November 23, 191 1] 



NATURE 



119 



wealth will not be in vain, and that the honour of this 

 country in the world of science and exploration will be 

 maintained by the generosity of the wealthy men at home 

 and the efforts of the men of action now in south polar 

 regions. Contributions should be sent to the treasurer, Sir 

 Kdgar Spe3^er, at 7 Lothbury, London, E.C. 



The advantage of the application of physiological know- 

 ledge to the problems of Egyptian archaeology is shown in 

 a clever explanation of the origin of the representation of 

 an ancient standard found on the slate palette of King 

 Narmer, which was discovered at Hierakonpolis, in Upper 

 Egypt. It appears again in a specimen of the twelfth 

 dynasty unearthed by Prof. Flinders Petrie below the palace 

 of Apries, at Memphis. Dr. C. G. Seligmann and Miss 

 M. A. Murray, in the November number of Man, point out 

 that this curious figure represents the placenta, which is 

 still, according to Mr. J. Roscoe, held in reverence by the 

 Baganda, as it is supposed to contain the external soul of 

 the chief, and is hence preserved at his birth. It was 

 carried in procession by a special official, because the safety 

 of the reigning sovereign was believed to depend upon Tts 

 being carefully preserved. 



In the first part of the Journal of the Royal Anthropo- 

 logical Institute for the current year, Prof. A. Keith 

 examines a collection of skulls, principally those of Negroes 

 from the Congo Free State and Nigeria. These constitute 

 four groups : those from Nigeria, the Congo, the Korawp, 

 on the frontier of the German Cameroons, and a group of 

 tribes including the Ekoi and Kabila of Nigeria, and the 

 Fortit and Bongo of the Nile region. From the present 

 distribution of the Negro tribes in equatorial Africa, Prof. 

 Keith comes to the following conclusions : — There has been 

 free intermigration ; in the course of their evolution, the 

 tendency of one tribe has been towards the accentuation of 

 one set of characters, of another towards another set. 

 Thus the Dinka acquire high stature and narrow heads ; 

 the typical Nigerians low stature and narrow heads ; the 

 Basoko wide, short heads and low stature ; the Buruns 

 wide heads and high stature. Interbreeding may have 

 »layed its part ; but if it had played a great part we should 

 ^ave found greater physical uniformity than there is. The 

 Influence of Arab blood on these tribes has probably been 

 exaggerated. 



The Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital for Sep- 

 tember (xxii., No. 247) contains articles on Zabdiel 

 Boylston, inoculator, and the epidemic of smallpox in 

 Boston in 1721, by Dr. Fitz ; medical notes on the 

 " Divine Comedy " of Dante Alighieri, by Dr. Dernehl ; and 

 on " Moli^re and the Physician," by Dr. Kahn. A new 

 department has been created in the Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity, to be known under the general title " Art as 

 Applied to Medicine." Its purpose is to bridge over the 

 gap existing between art and medicine, and to train a 

 new generation of artists to illustrate medical journals and 

 books. The instruction given is designed for the needs of 

 two classes : (i) for medical students, and (2) for artists. 

 The department is in charge of Prof. Max Brodel, and a 

 synopsis of the two courses is given. 



A REPORT by Dr. F. J. H. Coutts, on an inquiry as to 

 condensed milks, has been issurd by the Local Govern- 

 ment Board. It contains iiuuh important matter on the 

 history, methods of manufacture, composition, and use of 

 condensed milk, with suggestions as to administrative 

 control, labelling, &c. Condensed milk occurs as full- 

 cream or machine-skimmed, and may be sweetened, 

 partially sweetened, or unsweetened. The composition of 

 NO. 2IQs, VOL. 881 



the different brands varies somewhat ; e.g. in the full- 

 cream and fully sweetened the fat varies from about 9-0 

 to 13-7 per cent., and the sucrose (generally beet sugar) 

 from 37-2 to 41-5 per cent. The condensed milks, except 

 occasionally in the unsweetened brands, which are sterilised, 

 generally contain some micro-organisms (up to several 

 thousand per cubic centimetre), but they show no disposi- 

 tion to multiply either in the unopened or in the opened 

 tins, as a rule. Diluted condensed milk, however, becomes 

 a favourable medium for the growth of bacteria. The 

 process of condensation appears to be fatal to the tubercle 

 bacillus. The importance of condensed milks is in connec- 

 tion with infant feeding. The skimmed condensed milks 

 are to be absolutely condemned for this purpose, owing to 

 the small fat content. Infants fed on condensed milks 

 seem to suffer from more infantile ailments, and the 

 mortality is higher among them, than among those fed on 

 cow's milk. As regards cost, the condensed milks are 

 slightly more expensive than equivalent amounts of cow's 

 milk and sugar. The labelling of some of the brands is 

 very misleading to the poorer and illiterate mothers who 

 principally use them. It is suggested that the skimmed 

 brands should be labelled as unfit for infant feeding, and 

 that some declaration of the content of fat and of sub- 

 stances foreign to milk should be obligatory on the labels. 



A SIGNED portrait, accompanied by a memoir, of the late 

 Mr. G. H. Verrall, the distinguished authority on British 

 flies, forms the chief feature in the November number of 

 The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. 



In referring to his bird-marking experiments in the 

 November number of British Birds, Mr. Witherby remarks 

 that " the number of birds marked has steadily increased 

 until this year the splendid total of just 9500 has been 

 reached. In the first year of the inquiry only 2200 rings 

 were used, but in the next year 7900 were placed, so that 

 the number of birds ' ringed ' by the readers of British 

 Birds now amounts to nearly twenty thousand." The large 

 increase in the number of rings implies, of course, increased 

 expenditure, to meet which additional contributions are 

 solicited. 



In its report for the year ending June 15, 191 1, the 

 Northumberland Sea-fisheries Committee gives a summary 

 of the results of the experiments in marking fish and 

 crustaceans which have been carried on locally during the 

 last few years, together with tables and charts. The 

 experiments in breeding lobsters show that an abundant 

 supply of absolutely pure sea-water is essential to success ; 

 and it is interesting to note that during the year one of 

 the officials had the opportunity of observing a lobster 

 during the process of shell-changing. Experiments on Holy 

 Island show that a vast area is available for the culture 

 of mussels, to be used either as bait or food ; and observa- 

 tions are also recorded on the spawning of cod. 



To Naturwissenschaftliche Wochenschrift for October 29 

 Dr. A. Kobelt contributes a long article on the physio- 

 logical origin of markings and colour in the animal 

 kingdom. Attention is directed to the prevalence of pig- 

 ment in the neighbourhood of the great sensory and nervous 

 structures, as exemplified by the dorsal stripe of many 

 mammals and some lizards, the dark lateral line of fishes, 

 the frequency of dark markings on the muzzle, and especi- 

 ally the concentration of colour in the eye and its neigh- 

 bourhood. The hue of the ground-colour of animals is 

 attributed by the author to the existence of an equilibrium 

 between the effects of light-stimulus and the influence of 

 the sense-organs, which leads to an equality in, and a large 



