November 3, 19 10] 



NATURE 



17 



nioser, Nietzk, Spiro, Bechold, Tamman, Barus, Bredig, 

 Lorenz, Malfitano, &c. The volume is published by 

 C. de Boer, Helder, Holland. 



The Allahabad Pioneer Mail of October 7 contains a 



melancholy review of a resolution recently passed by the 



Punjab Government regarding the prevention of plague. 



This resolution records that, in the opinion of a com- 



rttee consisting of plague experts and district officers of 



perience, " no remedy has been found for the disease ; 



ihat the people generally will not go to plague doctors to 



b^» treated when suffering from plague ; that disinfection 



of houses by means of chemicals, or even by heat, as a 



means for checking or preventing an epidemic is useless ; 



that rat destruction by poison or trapping is almost equally 



useless ; and that inoculation, though a splendid means 



of individual protection, cannot be used to check the 



epidemic owing to popular prejudice." As the result of 



this, the Punjab Government propose, while keeping on 



the field the establishment of plague doctors, to reduce 



the cost if possible, and make suggestions as to how this 



can be done. It is not easy from this report in the 



Pioneer Mail to analyse the evidence upon which the 



Punjab Government acts, but the paper must cause 



melancholy reflections among the friends of India. Is it 



not true that the words non possumus are somewhat fre- 



ently heard from the mouth of the Government of 



Ha? We have just listened to them in connection with 



alaria prevention, and we have heard them over and 



r again in connection with the prevention of cholera. 



rhaps a complete reform in the sanitary service of the 



untry, with much more attention to sanitary investiga- 



in and a more generous employment of trained scientific 



.vorkers, would not only save the Government the waste of 



much money on fruitless efforts, but would also do more 



to ensure success in the future. 



CoLONFL W. C. GoRGAS, who has done such splendid 

 tvork in removing mosquito-borne diseases from the 

 Panama Canal zone, sends a short letter to the Times of 

 October 28 in which he gives the death-rates for that 

 area ; and they are so remarkable that we here reprint 

 his facts. Colonel Gorgas says : — " For the years since 

 our occupation the statistics for the city of Panama have 

 been as follows : — 



Xo. of deaths Death-rate per 1000 

 1,447 •.. 65-82 

 1,142 ... 4475 

 1,156 ... 34-45 

 . 1,292 ... 34-83 

 . 1,038 ... 25-44 

 The rates for the Canal Zone, under American jurisdic- 

 tion, including the cities of Colon and Panama, are as 

 follows : — 



Year 

 1905 

 1906 

 1907 

 1908 

 1909 



Population 



56,624 



73,264 



102,133 



120,097 



135,180 



No. of deaths Death-rate per looo 



2,828 

 3.544 



3,435 



2,983 



2,459 



49 94 

 48-37 

 33-63 

 24-83 

 18-19 



Among employes the rates have been as follows : — 



Ys*r Employes Death-rate per 1000 



1905 16,511 25-86 



1906 26,475 4173 



1907 39,343 28-74 



1908 43,890 13-01 



1909 47,167 1064 



There has been no case of either plague or yellow fever 

 on the Isthmus since 1905. We admitted to our hospitals 

 for malaria in the year 1905, 514 cases for each thousand 

 NO. 2140, VOL. 85] 



employes; in 1906, 821 cases for each thousand employes; 

 in 1907, 424 for each thousand employes ; 1908, 282 for 

 each thousand empksy^s ; and 1909, 215 for each thousand 

 employes." 



^ There seems little doubt that the four deaths reported 

 recently at Freston, in Suffolk, were due to plague. To 

 prevent any further development of the disease, active 

 measures are being adopted to effect a general destruction 

 of rats in Freston and the neighbourhood. The southern 

 part of rural Ipswich has been systematically explored, 

 and large quantities of poison laid down. The Samford 

 Rural District Council has issued a warning notice point- 

 ing out that it is dangerous to touch dead rats with the 

 naked hand, and urging their burial without delay. The 

 public has been requested not to eat rabbits or hares 

 killed in the district. The notice also urges a general 

 campaign against uncleanliness and insects. The ques- 

 tion of destroying rats over a wider area than that pro- 

 posed has been raised, as many dead rodents have been 

 found north of the Orwell. It is pointed out that the 

 increase of rats can be traced to the practical extinction 

 of their natural enemies — owls, kestrels, and hawks, which 

 are now seldom seen in the localit}-. The origin of the 

 disease is still uncertain, but there is reason to believe, 

 in view of the plague at Odessa, that grain vessels from 

 the Black Sea to the River Orwell may have brought over 

 plague-stricken rats. The position of knowledge as re- 

 gards the relation between rats and the spread of plague 

 is described in an article elsewhere in this issue. 



Is the gardens of the Zookagicaf Society of London, 

 Regent's Park, there is now in flower a specimen of Agave 

 Americana. The Agaves are popularly known as 

 " American " Aloes ; but there are no true Aloes in 

 -'\merica, the genus being almost entirely confined to South 

 Africa. Agave is a member of the natural order 

 Amaryllidaceae, and Aloe of the natural order Liliaceae. 

 Another popular fallacy connected with the Agaves is the 

 belief that the plants flower after 100 years and then die, 

 hence the Agave is sometimes called the centurv- plant. 

 The facts are these, that the plants, being monocarpic, 

 are only capable of flowering once, but the age at 

 which a particular specimen will flower is determined by 

 many circumstances, including constitutional characters 

 and the suitability or otherwise of the conditions in which 

 the plant is growing. These remarks apply specially to 

 .Agave Americana, for another species, namely, .4. Sartori, 

 is capable of flowering from year to year. A. Americana 

 has very thick leaves of from 4 feet to 6 feet in length. 

 They have sharp prickles all along the margins, and each 

 leaf has a stiff, sharp point i inch to 2 inches long ; these 

 latter are sometimes called " Adam's needles." The plant 

 contains fibre in the roots and leaves, and the fibre is 

 used for commercial purposes. Agaves are cultivated for 

 ornamental purposes in this country, being used frequently 

 as terrace plants in large boxes or tubs. The flower spikes 

 grow very rapidly when once they have formed, their 

 height varying from about 15 feet to upwards of 20 feet. 

 The numerous flowers are greenish-yellow, occasionally 

 quite yellow, but scarcely golden as they are sometimes 

 described. The plant which is now flowering at Regent's 

 Park has stood out of doors during the summer, but it is 

 blooming in the warm atmosphere of the reptile house. 

 Ai'other specimen bloomed in the same gardens in 1906, 

 and two specimens flowered in the Victoria Park, London, 

 in 1902. In Mr. Smith's gardens in the Scilly Islands a 

 dozen or more specimens flowered out of doors in 1875, 

 and in the south of France Agaves in flower are not un- 



