( 3^8 ) 
[June, 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
*,* The Editor does not hold himself responsible for statements of fadl* or 
opinions expressed in Correspondence, or in Articles bearing the signature 
of their respective authors. 
HANDKERCHIEFS PIERCED BY GROWING GRASS. 
Early in April this year my attention was called to a row of 
five or six fine lawn handkerchiefs spread upon the closely-mown 
turf for the purpose of being bleached. They had been on the 
grass for five days, during which occured a remarkable change 
from cold and dry weather to a very showery time with almost 
unnatural heat. All the handkerchiefs were pierced by the 
points of the upspringing blades of grass ; one of them had 
more than twenty points appearing, some of which had grown 
2 inches above the handkerchief. I could see that many blades 
were bent back, and could not pierce the texture, — probably those 
which had truncated tips. On lifting the handkerchiefs no holes 
were discernible, even with the aid of a lens. The experiment 
has been repeated, under less favourable conditions, with partial 
success. In referring to the above observation, at a meeting of 
the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, my friend 
Dr. Carter illustrated the fadf that in the piercing of stiff clay by 
the young shoot from a leguminous seed, the part in advance is 
not the leading cells, but the apse of the loop made by the stem. 
The question of chief interest to be investigated in the handker- 
chief experiment is the mode of connexion between the parts of 
the blade below and above the fine lawn tissue which exhibited 
no marks of having been pierced. 
Henry H. Higgins. 
THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION. 
Allow me to suggest a pradlical method by which your views, 
and those of certain of your correspondents on scientific and 
technical education, can be tested. Let returns be obtained (it 
can only be done with the consent of Government) of (a) the 
number of aliens employed in the United Kingdom as chemists, 
