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The Library of Parliament Fire

THE fire which broke out in the Library of Parliament just before two o'clock, Monday morning, August 4, continued to burn for about ten hours. Because the stubborn blaze was in an almost inaccessible point in the central dome 120 feet or more above the floor it was necessary to keep the sprinklers going for about six hours in order to help extinguish it. As a result approximately 200,000 gallons of water cascaded from the domed roof, or ran down the arched ceiling, and soaked or moistened the books on the main circular floor, many of the books on the two upper galleries, and many of the books and newspaper volumes in fifteen of the rooms or vaults in the basement. Mass evacuation of the books was started at 7 rjo Monday morning and was continued intensively for two weeks, after which period selective removal was carried on for another two weeks. Approximately 150,000 books were removed to three main drying areas, and countless thousands were shifted to dry shelves in the Library itself. The three main drying areas were the Hall of Fame and other corridors of the Parliament Building, the old Dominion Bureau of Statistics Building where extensive floor space was made available, and the new Supreme Court Building where eight floors of regular stack space were allotted to us. Books taken off the shelves were packed in large wooden boxes, many of which were lowered from the upper galleries by means of chutes quickly erected for that purpose, rolled out of the building on a conveyor to the trucks, transported to the drying area, and there spread out to dry. All but the largest books were stood on their feet with the pages partly open. Fans of all description were employed to get good air circulation. While the evacuation operation was at its height the culling of the dried books was begun. Dry, or almost dry, books were selected from the wet ones and placed side down to form piles six or eight books high, with spines turned alternately outward, and with a sheet 1 Reprinted, by permission, from the Canadian Library Association Bulletin, 973-77 (November 1952). The article in the Bulletin includes striking photographs illustrating salvage of library materials.

Clinical Pediatric Urology.

This book is dedicated to the countless thousands of urologically handicapped children, and rightfully so. Only the father of present-day urology, Dr. Meredith Campbell, could present such a masterful work. The fact that this edition is in one volume makes it a handy reference book for the library of the general practitioner, pediatrician, urologist, abdominal surgeon, hospital resident, or intern. The preface explains clearly the reasons for the progress of urology of infants and children. In each chapter the author's vast amount of experience and the mass of material he has been able to study are ably presented. Observations of other workers are freely cited. An extensive bibliography based on the author's studies of the world's literature pertaining to urology in infants and children is alphabetically arranged at the end of each chapter. Every phase of urinary tract disease is covered systematically, including etiology, pathology, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. Definitive

The Impact of Taxes on Class I Railroads

THE RAILROADS have always been fair game for the tax collector. They serve countless thousands of communities whose financial requirements necessitate an ever-increasing take. With so large a number of communities dependent on them for a large portion of their essential revenues, it should occasion little wonder that, on the insistence of these communities, railroads must maintain numerous public services, even though unprofitable.

Problems of the Submachine Gun in Post-War Crime

(In the following article, Mr. Howe, Civilian Firearms Technician for the United States Ordnance Department, Fort Dix, New Jersey, warns of the possible danger which may ensue after the war if submachine guns should fall into the hands of criminals. The utility of the weapon for lawless enterprise, the war training in its use received by countless thousands, its possible availability in numbers unheard of heretofore, lend weight to the fear that trouble lies ahead unless we exert our utmost vigilance in controlling its unlawful use.-Editor.)

Evolution of Boston Fern Varieties

Accurate records of the origin of the Boston fern (Nephrolepis exaltata bostoniensis) and its many varieties compose one of the most complete histories of any cultivated plant. The Boston fern mutation was discovered among 200 Sword ferns by a florist near Boston in 1895. The Sword fern (Nephrolepis exaltata) is native in Florida and throughout the American tropics. This wild species was introduced at Kew in 1793 from Jamaica. For 100 years it remained stable, and by 1895 it was used widely as a house plant. The Boston fern was more desirable as a house plant, and gradually replaced the wild species almost entirely. Benedict (1916) estimated that from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 Boston fern plants are propagated each year in the United States., Plants from the southern states, and from the western, northern, or central part of the country, could not be distinguished from those of eastern Massachusetts. However, six exceptions to this statement must be nioted. Within a few years of each other there appeared in the greenhouses of commercial growers in five states, amid countless thousands of normal Boston ferns, six mutations now known as Scott's fern (Scotti), Giatra's fern (Giatrasi), Pierson's fern (Piersoni), Foster's fern (Fosteri), Harris' fern (Harrisi), and the Roosevelt fern (Rooseveltti). From these six mutants numerous other varieties have been derived, many of which have not been named. Within the 45 years since the Boston fern appeared, over 200 varieties have come into existence, many gaining commercial importance. Some of the noteworthy facts concerning these numerous mutants are as follows: 1. From what was originally a stable species a mutant (Boston fern) was discovered among thousands of Sword fern plants after the species had been cultivated for about 100 years. 2. The wild species (Nephrolepis exaltata) produces fertile spores, but the Boston fern and all of the derived varieties are sterile, except one (Nephrolepis exaltata bostoniensis f ertilis). Fertilis was a mutant from Piersoni. 3. The Boston fern is of such a xerophytic type that it can withstand the dry atmosphere of the average home-which is drier than desert air. The other extreme is reached in a form which must be kept in a saturated atmosphere to keep it alive. 4. One variety, elegantissima-compacta 1 Papers from the Department of Botany, The Ohio State University, No. 425.

About perforation of gastric ulcer with fluoroscopy

Among the unforeseen complications of fluoroscopy, there may be cases of perforation of the stomach ulcer. Fortunately, these cases are rare. In the world literature, only 16 cases are described, one way or another related to fluoroscopy. Of course, this is an insignificant figure compared to the countless thousands of patients who pass through the hands of radiologists every day.

The Rubber Industry and the Automobile

There are fifty or sixty millions of our people using this indispensable means of individual transportation. We have indeed a motorized country. The horizon of our people in a social and economic way has been so widened by the introduction of the motor vehicle and the modern highway that the whole national life of America presents an astonishing comparison with that of other countries. Twenty years ago a large part of our country, even including the cities, was in a frontier condition as to roads. With the phenomenally quick acceptance of the automobile and its adoption into the daily life of Americans, there has been a parallel development of highways. Together they furnish a system of individual transportation which is so commonly in evidence in every direction that we hardly comprehend its extent and effect. It has had a farreaching influence in bringing to our citizens an enjoyment of comforts and conveniences of living far beyond those of any other country in the world. Except for rubber, the phenomenal development of the automobile itself and of a nation-wide system of improved highways would not have been possible. The automobile upon hard tires would not have been so quickly accepted as a convenient and comfortable means of transportation, nor would the modern science of road building have been able to cope with the problem of durable highways, subjected to the hard tires of countless thousands of rapidly moving, heavy vehicles. The shock of constant vibration would have presented a serious difficulty to the manufacturers and designers of the automobile. America, with sixteen million automobiles running on steel tires over concrete pavements, would be an inconceivably noisy place to live in.

Relation of Public Ownership to Democracy and Social Justice

HAT is democracy, and what is social justice? Before specifically defining these terms, let me say at once: Democracy is greatest thing in It was that for which America was willing to enter greatest war of history, not only in her own behalf, but in behalf of peoples of entire world. The President proclaimed in all his official statements, in all his speeches, and in all public documents, before and during war, that we were called to arms to make world safe for democracy. We believed then, as we believe now, that every citizen is rightfully summoned to defend democracy even to making the great last sacrifice. How nobly and unselfishly our citizens responded to this call is attested by countless graves of our heroic dead who lie in soil of a sister republic over seas, and nearby, where poppies bloom in Flanders fields. America's sacrifices for democracy are equally attested by countless mothers and fathers whose sons will never again cross threshold to cheer and support their old age; by wives made lonely in widowhood; by countless orphaned children never again to be clasped in embrace of their father; by countless thousands who worked abroad and at home in Red Cross; and by those other countless thousands whose services were needed to support Army and Navy with food, clothing and munitions, on farms and in factories; and by those who had passed age of military service and toil, but who gladly contributed money with which to support needed services.

The So-Called Alkali Spots of the Younger Drift-Sheets

The surface of cultivated fields on the younger sheets of glacial drift in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana is frequently marked by patches of a white efflorescence which is distinctly hostile to many cultivated plants, particularly corn. These patches have received the name of spots from the farmers of the region, to whom they are a source of perplexity and loss. Genetically, these spots are invariably connected with the small sloughs or lakelets which characterize the extreme topographic youth of drift-sheets. As is well known, the surface of the Wisconsin drift is pitted with countless thousands of these small bodies of water; the Iowan drift bears them in notably smaller proportion, a circumstance in harmony with the more advanced development of the natural drainage of this drift-sheet. In their undrained condition these basins are a hindrance to agricultural operations, although in general the water may readily be removed by drainage; this is being done on an enormous scale in the states mentioned. In a very large number of cases, however, the farmer, after doing away with the standing water, finds the reclaimed land affected by the harmful efflorescence mentioned above. Analysis shows the efflorescence to consist of small amounts of sodium chloride and much larger amounts of the carbonates and sulphates of magnesium and calcium; magnesium sulphate is a leading constituent. Sodium carbonate is absent; the efflorescence lacks therefore the character of a true alkali, and the soil infested with it is not an alkali soil, as this term is understood in the semiarid West. The hostility of the soil of the spots to corn is due to the presence of excessive amounts of magnesium salts in

Symmetry of “Aurelia Aurita”

DURING the last few months I have seen countless thousands of living specimens of Aurelia aurila, and have paid special attention to abnormal varieties. I have found not only such as have throughout the five-fold symmetry, seen by Mr. Unthank at Brightlingsea, as named in NATURE for August 22, but have with me on the Glimpse specimens stained and mounted as lantern slides having entire three-fold and entire six-fold symmetry, and one in which it is partially two-fold. I think it may be said that in Suffolk and Essex, a few such abnormal varieties occur per thousand of the normal. An imperfect four-fold symmetry is much more common.

The Extermination of the American Bison1

IN the whole course of the history of man's relations with the lower animals, no sadder chapter will ever be written than that which tells of the practical extinction of the bison, which, only a short twenty years since, wandered in countless thousands over the vast prairies of the northern half of the American continent. This mournful story—mournful alike to the naturalist, to the sportsman, and to the trader—the author of this memoir recounts in such a full and lucid manner as to have practically exhausted the subject. Indeed, this memoir, in conjunction wiih Mr. J. A. Allen's monograph of the recent and extinct American bisons, does all that can be done in the way of literature to atone for the loss of the animal itself as a feature of the North American continent.

Discovery of Remains of Plants and Insects

I THINK I informed you about two years ago of the discovery of a bed of plants, with leaves, and a great variety of seeds, in this locality; also the wings of a Libellula, and the beak of a bird. As little interest was attracted, I have not hitherto informed you of the subsequent finding of a bed of insects—flies, gnats, and the larva and pupa of the latter, the larva in countless thousands—also the wings, in great numbers, of a variety of flies, butterflies, and one or two grasshoppers ; also a wing resembling that of the Mole Cricket. There are, likewise, two or three beetles. The insects and wings are frequently associated with a very pretty Lymnea, in considerable numbers, and an occasional Planorbis, both retaining a high polish. I have also noticed a solitary small white Cyclostoma in the same bed. There are, I think, two feathers among the specimens obtained. Perhaps, as some interest has been shown in a similar discovery in Scotland, some of your readers may like to be informed of this. I am much indebted to the Rev. T. G. Bonney, of St. John's College, Cambridge, to whom you referred me, for advice and encouragement in examining these beds.