2SS 



NATURE 



[April 



TOT I 



arc not present in the Calmiick communitic«, though 

 roj^ulrtrly infecting and " immunising " the Russian town- 

 dwellers in childhood? 



TiiK death is announced o( l)i. A. J, M. Bentley, dis- 

 tinguished by his knowledge of tropical diseases and as 

 the author of ** Deri Brri. its P'tiology, Symptorr- ?♦"•»' 

 ology, and Treatment." 



'I'liB death Is announced, at sixty-six years of aye, of 

 Dr. B. S. Ringer, formerly medical ofTiccr to H.B.M. 

 Consulate-General and the Chinese I.M. Customs. Canton, 

 China, and the discoverer in Formosa of a parasitic worm 

 known as Disioma ringeri. 



TiiR Astronomical Society of Franct; has just elected the 

 following officers : — President, M. P. Puiscux. astronomer 

 to the Paris Observatory ; vice-president. Prince Roland 

 Bonaparte ; general secretary, M. Camille Flammarion ; 

 serr'" ■•• \» I •••< \f-.v- Tt ; nnd treasurer, M. Maurice 

 Ball 



Till: C hristi.iiiia coii' >iH)n(lcnt of The Times states that 

 on April 20 a Bill was brought forward providing for the 

 necessary grant for wireless telegraphy stations at 

 Mammerfest and Spitsbergen. The Spitst>ergen station 

 will oe kept open all the year round, and will be in charge 

 of three or four men. The distance from the Hammerfest 

 station is 750 miles. 



A FUND has been opened for the purpose of presenting a 

 testimonial to Mr. Henry Keeping, who has been for fifty 

 years curator of the Geological Museum, Cambridge, and 

 is now retirinpf from active work. There are probably 

 many who will welcome this opportunity for expressing 

 their appreciation of Mr. Keeping's long service in the 

 cause of geology. Subscriptions should be sent to Mr. 

 F. R. Cowper Reed, Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge. 



A NBW system of wireless inductive telepliony was 

 inaugurated at Stratford-on-Avon on Thursday last, when 

 Mr. H. von Kramer's " railophone " was tested on a 

 train belonging* to the Stratford-on-Avon and Midland 

 Junction Railway. Two large frames — or coils — of wires 

 arc attached to the carriages, one being used for despatch- 

 ing messages and the other for receiving same. By means 

 of induct'on between these coils and a wire running along 

 by the side of the metals, but some distance away, and 

 connected to instruments in the signal-cabins, messages 

 can be received and despatched whilst the trains are in 

 motion or standing. The test was successfully carried out, 

 and a party of journalists and others were conveyed in the 

 train for several miles, receiving or sending messages 

 whilst en route. Eventually it is proposed to connect up 

 the signal-cabins with the general telephone and tele- 

 graphic systems, thus making it possible to send and 

 receive messages and telegrams to or from places far away 

 from the railway whilst still in the train. 



News of Captain Amundsen's Antarctic Expedition has 

 been brought by Captain Nilsen, commanding the Fram. 

 which arrived at Buenos Ayres a few days ago. It 

 appears from a Reuter message that Captain Amundsen 

 arrived in Antarctic regions on January 14, and the ship 

 dropped anchor safely close to a comparatively elevated 

 ri>.i-t. Camp was . staMishi d on a hill near where the 

 i'liin was inoort'd. ;ind ]in-|)arntions were begun for a 

 journey to the Pole. The Fram sailed on February 14, 

 before Captain Amundsen had started for the south. In 

 a few weeks the vessel will leave Buenos Ayres for scien- 

 tific work during a voyage between Africa and South 

 America, and will then return to Buenos Ayres to renew 

 her scores. Captain Nilsen expects to be able to leave 

 NO. 2165, VOL. 86] 



Buenos Ayres on 

 and his party. 



in search of Captain Amundv 



Tub death is announced of M. Edouard Dupont, direct' 

 of the Royal Museum of Natural History in Brussels, and 

 well known for his researches in many departments of 

 geok>gy. An appreciative notice by M. Cornet appears in 

 l.e ^fouvrment Giographique for April 9. M. Dupont was 

 born at Dinant on January 31, 1841, and died at Cannes 

 on March 31 of the present year at the age of seventy. 

 His work in connection with the preparation of a geo- 

 logical map of Belgium is well known in the British Isles, 

 and the complete skeletons of Iguanodon, discovered in the 

 clays of Bernissart, were set up in the museum in Brussels 

 under his care. While the palaeontological collections were 1 

 extended through his personal studies, he paid attention ' 

 also to the stratigraphical conditions under which the rocks 

 of Belgium were laid down. His researches were esperi- 

 ally directed to the Carboniferous Limestone, in which h«' 

 recognised a coral-reef type and also calcareous fragmental 

 deposits of a pelagic character. In 1887 he made an 

 expedition at his own expense to the Congo territory, the 

 results being published in a book entitled " Lcttres sur le 

 Congo," in which geological, botanical, and anthropo- 

 logical observations were happily combined. 



The experiments of Mr. Glen Curtiss with his hydro- 

 aeroplane have culminated in the production of a machine 

 capable of runninfj over land and travelling on the water 

 with the same facility with which it rises from either of 

 these elements into the air. His original model was fitted 

 with two floats, a water-shield, and a large pontoon, but in 

 his latest production only a single pontoon is used. This 

 pontoon is rectangular in plan, 12 feet long, 2 feet wide, 

 I foot deep, and 5olb. in weight. Its under surface curves 

 up to meet the upper surface 3 feet from the front edge ; 

 similarly, its upper surface curves down to meet the under 

 surface 3 feet from its rear edge. The aeroplane itself is 

 of the usual type of Curtiss biplane, and carries under 

 each extremity of the lower plane a skid, 4 feet long, to 

 prevent the plane tips touching the water when turning 

 upon it. Wheels are fitted in front and behind the pontoon. 

 The aeroplane has made many successful flights at San 

 Diego Bay (Cal.), rising easily into the air, and after 

 fliehts gliding down to water, upon which it alighted 

 without a splash. The diminution of speed caused by the 

 head-resistance of the pontoon, which, as will be under- 

 stood, does not possess the stream-line form, is said to be 

 about five miles an hour. 



Dr. Petrie's discovery, which is reported in The Times 

 of April 15, that the marmot is the host of fleas of very 

 large size, may prove of considerable importance in con- 

 nection with the study of the epidemiology of plague in 

 Manchuria. Although it appears highly improbable that 

 an epizootic has played any part in the outbreak in 

 Manchuria proper, there is ample confirmation for the 

 hypothesis that, in regions further west, the epidemic is 

 derived from marmots. These animals, locally known as 

 " tarbagans," are hunted for their skins. The occurrence 

 of plague epizootics among them has been recognised for 

 some years, but it is not known what form the disease 

 takes, nor how it may be transmitted to the hunters. 

 This demonstration of the existence of the marmot flea 

 indicates a possible link in the chain of infection, and it 

 is not improbable that future investigations will show that, 

 in Manchuria, the marmot flea may to some extent play 

 the same part as the rat flea in India. In the meantime, 

 it cannot be said that this discovery brings us much nearer 



