20 



NATURE 



[March 2, 191 1 



Bowles, chairman of the Royal Horticultural Society's 

 scientific committee, Prof. W. Bateson, F.R.S., Prof. 

 Bayley Balfour, F.R.S., Sir Thomas Elliott, K.C.B., Mr. 

 Anderson Graham, Prof. Bretland Farmer, F.R.S., Mr. 

 •George Gordon, Mr. H. Rider Haggard, Sir Everard im 

 Thurn, K.C.M.G., Dr. D. Jackson, Dr. F. Keeble, Mr. 

 Donald MacDonald, Mr. VV. Marshall, Mr. F. W. Moore, 

 Mr. Spencer Pickering, F.R.S., Lieut. -Colonel D. Prain, 

 CLE., F.R.S., Dr. A. B. Rendle, Mr. T. A. H. Rivers, 

 Mr. A. G. L. Rogers, Prof. E. S. Salmon, Mr. A. W. 

 Sutton, Prof. Somerville, Mr. H. J. Veitch, Prof. S. H. 

 Vines, F.R.S., and the Rev. W. Wilks. Whilst the 

 exhibition will be one of the chief spectacular attractions 

 of the London season of 1912, the unique oppor- 

 tunities afforded by the presence of experts from every 

 •country will be utilised to the fullest extent for the 

 advancement of horticultural science. 



The Colonial Office announces that, to further the work 

 of the African Entomological Research Committee, Mr. 

 Andrew Carnegie has placed at the disposal of the com- 

 mittee a sum of loooZ. a year for three years to defray 

 the cost of sending a few suitably qualified young men to 

 the United States to study the practical applications of 

 ■entomology. Three of these Carnegie scholars have been 

 ■selected, and two are now at work in the States. The 

 Tact that Dr. L. O. Howard, chief of the Bureau of 

 Entomology at Washington, is interesting himself, is a 

 guarantee that all facilities will be given to the scholars, 

 -and the scheme will be of great value to British adminis- 

 tration by providing well-trained entomologists for employ- 

 mient by the different Colonial Governments. The research 

 committee was appointed in June, 1909, to promote the 

 study of the insects which spread disease in Africa. Lord 

 ■Cromer is its president, and it includes eminent authorities 

 on entomology and tropical medicine. The scheme has 

 "been taken up by the African colonies and protectorates, 

 and the material already received at the committee's office 

 in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington has 

 Increased our knowledge of the insect pests of Africa. 

 The collections of insects, after being identified and re- 

 corded, are being distributed to the schools of tropical 

 medicine, universities, museums, or other institutions 

 where they are likely to be of value. Further particulars 

 may be obtained from the secretary of the committee, Mr. 

 Uuy Marshall, British Museum (Natural History), South 

 Kensington, London. 



A Bill to promote the earlier use of daylight in certain 

 months yearly, and for other purposes relating thereto, 

 has been introduced into the House of Commons by Mr. 

 Robert Pearce. The chief clauses of the measure are as 

 follows :—(i) From 2 o'clock in the morning Greenwich 

 mean time in the case of Great Britain, and Dublin mean 

 time in the case of Ireland, of the third Sunday in April 

 in each year,, until 2 o'clock in the morning Greenwich 

 mean time in the case of Great Britain, and Dublin mean 

 time in the case of Ireland, of the third Sunday in Sep- 

 tember in each year, the local time shall be in the case 

 of Great Britain one hour in advance of Greenwich mean 

 time, and in the case of Ireland one hour in advance of 

 Dublin mean time, and from 2 o'clock in the morning 

 Greenwich mean time in the case of Great Britain, and 

 Dublin mean time in the case of Ireland, of the third 

 Sunday in September in each year until 2 o'clock in the 

 morning Greenwich mean time in the case of Great 

 Britain, and Dublin mean time in the case of Ireland, of 

 the third Sunday in April in each year, the local time 

 shall be in the case of Great Britain the samte as Green- 

 wich mean time and in the case of Ireland the same as 



NO. 



2157, VOL. 86] 



Dublin mean time. (3) Greenwich mean time as used for 

 the purposes of astronomy and navigation shall not be 

 affected by this Act. (4) This Act shall apply to the 

 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and may 

 be cited as the Summer Season Time (Great Britain and 

 Ireland) Act, 191 1. We have on several occasions ex- 

 pressed the opinion that the changes contemplated by the 

 Bill are unnecessary and undesirable, and we trust that 

 the measure will meet the same fate as that of previous 

 attempts at so-called "daylight saving." 



The London County Council is doing good service to 

 anthropology by developing the Horniman Museum at 

 Forest Hill. It has now published, at a nominal price, 

 under the title of " A Handbook to the Stages in the 

 Evolution of the Domestic .Arts," a useful introduction to 

 the science of technology, prepared by the curator. Dr. 

 H. S. Harrison, under the advice of Dr. A. C. Haddon. 

 Curators of provincial museums might well consider the 

 advisability of adapting this to the collections under their 

 charge. 



In the tenth number, vol. ii., of the Memoirs of the 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal, recently issued, Mr. H. H. 

 Hayden, of the Geological Survey of India, under the title 

 of " Notes on some Monuments of Afghanistan," describes, 

 first, some of the Buddhist Topes near Kdbul, and has 

 been able to correct a mistake of James Fergusson in his 

 " History of Indian Architecture," who confuses the 

 Mundr-i-Surkh with the Mundr-i-Chakri. It is regrettable 

 to learn that the platform of the latter is in so ruinous a 

 condition that, if immediate action be not taken, this 

 interesting monument will inevitably fall. It may be 

 hoped that the Viceroy may be able to put some pressure 

 upon the Afghan authorities in order to avert this catas- 

 trophe. He also gives an interesting series of photographs 

 of the celebrated Buddhist carvings at Bdmidn, and is able 

 to give some new information about them. Occasion was 

 also taken to photograph the tomb of the Emperor Babar,' 

 who died at Agra in a.d. 1530 and was buried at Kdbul. 

 It is now possible, for the first time, to give in Persian 

 and English the inscription on his tomb. 



In a sixth report on research work. Dr. A. C. Houston, 

 director of water examination. Metropolitan Water Board, 

 gives details of an investigation on the comparative vitality 

 of " uncultivated " and " cultivated " typhoid bacilli in' 

 artificially infected samples of raw river water, with" 

 special reference to the question of storage In a previous! 

 investigation on the same subject (see Nature, vol.a 

 Ixxviii., 1908, p. 377) it was found that in raw riverj 

 water inoculated with ordinary laboratory cultures of the- 

 typhoid bacillus, in one week there was a percentage i 

 reduction in the number of bacilli of 99-9, but that a| 

 resistant minority of bacilli persisted up to nine weeks' 

 in the inoculated water. In the present work the raw 

 river water (5 litres, kept in a partially stoppered bottle-i 

 in a cellar) was inoculated with typhoid bacilli obtained f 

 by centrifugalising the infected urine of a carrier casei 

 which had come under the observation of Prof. McWeeney, 

 of Dublin. In this way typhoid bacilli derived directly'! 

 from the patient, without artificial culture, were added to' 

 the water, as would be the case in the natural infection 

 of a water supply. At the end of one week after inocula-, 

 tion, examination showed that the initial number of.'; 

 770,000 typhoid bacilli per c.c. of water was reduced to 

 4 per c.c. — a reduction of more than 9999 per cent. Five 

 subsequent examinations made from the fourteenth to the 

 thirty -fourth day after the commencement of the experi- 

 ment failed to isolate the typhoid bacillus from 100 c.c. of 



