PLANTS PREDICT WEATHER 99 
later, through the courtesy of King Edward VII, 
who was then Prince of Wales, Prof. Nowack 
went to England and continued his interesting ex- 
periments at the Kew Gardens. 
While at Kew the sensitive weather-plant enabled 
him to predict a number of electrical disturbances 
before they were in evidence, in addition to the 
famous fire-damp explosion in which many lives 
were lost. He established a Weather-plant Ob- 
servatory at Kew, and since then he has travelled 
extensively and has made a tremendous collection 
of weather-plants, some of which have been sent 
to the New York Botanical Gardens. 
This interesting weather-plant, or “Indian lico- 
rice,” of which so little is known, has small leaves, 
not unlike a rose, which are constantly moving. 
The people of India hold it in great esteem, mak- 
ing beads out of its small, curiously egg-shaped 
seeds. These are known as “John Crow beads” and 
are bright scarlet, dotted with black spots, strik- 
ingly similar to certain poisonous spiders of the 
tropics. They are made into necklaces, and are 
used for rosaries—the name “precatorius” means 
prayer. The seeds are used also as standards of 
weight; it is generally known that the weight of the 
famous Kohinoor diamond was determined by them. 
But the ability to foretell weather conditions is 
