November 25, 1897] 



NATURE 



87 



experimental material. It would appear that in the majority of 

 cases the plague-bacillus obtains access to its victims through 

 small wounds or scratches on the body, reminding one of the 

 same method adopted by the anthrax bacillus for infection. As 

 Versin has already pointed out, plague is essentially a disease 

 which afflicts the poor and miserably-housed lower classes of the 

 population, their habits and repugnance to all sanitary precau- 

 tions, and prejudice against the hospitals, rendering its suppres- 

 sion a matter of extreme difficulty. In the hospitals, thanks to 

 systematic disinfection and scrupulous cleanliness, cases of 

 plague amongst the staff were very rare. The Commission have 

 discovered that the serum of human beings, as well as that of 

 animals which have recovered from plague, exerts a specific 

 action on plague bacilli outside the body, producing the phe- 

 nomenon of the clumping together of the bacilli now so familiar in 

 the case of typhoid bacilli under similar circumstances. Nume- 

 rous researches were carried out to test the vitality and powers 

 of endurance possessed by these bacilli under very varied condi- 

 tions. For example, in sterilised tap-water they were found 

 to be dead after three days, whilst in ordinary tap-water a single 

 day's immersion was sufficient to destroy them. Very sensitive 

 also are these microbes to the action of disinfectants, corrosive 

 sublimate diluted to i in looo parts at once destroys them, 

 whilst a I per cent, solution of carbolic acid also kills them 

 within ten minutes. Heating for ten minutes at 55^ C. destroys 

 them, as also does exposure to a temperature of 80° C. for five 

 minutes, whilst in a liquid just brought to the boiling point, and 

 at once examined, they were also entirely annihilated. Perhaps 

 the most interesting part of the report is that which deals with 

 the inquiries made into the respective merits of Yersin's and 

 Hafikine's anti-plague inoculations. Yersin's serum inoculations 

 in Bombay do not appear to have been as successful as those 

 which he previously carried out in cases of plague at Amoy. Dr. 

 Roux was, however, preparing a yet stronger serum at the 

 Paris Pasteur Institute, and it was hoped that it might prove 

 more efficacions. On the other hand, Haffkine's inoculations 

 appear to have been very successful, although the protection 

 against plague afforded by them is by no means absolute. 

 Haffkine's method consists in adding a weak solution of car- 

 bolic acid or essence of mustard to a virulent growth of plague 

 bacilli, thereby destroying the microbes ; their products, however, 

 which remain, possess a remarkable protective power. The 

 vaccine may also be procured by heating the plague-cultures to 

 65° C. for one hour, or during two hours to 51° C. This method 

 of heating appears to yield the best vaccine. It is impossible 

 here to enter into further details of this valuable report, which 

 forms a most important contribution to the scientific literature 

 already existing on plague and its dissemination. 



Mr. Charles Louis Hett, of Springfield, Brigg, has 

 prepared a list of the calls of some two hundred British birds, 

 and appeals for the assistance of other students of bird-life, either 

 in checking calls already recorded, or in supplying those of other 

 birds. He promises to finish the compilation and to issue it from 

 the press, provided he receives the co-operation needed. 



Herren Mayer and Muller, of Berlin, ask for subscrip- 

 tions for an important work on Orchids, of which the first volume 

 is already in type — " Orchidacearum Genera et Species," by 

 Prof. F. Kraenzlin, to be completed in six volumes. No com- 

 plete separate systematic work on the Orchidaceoe has been 

 published since Lindley's Synopsis, which was issued sixty 

 years ago. 



Corn's " Kryptogamen-Flora von Schlesien " is a work of 

 much more than local interest, the various families of Crypto- 

 gams having been worked out with the greatest care by experts 

 in the various departments. The last part received (3'^'' Band, 



NO. 1465, VOL. 57] 



2" Halfte, 4'* Lieferung) completes the Pyrenomycetes, and 

 contains an introduction to the so-called " Fungi imperfecti," 

 those in which the conidial, but not the ascogenous form is 

 known. This portion of the work will, unfortunately, remain 

 uncompleted, as it stood in the hands of Dr. J. Schroter at the 

 time of his death in 1894, ^'^oi. Cohn not having been able to 

 find any one to complete the work left unfinished by that 

 eminent mycologist. An interesting feature of Dr. Schroter's 

 work in this section of Fungi is that he has discarded the term 

 genus, arranging the species under Formgatttmgen or ' ' form- 

 genera." 



Messrs. Ross, Ltd., have just issued a very full illustrated 

 catalogue of the instruments made by them. 



Messrs. Abbott, Jones, and Co. announce for early publi- 

 cation "The Life of James Abernethy, past-president of the 

 Institute of Civil Engineers." The book will be the work of 

 John S. Abernethy, and will be illustrated. 



The sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology has reached us, and contains the following papers : — 

 "Primitive Trephining in Peru," " Cliff- Ruins of Canyon de 

 Chelly, Arizona," " Day Symbols of the Maya Year," and 

 "Tusayan Snake Ceremonies." 



The catalogues issued from time to time by Mr. Bernard 

 Quaritch are always interesting, but few, if any, of those 

 recently issued can compare with the one dated November 12. 

 which has just reached us. It is entitled "Monuments of 

 Printing," and contains particulars of books produced by the 

 earliest presses in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, 

 Spain and England from 1455 to 1500, and a few remarkable 

 examples of a somewhat later date. The catalogue is one 

 which will be prized by all students of typography. 



The Photograni for November contains several short articles 

 of interest to photographers. Mr. C. F. Townsend writes about 

 sensitometers, giving a brief historical summary of the methods 

 employed. Under the heading of "Applied Photography 

 in Ship Salvage Work " is the title of an article by Mr. Charles 

 H. Evans, who points out the many difficulties that are met 

 with in this class of work. The illustrations accompanying the 

 text are Very much to the point, being good examples of the work 

 undertaken. Other branches of the art dealt with are photo- 

 micrography, exact measurements with the X-rays, toning 

 bromide prints, &c., together with useful information in the 

 form of notes on many other points of interest. 



Volume v. of the Transactions of the Institution of Mining 

 and Metallurgy for the sixth session has reached us, and is a 

 bulky work, containing reports of some eighteen papers, and 

 the discussions which took place upon them. The Institution 

 during the session referred to had upon its books the names 

 of 449 members, associates and students, as against 372 for the 

 session of 1895-96. 



Messrs. Macmillan will publish shortly a work entitled " A 

 Text-Book of Zoology," under the joint authorship of Profs. T. 

 Jeffery Parker and W. A. Haswell. Special attention is called 

 to the illustrations, of which there are over a thousand in 

 the two volumes that comprise the work. For the most part 

 these illustrations are original, and have been drawn by Mr. N. 

 J. Parker. 



Of all the periodicals which come before us week by week, 

 and month by month, not one fulfils its particular purpose better 

 than the Engineering Magazine. The magazine is always 

 attractively illustrated ; the articles in it deal with subjects which 

 are of prime importance in the engineering world ; and the 

 monthly digest of the entire technical press is a very valuable 



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