324 



NATURE 



[January 4, 191 2 



<f.) phartnac*utlcftl, forpn«te chemUtry. and bromatology ; 

 (-, I. ... logical and njiricultural chcmlitry; (8) hyijiene ; 

 (.',» pur. phv»ic«; (lo) f{«>phy»ic«; (ii) tewmology ; 

 (u) r.Htrophy«ic« ; (13) appl*"-*! phytic*: (14) wirckw tele- 

 >:r;iphv; (15) aerodynamics; (16) methods of twching 

 plnsir* and chemistry. The meetings will be (a) sectional; 

 (fc) srveral sections combined; (c) general, where reports 

 on the recent progress of chemistry and physics will be 

 read. Up to the present time eight general reports and 

 ilmut seventy pap«rs for the sectional and united meetings 

 hav€> been announced. Many excursions to the institutes 

 and colleges of St. Petersburg, and to chemical and 

 . ngineering works, have been arranged ; there will be also 

 ;in exhibition of new chemical and physical apparatus. 

 soni.- hundred* of members from all parts of Russia have 

 .ilr..ul> announced their intention to attend themselves, 

 and their numbers, owing to the attractions of the capital, 

 will probably be as large as at the first congress. 



The council of the London School of Tropical Medicine 

 has decided to establish a journal in connection with the 

 school. Three parts are to appear each year, and part i. 

 lias just boon issued. Sir Patrick Manson writes a fore- 

 word ; original papers are contributed by Drs. Bayon, 

 Daniels, Hutton, Leiper, Minctt, and Wise; and surveys 

 of recent literature on tropical medicine and reviews of 

 books complete the matter. 



A SERIES of studies of the motions of flagella of micro- 

 scopic organisms observed by means of the ultra-micro- 

 scope is contributed by V. Ulehla to the Biologischcs 

 Centralblatt (xxxi., Nos. 20-23). Interesting observations 

 have been made on monads, bacteria, algJE, Euglenia, &x. 

 In soni- (;i>.^ wh.n two flagella are present one revolves 

 round tli-- oth.r. A classification of types of flagella and 

 of flagellar movement is given. 



The report on the health of the .^rmy for the year 

 iqio, recently issued, contains matter of much interest. 

 The health of the troops at home and abroad was 

 better last year than ever before, and this applies to the 

 admissions to hospital, deaths, invalids sent home, and the 

 constantly sick ; only in invalids finally discharged is there 

 a fractional rise. Loss or decay of many teeth has caused 

 the largest number of rejections of intending recruits, and 

 venereal disease accounts for the largest number of the 

 total inefficiency from sickness. In the Mediterranean 

 stations there were only two admissions for Mediterranean 

 fever in Gibraltar and one in Malta (out of an average 

 strength of 6769), the latter a young officer just arrived 

 •who drank unboiled milk, probably goat's milk. There 

 Av.'i-s .nn increase in malaria in Jamaica and West Africa, 

 and a diminution in India, over the average for the 

 previous five years. Venereal and tuberculous diseases 

 have almost everywhere decreased as compared w-ith the 

 average of the previous five years, and there has been a 

 welcome and remarkable diminution in enteric fever among 

 the European troops in India. 



The second part of vol. ii. of the Museum Journal of 

 the University of Philadelphia is devoted to a survey of 

 New Zealand culture, based on the great collection made 

 by E. W. Clark, the most important addition contributed 

 in recent years to the museum. It includes splendid speci- 

 mens of wood-carving, tail pieces of canoes, house posts, 

 paddles, wooden staves, dancing clubs, and wooden boxes. 

 In addition, we have clubs of polished whalebone, a chief's 

 club in green jade, and a good example of the Heitiki, 

 recognised by Captain Cook and other early travellers as 

 the characteristic personal ornament of the Maoris. It is 

 much to be regretted that this remarkable collection has 



NO. 2201, VOL. SS"* 



not found a home In one of our imperial or colonial 

 muieums. 



Mr, C. ii. MooRK, in a paper entitled " Some A.^^ik- •" 

 Site« on Mississippi River," contributed to vol. xiv.. 

 part iii., of the Journal of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, Philadelphia, de»cribe» a number of Indian burial 

 mounds along the course of the river. It is well that this 

 survey has been undertaken, because many of these monu- 

 ments arc being destroyed by changes in the course of 

 the stream or by agricultural operations. The disooverie* 

 throw little light on the age of the makers or on their 

 death cult. The pottery is interesting, particularly some 

 representations of animals like the tortoise and raccoon, 

 and some human figures are represented sitting cross- 

 legged, a very unusual position in the statuettes discovered 

 in this region. 



In The National Geographic Magazine tor November. 

 Mr. J. E. Pogue, of the United States National Museum, 

 describes the remarkable " Rainbow " bridge of natural 

 formation in the Navaho reservation near the south-east 

 corner of Utah. This towering arch, of rainbow shape, 

 spans the canyon, the geological formation of which is a 

 buff-coloured, fine-grained sandstone, brick-red on its 

 surface and stained with vertical streaks of a darker shade. 

 It hangs 309 feet above stream-bottom, and the abutments 

 stand 278 feet apart. The causeway, upon which an 

 observer can be lowered from an adjacent cliff, the sides 

 of which are too steep to admit easy passage, is 33 feet 

 wide by 42 feet thick at the keystonp point. These figures, 

 however, give only a faint i<! majestic symmetry 



of this remarkable structure. i sited by white men 



for the first time in 1909. It is satisfactory* to learn that 

 the United States Government has constituted it a national 

 monument, and has taken adequate measures for its 

 preservation. 



The Schweich lectures on Biblical archa?olog\-, heW 

 under the auspices of the British .Academy, were delivered 

 last month by Prof. R. A. Stewart MacAlister, late director 

 of excavations of the Palestine Exploration Fund, who 

 discoursed on the " Philistines, their History and Civilisa- 

 tion." Prof. MacAlister dwelt on the earliest known 

 history of the Philistines, on their supposed origin in Crete, 

 and on their raid into Egv'pt. The earliest references to 

 them in the Old Testament, and details of the capture of 

 the Ark and of its wanderings among the people, were 

 given. The lecturer traced the growth in power of the 

 Philistines during the reign of Saul, referring to the out- 

 lawry of David and to his relations with the King of 

 Gath. and also to the battles between David and the 

 Philistines. By these battles their power was broken, and 

 they almost disappear from the Biblical records. Facts 

 relating to them contained in the Assyrian records from 

 the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., and instances of 

 their traditions among the modern peasants of Palestine 

 were given. Referring to the political and military 

 organisation of this people. Prof. MacMister stated that 

 they had the oldest form of oligarchic government on 

 record. At present we are very ignorant of their language, 

 only a few proper names and some doubtful words being 

 known. But little has been ascertained of their religion, 

 the two chief deities being the fish-shaped goddess 

 .\targatis and the god Dagon ; the cult of this latter deity 

 long survived in Gaza, where he was worshipped under 

 the name Marna. As to the arts, they had reached a com- 

 paratively high level ; witness the various jewels, pottery, 

 and bronze mirror which were found in the five tombs 

 recently discovered at Gezer. It is probable, indeed, that 



