Dec. 20, 1877] 



NATURE 



141 



ally employing that possess actions which would cause 

 one to predict that they would be of special use in 

 controlling the terrible spasms of hydrophobia, e.g.^ 

 bromide of potassium, chloral, and Calabar bean. These 

 drugs all diminish in a signal manner the reflex ex- 

 citability of the nerve-centres ; and the second in the list 

 possesses in addition powerful properties as a hypnotic ; 

 they have all been used in the treatment of hydrophobia ; 

 and one of them — chloral — has, in sufficiently large 

 doses, been successfully used, in so far as relief of suffering 

 was concerned. But as for a cm-e for hydrophobia it has 

 yet to be discovered ; and this remark applies to all 

 zymotic diseases. The majority of these diseases, unlike 

 hydrophobia, tend naturally towards recovery rather than 

 death, and the physician is undoubtedly able, by judicious 

 measures, to obviate the tendency to death. He cannot 

 cure the disease, however, in the sense in which he might 

 be said to cure it were he able to destroy the poison which 

 is its cause ; apparently, once introduced into the system 

 the poison must produce its effects — intense or slight — 

 which must have a certain course, and then cease, be- 

 cause the poison which induced them has passed away, 

 or because the soil which nourished the poison supplies 

 it no longer with the conditions which it required. 

 But the day may come, and we believe will come, when 

 even this great result may be achieved ; when not only shall 

 we know the conditions which attend the spread of zymotic 

 diseases so accurately that we shall be able to prevent 

 their spread, but when medicine may supply us the means 

 of dealing directly with the materies morbi of the diseases, 

 as, for instance, by "sterilising" the soil in which they are 

 implanted. 



Oar general review of the main facts in the history of 

 rabies and hydrophobia has naturally brought out with 

 considerable clearness how little is known concerning it 

 and how much remains to be done. We hail, therefore, 

 with satisfaction the appointment of a Committee of the 

 British Medical Association charged with the investigation 

 of this important and interesting subject. This Committee 

 consists of Dr. Lauder Brunton, Mr. Callender, Mr. 

 Ernest Hart, and Prof. Burdon-Sanderson. 



Before concluding, a few words concerning the measures 

 to be adopted for preventing the spread of hydrophobia. 



From our insular position we are in a better position 

 than any neighbouring nation for holding a check, or 

 even " stamping out " such a disease as hydrophobia, 

 which, as the vast mass of evidence tends to show, does 

 not originate spontaneously, nor does it appear that it 

 would be difficult to effect this result were the suggestions 

 which have been made by several recent writers carried 

 into effect. It is certain that the number of dogs kept in 

 England is enormously in excess of any requirements, and 

 it is equally certain that this state of matters might 

 promptly be put a stop to. The existing dog tax need not 

 be increased in amount, but it should be enforced in the 

 most stringent manner, the business of collecting, prose- 

 cuting, &c, being handed over to the police authorities of 

 each district. Each dog should have a separate number 

 on the local register, and might be the wearer of a collar 

 bearing its registered number. Further, the licence should 

 bear a description of the premonitory symptoms of rabies, 

 and owners of dogs should be cautioned instantly to report 

 any suspicious case to the police. These regulations 



would, as a necessary result, lead to each dog being indi- 

 vidually looked after and cared for, and would, we believe, 

 in the course of very few years, lead to the disappearance 

 of rabies. 



DIEN'S " CELESTIAL A TLAS " 

 Atlas Celeste, comprenant tontes les Cartes dc I'ancien 

 Atlas de Ch. Dien. Rectifid, augment^, &c., par Camille 

 Flammarion. 3" Edition. (Paris : Gautbier-Villars, 1877.) 



THIS is a new and enlarged edition of Dien's "Atlas 

 Celeste," which first appeared in 1864, with the 

 co-operation of M. Babinet, and is brought out under the 

 editorship of M. Camille Flammarion. That the forma- 

 tion of the atlas, both in its original and extended plan 

 has involved a great amount of labour will be evident 

 upon a very superficial examination. The first issue was 

 said to contain upwards of 100,000 stars and nebulae, of 

 which 50,000 had been observed by Lalande, projected on 

 the development of a sphere, sixty-five centimetres in 

 diameter, their places being reduced to the year i860, and 

 this scale was stated to be sufficiently large to allow of the 

 insertion without confusion of all stars to the ninth 

 magnitude inclusive. The charts were said to contain 

 " nearly jthe totality of stars in the catalogues of Lalande, 

 Herschel I., Piazzi, Harding, Struve, Bessel, Herschelll., 

 Groombridge, and Argelander," while for the southern 

 heavens recourse was had to the catalogues of La Caille 

 and Brisbane. This description of the authorities con- 

 sulted is not very definite. The reference to Harding 

 must apply to his atlas ; that to Bessel may be supposed 

 to at least include the catalogue of equatorial stars ob- 

 served by the Konigsberg astronomer, which was prepared 

 by Weisse of Cracow, and pubHshed in 1846, if not the 

 second catalogue founded upon Bessel's observations, 

 containing stars from 15° N. to 45° N. decUnation, also 

 reduced by Weisse, which appeared in 1863. The refer- 

 ence to Argelander is especially indefinite ; we have the 

 well-known catalogue of 560 stars, and the " Uranomelria 

 Nova," but previous to the year 1864, when "Dien's 

 Atlas" was published, astronomers were also in posses- 

 sion of vols. 3, 4, and 5 of the " Durchmusterung," with 

 the results of the survey of the whole northern heaven'^. 



The programme originally prepared was a very exten- 

 sive one. The new edition is stated to have received 

 numerous corrections and considerable enlargement to 

 bring up the work to the actual state of astronomical 

 science, and there is sufficient evidence that an attempt 

 has been made in this direction, but we regret to have to 

 express the opinion, after a close examination of the 

 " Atlas," that in its present state it does not fulfil the pro- 

 gramme upon which it was formed. It will soon be evi- 

 dent, on comparing the maps with the charts issued by 

 the Berlin Academy, or more generally with those in the 

 original edition of Harding's Atlas, that so far from con- 

 taining stars to the ninth magnitude inclusive, numerous 

 eighths, and even stars of 67 magnitude, are omitted, 

 and it is not easy to see from what cause. It might be 

 inferred that Bessel's catalogue of equatorial stars had 

 not been utilised, since stars of the seventh and eighth 

 magnitude observed by Bessel and not observed by 

 Lalande, are wanting. But in addition we soon miss 

 stars that do occur in the " Histoire Cdleste," as for 



