158 



NATURE 



[November 30, 191 1 



the subject of well-sinking, after which there is a useful 

 series of analyses and particulars of the water obtainable 

 in different localities. 



Pamphlet No. 274, on " Some Stream Waters of the 

 Western United States " (Herman StabU-r), is almost 

 purely statistical throughout, and gives analytical tables of 

 the constituents of water taken from the basins of the 

 Rivers Colorado, Columbia, Mississippi, Rio Grande, and 

 Sacramento. 



Pamphlet No. 265 deals with the " Surface Water Supply 

 in the Basins of Hudson Bay and the Upper Mississippi." 

 1 he observations are by Messrs. Follansbee, Horton and 

 IJolster, and are akin to those already described in connec- 

 tion with others of the dozen districts into which the 

 States have been mapped out for the purposes of hydro- 

 logical investigation. 



I 



ROMAN SURVEYING. 

 N the Zeitschrift fur Vcrmessungswescn (Heft 21, 191 1) 

 Prof. E. Hammer discusses the precision with which 

 the nations of antiquity were able to mark out lines on the 

 surface of the earth with the means at their disposal. 

 Taking, first, that portion of the frontier of the Roman 

 Empire which existed as a straight line about 80 kilometres 

 long from near the Ri/er Rems in Wiirttemburg to the 

 district of Wallfiirn in Baden, he investigates the question 

 whether this line was laid down appro.\imately straight by 

 chance, or whether it was intended to be a straight line 

 and special care was taken to arrive at this result. Points 

 on the line were located and their positions plotted on 

 the cadastral maps (scale i : 2500), from which their 

 coordinates were determined. From these the direction- 

 angle of portions of the line was calculated, and also the 

 mean departure of points on the boundary line from the 

 true straight line. For a portion amounting to 29 km. of 

 the whole length, the mean error in position of a point 

 on the boundary was found to be ±2 metres, which 

 indicates a surprising accuracy in carrying such a line 

 over rough ground, while for portions of it an even greater 

 precision was attained. Further observations by Prof. 

 Leonhard, not yet published, on the remaining 50 kilo- 

 metres of the boundary indicate that the accuracy is there 

 maintained. The Romans must have fixed a few principal 

 points in prominent positions by signals at night, and then 

 interpolated intermediate points ; the observed accuracy 

 could never have been attained by prolonging a line. 



A second case is that of the amphitheatre at Pola, laid 

 out by a Roman architect or land surveyor, which has 

 been recently studied by an Austrian surveyor, Herr 

 Hofrath A. Broch. Using a plan on a scale of i : 250, he 

 investigated the accuracy with which the form of the 

 amphitheatre as constructed approached an ellipse. 

 Taking twelve points on the curve, their mean error in 

 position from a true ellipse was but 15 cm., in spite of 

 the weathered surfaces of the stone contributing to this 

 uncertainty. The axes of this ellipse were 20=129-9 m. 

 and 2?> = io2-6 m., or in the ratio of very nearly 9:7, as 

 in the case of many Roman amphitheatres. Prof' Hammer 

 goes on to refer to the results obtainable in a similar wav 

 from stone circles, where it is important to determine not 

 only thpir dimensions, but also their accuracy of construc- 

 tion. The accuracy attained at Stonehenge is referred to; 

 and in mentioning the " Standing Stones of Stenness " he 

 suggests that in the circle of 340 feet in diameter, formed of 

 about 60 stones 17} feet apart, we may have had a circle 

 of 60 stones exactly (60 x 17?= 1060') indicating a sexa- 

 gesimal division of the circle. 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF TYNESIDE."^ 



AMONG the natural history societies of this country 

 that of Tyneside stands out by reason of its illus- 

 trious traditions and successful enterprise. W'ithout 

 municipal assistance it has originated and maintained for 

 many years a museum of high standing, and its members 

 have contributed classical memoirs on the geology, flora, 

 and fauna of Great Britain. The names of W^illiam 



1 Transa'-i'-'n*! o^ f^e Nat -ral History Society of Northumberland, 

 Durha-", N.-wrast1e iipin-Tyne. N<-w 'Series. Vol. iii., parts i, 3, and 3. 

 (London: William- and Norgate, igofi-iott.) 



NO. 2196, VOL. 88] 



Hutton, of the two Hancocks, of Joshua Alder, ai <. 

 Hewitson, to mention only a few, are associated 

 some most careful and beautifully illustrated work. I 

 therefore fitting that an account of these men and of ' 

 single-minded devoted students of natural history who 

 worked on Tyneside should be commemorated in 

 Transactions as has been done in an article by i»i. 

 Leonard Gill, the curator of the Hancock Museum. Tli 

 article is the one of most general interest in the vohoM 

 before us ; but there are also other papers of more thai 

 local importance to which we may direct the attention t 

 workers who are following similar lines of investigation. 



The most important of these is the account of th 

 Crustacea of Northumberland and Durham by Cano 

 Norman and Dr. G. S. Brady. This is the most complei 

 of any county list for this class, since the fresh-water an 

 terrestrial forms are included in an exhaustive study tlui 

 has occupied almost the lifetime of these distinguish^ 

 carcinologists. Scattered through these records of 64 

 species are many intere-sting remarks ; for example, th 

 prevalence during the winter of Arctic Euphausiids, whid 

 are brought by a southward current so far down the eai 

 coast as Yorkshire : and the rediscovery of the Daphni 

 Leydigia, after a lapse of twenty years, in remarkaM 

 circumstances. In spite of the length of this list, tm 

 forms that might be expected to occur are not mentioned 

 Neither Cheirocephalus nor any Phyllopod is recorded. an4P 

 Leptodora, so common in Cumberland, is apparently a' 

 from Northumberland and Durham 



Perhaps the chief feature of these Transactions is- m-r 

 amount of attention that has been given to the study ol 

 obscure or neglected groups of invertebrates. In dlil 

 respect the papers by Mr. Bagnall are especially worthy tM 

 mention. This indefatigable naturalist has not only d'^aW 

 with the Collembola, but also with two much neg! 

 groups of myriapods, the Pauropoda and Symphyla. 

 with the little-known Thysanoptera, or thrips. 1 

 papers constitute a valuable addition to our knowled: 

 the British Cryptozoic fauna. The arachnids, again, 

 energetically and successfully studied by members of 

 society ; and several papers by Dr. Rendall Jackson 

 the Rev. T. E. Hull constitute not only additions tf 

 knowledge of this section of the British fauna, bi 

 that of the order as a whole. The careful descriptic 

 that very rare Coal-measure arachnid Anthracosiro :. 

 wardi, Pocock, by Mr. Leonard Gill, is a compa: 

 study of the specimens found near Newcastle and 

 where. Lastly, Miss M. C. Lebour's papers on the tr 

 todes of the coast constitute a further instalment of 

 work on a very little known group ; and there are > 

 papers on topographical geology which we have not room 

 to discuss. The society is to be congratulated on such a 

 substantial output of valuable scientific work. As a suA 

 gestion, may we point out the desirability of printing of 

 author's name as a headline on the left-hand n-irtr- cf th<>«« 

 memoirs in order to facilitate references? 



CANCER RESEARCH.' 



'T'HE Fourth Scientific Report, apart from tht ini: 

 tion, is restricted to three papers. The firs- 

 spontaneous cancer in mice, by Dr. Haaland, treat^ 

 large number of additional spontaneous tumours c 

 mouse since the Third Scientific Report was prej 

 These tumours consist of carcinomata and saro 

 occurring in a variety of sites other than the mamm.i 

 are considered from clinical, pathological, histological 

 experimental points of view. The animals in whici: 

 were found have been submitted to a number of e 

 mental tests in order to elucidate the relation betW' 

 tumour and the animal in which it arises. The - 

 paper, on cancerous ancestry and cancer in mice, b; 

 heredity, which have been in progress for some six 

 with mice of known ancestry, and from which a 

 number of the tumours and mice studied in the first 

 have been obtained. The third paper, on the behaviw' 

 Murray, deals with breeding experiments bearing 

 tumour-cells during propagation, is a general survey - 



1 From the int'odiirtion »o thr Fourth Scientific R.-port en the In 

 tions of the Imperial Cancer Research F_u' d. By Dr. E. F. E.i 

 Pp. x.\i + 223. (London: Taylor and Francis, 1911.) 



