or some other plants from soil where the particular plant as growing. In all, in 1889 and subsequently, they had rown in this way four descriptions of annual plants -namely, peas, beans, vetches, and yellow lupins; and our descriptions of longer life-namely, white clover, ed clover, sainfoin, and lucerne. Enlarged photographs f the above ground-growth, and of the roots, of the peas, he vetches, and the lupins, so grown, were exhibited. Without microbe-seeding there was neither noduleormation nor any gain of nitrogen; but with microbeeeding there was nodule-formation, and, coincidently, considerable gain of nitrogen. As, however, in this exact quantitative series, the lants were not taken up until they were nearly ripe, it was obvious that the roots and their nodules could not be examined during growth, but only at the conclusion, when it was to be supposed that the contents of the nodules would be to a great extent exhausted. Another series was, therefore, undertaken, in which the same four annuals, and the same four plants of longer life, were grown in specially made pits, so arranged that some of the plants of each description could be taken up, and their roots and nodules studied, at successive periods of growth: the annuals at three periods—namely, first when active vegetation was well established, secondly when it was supposed that the point of maximum accumulation had been approximately reached, and thirdly when nearly ripe; and the plants of longer life at four periods namely, at the end of the first year, and in the second year when active vegetation was re-established, when the point of maximum accumulation had been reached, and lastly when the seed was nearly ripe. Each of the eight descriptions of plant was grown in sand (with the plantash), watered with the extract from a rich soil; also in a mixture of two parts rich garden soil and one part of sand. In the sand the infection was comparatively local and limited, but some of the nodules developed to a great size on the roots of the weak plants so grown. In the rich soil the infection was much more general over the whole area of the roots, the nodules were much more numerous, but generally very much smaller. Eventually the nodules were picked off the roots, counted, weighed, and the dry substance and the nitrogen in them determined. the seed is formed, and the plant more or less exhausted, both the actual amount of nitrogen in the nodules, and its percentage in the dry substance, are greatly reduced, but that, with the plant of longer life, although the earlier formed nodules become exhausted, others are constantly produced, thus providing for future growth. As to the explanation of the fixation of free nitrogen, the facts at command did not favour the conclusion that under the influence of the symbiosis the higher plant itself was enabled to fix the free nitrogen of the air by its leaves. Nor did the evidence point to the conclusion that the nodule-bacteria became distributed through the soil and there fixed free nitrogen, the compounds of nitrogen so produced being taken up by the higher plant. It seemed more consistent, both with experimental results and with general ideas, to suppose that the nodulebacteria fixed free nitrogen within the plant, and that the higher plant absorbed the nitrogenous compounds produced. In other words, there was no evidence that the chlorophyllous plant itself fixed free nitrogen, or that the fixation takes place within the soil, but it was more probable that the lower organisms fix the free nitrogen. If this should eventually be established, we have to recognize a new power of living organisms-that of assimilating an elementary substance. But this would only be an extension of the fact that lower organisms are capable of performing assimilation-work which the higher cannot accomplish; whilst it would be a further instance of lower organisms serving the higher. Finally, it may here be observed that Loew has suggested that the vegetable cell, with its active protoplasm, if in an alkaline condition, might fix free nitrogen, with the formation of ammonium nitrite. Without passing any judgment on this point, it may be stated that it has frequently been found at Rothamsted that the contents of the nodules have a weak alkaline reaction when in apparently an active condition-that is, whilst still flesh-red and glistening. In conclusion, it will be seen that the experimental results which have been brought forward constitute only a small proportion of those already obtained or yet to be obtained at Rothamsted, but they have been selected as being to a great extent typical, and illustrative of the lines of investigation which are being carried out. As to the importance of the fixation for agriculture, and for vegetation generally, there is also much yet to learn. It is obvious that different Papilionacea growing under the same external conditions manifest very different susceptibility to, or power to take advantage of, the symbiosis. The fact, as shown by Prof. Nobbe, that Taking the peas as typical of the annuals, and the Papilionaceous shrubs and trees, as well as herbaceous sainfoin of the plants of longer life, the general result plants, are susceptible to the symbiosis, and under its inwas, that at the third period of growth of the peas influence may gain much nitrogen, is of interest from a sand the amount of dry matter of the nodules was very scientific point of view as serving to explain the source of much diminished, the percentage of nitrogen in the dry some of the combined nitrogen accumulated through ages matter was very much reduced, and the actual quantity on the surface of the globe; and also from a practical of nitrogen remaining in the total nodules was also very point of view, since, especially in tropical countries, such inuch reduced. In fact the nitrogen of the nodules was plants yield many important food materials, as well as almost exhausted. The peas grown in rich soil, however, other industrial products. maintained much more vegetative activity at the conclusion, and showed a very great increase in the number of nodules from the first to the third period; and with this there was also much more dry substance, and even a greater actual quantity of nitrogen, in the total nodules at the conclusion. Still, as in the peas grown in sand, the percentage of nitrogen in the dry substance of the nodules was very much reduced at the conclusion. In the case of the plant of longer life, the sainfoin, there was, both in sand and in soil, very great increase in the number of nodules, and in the actual amount of dry substance and of nitrogen in them, as the growth progressed. The percentage of nitrogen in the dry substance of the nodules also showed, even in the sand, comparatively little reduction, and in soil even an increase. In fact, separate analyses of nodules of different character, or in different conditions, showed that whilst some were more or less exhausted and contained a less percentage of nitrogen, others contained a high percentage, and were doubtless new and active. Thus, the results pointed to the interesting conclusion, that, in the case of the annual, when fossil birds in the BRITISH MUSEUM. IT is always a matter of extreme interest to trace back any group of beings to their first recorded appearance in geological history, and the task becomes the more attractive in proportion to the rarity of the organism sought for. The fossil remains of birds, which form the subject of Mr. Lydekker's Catalogue, constitute nearly the smallest 1 44 Catalogue of the Fossil Birds in the British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, S.W." By Richard Lydekker, B.A., F.G.S., F.Z.S. Pp. xxviii. and 368. (London: Printed by Order of the Trustees. Longmans and Co.; B. Quaritch; Asher and Co.; Kegan Paul and Co., 1991.) group of vertebrate fossils known; indeed, it is only within the last thirty-five years that any considerable number of species had been recorded. That the existence of birds at the period of the Secondary rocks should have been first intimated by their foot-prints may seem strange; but as far back as 1835 a notice appeared in Silliman's American Journal of Science stating that Dr. Deane had discovered impressions resembling the feet of birds upon some slabs of Triassic sandstone from Connecticut. Dr. Hitchcock, who was the first to submit these tracks to careful scientific examination, concluded that they had been produced by the feet of birds which must have been at least four times larger than an ostrich. The great size of some of these foot-prints, however, presented at the time an obstacle to their acceptance, notwithstanding the fact of their exhibiting the same characteristic number of toejoints as exist in the feet of living tridactylous birdsnamely, three phalangeal bones for the inner toe, four for the middle, and five for the outer one. The subsequent discovery of the entire skeletons of great wingless birds in New Zealand has, to some extent, destroyed the force of this objection as to their size; nevertheless, it seems more probable that these impressions were made by some of those gigantic Dinosaurs whose remains have been in later years met with in such abundance in the Secondary rocks of the American continent, many of which were bipedal in their method of progression, their fore-limbs being exceedingly short, and but ill adapted for use in walking. The hind-foot in Iguanodon and in some others was tridactylous, and agreed in the number of toe-bones with the foot of the Dinornis and other flightless birds. But between the discovery of the reputed foot-prints of birds in the Connecticut Valley sandstones, and the finding of true birdremains in Secondary rocks, a long interval of time has elapsed. Some supposed bird-bones from the Chalk of Burham, near Maidstone, were figured and described as long ago as 1845 by Dr. Bowerbank, under the name of Cimoliornis, but these proved to belong to a gigantic Pterodactyle, and not to an albatross. The same fate befell Dr. Mantell's Wealden bird (Palæornis cliftii, 1844), now also transferred to the Ornithosauria by Mr. Lydekker. Passing over some fragmentary remains, discovered in 1858 by Mr. Lucas Barrett in the Greensand of Cambridge, referred to birds, we come in 1861 to the discovery, announced by Dr. H. von Meyer, of the impression of a single feather upon a slab of lithographic stone from Solenhofen, Bavaria, followed in 1862 by the description by Prof. Owen of the skeleton of a remarkable longtailed bird from the same formation and locality, the Archeopteryx macrura. This, which is still the earliestknown avian fossil, is also the most generalized bird known; and the discovery, twenty years later, of a second example only serves to confirm the correctness of the conclusions which had been arrived at from a study of the first-found example. That it was clothed in feathers serves to prove the true avian character of the fossil, no reptile having been met with possessed of such epidermal structures. The remarkable features are that the jaws were armed with conical enamelled teeth implanted in distinct alveoli (see Fig. 1); the three metacarpals in the manus are separate and the phalanges are free (not anchylosed, as in modern birds), and each of the three digits was armed with a terminal claw; the centra of the vertebræ are amphicœlous; there are twenty free vertebræ in the tail, which is longer than the body, each vertebra bearing a pair of feathers, and the tail does not terminate in a pygostyle, like most modern birds. From these, and other anatomical characters, Archaopteryx has been placed in a distinct order, the SAURURE, or lizard-tailed birds. The next important bird discoveries from the Secondary rocks were those made in North America by Prof. O. C. Marsh, in 1870, from the Upper Cretaceous strata of Kansas, U.S., by which we became acquainted with two most distinct and important types, the Hesperornis and the Ichthyornis. Both of these birds are remarkable as having their jaws armed with teeth. The former (Hesperornis) had the teeth implanted in grooves, it had only rudimentary wings, a flat keel-less sternum, and saddleshaped vertebra. It was a huge fish-eating diver, nearly 6 feet high, probably resembling in appearance the loons and grebes (see Fig. 2). The latter (Ichthyornis) was a bird of powerful flight, having well-developed wings and a strongly-keeled sternum; its jaws were armed with teeth in distinct sockets, and the vertebræ were biconcave (see Fig. 3). By far the greater proportion of avian remains known are of Tertiary age; many are referable to existing birds, but a few of them are of almost as great interest to the ornithologist as those already referred to, either as representing, like them, extinct forms, or because they tell of important changes during Tertiary times in the geographical distribution of many genera of birds. The oldest of these remains have been obtained from the London Clay. A single skull of a large ostrichlike bird was obtained from the Lower Eocene of the Isle of Sheppey, and described by Owen in 1869 under the name of Dasornis londiniensis. Two limb-bones of a bird as large as an ostrich, but more robust, and with affinities to the Anserine type, as well as to the Ratita, were obtained about six years ago from the Lower Eocene near Croydon, and described by Mr. Newton under the name of Gastornis klaasseni. Two other species of Gastornis had previously been described from the Eocene of Meudon and Rheims, in France, so that the Ratitæ were doubtless well represented in Western Europe in Tertiary times. Another remarkable discovery in the London Clay of Sheppey is that of the Odontopteryx toliapicus, a bird with a powerfully serrated bill, well adapted for seizing fish, which probably formed its prey. The interest attaching to the discovery, fifty years ago, of the bones of extinct ostrich-like birds in New Zealand, remains unabated; their former abundance may be ima gined from the fact that there is hardly a museum in the world where remains of the "moa" are not to be found, and they still continue to be sent to Europe for sale. The series of skeletons of Dinornis set up in the Vienna Museum is even finer than that in the British Museum. In the latter, six almost complete skeletons may be seen, beside an immense series of detached bones (see Fig. 4). The tallest skeleton is probably 10 feet, and the smallest 4 feet in height. Specimens showing the skin and feathers still attached to the bones are also preserved, evidencing the comparatively modern date at which they were exterminated. Another island, which possessed a now extinct flightless bird, is Madagascar. Bones and eggs of this great bird, the Epyornis, which probably rivalled the Dinornis in size, are preserved in the British Museum; but, owing to the lack of exploration in the island, we know as yet of only a few odd bones, where entire skeletons doubtless exist, perhaps as abundantly as in New Zealand. The egg of Epyornis is the largest bird's egg known, its liquid contents being rather more than two gallons. The close affinity existing between birds and reptiles has long ago been an accepted fact in zoology; the finding, therefore, of such primitive birds as Archeopteryx, Hesperornis, and Ichthyornis on the one hand, and of the numerous bird-like Dinosaurs in Europe and America on the other-indeed, the whole tendency of this branch of modern palæontological discovery-has been to strengthen the relationship of the two, and to confirm their association in one primary group of the Vertebrata, the SAUROPSIDA. FIG. 1.-Right lateral aspect of the skull of Archaeopteryx macrura, Owen, FIG. 4-Restored skeleton of Dinornis (Pachyornis) elephantopus, Owen, FIG. 3. One very interesting point we may note with regard to the class Aves--namely, that while birds still possessed the teeth which they had inherited from their reptilian ancestors, two very remarkable and distinct types of the class had already made their appearance, and that these two types have persisted on, even to the present day, dividing the class into Ratite and Carinatæ. The characters of the ancient toothed birds indicate undoubtedly a great antiquity for the class, which was probably evolved from the Reptilia in Triassic times, or even earlier. Although the majority of entries in Mr. Lydekker's Catalogue relate to the Carinate, the Ratite are also well represented in the collection, and there is a sufficient number of remarkable extinct forms and figured types to impart to this volume a high scientific interest. In conclusion, we must express our thanks to Mr. Lydekker for this last contribution to the very useful series of Catalogues which he has prepared for the Trustees of the British Museum, which cannot fail to prove of great service to biological science. AT bustion. The smokiness, and, indeed, the whole luminosity, disappeared upon heating the tube, the gas burning with its ordinary blue flame; a thick mirror was at once deposited, and a large amount of iron retained by the cotton-wool. Thirty litres of gas from this cylinder, burnt during the space of half an hour, gave thirty-two milligrams of metallic iron in the form of a mirror, and forty milligrams were deposited upon the cotton-woo'. Upon passing the gas through a U tube surrounded by ice, a few drops of a turbid liquid were obtained, consisting mainly of iron carbonyl, possessing the properties ascribed to it at the meeting of the British Association at Card. ff by Mr. Mond. The turbidity entirely disappeared upon the addition of hydrochloric acid. From the above experiments it is evident that iron carbonyl is produced in the cold by the action of the carbon monoxide contained in the water-gas upon the iron of the containing cylinder, for the greater the length of time during which it has been stored, the greater is the amount of the compound present It is interesting to learn that the same deposit of metallic iron or oxide is found upon steatite burners from which ordinary coal-gas is burnt, pointing to the existence of iron IRON CARBONYL FROM WATER GAS. carbonyl in our common illuminating gas. This concluT the meeting of the Chemical Society on Thursday sion is strengthened by the fact recorded by Dr. Thorne, that coal-gas which has been compressed in iron cylinders last, November 5, a communication was made by Sir Henry Roscoe, M.P., in the joint names of himself for lantern projection, owing to the deep stain of iron and allowed to stand some time is rendered unfit for use and Mr. Scudder, concerning a new and highly interest-formed upon the lime cylinders. It is also interesting, in ing mode of formation of iron carbonyl, Fe(CO), the volatile compound of iron and carbon monoxide independently obtained a few months ago by M. Berthelot and by Messrs. Mond and Quincke. During the course of experiments upon the application of water-gas, which contains about 40 per cent. of carbon monoxide and an approximately equal quantity of hydrogen, to the purposes of illumination, it was noticed that the magnesia combs placed over the flame of the burning water-gas rapidly became coated with oxide of iron, which materially lessened the illuminating power. Steatite burners were likewise found to become stained with oxide of iron. The deposit, when allowed to accumulate, took a coralloid tuberous form quite different from accumulations of particles mechanically carried in a stream of gas This led to the supposition that the iron had existed in the water-gas in a volatile form, and was deposited as the result of the decomposition of the volatile compound at the high temperature of the flame. Further experiments were subsequently made with water-gas which had been compressed to eight atmospheres in iron cylinders. After standing for a week in such a cylinder, the gas, which usually burns with a blue non-luminous flame, was found to burn with an intensely yellow flame, and the illuminating power when the magnesia comb was placed over the flame was considerably reduced, owing to the deposition upon the comb of large quantities of oxide of iron. The experiment was repeated before the Fellows of the Society present, and upon depressing the lid of a porcelain crucible upon the flame a black stain was immediately produced, due to the deposition of particles of metallic iron or oxide. Moreover, upon heating the glass tube through which the gas was passing upon its way to the burner, a black mirror of metallic iron was rapidly formed. A thick deposit was also formed upon a plug of cotton-wool inserted in the tube between the heated portion and the burner. A similar tube was exhibited, through which, while heated, one cubic foot of water-gas had been allowed to pass from a cylinder in which it had been stored two weeks; the deposit was strikingly large, both in the portion which had been heated and upon the cotton-wool. After allowing a similar cylinder containing compressed water-gas to stand for five weeks, the flame was found to be smoky, from the large amount of iron liberated during the coni view of the fact that iron carbonyl is capable of formation CAPE GUARDAFUI AND THE NEIGHBOUR- THIS work consists of monthly charts which illustrate the sea surface temperature, the wind, ocean currents, sea disturbance, and weather in the immediate vicinity of Cape Guardafui, extending down the Somali coast so as to include Ras Hafún, and covering the sea to 53 E. Some years ago the Admiralty issued a "Notice to Mariners," indicating the precautions necessary in rounding Cape Guardafui from the southward, in consequence of the Committee of Lloyd's having drawn attention, through the Board of Trade, to the large number of wrecks which had taken place in the neighbourhood. It was pointed out that the wrecks occurred chiefly during the period of the south-west monsoon, which blows from April to September, when the weather on the African coast is stormy and accompanied by a heavy sea; the currents are strong, and the land is generally obscured by a thick haze. The principal recommendation adopted by the Admiralty was the necessity for every precaution in verifying the vessel's position by soundings; and with this precaution it is asserted that the vessel's safety is assured, as the water rapidly deepens northward of the parallel of the cape. Ignorant of the exact position, many seamen have mistaken the high land at the back of Ras Jard Hafún, ten miles south of Cape Guardafu, for the latter, which, being lower and lighter in colour, is often invisible at any considerable distance. Believing the cape to be passed, ships have been steered into the comparatively low bay between the two headlands, and have struck on the sandy beach before any warning has "Meteorological Charts of the Portion of the Indian Ocean adjacent to Cape Guardafui and Ras Hafun." (London: Published by the authority of the Meteorological Council, 1891.) en given. An idea was mooted that a change in the 1 temperature could be trusted to indicate the position the ship in latitude, and some experienced captains in e mercantile marine advocated warmly this test, holding at a sea temperature of 80° F. was never found at this ason south of Cape Guardafui. The attention of the eteorological Office was called to these statements, and was evident that an investigation into the facts would e of great service to the mariner. A preliminary inquiry rew doubt on the view in question, though it was apirent that the temperature was, generally speaking, wer to the south of Cape Guardafui than to the orth. The charts now published are the outcome of e inquiry. So far as the practical bearing of the vestigation on navigation is concerned, the result, in rief, is that in every month of the year a sea surface emperature above 80° may be found to the southward of Cape Guardafui; and that, although in the months of une, July, and August, when the south-west monsoon 3 at its height, this occurrence is rarer than at other easons, the thermometer would prove a very dangerous uide for the purpose suggested. The primary object of the discussion undertaken by he Meteorological Office was to show the difference of ea surface temperature near Cape Guardafui in comparison with that over the sea to the southward during he south-west monsoon months, from April to September, out more especially in the months of June, July, and August, when the monsoon is most pronounced. In spite of this being the period of the northern summer, the surface water is coldest at this season, and from June to September are the only months during the year that temperatures below 70 are experienced within the area dealt with. It is clear that during the full strength of the south-west monsoon the cold water of the southern hemisphere is driven north of the equator; but on the other hand, although low temperatures are experienced, readings of 80° and above are met with in these months at a considerable distance to the southward of Cape Guardafui; and for a vessel, making a passage from the southward, to reason that she had passed Cape Guardafui because the thermometer indicated a temperature of 80° would be altogether misleading. The temperatures are without doubt more uniformly high in the vicinity of Cape Guardafui than further to the southward during the months of June to September, and this justifies to a very great extent the opinion formed by many leading captains of the merchant service that a safe course might be shaped by the thermometer; but this view is now proved to be erroneous. The sea surface temperature reaches its highest point in the district discussed during the months of March, April, and May, when nearly the whole area is above 80°. The winds and ocean currents, which are plotted in position on the charts, give features of especial interest. The change of monsoon is well shown, and the effect produced by the adjacent land on the direction of the wind, also the variations in the strength of the monsoon, especially the intensified force of the south-west wind, which reaches its maximum in July, when the winds frequently blow with the force of a whole gale. The direction during the south-west monsoon is generally more southerly near the land than over the open sea. The surface current during the south-west monsoon almost invariably sets off the land to the eastward and north-eastward, and it sometimes attains the velocity of 80 to 100 miles in the 24 hours. In the north-east monsoon the conditions are generally much quieter, but the monthly charts show interesting and important differences; and the work, embracing, as it does, the whole twelve months, illustrates very fully the changes which occur, and afford very valuable material both for the man of science and the sailor. NOTES. THE President and Council of the Royal Society have recommended Prof. Charles Lapworth and Prof. A. W. Rücker for the Royal Medals this year, and the Queen has signified her approval of the award. The other medallists are Prof. Cannizzaro for the Copley Medal, and Prof. Victor Meyer for the Davy Medal. THE following is the list of names recommended by the President and Council of the Royal Society for election into the Council for the year 1892, at the anniversary meeting on November 30 :-President: Sir William Thomson. Treasurer: John Evans. Secretaries: Prof. Michael Foster, Lord Rayleigh. Foreign Secretary: Sir Archibald Geikie. Other Mem bers of the Council: Captain William de Wiveleslie Abney, William Thomas Blanford, Prof. Alexander Crum Brown, Prof. George Carey Foster, James Whitbread Lee Glaisher, Frederick Ducane Godman, John Hopkinson, Prof. George Downing Liveing, Prof. Joseph Norman Lockyer, Prof. Arthur Milnes Marshall, Philip Henry Pye-Smith, William Chandler RobertsAusten, Prof. Edward Albert Schäfer, Sir George Gabriel Stokes, Prof. Sydney Howard Vines, General James Thomas Walker. formally accepted by the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a gift of 200,000 dollars, which has been presented to the Institution by Mr. Thomas Hodgkins, of Setauket, Long Island. The donation is accompanied with a condition-which, as the New York Tribune remarks, "will not be onerous"—that the donor shall have the option of giving another sum of 100,000 dollars within the year. Mr. Hodgkins has arranged that the interest of 100,000 dollars shall be "permanently devoted to the increase and diffusion of more exact knowledge in regard to the nature and properties of atmospheric air." WE are glad to hear of a splendid gift which has just been THE opening meeting of the seventy-fourth session of the Institution of Civil Engineers was held on Tuesday, and was very fully attended. Awards were made for various original communications submitted during the past session, for various papers printed in the Proceedings without being discussed, and for various papers read at the supplemental meetings of students. Mr. George Berkley, the President, delivered an address, taking as his subject the advance of engineering work in relation to social progress. THE following, briefly stated, are prize subjects recently proposed by the Dutch Academy of Sciences, at Haarlem :— (1) Molecular theory of internal friction of gases departing from Boyle's law, and if possible, of liquids. (2) Determination of the duration of electric vibrations in various conductors. (3) Try inoculation of Viscum album on apple, pear, chestnut, and lime trees, and explain its preference for certain species. (4) Criticism of opinions on structure and mode of growth of the cell-wall, having regard to continuity of the protoplasm of the adjacent cells (in some cases). (5) New experiments on the reproductive power of parts of plants, and the polarity observed in it. (6) Study of the low organisms appearing (usually as filaments) in bottles containing solutions of chemical products, after long standing. (7) Significance of peptones for the circulation of nitrogen in plants. (8) Oxidation of ammoniacal salts in the ground, and transformation into nitrates. Do the microbes found by Winogradsky and Frankland exist in the soil of Holland? (9) Researches on the organism concerned in production of marsh gas, or the conditions in which the gas is formed, if life has only an indirect influence on the phenomenon. Liberation of the gas from manure. (10) Study of the |