JUNE 2 2, 191 1] 



NATURE 



571 



photograph can be taken at 1/ 250th of a second. Dr. 

 W . H. F. Woodland. — Microscopic preparations and a 

 model illustrating the mechanism employed in the produc- 

 tion of the oxygen used to inflate the gas bladder of bony 

 fishes. Most fishes employ oxygen (usually ajso nitrogen 

 and carbon dioxide) for the inflation of the gas bladder 

 (incorrectly termed " air " and " swim bladder ") when 

 this is present. The presence of oxygen is associated with 

 the power of producing relatively rapid variations of the 

 quantity of gas in the bladder, a power required in deep- 

 water fishes which sink and rise, and so experience con- 

 siderable changes in external pressure. A special gland, 

 the oxygen gland (" gas gland "), and an equally important 

 and very remarkable supplementary apparatus, the rete 

 mirabile duplex, are developed in the bladder wall for the 

 special purpose of producing the oxygen. The reason why 

 oxygen is the gas employed for the inflation and deflation 

 of the bladder is because of its abundance in the blood 

 stream and the facility with which it is dissociated from 

 (the red blood corpuscles undergoing disintegration for the 

 purpose) and reassociated with the haemoglobin of the 

 blood. 



Miss Dorothy Bate. — (i) Fossil remains of the peculiar 

 goat-like animal Myotragus balearicus, Bate, from 

 Majorca. (2) Photographs of the locality and caves in 

 which the bones of Myotragus were found. Nothing is 

 known of the habits or origin of this peculiar animal, 

 which formerly inhabited Majorca in large numbers. 

 Myotragus differs from all other goats, sheep, and their 

 allies in having only two lower front teeth, which are 

 very large and are modified to form a sharp chisel-edge ; 

 they grow continuously, like those of a gnawing animal 

 such as the rat or rabbit. It is also remarkable for the 

 shortness and stoutness of its metacarpals and metatarsals, 

 the latter being usually united to the distal row of ankle 

 bones. Dr. C. W. Andrews, F.R.S. — Remains of Tertiary 

 mammals from near Lake Victoria Nyanza, British East 

 Africa. The specimens shown are the first remains of 

 Tertiary mammals from Central Africa. They are por- 

 tions of the lower jaw with teeth, and a calcaneum of a 

 small species of Dinotherium, which is very similar to 

 Dinotherium cuvieri from the Lower and Middle Miocene 

 of France. The age of the African beds is not yet 

 definitely known, since it is possible that Dinotherium may 

 have survived in Central Africa long after it had become 

 extinct elsewhere. The specimens were obtained through 

 Mr. C. W. Hobley, C.M.G., Commissioner of Mines. Mr. 

 G. C. Crick. — Models of shells of extinct cephalopods. 

 The models represent the shells of three cephalopods which 

 lived in the Silurian seas and possessed chambered shells 

 like that of the living pearly nautilus, but differed there- 

 from, among other characters, in the contracted form of 

 the aperture of the body-chamber. Mr. C. Forster-Cooper. 

 — Part of a collection of fossil mammals from the Lower 

 Miocene beds of Dera Bugti, Baluchistan, (i) Jaw of a 

 specialised type of primitive Rhinoceros ; (2) separate lower 

 incisor of primitive Rhinoceros ; (3) portion of cranium of 

 primitive Rhinoceros ; (4) upper molar tooth of primitive 

 Rhinoceros ; (5) astragalus of primitive Rhinoceros ; 

 (6) mandible of Aceratherium, sp. ; (7) teeth of mastodon, 

 sp. ; (8) upper teeth of Rhinoceros ; (9) upper and lower 

 teeth of an Anthracothere ; (10) portion of a mandible of 

 an anthracothere. 



Nubian Archaeological Survey. — Objects found in the 

 area to be submerged on the raising of the Aswan Dam. 

 (Exhibited by the late Director-General of the Survey 

 Department of Egypt, Captain H. G. Lyons, F.R.S., and 

 the present Director-General, Mr. E. M. Dowson, on 

 behalf of the Egyptian Government.) (i) Decorated 

 pottery and other objects of the early dynastic period in 

 Nubia (Dynasties L and IL in Egypt, circa B.C. 3000), at 

 which date Nubia was occupied by the Egyptian race. 

 The hand-made pottery differs from that of the same period 

 in Egypt in form and decoration, possibly owing to the 

 geographical position of Nubia and to the rarity of stone 

 vessels, the manufacture of which appears to have checked 

 the development of fine hand-made pottery for funerary 

 purposes in Egypt. (2) Decorative pottery and other 

 objects illustrative of the non-Egyptian culture of the race 

 (C group) which occupied Nubia from about the close of 

 the old kingdom until it was expelled or absorbed by the 



NO. 2173, VOL. Sf'l 



military expeditions of the twelfth dynasty and the 

 Egyptian colonies of the early new Empire. The incised 

 pottery and steatopygous dolls show marked analogies with 

 similar objects of the pre-dynastic Egyptian period of 

 nearly 2000 years before. 



Mr. Albert Bruce-Joy. — Bronze statue of the late Lord 

 Kelvin by Mr. Albert Bruce-Joy, to be placed in Belfast. 

 The likeness represents Lord Kelvin as he appeared about 

 twenty years ago. The statue will ultimately be placed 

 on a granite pedestal. 



T 



SHELL-FISH AND THUR RELATION TO 

 DISEASE.' 



HE connection between the consumption of edible 

 shell-fish (molluscs) and certain diseases, in particular 

 typhoid or enteric fever, has in recent years attracted the 

 attention of epidemiologists, and several valuable contribu- 

 tions on the subject have been published in this country. 

 In 1894 Dr. Bulstrode reported to the Local Government 

 Board on " Oyster Culture in Relation to Disease," in 

 which he concluded that there remains " much to be done 

 before the public can consume oysters, bought promiscu- 

 ously, with a reasonable degree of safety." The danger 

 of oysters was again brought home to the public by the 

 outbreaks of enteric fever following banquets at Win- 

 chester and at Southampton in 1902, on which Dr. 

 Bulstrode also reported. 



Cockles and mussels have likewise been implicated in the 

 dissemination of enteric fever in and about London and 

 elsewhere. 



The matter has assumed such importance that a further 

 report on the subject by Dr. Bulstrode has been communi- 

 cated to the Local Government Board, and brings up to 

 date and extends our knowledge of the relationship between 

 the consumption of shell-fish other than oysters and the 

 occurrence of disease among those consuming the shell- 

 fish. The molluscs of chief importance are cockles and 

 mussels, and the beds are found all round our coasts, par- 

 ticularly in the estuaries of rivers, which are frequently 

 liable to sewage pollution ; but a part of the supply is 

 obtained from abroad, America and Holland chiefly. In 

 the report, the distribution of the shell-fish is shown on 

 maps, and also the relation of the beds to the neighbouring 

 sewer outfalls. The possibility of contamination is 

 critically surveyed from a consideration of all the local 

 factors, for the proximity or otherwise of a sewage out- 

 fall to a bed does not necessarily imply contamination or 

 purity respectively ; much may depend, for instance, on 

 tidal conditions, on the absence of water at low tide, on 

 the period at which the sewage is run out, &c. Again, 

 even if the shell-fish beds themselves are remote from 

 sources of pollution, the shell-fish may be brought to 

 polluted waters for cleansing or storing, and several 

 examples are given of this in the report. Bacteriological 

 investigations have been excluded from the report, because 

 it was considered that the topographical test would, on 

 the whole, afford the least conflicting evidence. 



Although shell-fish such as cockles are cooked before 

 use, the " cooking " is often a very perfunctory affair, and 

 by no means sterilises. At Leigh-on-Sea, however, owing 

 to definite proof of the conveyance of enteric fever by the 

 fish, the cockle merchants have provided forms of 

 sterilisers or autoclaves in which the fish are exposed to 

 steam under pressure. In the coppers in which the cockles 

 are ordinarily boiled, while the bottom layers may be 

 sterilised, the upper layers very often certainly are not. 



The epidemiological evidence connecting the consumption 

 of shell-fish with the subsequent occurrence of enteric 

 fever or gastro-enteritis is detailed in chapters vi.-x. of 

 the report. While in numerous instances it has been 

 possible to connect the consumption of shell-fish with a 

 subsequent direct outbreak of enteric or gastro-enteritis, 

 it is more difficult to connect a part of the ordinary and 

 sporadic incidence of these diseases with the general con- 



1 Report on Shell-fi»h other than Oysters in relation to Di.sease. By Dr. 

 H. Timbrell Bulstrode. Pp. viii + a43. Supplement in continuation of the 

 Report of the Medical Officer. Thirty-ninth Annual Report of the Local 

 Government Board, 'iqoq-io; (London : Wyman and .Sons, Ltd.; Edinburfih : 

 Oliver and Boyd, Dublin : E. Ponsonby, 1911.) Price Zs. 



