an impossi- 

 bility that under the circumstances the experi- 

 ment station may not be the final court of 

 appeal in such a matter, after all. One would 

 hardly expect ' any well-marked result ' from 

 a culture which, after being prepared, was 

 carefully kept upon ice until ready for use — a 

 method actually employed at one of the experi- 

 ment stations. 



The question of the vitality of nodule-form- 

 ing bacteria in dried cotton cultures is one 

 that can not be settled by an attempt to ex- 

 plain away the actual results which can be 

 and have been obtained from their use. The 

 incompatibility of these results with the idea 

 that the bacteria are killed by drying is ad- 

 mitted, but it is not the results which will 

 have to fall. I shall be glad to send dried 

 cotton cultures to any one who may wish to 

 arrive at an independent conclusion regarding 

 the ability of the nodule-forming bacteria to 

 withstand drying. These cultures may be re- 

 tained any length of time up to twelve months 

 before testing, so there will be no question 

 about the period during which vitality is re- 

 tained. The inoculated cotton will have been 

 dried in a room through which a current of 

 air has been forced, not in a Petri dish. 



George T. Moobe. 

 Marine Biological Laboratory, 

 Woods Hole, Mass., 

 July 28, 1906. 



SPECIAL ARTICLES. 

 GEOLOGY OF SOUTH BRAZIL. 



[The following note from Dr. I. C. White, 

 chief of the Brazilian Coal Commission, 

 should have appeared in connection with the 

 communication of Professor Osborn on ' Verte- 

 brate Paleontology,' published in the issue of 

 Science of August 3, but was received too 

 late for insertion in that issue.] 



Mesosaurus Brasiliensis occurs in the Iraty 

 black shale, state of Parana, a formation whose 

 base lies about 100 meters above the Brazilian 

 Coal Measures which hold the typical Glossop- 

 teris flora of the Ecca series of South Africa, 

 and the Karharbari series of India. It is 



