"270 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



its protoplasm and nucleus undergoing karyokinesis. It is much more 

 suggestive of concretionary action, as e.g. of the large nodules in the 

 London clay which crack in a more or less similar manner, only the 

 cracks get filled with calcite, so the whole is kept together. 



The reader is at a disadvantage, for Mr. Burke says : " Plate II. 

 distinctly shows the existence of a nucleus of a highly organised body." 

 The photograph consists of three similar and homogeneous, dark grey 

 bodies in contact, with a grey fog at one end. No trace of nucleus is 

 visible, and nothing suggestive of a living organism. 



Mr. Burke says that " after six or seven days the bodies produced by 

 radium develop nuclei," but no description is given, nor does he allude 

 to vegetable or animal nuclei for comparison, which are far more 

 complicated in their structure than a watch, greatly surpassing it in 

 behaviour. He rules the idea of their being crystals as out of court ; but 

 dees not appear to draw any comparison with mineral concretions. 



Moreover, cells do not break up into organic Maltese-like crosses ; 

 and when his " radiobe " is divided by a cross-line (cell-plate?), the 

 nucleus still remains in the middle ; no " daughter " nuclei appear in the 

 pieces (daughter-cells ?). 



A careful consideration of his statements when they are facts, and 

 of his numerous a 'priori assumptions, does not, to our thinking, warrant 

 any conclusion as to the radiobes being alive in the true sense of the 

 word. 



P.S. — Since the above was written a paper has been published by 

 Mr. W. A. Douglas Budge " On the Action of Badium and other Salts 

 on Gelatine " (Proc. of the Camb. Phil. Soc. vol. xiii. p. 258). 



He found that if a radium salt is put on sterilised gelatine, a whitish 

 patch appeared and "grew" like a mould for two days. The gelatine 

 liquefies with bubbles of gas. The patch appears to consist of a collection 

 of cells, and after one or two days something like a nucleus could be seen. 

 Other appearances resembled those observed by Mr. Burke. 



As barium salt was used, it was tried without radium ; this, as 

 well as strontium and lead, produced the same results. As gelatine 

 contains sulphur, the growth proved to be an insoluble sulphate, which 

 these metals alone produce. The conclusion is that radium has no 

 specific action on gelatine, the effects being due to the barium acting on 

 sulphur compounds. 



" Handbook of Flower Pollination. Based upon H. Miiller's ' The 

 Fertilisation cf Flowers by Insects.' " By Dr. Paul Knuth. Translated 

 by J. R. A. Davis. Vol. I., Introduction and Literature, with 81 figures 

 in the text. 8vo., 382 pp. (Clarendon Press, Oxford.) Cloth, 18s. net : 

 morocco 21s. net. 



Since Miiller's work was published in 1883, an enormous amount of 

 material has accumulated, as well as literature. To collate both has taken 

 three years of uninterrupted labour. There will be three volumes. The 

 second will contain observations in flower pollination hitherto made in 

 Europe and the Arctic regions : Ranuncula-cece to Coniferce. The third 

 volume will deal with observations in flower pollination made outside 

 Europe. 



