Apkil 14, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



587 



groups treated of in The Bryologist, namely, 

 Dr. Best, the pleurocarpous mosses; Professor 

 Holzinger, the acrocarpous mosses ; Dr. Evans, 

 the Hepaticae, and Professor Biddle, the 

 lichens. 



hough's leaf-key to the trees 

 Mr. Eomeyn B. Hough has brought out a 

 handy pocket manual which he calls a " Leaf 

 Key to the Trees of the Northern States and 

 Canada." The booklet is of such dimensions 

 that it can be carried very easily in one's 

 pocket, its dimensions being 4J by 6 inches, 

 and not over a quarter of an inch in thickness. 

 In about thirty pages all of the common native 

 trees from the Rocky Mountains eastvcard, 

 and north of the latitude of North Carolina, 

 are briefly characterized by means of keys 

 which refer principally to their leaves. With 

 this in hand the tyro ought to find no difiiculty 

 in finding the name of any native tree in the 

 region named. It should be especially helpful 

 to young foresters. 



SHORT NOTES 



A YEAR or so ago W. N. Clute brought out 

 a little " Laboratory Botany " (Ginn) for use 

 in high schools, which should have been no- 

 ticed long ago. It has already commended 

 itself to teachers as a most useful laboratory 

 guide. 



The crown-gall of plants is discussed very 

 fully and conclusively in Bulletin 213 of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture. The au- 

 thors, Erwin P. Smith, Nellie A. Brown and 

 C. O. Townsend, find that Bacterium tume- 

 faciens produces tumors upon many species 

 of plants in widely separate parts of the nat- 

 ural system. Thus peach, apple, rose, quince, 

 chestnut, grape, etc., when attacked by this 

 organism develop the growths knovm by the 

 name of " crown gall." 



Parts III. and IV. of Cakes Ames's " Orchi- 

 daceae " continue to maintain the high stand- 

 ard set in the first and second parts. The 

 books are not only of high scientific value to 

 the botanist, but the printing and paper are 

 superb, and when added to the wealth of ar- 

 tistic etchings constitute volumes that any 



artist might be glad to own. They form a 

 notable addition to the literature of botany. 

 Charles E. Bessey 

 The University of Nebraska 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



THE POISONOUS EFFECTS OF ALCOHOLIC BEVER- 

 AGES NOT PROPORTIONAL TO THEIR 

 ALCOHOLIC CONTENTS 



Such a vast amount of investigation and 

 discussion has been centered on the liquor 

 problem during the last few years that it 

 seems almost presumptuous to attempt to add 

 any new information to the subject or even to 

 emphasize a point which has been previously 

 recognized but not thoroughly appreciated. 



In the report of the investigations made by 

 the sub-committee of the committee of fifty to 

 investigate the liquor problem, AbeF states 

 " That more concentrated alcoholic liquors or 

 spirits are, from a practical point of view, the 

 most toxic of all alcoholic beverages. If 

 whiskey or cognac were always to be diluted 

 with water until the percentage of alcohol was 

 brought down to ten per cent., they would be 

 no more toxic than wine of the same strength." 



These statements would lead one to infer 

 that if the alcoholic content of all beverages 

 was reduced to the same percentage the toxic- 

 ity of each beverage would be the same. If 

 true, such a conclusion would greatly simplify 

 the method of determining the relative harm- 

 fulness of the many kinds of alcoholic bever- 

 ages. 



Numerous investigators have subjected 

 various living organisms to the influence of 

 pure ethyl alcohol diluted with water and also 

 to beverages which contained varying amounts 

 of it. In general they have obtained definite 

 results showing that alcohol in appreciable 

 quantities is always injurious to living matter. 



It is recognized that some species of living 

 organisms are more resistant to the influence 

 of alcohol than others, and also that some in- 

 dividuals of the same species are more resist- 

 ant than other individuals, but if many indi- 



' " Physiological Aspects of the Liquor Prob- 

 lem," 1903. A report by the sub-committee of 

 the Committee of Fifty to investigate the liquor 

 problem, edited by John S. Billings, New York. 



