passage along the course of the intestine followed on the fluorescent screen. The air forms a very definite band of relatively high transradiancy. The size, shape, and position of all parts of the large intestine can usually be traced out by this means. The presence of air has a further advantage in that the solid organs of the abdomen stand out in sharp relief against the light background formed by the aircontaining large intestine. Thus the lower edge of the liver is shown up as a well-defined margin; the upper margin of the liver is always obvious, as its domed surface lies in contact with the diaphragm on the right side, and has the base of the right lung immediately above it. On viewing the patient's back (especially if he lie prone on a couch with a loosely filled air-pillow under the abdomen, the X-ray tube being contained in a box under the couch), the shadows of the kidneys are shown one on each side of the vertebral colunin, and their movements up and down with respiration are easily observed. Should either kidney contain a calculus (stone), this is shown on the fluorescent screen, and it is seen to move with the kidney on respiration.

In a large proportion of cases in which there are symptoms suggesting the presence of a calculus, the Röntgen-ray examination shows that no calculus is, in fact, present. On the other hand, cases are by no means uncommon in which one or more calculi are found by the Röntgen-ray examination, when the clinical examination had led to an entirely different diagnosis. In these cases the calculi may be removed by the surgeon, and the patient cured.

There is another, an indirect, method of studying the digestive canal. For this method we are indebted to Prof. Rieder, of Munich, who discovered that large doses of bismuth salts may be given to patients without fear of ill effects. The salt used by Rieder in the first instance was the sub-nitrate. Unfortunately, several cases occurred in America in which the administration of large doses of sub-nitrate of bismuth was followed by fatal results, and we now know that this result was due to the formation of nitrous acid in the stomach, probably through the action of bacteria. The carbonate of bismuth is now commonly used, and it is a perfectly inert and harmless substance. Two ounces is the dose usually employed, though three or four ounces may be given at a time. It is important to use a pure preparation, for the presence of arsenic or selenium as an impurity becomes an important source of danger where large doses

are used.

By placing the patient upright in front of the X-ray tube, and trans-illuminating him in an oblique direction, the course of the food-pipe is revealed, occupying a clear space in front of the vertebral column. If the patient be now given an emulsion containing about two ounces of carbonate of bismuth to drink, the course of this drink from the mouth to the stomach can be observed upon the fluorescent screen, as the bismuth-containing fluid throws a very opaque shadow. Any obstruction in the food-pipe, or any deviation in its course, at once becomes apparent. The bismuth having passed through the food-pipe, it is now seen in the stomach occupying the most dependent part of that organ. The opening in front of the X-ray tube-box is now closed down to a small size, and this part of the stomach is examined in detail. The regular contractions by means of which the contents of the stomach are expelled into the small intestine may now be observed, and any irregularity in the shape of the stomach or obstruction at its orifice is clearly shown.

Some hours later the course of the bismuth meal may be clearly traced in its path through the large intestine, and here again the exact size, shape, and

position of all parts of the large intestine is shown in strong relief through the opaque mass of bismuth with which the fæcal masses are mixed. These bismuth meals thus constitute a most valuable diagnostic method, and pathological conditions, the recognition of which is of extreme importance, are frequently shown in a manner more certain than is to be obtained by any other means of diagnosis.

One of the newest books dealing with the Röntgenray method of diagnosis as applied to diseases of the chest is that of Dr. Hans Arnsperger.1 Improved apparatus and improved methods have led to so rapid an advance in this branch of study that few physicians have been able to keep pace with it. The literature is already large, and is rapidly extending. Dr. Arnsperger has given a full review of the literature, and has made a full and laborious exposition of the subject. He has lost no opportunity of discussing the application of the Röntgen-ray method to the elucidation of contentious problems in physiology and pathology. It is true some of the physiological views expressed by those who have studied the Röntgen-ray appearances do not tally with the results of physiological experiment; still, many important practical questions are discussed in a useful manner.

Dr. Arnsperger is careful to lay emphasis on the importance of using the Röntgen-ray method in conjunction with other clinical methods of diagnosis, for it is rarely safe to rely on a Röntgen-ray examination unassisted by a knowledge of the clinical history of the case. It is true that in a case of phthisis (for instance) the extent and distribution of the disease may be shown with great accuracy on the fluorescent screen or on a photographic plate, but in other cases the Röntgen-ray picture is capable of various interpretations, and the most useful information will be derived from the Röntgen-ray examination if the clinical aspects of the case are fully known. Dr. Arnsperger points out the advantages of the fluorescent-screen examination as compared with the examination of skiagrams. Screen examinations enable observations to be made of the living processes in the body, the movements of respiration, the beating of the heart, the pulsation in the aorta, the peristaltic contractions of the stomach, and so on. Skiagrams are chiefly useful in enabling permanent records to be obtained of the appearances described. In some cases, however, the skiagram shows more detail than is to be seen on the more coarse-grained fluorescent screen, and this applies particularly to the quiescent parts of the body, notably the bones and joints. Dr. Arnsperger's book contains twenty-seven plates, upon which fifty-two photographs are reproduced by the half-tone process. It is unfortunate that no known process of reproducing photographs in print represents successfully all the detail which the original negatives show. A. C. J.

Cyanamide is made in France at the village of Notre Dame de Briançon, near to Montiers (Savoie). Abundant water-power is available, and is, of course, an essential condition for the success of the industry. At the power station there are now three turbines of 2200 h.p., but provision is made for more when necessary; these produce a three-phase current of 15,000 volts, which is conducted a distance of 11 km. to the factory. There it is transformed; part is used for making calcium carbide, and part for making cyanamide. The calcium carbide obtained has purity of 80'5 per cent., estimated with sufficient accuracy by measuring the volume of gas evolved on treatment with water. Nitrogen is prepared by Linde's method. Liquid air is fractionated, and the vapours made to pass through a column, where they meet with liquid air, and then, higher up, with liquid nitrogen; in these circumstances, the percentage of oxygen in the issuing vapours is reduced to 7, and then finally to zero.

a

The calcium carbide is broken up and placed in an electric furnace, about 300 kilos. forming the charge. It is raised to a high temperature in presence of a stream of nitrogen; the operation may last from eighteen to fifty-six hours. The resulting hard mass is then reduced to a fine powder. The daily production is at present 10 tons, but this output could readily be doubled. It is estimated that 2 tons of carbide can be produced per kilowatt per year, and that 2 tons of carbide combine with 500 kilos. of nitrogen. Two grades of cyanamide are sold-one containing 15 per cent. of nitrogen, i.e. the quantity present in nitrate of soda, the other containing 20 per cent., the quantity present in sulphate of ammonia. The latter grade also contains 20 per cent. of lime, 7 to 8 per cent. of silica, oxides of iron and aluminium, and 14 per cent. of free carbon, to which the dark colour is due.

When added to the soil, it is rapidly decomposed by bacteria to form calcium carbonate and ammonia thus:

CaCN2+3H,O=CaCO,+2NH,.

The ammonia is then nitrified and taken up by plants. Direct field trials to ascertain its manurial value were first made in 1901 by Gerlach and Wagner, and have since been repeated in other countries. All experiments prove its value, and show that it is comparable in its effects with sulphate of ammonia. It should be applied before sowing, and may be mixed with basic slag or potassic manures, but not with superphosphates. is The dressing recommended 150 kilos. to 250 kilos. per hectare, or 2 cwts. to 4 cwts. per acre, the smaller dressing for cereals, the higher for potatoes and beets. In England it would not be customary to use for these crops more than half the above quantities of "artificial" nitrogenous manures.

THE "PREHISTORIC HORSE" OF BISHOP'S

STORTFORD.

A COMPLETE skeleton of a horse was recently found during excavations at Bishop's Stortford. As this skeleton lay in an extended position some six feet below the surface in a deposit which had apparently never previously been disturbed by man, it is conceivable that belongs to a wild variety which inhabited England in prehistoric times. The Rev. Dr. Irving first thought the skeleton might belong to Hipparion (Standard, May 24), but he eventually came to the conclusion that it is the remains of a horse of the Neolithic or Bronze age. Unfortunately, it seems to be impossible to deter

mine the age of the deposit in which the skeleton was found. The examination of the skull, teeth and limbs indicates that the Bishop's Stortford horse differs from all the known wild horses of the Pleistocene periodfrom, e.g., the small, stout horse of the "elephant" bed at Brighton; the small, slender-limbed horse of the Oreston Cavern, believed by Owen to be an ass or a zebra; the Prejvalsky-like diluvial horse of Remagen; and the coarse-limbed horse of Westeregeln. On the other hand, the horse described by Dr. Irving and figured in the Illustrated London News (June 5) closely resembles a variety from Walthamstow believed to be of Neolithic or Bronze age. This Walthamstow horse was probably a blend of a "forest " and a steppe" variety in which the broad-browed forest ancestors were dominant. The limb bones indicate that the Bishop's Stortford horse measured from 14 to 14'2 hands (56 to 58 inches) at the withers -several inches more than the Walthamstow horses represented in the British Museum.

It is generally assumed that the horse did not live under domestication in Britain until the end of the Bronze or the beginning of the Iron age, and that the native British horses up to the coming of Cæsar were too small to carry men. The Bishop's Stortford horse was, however, as large and powerful as the Galloways used in border raids. Should the Bishop's Stortford horse be proved to be of Neolithic or Bronze age, we may have to modify our views as to the size of the horses in the possession of the ancient Britons. For an opportunity of examining the skull and limb bones of the Bishop's Stortford horse, I am indebted to the Rev. Dr. Irving.

J. C. EWART.

METEOROLOGICAL STUDIES AT THE
BLUE HILL OBSERVATORY,1

(1) THIS
Seventy-seven ascensions were made, and in most cases
good traces were obtained. The funds were supplied
partly by grants from the Exposition Company and
from the Hodgkins fund of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion, and the remainder by Prof. Rotch.

HIS is an account of the methods employed and the results obtained at St. Louis.

A very large proportion of the balloons were found, a proportion looked upon with envy by those engaged in similar work in England, and this occurred notwithstanding the fact that they were mostly sent up in the evening to escape the chance of solar radiation.

A full description of the method of working and of calibrating the instruments is given, and every care seems to have been taken to secure accuracy in the results; but it is incorrect to say that the only method of making the registration yet devised is that of writing on a smoked metal surface. The plan of scratching on an electro-plated but unpolished silver surface has answered excellently in England, and Mr. Field's plan of using glass silvered lightly by the ordinary solution seems to be quite satisfactory.

The results from each ascent are published in

full, and it appears that about half the ascents afforded records up to 10 kilometres in height. The general conclusion is in striking agreement with that obtained

1 (1) "Exploration of the Air with Ballons-sondes at St. Louis and with Kites at Blue Hill." By H. Helm Clayton and S. P. Fergusson. Pp. 92; 11

plates. (Cambridge, Mass.: The Observatory, 1909.)

"Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College." Vol. Ixviii., part i., Observations and Investigations made at the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, Massachusetts, U.S.A., under the direction of

A. Lawrence Rotch.

(2) "Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College." Vol. Iviii., part iii., Observations and Investigations made at Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, Massachusetts, U.S.A., in the year 1905, under the direction of A. Lawrence Rotch. Pp. 147-228; 2 plates. (Cambridge, Mass.: The Observatory, 1908.)

on the Continent and in England, excepting that the minimum temperatures are somewhat lower there than on this side of the Atlantic. This is probably on account of the lower latitude. The gradients for the various seasons are given, but the distribution of the ascents is not wide enough to make these figures of much value. Thus the value of the upper part of the gradient for the spring is obtained from ascents on sixteen consecutive days in the spring of 1906, and we have no ground for assuming that these sixteen days represent the average spring conditions.

midnight, and many small meteors must have been hidden. The vapour increased, and next morning after sunrise there was a thick autumn-like fog, which was not dispersed until the sun had risen high.

In

On August 12 the atmosphere was beautifully clear when night came in, but meteors appeared to be scarcely so numerous as on preceding night. They were, however, of astonishing brilliancy, and made the shower a very attractive and notable one. all 65 meteors were counted between 9h. and 12h. 52m., but clouds partially veiled the sky after 1h. and obscured many which would otherwise have been seen. Relatively to the total rumber counted, I have never, within a long experience, remarked such an abundance of fine, flashing meteors. Their long, graceful flights and

(2) In addition to the ordinary observations and to those made by means of kites during the year, there is a general summary for the period 1901-5, and a table of mean temperature for the twenty years 18861905. Although the great difference of climate on the eastern and western sides of the Atlantic is well known, one cannot help feeling surprise on being reminded by a publication of this sort how great the difference is. Thus at Blue Hill, in latitude 42° 12' 44" N., a latitude further south than any part of France, and, be it remarked, closer to the Gulf Stream than many parts of England are to the Atlantic, we find that, on the average, the ponds are covered with ice from the end of November to the end of March, while in England, 10° further north, few people under twenty-five years are able to skate, owing to the almost total absence of opportunity during recent years. The difference is, of course, due to the prevailing westerly winds, which bring the temperature of the Atlantic to western Europe and the continental temperature of North America to the Atlantic coast of Canada and the United States.

There is also a very interesting account of the meteorology of total solar eclipses by Mr. H. Helm Clayton. In the brief space of a review it is not possible to refer to this in detail, but the tables give a collection of the changes that have been observed on various occasions. The temperature effect is perfectly plain, and is shown to vary with the intensity of the natural solar radiation at the time and place. It is pointed out how difficult it is with the other elements to separate the changes due to the eclipse from the casual and diurnal changes that are going on at the same time, but it appears to be proved that the barometer and hygrometer are influenced.

The shadow bands of the eclipse are discussed by Prof. Rotch, who comes to the conclusion that they are produced by rays from the narrow crescent of light passing through strata of different refractive index, the motion being due to the wind.

AUGUST METEORIC SHOWER.

ON August 10 the sky was watched for 13 hours,

but only 19 meteors were noticed, of which 12 were Perseids. The shower seemed disappointingly feeble.

On August 11 it became evident that the display had greatly intensified. In 2 hours before midnight 73 meteors were counted, and they were nearly all Perseids from 46°+58°. Very few large ones were seen; in fact, the meteors were generally small, and the display could not be regarded as a very conspicuous one. The sky became rather foggy towards

striking nature of the spectacle. A fireball at 9.42 gave a lightning-like flash, and must have presented its best effect to observers at London and in the eastern counties. The following were the recorded paths of a few of the most brilliant objects :—

These were all Perseids, and duplicate observations would be valuable as furnishing data for the computation of the real paths. The very clear summer weather has recently offered an almost unique opportunity for studying the progress of the shower during its approach to the maximum.

The finest meteor

display was recorded on August 12 at 9h. 42m. which appeared during the It lit up the sky like a flash of lightning, and left a streak which remained visible for several minutes. The fireball was observed at Bristol by the writer, and also by the following:-Observers at Greenwich; Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer, London; Howard E. Goodson, S. Kensington; H. Wilkie, Bognor; R. Langton Cole, Havant; J. S. Sowerby, Tatsfield, Surrey; T. K. Jenkins, Blama; George Powell, Aberdare. The meteor was a magnificent specimen of the Perseids, and was quite noteworthy, even during a shower which consisted of unusually brilliant members. Its radiant point was at about 47° 58°, and it passed over the earth from above a point ten miles W. of Ipswich to a point about 15 miles E. of Croydon. Its height was from 87 to 53 miles, length of path 68 miles, and velocity about 35 miles per second. observations from Hayling Island, Bristol, and S.

The

Kensington are in excellent agreement. The streak was generated in the latter portion of the flight. As viewed from Bristol, the nucleus brightened several times, and just where the outbursts had occurred the streak exhibited sections which were intensely luminous. From Hayling Island this streak lay 4 degrees under a and Cassiopeia, and during the short interval it remained in sight it assumed a serpentine form and drifted two or three degrees to the westwards. The following are particulars of four brilliant meteors recently seen and estimated :—

=

ON Monday, August 16, an exhibition of manuscripts, portraits, medals, books, and natural history specimens illustrative of Darwin's life and work was opened to the public in the central hall of the Natural History branch of the British Museum. Although most of the special portion of the exhibits is displayed in one of the bays on the right side of the hall, a table-case, containing illustrations of the fertilisation of plants by insects and other animals, and a second devoted to insectivorous plants, have been placed in the middle of the hall. In addition to these, several of the permanent cases in the hall, such as those illustrating melanism, albinism, adaptation to natural surroundings, and the breeds of domesticated pigeons, are included in the exhibition. In order that the public may properly appreciate and understand the exhibition, an excellent little guide-book has been published, at the price of sixpence, in which, in addition to a brief but comprehensive biography of Darwin, and a photograph of the Darwin statue in the museum, will be found clear explanations of the leading features of the more important exhibits. These exhibits, apart from the two botanical cases, form a total of no fewer than 251, and certainly make a most instructive and interesting display. In the compilation of the guide-book it would have been better had the author avoided the use of words of the type of "exoskeleton," which are certainly not understood by the general public. As regards the specimens displayed, we must refer our readers to the guide, or, better still, to the exhibition itself.

THE fourth International Congress of Aeronautics will be held at Nancy on September 18-24.

MR. H. E. HARRISON, principal of Faraday House, and a fellow of several scientific societies, died on August 12 at fifty years of age.

CAPTAIN H. E. PUREY CUST, R.N., assistant hydrographer of the Navy, has been appointed hydrographer in succession to Rear-Admiral A. M. Field, F.R.S., whose term of office in that appointment has expired.

REUTER messages from Tokio report that a severe earthquake was felt at 3.30 p.m. on August 15 throughout Central Japan. Much damage was done to the important commercial city of Nagoya, which was practically destroyed by the earthquake that visited the district in 1891. Considerable damage is stated to have been done in part of the Shiga Prefecture.

We learn from the Times that on August 12 the Italian balloon Albatross, manned by Lieut. Mina and Signor

Piacenza, and starting from Turin, reached the height of 38,715 feet, at which point one of the two aëronauts opened the valve. The highest altitude previously attained in a manned balloon was 35,500 feet, reached by Berson and Süring on July 31, 1901. The new record is equivalent to an altitude of 7.3 miles, and shows the great heights which can be attained when improved means of respiration are employed.

WE record with regret the death, on August 14, of Mr. William F. Stanley at eighty-one years of age. Mr. Stanley was well known as a maker of scientific instruments; in 1856 he invented the first simple open stereoscope, and later he designed and manufactured scientific instruments for the use of various Government departments. He was the author of several text-books, and in 1895 he published Notes on the Nebular Theory in Relation to Stellar, Solar, Planetary, Cometary, and Geological Phenomena," the book being reviewed in the issue of NATURE for November 14, 1895 (vol. iii., P. 25). In addition to other beneficent acts, Mr. Stanley erected and equipped at Norwood the Stanley Technical Trade Schools, where boys are educated on thoroughly practical lines. The schools have been endowed adequately, and are for the future to be administered by the Charity Commissioners.

As has been already announced, the ninety-second annual meeting of the Société helvétique des Sciences naturelles will be held this year at Lausanne on September 5-8. The business of the meeting will be conducted in six sections, as follows:-section of physics and mathematics, president, Prof. H. Dufour; chemical section, president, Prof. H. Brunner; section of geology and geography, president, Prof. Lugeon; agronomic section, president, Prof. E. Chuard; botanical section, president, Prof. E. Wilczek; and the section of zoology and physiology, president, Prof. E. Bugnion. On September 6 two lectures will be delivered, one by Prof. S. Finsterwalder on aerodynamics in aviation, and the other by M. Auguste Forel on comparative psychology, determinism, and the theory of memory. Three lectures will be delivered on September 8 at Vevey, as follows:M. Fritz Sarasin, on the history of the animal life of Ceylon; M. Raoul Gautier, on some recent important results furnished by astronomical photography; and M. Martin Rikli, on the natural history of Greenland. Full particulars of the meeting may be obtained from the general secretary, Prof. Paul L. Mercanton, the University, Lausanne.

To Annotationes Zoologicae Japanenses, vol. vii., part ii., Dr. N. Annandale, of the Indian Museum, communicates a paper on Japanese freshwater sponges, in which an apparently new species is described. Of the five known Japanese species, three are widely distributed and the other two peculiar to Japan.

THE Combined July and August issue of Naturen contains an important paper, by Messrs. Bjon HellandHansen and Fridtjof Nansen, on annual fluctuations in the mean temperature of the sea on the Scandinavian coast and their influence on the climate, agriculture, and fisheries of Norway. The paper is illustrated with a large number of temperature-charts.

IN the August number of the Irish Naturalist Mr. C. B. Moffat suggests that one reason why certain species of birds construct covered nests is to enable them to rear a larger number of nestlings than would otherwise be possible. The author supports this theory by mentioning

WE have to welcome a new biological serial, the Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, of which we have received the first part of vol. i., comprising 319 pages of text and twenty-four plates. Among the more important articles, reference may be made to Mr. R. B. Newton's report on Cretaceous shells from Zululand. Many of these are identical with or nearly allied to South Indian Cretaceous forms, especially those from the Trichinopoli group; and it is specially interesting to note that some of these indicate a connection between the Cretaceous fauna of Trichinopoli and Angola, This suggests that the great tropical land-barrier shown in Neumayr's map of the Jurassic epoch had become partially broken up by <Cretaceous times. Another important communication is the first part of Dr. L. Péringuey's descriptive catalogue of South African Coleoptera, dealing with the family Meloidæ.

OWING to a severe outbreak of a fungal disease in the mulberry nurseries near Srinagar, connected with the silk industry in Kashmir, Dr. E. J. Butler was deputed by the Indian Government to investigate the matter. The results of his investigation are published in the Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture in India (vol. ii., No. 8). The disease was traced to Coryneum mori, a fungus of the Melanconiales, previously recorded only from Japan. The fungus is a wound parasite which found its opportunity after a severe frost; it was also discovered on mulberry trees outside the nursery, and on a jungle tree, Celtis caucasicum. Reference is also made to three other fungi: Septogloeum mori, producing leaf-spot; Phyllactinia corylea, a mildew; and the bracket-fungus Polyporus hispidus-none of which, however, were doing much ⚫ damage.

THE curious instances of polymorphism in the flower which occur in the orchid Cycnoches are described by Mr. R. A. Rolfe in the Kew Bulletin (No. 6), where he provides a revision of the genus. The production of flowers so different in appearance puzzled Lindley and other botanists until the solution was found in the dissimilarity between staminate and pistillate types. Nine species are recorded for which both types are known, and in six cases only the staminate flowers have been definitely identified. Two sections of the genus are recognised; in the Eucycnoches the difference lies chiefly in the column and attached sexual organs; in the Heteranthæ the distinction is more marked, as the staminate flowers are smaller, sometimes different in colour, and the lip is reduced to a small disc margined with clavate teeth.

INVESTIGATIONS on abstruse points in plant morphology have within recent years engaged the attention of several Austrian botanists. Two papers appear in the Bulletin International (1907), the official publication of the Académie des Sciences de l'Empereur François Joseph I., Prague. Miss M. Doubek contributes a discussion of the much-debated nature of the tendrils in the Cucurbitaceæ. An explanation is constructed on the hypothesis of adnation by different axes. The least complex examples-they cannot be described as simple-are furnished by Luffa and Cucurbita, but the author also offers solutions of the more difficult cases provided by Bryonia, Cyclanthera, and other genera. The second paper, communicated by Dr. B. Nemec, deals with regeneration in the unifoliate plant Streptocarpus Wendlandii. Some of his experiments were made with irregularly regular specimens bearing two well-developed cotyledons.

THE arrangement of the botanical garden of the Johns Hopkins University, which is described in the University Circular (No. 217), shows some novel features. The garden, which is being established primarily as an aid to botanical research and instruction, is divided into four sections. Two are planned for the cultivation of typical forms illustrating vegetative and reproductive organs. The third is devoted to plant relationship, as exemplified by species, genus, &c., extending to systems of classification for which Engler's system is selected for complete exposition. The fourth section contains two divisions, one for economic, the other for cultivated plants. latter should be quite the most interesting feature in the garden. The three genera Dianthus, Rosa, and Chrysanthemum are chosen as types to indicate the origin and natural relationship of horticultural races. Cultivated roses are arranged under fifteen sections, and in addition eight, groups of hybrids are illustrated.

The

a

A PAMPHLET published by the Hawaiian Sugar-planters' Association as Bulletin No. 9 of the division of pathology and physiology is devoted to an investigation by Messrs. L. Lewton-Brain and Noël Deerr of the bacterial flora of Hawaiian sugars. Sugar agar was the most satisfactory impossible to get a good gelatin preparation. medium, as, for some reason undetermined, it was difficulty was presented by what the authors term Another weed-bacillus 99 that produced its spores within twentyfour hours, and so escaped sterilisation. The practical object was to isolate and identify types of bacteria with the view of studying their action on moist sugars. Five different types were distinguished by the shape of the individuals or of the colonies formed in different media; their general action is to reduce the sucrose and form invert sugar, gum, or other products in sugars containing I per cent. or more of moisture.

THE Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station has issued a pamphlet (Circular No. 15) on the growth of onions, an important crop in northern Indiana to which many hundreds of acres are annually devoted. The

methods adopted on the large scale are described at length, and suggestions are offered for improvement; curing and marketing are also dealt with. Another pamphlet deals on similar lines with the Indiana cantaloup industry. In Bulletin No. 134 Messrs. Hunziker and Spitzer discuss methods for the estimation of fat in unsweetened evaporated milk. Since the introduction by the Act of Congress, 1906, of the new pure food standards requiring a definite minimum per cent. of fat and solids in evaporated milk, the product from numerous milk-condensing factories has been found below standard, rendering them liable to