November 15, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



in 



- ford Long, of Georgia, who first used sulphuric 

 ether to produce uaconsciousness in surgical 

 operations in 1842, four years before its use at 

 the Massachusetts General Hospital. 



In conclusion, if in our r61e as critic and re- 

 viewer we have said anything to make the 

 reader think ill of Dr. Packard's book, we de- 

 sire now to take it all back and to assure him 

 that it is a most interesting and valuable con- 

 tribution to American history and literature. 

 E. F. C. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 



The Botanical Gazette for October contains 

 the following papers : F. L. Stevens publishes 

 the third and last part of his paper entitled, 

 ' Gametogenesis and Fertilization in Albugo.'' A 

 multiple fertilization was unknown before its 

 discovery by the author in Albugo Bliti, the only 

 species of Albugo previously investigated ex- 

 hibiting simple fertilization. The present paper 

 includes A. Portulacse, A. Tragopogonis and a 

 reinvestigation of A. Candida, and shows that 

 these species, together with A. Bliti, form a 

 series differing in the prominence of the ' re- 

 ceptive papilla,' the development of the cceno- 

 centrum, and in the functional egg nuclei. The 

 conclusion is reached that the primitive forms 

 were multinucleate, and that the uninucleate 

 condition is a derived one. It its ontogeny A. 

 Tragopogonis indicates this, its oosphere in early 

 stages being multinucleate, and later becoming 

 uninucleate by degeneration of supernumerary 

 nuclei. The ccenocentrum, an organ of hitherto 

 unknown function, is shown to serve in the nu- 

 trition of the surviving female nucleus. Many 

 conditions are noted which tend to confirm Stras- 

 burger's theory regarding kinoplasm and its re- 

 lation to sexual differentiation. 



W. L. Bray completes his paper on ' The 

 Ecological Relations of the Vegetation of West- 

 ern Texas.' It is a general discussion and 

 analysis of this interesting field, and is de- 

 signed primarily to form the basis of a detailed 

 botanical survey of the State. The author 

 considers at some length the relation of the 

 vegetation to the climatic factors of tempera- 

 ture, moisture, winds and sunlight ; and to the 

 so-called edaphic factors of physiography, soil 

 structure and other geological phenomena. 



The greater part of the paper, however, is given 

 to a discussion of the plant formations of the 

 region under the following general heads : (1) 

 Grass formations ; (2) woody formations, includ- 

 ing numerous types of arborescent and chaparral 

 formations ; (3) water storage formations ; (4) 

 formations of cryptogamous xerophytes ; and (5) 

 halophytic plants. The following propositions 

 summarize the main features of the discussion : 

 (1) The climatic conditions conspire to make 

 the west Texas region a typical ' grass plains 

 country ' ; (2) in its temperature relations the 

 vegetation ranges from the tropical to the 

 transition zones ; (3) the region is marked by 

 several climatic types which are enumerated ; 

 (4) the original formations are undergoing pro- 

 found changes due to human agencies, the tend- 

 ency being to break up the grass formations 

 and to permit the encroachment of woody vege- 

 tation ; but areas of arborescent vegetation are 

 being denuded of valuable timber, thus forcing 

 the question of water supply and control of 

 floods. 



Mr. James B. Dandeno points out the con- 

 fused usage of physiologists in designating the 

 solutions with which they have worked. The 

 term ' normal solution ' has been used by some 

 for solutions containing a gram equivalent per 

 liter of solution, by others for those containing 

 a gram equivalent per liter of water, and by 

 still others for gram molecule per liter solution. 

 After defining these three carefully and calling 

 attention to the usage of chemists, he cites ex- 

 amples of confused usage by physiologists, and 

 urges that care be taken to distinguish between 

 different sorts of solutions and to avoid misuse 

 of the term ' normal.' 



Mr. Burton E. Livingston adds to his pre- 

 vious contribution on the same subject an ac- 

 count of several lines of experimentation, 

 which extend his previous results and confirm 

 his conclusions already expressed. In the 

 new experiments upon Stigeoclonium tenue he 

 has used solutions of non-electrolytes (in this 

 case sugars), and also solutions containing both 

 sugar and mineral salts ^ further, he has culti- 

 vated these plants on porous plates, in gelatin, 

 in darkness, and under conditions where evap- 

 oration would concentrate solutions. He finds 

 in all cases that osmotic pressure is the deter- 



