March 9, 191 1] 



NATURE 



51 



making experiments to be made at Oamaru and adjacent 

 drought-stricken parts. It has been shown that such 

 experiments are a useless expenditure of money, and (as 

 stated in the article) have been condemned by the best 

 meteorologists of Europe and America. Symons's Meteor- 

 ological Magazine (July-September, 1908) contains a 

 careful report by Mr. D. C. Bates, who was ordered to 

 •watch and report upon rain-making experiments previously 

 carried out in the same district. He states that " the ex- 

 plosions had apparently no more effect on the vast expanse 

 of the air than would the striking of a match in a room." 

 In a lecture printed in Popular Science Monthly for 

 January last. Prof. C. Abbe, one of our leading authorities 

 on meteorology, states, in connection with laboratory ex- 

 periments on the formation of clouds and rain : — " I think 

 you will see that the firing of cannon or dynamite in order 

 to make a great noise is not likely to form rain, and, in 

 fact, cannot possibly bring it down." And further, with 

 reference to the cannon used in Italy to send vortex rings 

 of air into the clouds, he says : — " We have no evidence 

 that they ever reach them, or that they could have any 

 effect if they did so. ... I regret to think of so many 

 thousands of farmers wasting time and money on this 

 delusion"; and with these opinions we entirely concur. 

 The situation was saved in the present instance by rain 

 having fallen before the explosions took place. 



The thirty-third annual general meeting of the Institute 

 of Chemistry was held on March i. Dr. George Beilby, 

 f'.R.S., the president, occupied the chair, and delivered an 

 address, in which, after referring to the losses of the insti- 

 tute bv death, mentioning especially Prof. Campbell Brown, 

 Mr. Michael Carteighe, and Mr. Oscar Guttman, he 

 dealt with the progress and work of the institute. The 

 membership continues steadily to increase, notwithstand- 

 ing the high standard of the examinations, while the posi- 

 tion of the institute as an organisation existing for public 



rvice never stood so high as at the present time. The 

 >uncil has under consideration the institution of a series 

 ^A lectures, the object of which will be to bridge over the 

 gap between academic training and practice. Without 

 depreciating the value of a broad scientific education, it 

 is realised that students entirely trained in an academic 

 atmosphere miss some of the advantages of the old system 

 of private pupilage in the laboratories of practising fellows 

 or in works. This loss is met in some instances by 

 students preparing for the final examination in such labora- 

 tories, but there is a need for a means of introducing 

 something analogous to the clinical instruction afforded to 

 medical students. It is proposed, therefore, to ask fellows 

 having expert knowledge to give lectures which will give 

 students an insight into the actual work of the chemist, 

 whether engaged in the application of his science to com- 

 merce and industry or to the scientific control of the 

 affairs of daily life. Prof. R. Meldola, in moving a vote 

 of thanks to the president for his address, said it would 

 give him much pleasure to see the institute take an active 

 part in the education of chemists, and he cordially sup- 

 ported the new departure as to the institution of the pro- 

 posed lectures, which will make the student realise more 

 fully the value of the practical side of his subject. 



In The Times of March 4 there appeared a further 

 irticle upon the subject of the spread of plague. Dealing, 

 first, with the disease amongst rodents in East Anglia, the 

 writer refers to the rat investigation recently carried out 

 at Ipswich under the auspices of the Local ( lovis-nincnt 

 Board. This inquiry lasted for about six wcdo, during 

 the course of which alx)ut 6000 animals wii'' examined. 

 These rats were not drawn from thf> ana already known 

 to be infected, but from a fairly f\b-ii>:ve tract of country 



NO. 2158, VOL. 86] 



on its outskirts. No report has yet appeared, but it is 

 believed that few, if any, plague-rats were found. This 

 result, although apparently reassuring, does not affect the 

 main question. The investigation was carried out during 

 the off-plague season, and at the time when fewest rat- 

 fleas are found. Similar inquiries carried out in India 

 and elsewhere show that it is dangerous to conclude that 

 plague has disappeared from an infected area because no 

 plague-rats are found. It is thereafter desirable that the 

 investigations should be repeated in autumn, and at 

 intervals during the next two or three years. In the 

 meantime, the campaign of rat extermination should be 

 prosecuted with undiminished vigour. Reference is made 

 to the proposal of the W'ar Office to hold extensive 

 manoeuvres ia Essex. While the possibility of infection 

 among the troops must be considered remote, yet it can- 

 not be said that the establishment of large standing camps 

 is altogether free from risk. Turning next to the ques- 

 tion of plague manifestations in other parts of the world, 

 the writer of the article gives some important particulars 

 concerning the occurrence of the pneumonic form of the 

 disease during recent years. These show that a relatively 

 large proportion of such cases occur in temperate climates. 

 Very little is at present known about pneumonic plague, 

 and there are often diflficulties in its diagnosis. It is not 

 unlikely that much valuable information may be obtained 

 by a study of the present outburst in Manchuria. No 

 explanation can be afforded for the mysterious disappear- 

 ance of plague at the beginning of the eighteenth century, 

 or for its equally mysterious reawakening in the Chinese 

 province of Yunnan in the 'seventies of last century. 

 Since the year 1896 it has caused a terrible loss of life in 

 India, and spasmodic cases have occurred in every con- 

 tinent. It has been argued that the Manchurian outbreak 

 suggests an increasing intensity in the violence of plague 

 infection, the consequences of which will presently be 

 universally manifest. Whether or not this be the case, 

 there is ample justification for the statement that the out- 

 look is not hopeful in places where the rodents are in- 

 fected. Where infection exists there is always danger. 

 Panic would be unwise, but no one acquainted with the 

 history of plague can regard the present situation with 

 indifference. 



Dr. J. Maes contributes to the February number of 

 Man an account of certain remarkable fetish images of 

 the Wazimba tribe, which have recently been acquired by 

 the Congo Museum at Terveuren. Those illustrated are 

 rude male and female figures, one of which guards 

 children, a second watches young girls and presides over 

 accouchements, a third guards the house, and a fourth pro- 

 tects people from nightmare. The treatment consists in 

 making the patient, to the accompaniment of magical 

 formulas, drink an infusion of manioc leaves, which are 

 first laid on the head of the fetish. 



In Man for February Mr. M. W. H. Beach describes, 

 largely from hearsay, the strange Punan tribe in Borneo, 

 a people well deserving further study. They are said to 

 wear bark clothing, to have no houses or property, and to 

 wander about the forest and sleep in trees. Intercourse 

 with them is carried on by the methods of silent bartiT. 

 They have the curious habit of leaping three or four yanl> 

 at a time instead of walking, and their spi.'d is marvellous. 

 They kill game with the stinipitan, or l)kuv-pi[)c, not by 

 the usual method of blowing into the mouth, but by 

 striking the end which contains the dart with the curved 

 palms of their h.mds. 



The Joiu'nal of the Royal Society of Arts fur February 10 

 contains a report of a lecture, by Capt. A. J. N. Tre- 



