RECENT ADVANCES IN SCIENCE 297 



feeding animals bolt their food. In the present experiments 

 two normal men were fed on a fairly high nitrogen diet the 

 principal protein of which was cooked beef in the form of 

 15 mm. cubes. A preliminary period of normal feeding was 

 followed by a period of bolting, and then by one of slow masti- 

 cation, and finally there followed a second period of normal 

 feeding. The results, so far as protein utilisation is concerned 

 do not support the claims of Fletcher, the champion of exces- 

 sive mastication of food, nor do they demonstrate the harmful- 

 ness of food bolting. The protein utilisation was actually 

 highest during slow mastication, or " Fletcherism," but it 

 averaged only about 0*17 per cent, higher than during normal 

 mastication. 



A great many suggestions have been put forward recently 

 for dealing with the fly danger in the war area. In a recent 

 communication Roubaud {Comp tes rend. 1915,160, 692) recom- 

 mends the use of powdered ferric sulphate. This substance, 

 if dusted on to dead bodies, acts as a very efficient disinfectant, 

 and destroys the larvae of flies, and, according to the author, 

 is more efficient than ferrous sulphate, bleaching powder, quick- 

 lime or formalin. Putrid meat treated with the powdered salt 

 loses its smell almost at once, and the larvae of flies are killed 

 by a 20 per cent, solution in 3 hours. As a protection against 

 flies, latrines should be sprayed with a mixture of 2*5 kilos of 

 ferric sulphate, 500 cc. of heavy coal-tar oil, and 10 litres of water 

 for every 2 cubic metres of latrine. This mixture being de- 

 structive to vegetable life, must not be applied to manure used 

 for agricultural purposes. Manure-heaps may, however, be 

 sprayed with a 5 per cent, solution of sodium cresylate, using 

 15 litres per cubic metre, and later with a 10 per cent, solution 

 of ferric sulphate. 



GEOLOGY. By G. W. Tyrrell, A.R.C.Sc, F.G.S., University, Glasgow. 



Stratigraphy and Regional Geology. — Prof. H. E. Gregory has 

 studied the formation and distribution of fluviatile and marine 

 gravels as a contribution to stratigraphy from the viewpoint of 

 physiography (Amer. Jour. Sci. 1915, 4, 39, 487). He makes 

 an attempt to analyse the physiographic features resulting 

 from ocean and river-work in so far as they are related to the 

 deposition of gravel, hoping thereby to recognise constant 

 features characterising conglomerates of various origin. The 



