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46  Editorial  Notes  and  Comments.    {A  January Pi9olm' 
details  of  their  structure,  or  indeed  without  any.  .  ,  .  The  extreme 
brevity  of  the  macroscopic  descriptions  is  to  be  regretted,  but  on 
the  other  hand,,  the  introduction  of  numerous  descriptions  of  the 
microscopic  structure  is  much  to  be  commended." 
FERTILIZATION. 
In  an  article  on  the  nature  of  the  "  Process  of  Fertilization  "  in 
the  Medical  News  (Nov.  16,  1901)  W.  J.  Gies  reviews  the  recent 
work  which  has  been  done  by  a  number  of  investigators,  and  in 
summing  up  the  chief  experimental  results  says : 
(1)  Extracts  of  the  spermatozoa  of  the  sea-urchin,  which  have 
been  made  by  the  ordinary  methods  for  the  preparation  of  enzyme 
solutions,  do  not  possess  any  power  of  causing  proliferation  of  the 
ripe  ovum. 
(2)  No  evidence  could  be  furnished  of  the  existence  of  a  zymogen 
in  spermatozoa. 
(3)  Extracts  of  fertilized  eggs,  in  the  earlier  stages  of  develop- 
ment, were  likewise  entirely  devoid  of  segmental  activity. 
(4)  Enzyme  seems  to  be  excluded  from  the  catalytic  substances 
which  Loeb  and  others  have  thought  may  influence  the  initial 
divisions  of  the  ovum  after  the  introduction  of  the  spermatozoon, 
although  it  is  possible  that  the  conditions  of  these  and  previous 
experiments  were  unfavorable  to  the  manifestation  of  activity  on 
the  part  of  fecundative  ferment.  It  seems  more  probable,  however, 
that  Loeb's  theory  of  the  influence  of  spermatic  ions  in  fertilization 
affords  the  true  explanation  of  the  phenomena  in  question. 
PRUSSIC  ACID  IN  CASSAVA. 
According  to  Carmody  (Botanical  Dept.,  Trinidad)  there  appears 
to  be  no  grounds  for  the  common  belief  that  sweet  cassava  contains 
more  HCN  the  older  it  is.  Nor  is  there  any  ground  for  the  belief 
that  the  locally  grown  sweet  cassava  is  but  a  degenerate  growth 
resulting  from  many  years'  association  with  the  better  variety.  The 
analyses  of  the  author  show  that  \n  sweet  cassava  the  prussic  acid  is 
not  uniformly  distributed  throughout  the  tubes  and  that  in  bittet  cas- 
sava it  is  uniformly  distributed,  or  nearly  so. 
THE  ATOMIC  THEORY. 
In  the  Inaugural  Address  of  A.  W.  Rucker,  the  President  of  the 
British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  the  atomic 
