August i8, 192 i] 



NATURE 



791 



have other outbreaks of the disease this autumn and 

 winter. 



It is the intention of the Rockefeller Foundation 

 to publish from time to time a circular of information 

 reviewing its activities, and the first number was 

 issued on July 25. A million francs was voted 

 towards the endowment of La Fondation Reine Elisa- 

 beth, a new institution for medical research estab- 

 lished in connection with a hospital in the suburbs of 

 Brussels, while three million dollars have also been 

 allocated to the Brussels authorities for medical educa- 

 tion. Reference is also made to the grants of five 

 million dollars each to Canada and to University 

 College and Hospital in 1919 for medical education. 

 Support has been given to several medical schools in 

 the United States, contributions have been made 

 towards campaigns against malaria, yellow fever, 

 hookworm disease, and tuberculosis, and emergency 

 relief of a million dollars has been contributed to the 

 fund for European children. In addition, the 

 Medical School in Peking has been maintained and 

 aid given to thirty-one hospitals in China with the 

 object of increasing their efficiency. 



In the June issue of Folk-lore Mr. R. Grant Brown 

 discusses the pre-Buddhist religion of the Burmese. It 

 is not confined to the animistic beliefs which were 

 possibly introduced with the so-called "corrupt" 

 Mahayamist or northern form of Buddhism, which, 

 to a far greater extent than the southern form which 

 now prevails, incorporated the ancient beliefs and cere- 

 monies of the people. The animism which now widely 

 prevails is quite apart from Buddhism, and though 

 Burmese Buddhism is in one sense only a veneer over 

 the prevailing animism, it is not more superficial than 

 the state of belief even in Western countries. It is 

 frowned upon by the monks, yet not only do the 

 votaries of the orthodox creed refrain from persecuting 

 the beliefs and practices of the lower orders, but also 

 both forms prevail even among the same individuals. 

 A good example of this form of worship is that of the 

 Nats, spirits of mountain, whirlpool, tree, earth or 

 sky, rain or wind, and a hundred other things. Human 

 sacrifice is still found in the Chindwin district, when 

 a boy or a girl of a distant village is annually sacrificed 

 and the blood sprinkled on the seed-rice. Canni- 

 balism, in the sacramental form, appears in the case 

 of a rebel leader who had been a monk and a reputed 

 sorcerer ; he was killed, his body dug up, and the 

 flesh boiled down into a potent decoction. Mr. 

 Brown's account of these and similar practices is in- 

 teresting for comparison with customs of the same 

 class prevalent in the lower cultures of some tribes in 

 the Indian Peninsula. 



The Pennsylvania University Museum has recently 

 acquired a copy of a rare book, "A Catalogue of 

 Specimens of Tapa or Bark Cloth," illustrated with 

 samples of the cloth collected by Capt. Cook during 

 his three voyages. The book was published in London 

 in 1787, and contains, besides the catalogue and speci- 

 mens of tapa, "A Particular Account of the Manner 

 of Manufacturing the same in the various Islands of 

 the South Seas : partly extracted from Mr. Anderson 

 [and Reinhold Forster's Observations, and the verbal 

 NO. 2703, VOL. 107] 



Account of some of the most Knowing of the Naviga- 

 tors : with some Anecdotes that happened to them 

 among the Natives." The list describes thirty-nine 

 specimens, whilst this copy contains forty-three, four 

 samples having apparently been added since the book 

 was originally published. The Museum Journal for 

 March, 192 1, reprints the catalogue, with useful notes 

 and descriptions of the method of preparing tapa cloth. 



"The RAle of Meteorology in Malaria " is the sub- 

 ject of a paper by Brevet Lt.-Col. C. A. Gill (Indian 

 Journ. Med. Research, vol. viii., No. 4, 192 1, p. 633). 

 Col. Gill finds that whilst humidity exercises no direct 

 effect on the malaria parasite in the mosquito, the 

 survival of infected insects during and beyond the 

 incubation period of the parasite in its insect-host is 

 dependent upon the occurrence of certain favourable 

 degrees of relative humidity over a wide range of tem- 

 perature. On the other hand, the completion of 

 the developmental stage of the parasite in the 

 mosquito is determined by the association of 

 relatively high temperature with relatively high 

 humidit}'. The meteorological circumstances favour- 

 able to mosquito life and to the transmission of infec- 

 tion are thus not identical, and no relationship need, 

 therefore, exist between the distribution of the carrier 

 insect — the mosquito — in Nature and the distribution 

 of endemic malaria. 



Dr. R. J. TiLLYARD deals with the Neuropteroid 

 insects of the Hot Springs region of New Zealand in 

 relation to the problem of trout-food in vol. iii. of the 

 New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology (Nos. 

 5 and 6, 192 1). Observations made in various parts 

 of the world, as well as in other regions of New 

 Zealand, show that the larvae of caddis-flies form one 

 of the most important foods for the trout. In the 

 district under consideration Dr. Tillyard states that 

 the depredation caused by excess numbers of trout has 

 enormously reduced the original fauna of these and 

 other Neuropteroid insects which serve as food for 

 this fish. In fact, the present position of the trout- 

 fisheries in the Hot Springs region is such that there 

 is not enough food for the trout present. It is clear 

 that improvements can be effected along two distinct 

 lines, viz. improvement of the food-supply and reduc- 

 tion in the number of trout. A series of recommenda- 

 tions is made by Dr. Tillyard in order to achieve 

 this end. 



The annual report of the Gresham's School Natural 

 History Society for 1920 is an interesting and valu- 

 able record of the work done by a school society 

 which is active and keenly alive to the importance of 

 regional survey work. There are records of plants 

 new to the district round Holt, of the insects col- 

 lected by various members, of astronomical pheno- 

 mena observed at the school, and of the first appear- 

 ance of migratory birds in the neighbourhood. The 

 most interesting record among insects is that of the 

 first fully winged specimen of the Hemipteron, Nobis 

 hoops, ever taken in Britain, captured by G. E. 

 Hutchinson at Tidworth Pennings. One of the 

 members, C. E. G. Bailey, has perfected and patented 

 a self-tuning wireless apparatus which should prove 

 valuable in expediting the work of wireless operators 



