34^ 



SCIENCE- G OSS IF 



STRUCTURAL and PHYSIOLOGICAL BOTANY. 



CONDUCTED BY HAROLD A. HAIG. 



Bacteriology as a Branch of Botany. — The 

 ■study of the Schizomycetes or " fission fungi " is 

 interesting from several points of view. First, we 

 may look at them from their true botanical aspect, 

 and, secondly, from the point of view of the patho- 

 logist in the investigation of their toxic properties. 

 It is, however, to the latter study that tlie term 

 "bacteriology" sliould be applied, for one nowa- 

 ■days most often hears it spoken of in the patho- 

 logical sense. Tiie botanical histologist may, 

 however, be often called upon to state definitely 

 whether such and such a unicellular organism is a 

 Schizomycete or not, and may in this way be of 

 •considerable use to the pathologist. As a matter 

 of fact, in order to settle the whole question one 

 lias to look at these organisms from three points of 

 view : (1) botanical ; (2) chemical ; and (3) patho- 

 logical ; so that to speak of bacteriology as a 

 branch of botany one is not quite correct. Never- 

 theless we have quite recently seen it stated as 

 such ; but we must not regard it as being exclu- 

 sively so. There is a curious instance of a patho- 

 logical saprophyte in the disease known as 

 actinomycosis, caused by the presence in the 

 tissues of the human being of the fungus 

 actinomyces, the mycelia of which penetrate into 

 and between the cells, bringing about the forma- 

 tion of multiple abscesses in various parts of the 

 body. The botanical aspect of this case is very 

 interesting, as it shows us that other organisms 

 besides Schizomycetes may infest animals and pro- 

 duce pathological results. The symbiotic relations 

 are very striking, for we see that this saprophyte 

 directs its action especially towards animal tissues, 

 whereas in most cases (lichens, etc.) the symbiotic 

 relation is usually found between two members of 

 the vegetable kingdom, not between animal and 

 vegetable, as in this case and that of Schizomycetes. 

 It may, therefore, be seen, that the botanist can be 

 of especial value to the pathologist, and par- 

 ticularly so if at the same time he appreciates the 

 true physiological aspects of the question. 



A "Sport" in Digitalis. — The "Curiosities 

 Page" of the " Strand Magazine" for March 1902 

 reproduces a photograph sent by a Bournemouth 

 contributor of a curious foxglove whose apical 

 flower is depicted as having the shape of a Canter- 

 buiy bell. The photograph appears to be quite 

 bona fide, and the phenomenon is peculiar, for 

 variations in the number and shape of the petals 

 or corolla lobes and the form of the corolla as a 

 whole do not as a I'ule go so far as to entirely do 

 away with all resemblance to the other flowers of 

 the inflorescence. One has, of course, to consider 

 the possibility of a campanula seed having lodged 

 in the axil of a bract neai- the apex, and in some 

 way germinated, but this is not very probable. 

 Most likely the phenomenon is a " sport." The 

 text accompanying the photograph does not make 

 any mention of the aspect and disposition 

 of the two inner floral whorls. I think we 

 may assume that these conformed to the Scro- 

 fulariaceous type, and not to that of the Cam- 

 panulaceae. If this point were investigated, the 

 chances would probably be in favour of the four 

 didynamous stamens and not five alternate ones, 

 and of a superior as opposed to the inferior ovary 

 of Campanula. — Harold A. Haig, London. 



conducted by F. C. DENNETT. 









Position at Noon. 





1902 Rises. 



Sets. 



R.A. 



Dec. 





April h.m. 



h.m. 



h.m.s. 



° ' " 



Sun .. 



10 .. 5.19 a.m. 



. . 6.45 p.m. . 



1.12.41 . 



7.42.12 N. 





20 .. 4.-57 a.m. 



..7.2 p.m. . 



1.49.36 . 



11.17.23 N. 





30 . . 4.37 a.m. 



.. 7.18 p.m. . 



2.27.13 . 



14.34. ON. 





Rises. 



Souths. 



Sets. 



Age at Noon. 





April h.m. 



h.m. 



h.m. 



d. h.m. 



Moon . 



.10 .. 6.16 a.m. 



.. 1.49 p.m. .. 



9.32 p.m. 



.. 1.22.10 





20 .. 4.53 p.m. 



.. 10.38 p.m. . 



3.49 a.m. 



.. 11.22.10 





30 .. 0.52 a.m. 



.. 5.38 a.m. . 



10.30 a.m. 



. . 21.22.10 









Position at Noon. 





South 



?. Semi- 



R.A. 



Dec. 





April h.m. 



diameter, h.m.s. 



O 1 II 



Merciii 



y.. 10 ..10.58-8 



a.m. .. 2-7" . 



. 0. 9.59 . 



. 1.29.47 S. 





20 ..11.26-1 



a.m. .. 2-5" . 



. 1.16.41 . 



. 6.25.21 N. 





30 .. 0. 4-1 



p.m. .. 2-5" . 



. 2.34. 3 . 



.15. 5.42 N. 



Venus 



.. 10 .. 9.12-1 



a.m. ..14-8" . 



.22.23.10 . 



. 8.18.26 S. 





20 . 9. 7-6 



a.m. ..13-0" . 



.22.58. 7 . 



'. 6. 7.46 S. 





30 .. 9. 5-5 



a.m. ..11-6" . 



.23.-35.27 . 



. 3.15.25 S. 



Mars 



.. 20 ..11.42-0 



a.m. .. 1-9" . 



. 1.32.32 . 



. 9. 8. 6 N. 



Jupitet 



,. 20 .. 7.16-6 



a.m. ..17-3" . 



.21. 6.27 . 



.17. 7.23 S. 



Saturn 



.. 20 .. 6. 8-8 



a.m. .. 7-7" . 



.19.58.26 . 



.20.37. OS. 



Uranu^ 



.. 20 .. 3.31-8 



a.m. .. 1-8" . 



.17.20.57 . 



.23.13. 4S. 



Neptune .. 20 .. 4. 5-1 



p.m. .. 1-2" . 



. 5.56.17 . 



.22.19.29 N. 





Moon's Phases. 







// 



m. 





h.m. 



3rrf Qr 



. . April 1 . . 6. 



24 a.m. New 



. . April 8 



. . 1.50 p.m. 



1st Qr. 



. . „ 15 . . 5.26 a.m. Full 



.. „ 22 



.. 6.50 p.Ql. 



■ird Qr 



.. „ 30 .. 10.58 p.m. 







In perigee on April 10th, at 1 p.m. ; in apogee 

 on 26th, at 7 a.m. 



Meteors. 



h.m. ° 



April 17 to 20 .. Lyrids .. Radiaut R.A. 18. Dec. 32 N. 



„ 17 to 25 .. ^ Serpentids . . „ „ 15.24 „ 17 N. 



„ 29 to May 6 r, Aquarids . . ,, „ 22.28 „ 2 S. 



The last-mentioned are visible a little before sunrise. 



Conjunctions of Planets with the Moon. 



April 2 

 „ 3 



,. 7 

 „ 8 



„ 11 

 „ 30 



Saturn»t • 



. 4 p.m. 



. Planet 



5.15 S. 



Jupiterf . 



9 p.m. 



„ 



5.53 S. 



Venus-' 



6 a.m. 



„ 



2.28 S. 



Mercury* . 



. 6 a.m. 



„ 



6. 1 S. 



Mars* 



. Noon 



. 



2.25 S. 



Ceresf 



. 4 a.m. 



• 



0.23 S. 



Saturn 



. 2 a.m. 



„ 



5.20 S. 



DayliKbt. 



t Below English horizon. 



Occultations. 



Magni 



Dis- 



April Star. tude. 



appears. 





h.m. 



11 .. 8'Tauri 4-2 . 



. 9.36 p.m. 



12.. 119 „ 4-6. 



.11.23 p.m. 



15 . . 68 Oemiuorum 5-0 . 



. 0.36 a.m. 



21-2 J a Virginis 1-2 . 



.11.46 p.m. 



29 . . p" Sagittarii 3-9 . 



. 4.20 a.m. 



Angle Angle 



from Re- from 



Vertex, appears. Vertex. 



° h.m. ° 



.. 91,. 10.15 p.m. .. 193 

 .. 50.. Below horizon. 

 .. 15.. 1. 9 a.m. .. 296 

 .. 144 0.52 a.m. ,. 242 

 . . 85 . . 5.44 a.m. . . 245 



Partial Eclipse of the Sun. 



There is a very slight partial solar eclipse on 

 April Sth, visible in far northern (arctic) regions 

 in the early afternoon, but quite invisible at 

 Greenwich. 



Total Eclipse of the Moon. 



On April 22nd the moon I'ises at 7.5 p.m. totally 

 eclipsed, about 12 minutes after the middle of the 



