OLR ( 1981 ) 28 (12) F. General 907

F320. Literature of science

81:6849 Roos, D.A., 1981. The aims and intentions of Nature.

Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 360:159-180.

The 'two worlds' of C.P. Snow are so thoroughly and exclusively defined that it is difficult to imagine a time when science was written for the public. Yet that was the case with Darwin's Origin of Species and Lyell's Principles of Geology. Nature was founded in 1869, and to some historians it signals the beginning of the late-Victorian 'fragmentation of the common context,' honoring as it did a 'nascent professional impulse' among scientists. Here, that view is criti- cized. Nature was indeed founded as a public forum, and only later evolved into a journal which a non-professional was unlikely to read. Dept. of English, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, Ill. 60201, USA. (fcs)

slopes; annual loss from shelf ecosystems is far greater than in the open ocean. If part of the loss of nearshore primary production has increased in those coastal zones where anthropogenic inorganic nutri- ent supplies have been consistently increasing since the industrial revolution, then burial and diagenesis of this material in slope depocenters could represe.at the 'missing BMT's of carbon' in global CO 2 budgets. Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, N.Y. 11973, USA.

81:6853 Wigley, T.M.L. and P. Brimblecombe, 1981. Carbon

dioxide, ammonia and the origin of life. Nature, Lond., 291(5812):213-215.

It is shown that an atmosphere with low NH 3 partial pressures but high CO 2 concentrations is conducive to the origin of life. Climatic Res. Unit, Univ. of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK. (izs)

F370. Multidisciplinary scientific studies (general interest)

81:6850 Limpsaichol, Prawin, 1978. Reduction and oxidation

properties of the mangrove sediment, Phuket Island, southern Thailand. Phuket mar. biol. Cent. Res. Bull., 23:13pp. Phuket Mar. Biol. Center, Phuket, Thailand.

81:6851 Robock, Alan, 1981. The Mount St. Helens volcanic

eruption of 18 May 1980: minimal climatic effect. Science, 212(4501): 1383-1384.

Modelling studies, which include (probably for the first time) the effects of latitude, month of eruption, and latitudinal and seasonal responses, indicate that the climatic effects of the eruption are practically undetectable. The maximum temperature depression (0.1C °) will occur in January 1982 in the polar regions and is an order of magnitude smaller than the observed natural variation for that region. Dept. of Meteorology, Univ. of Maryland, College Park, Md. 20742, USA. (hbf)

81:6852 Walsh, J.J., G.T. Rowe, R.L. Iverson and C.P.

McRoy, 1981. Biological export of shelf carbon is a sink of the global CO2 cycle. Nature, Lond., 291(5812): 196-201.

Measurements of carbon metabolism, production and exchange along food webs suggest that large fractions of the organic matter produced on con- tinental shelves must be exported to continental

F380. Advances in science, reviews (gen- eral interest)

81:6854 Buskirk, R.E., Cliff Frohlich and G.V. Latham,

1981. Unusual animal behavior before earth- quakes: a review of possible sensory mechanisms. Revs Geophys. Space Phys., 19(2):247-270.

Still unanswered is the question: 'Does it exist at all?' This review, which compares data on geophysical earthquake precursors with the sensory capabilities of humans and other species, concludes that many anecdotes are 'entirely plausible' given the sensory thresholds of certain animals and the measured levels of some earthquake precursors. Added to the difficulty of assessing 'abnormal ' behavior is the uncertainty of the nature of the stimulus; thus, the authors suggest specific geophysical measurements to clarify or even eliminate certain stimuli. Also, more information is needed on sensory abilities of common domestic animals (often ignored in the lab), responses of animals to low (below 50 Hz) frequency sound and electrostatic changes, and olfactory and behavioral responses to gases likely to precede earthquakes. Includes ca. 250 references. Univ. of Texas at Austin, Marine Sci. Inst., Galveston, Tex. 77550, USA. (sir)

81:6855 Gribbin, John, 1981. The Sun, the Moon and the

weather. New Scient., 90(1258):754-757.

Latest thinking on the possible relationships among weather and sunspots, solar activity, periodic fluc-