530 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 301. 



ion that afferent nerves affect all the bulbar 

 vasomotor cells alike. The bulbar vasomotor 

 center, therefore, would not regulate the dis- 

 tribution of the blood in the several regions of 

 the body, but would merely raise or lower the 

 general blood-pressure. 



The American Naturalist for August opens 

 with an article ' On the Nesting Habits of the 

 Brook Lamprey {Lampetra wilderi),' by Robert 

 T. Young and Leon J. Cole, followed by a 

 paper ' On Variation of the Rostrum in Palee- 

 monetes vulgaris Herbst,' by Georg Duncker, 

 in which the writer takes the ground that there 

 is no relation between the average and the 

 variability of a character. Frank Smith gives 

 ' Some additional Data on the Position of the 

 Sacrum in Neeturus,' concluding that we need 

 more data before trustworthy conclusions can 

 be reached, and J. R. Slonaker describes ' A 

 Strange Abnormality in the Circulatory Sys- 

 tem of the Common Rabbit (Lepus sylvaticus),^ 

 consisting of a connection between the portal 

 vein and posterior vena cava. ' The Origin of 

 the Middle Ocellus of the Adult Insect ' is con- 

 sidered by Chujiro Kochi, and this is followed 

 by part XIL of the ' Synopses of North-Amer- 

 ican Invertebrates ' devoted to ' The Trema- 

 todes. Parti., The Heterocotylea or Monoge- 

 netic Forms,' by H. S. Pratt. There are nu- 

 merous interesting reviews. 



The Plant World for August has for its first 

 article ' When Increase in Thickness begins in 

 our Trees,' by Geo. T. Hastings, giving the 

 results of some recent experiments. ' Judging 

 by the Fruits,' by Byron D. Halsted, presents 

 two series of examination papers with their 

 answers based on a change of text-books from 

 'Gray's Lessons' to 'Coulter's Plant Rela- 

 tions.' C. F. Saunders describes the 'Root 

 System of the Snake-Mouth Pagonia,' and the 

 same writer gives a view of ' Quaker Bridge, 

 New Jersey,' the spot where the very rare fern, 

 Schizsea pusilla, was discovered. The Supple- 

 ment, devoted to the ' Families of Flowering 

 Plants,' by Charles Louis Pollard, contains de- 

 scriptions of the Smilacese, Hsemodracese and 

 several succeeding families. 



In The Osprey for August Paul Bartsch con- 

 tinues 'Birds of the Road,' and Theodore Gill 



gives the sixth part of ' William Swainson and 

 his Times,' coming down to the acquaintance 

 of Swainson and Audubon and the interesting 

 correspondence between the two. In the 

 ' Letters ' Witmer Stone prints a communica- 

 tion from Cassin on Baird's first paper, in 

 which he described Empidonax flaviventris and 

 E. minimus. 



The Popular Science Monthly for September 

 commences with an interesting account of ' The 

 Modern Occult,' by Joseph Jastrow, concluding 

 that it is Utopian to look forward to the day 

 when the occult shall have disappeared. 

 Frederic A. Lucas discusses ' Birds as Flying 

 Machines,' drawing attention to the fact that 

 there are various modes of flight. Wm. Baxter, 

 Jr., describes 'Electric Automobiles,' and E. 

 B. Rosa considers ' The Human Body as an 

 Engine,' finding a striking parallel between 

 the body and a locomotive. Simon Newcomb 

 continues ' Chapters on the Stars,' treating 

 mainly of their spectra and spectral research, 

 and Havelock Ellis gives the second part of 

 ' The Psychology of Red.' ' The Expenditure 

 of the Working Classes ' is treated by Henry 

 Higgs, who considers that they waste a great 

 deal, and George G. GrofF presents a somewhat 

 optimistic view of the ' Conquest of the Tropics. ' 

 In the Correspondence, R. E. C. Stearns shows 

 the ' Antiquity of the Chewing Gum Habit ' and 

 there are some good summaries in ' The Prog- 

 ress of Science.' 



NOTES ON INORGANIC CSE3IISTBY. 

 When a decade or so ago the problem was 

 solved of obtaining aluminum at a compara- 

 tively low cost, it was believed by many that 

 there would be at once an immense demand for 

 the metal, and that it would replace iron and 

 perhaps other metals for many purposes. While 

 this has not been the case, the demand for 

 aluminum and the corresponding output have 

 steadily, if slowly, increased, and at the present 

 time are increasing rapidly. In the Zeitschrift 

 fiir angewandte Chemie, W. C. Heraeus calls at- 

 tention to the increasing use of aluminum in 

 the chemical industries. One great difficulty 

 heretofore in using aluminum for such purposes 

 has been that when in contact with another 



