October, 1909.] 



359 



Miscellaneous. 



Another change that goes on slowly 

 but progressively is oxidation, oxida- 

 tion of a purely chemical, non-vital 

 character. Such chemical oxidation of 

 the substances in the cells of the resting 

 embryo might, in time, destroy the 

 organisation needed to maintain viabi- 

 lity, even if the organisation were, as 

 regards vital changes, in a state of static 

 equilibrium all along. If there is this 

 risk, analogous to the rusting of machi- 

 nery, then critical experiments upon the 

 longevity of seeds must be carried out 

 in the absence of oxygen as well as of 

 moisture. 



That stored seeds should in time die 

 seems to us a natural thing, but it 

 must not be forgotten that the death of 

 seeds is biologically on quite a different 

 plant from the death of individual 

 plants. The natural death of the bodies 

 of plants is an advantageous condition 

 for the race that arose in the course of 

 evolution and has become fixed. The 

 death of seeds is not natural in this 



sense, not the outcome of internal pro- 

 cesses, but it is accidental in the strict 

 sense, brought on from without. 



In order to test the longevity of seeds 

 under conditions which prevent either of 

 these slow changes, Prof. Becquerel has 

 carefully dried seeds (by keeping them, 

 after perforating the testa, at 45°C. in 

 contact with strong desiccating agents 

 for months), and has then sealed them 

 up in glass bulbs in perfect vacua. These 

 experimental seeds have been formally 

 deposited with the Bureau of Standards 

 in Paris, and their vitality is to be tested 

 every ten years. Should they show no 

 mortality, it is suggested that in this 

 way standard plants may be handed 

 down to remote posterity for compari- 

 son with the forms that evolution has 

 produced in many generations of des- 

 cendants. Only by such organised ex- 

 periments as these, planned to endure 

 beyond the life of an individual invesi- 

 gator, can these important questions 

 be finally solved. 



Correspondence, 



PAPER PULP FROM BAMBOOS. 



21-35, Nakamura, 

 Yokohama, July 21, 1909. 



Dear Sir, — I am interested in the arti- 

 cle by Mr. Win, Raitt on bamboo pulp, 

 which appeared in a recent number of 

 your Magazine. The suggestion is no 

 doubt quite practicable, and the in- 

 dustry should be fostered by all means 

 where sunply of the material is plenti- 

 ful. Mr. Wm. Raitt will be interested to 

 know what is being done in the very same 

 line in Formosa,-- If has been reported 

 in the press that Mitsubishi Co. have 

 started a paper mill there with invest- 

 ment of a million Yen. Bamboo forests 

 will be utilized as the source of material 

 and paper will be placed on the market 

 before long. The bamboo paper in- 

 dustry of hand-making process has been 

 conducted in the Island to the extent of 

 Yen 200,000 annually, according to the 

 report of American Consul Mr. James 

 W. Davison in 1902. The present under- 

 taking is nothing more than a shifting 



from hand process to machinery on a 

 larger scale. A similar project is under 

 contemplation in sub-tropical region of 

 America where bamboos rank beyond 

 human control.— Yours faithfully, 



S. IIDA. 



[Note.— Japan is peculiarly interested 

 in this question, as at present she imports 

 the bulk of her paper-making material 

 from Europe. The development of the 

 effort, reported by our correspondent, 

 to produce this material within her own 

 territory, will therefore be watched with 

 keen and sympathetic interest. It has 

 also been announced recently that a 

 French Company intends making a simi- 

 lar effort in French Indo-China. Hand- 

 made paper from bamboo is a very 

 ancient industry, not only in Formosa 

 but also in Siam and Burma. It is 

 scarcely a paper in the modern use of 

 the term — rather a tablet or slate,— but 

 its successful manufacture and use, like 

 all paper, depends on the fibrous 

 (cellulose) contents of the raw mate- 

 rial.— W. Raitt.] 



