November 4, 192a] 



NATURE 



32^ 



of Fisheries reports that telegraphic information has 

 been received stating that a total of 25,978 pelts had 

 been taken during this calendar year (Science, 

 October 8). Of this number 21,936 were taken on 

 St. Paul Island and the remainder on St. George 

 Island ; 72 1 of the pelts were from seals seven 

 years of age or older. K by-products plant was in 

 operation on St. Paul Island which produced some 

 1800 gallons of oil and 29,000 lb. of meat or 

 fertiliser. These figures could have been exceeded 

 if the Bureau had been able to obtain more 

 labourers from the .Meutian Islands. Comments 

 are made on the rumour that the United States 

 Government intends to remove restrictions en 

 pelagic sealing in the North Pacific Ocean and 

 Bering Sea. North of the thirtieth parallel of north 

 latitude, and in the seas of Bering, Kamchatka, 

 Okhotsk, and Japan, pelagic seal-fishing is prohibited 

 by an agreement entered into in 191 1 by the United 

 States, Great Britain, Russia, and Japan, which is in 

 perpetuity unless one or more of the signatories dis- 

 sent from it. This agreement has never been 

 rescinded, and in face of the benefits which have been 

 shown to accrue from the proper management of fur- 

 seal herds— in the fiscal year 1920 the United States 

 revenue from the sale of skins was 1,457,790 dollars, 

 and Great Britain and Japan take shares of 15 per 

 cent, each of the annual catch — there is no likelihood 

 of the re-introduction of pelagic seal-fishing. The 

 Alaskan herd is protected by the patrolling vessels of 

 the United States and Canada working in co- 

 operation. 



The Lancet of October 23 contains an interesting 

 account of an outbreak of Senecio disease, or 

 cirrhosis of the liver due to Senecio poisoning, which 

 occurred in the George district of Cape Province, 

 Union of South .\frica, in 1918. Dr. F. C. Willmot 

 and Mr. G. W. Robertson, the authors of the article, 

 state that the disease has been traced to the presence 

 of the toxic seeds of Senecio ilicifolius and Senecio 

 Burchelli in wheat harvested from fields in which 

 these weeds were prevalent. They mention that pre- 

 cisely similar diseases (Moltcno disease in South 

 Africa, VVinton's disease in New Zealand, and Pictou 

 disease in Nova Scotia) have long been known in 

 farm animals, especially horses, but they .nppoar to 

 be unaware that so long ago as 191 1 Dr. H. E. 

 Watt, working in the Imperial Institute laboratories, 

 isolated from Senecio lalifolius, the plant chiefly sus- 

 pected of causing the disease in horses in South 

 Africa, two toxic alkaloids, senecifoline and seneci- 

 folidine. These alkaloids were afterwards examined 

 pharmacologically by Prof. Cushny, and found to 

 produce hepatic cirrhosis in the animals used, the 

 symptoms and post-mortem findings being identical 

 in all respects with those recorded bv the veterinary 

 surgeons who have dealt with cases of Molteno, 

 Winton's, or Pictou disease in South Africa, New 

 Zealand, and Canada respectively. The outbreak now 

 recorded by Dr. Willmot and Mr. Robertson is. how- 

 ever, probably the first instance of Senecio poi.«oning 

 in human beings, and it raises the interesting 

 question of the possible occurrence of cases In 

 Furope. sine Senecio jacohaea. the source ol the 

 NO. 2662, VOL. 106] 



disease in sheep in Nova Scotia, is a common weed 

 in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe. In 

 this country, however, the cleaning of wheat prior 

 to its conversion into flour is probably so efficiently 

 done that the risk is negligible. 



Wandering storms form the subject of an artide 

 by Prof. .\. McKdie, of Harvard University, in the 

 Geographical Review for July last. The com- 

 munication is for the most part based on Sir 

 Napier Shaw's "Manual of Meteorology," part iv., 

 published during the war, which discusses the 

 relation of the wind to barometric pressure and the 

 travel of cyclones. Prof. McAdie instances three un- 

 usual storm tracks dealt with by Sir Napier Shaw, 

 and alludes to the need in forecasting of knowledge 

 of recurving storms, with especial reference to the 

 aviator and his long-distance flights. .\ remarkable 

 instance is given by the author of the erratic travel 

 of a disturbance from May 8 to June 6, 1910. This is 

 tracked from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Grand 

 Banks, when it is said to have recurved again and 

 again, and to have come back to the Continent on 

 .May 26. It then merged with a storm that was 

 moving north from Texas, and after meandering 

 about to the east and north-east of Nova Scotia for 

 ten days, until June 6, the disturbance dissipated. 



The October issue of the Abstracts and Papers 

 published by the Institution of Civil Engineers 

 contains 300 abstracts occupying mOre than 

 200 pages, and an index of 12 pages. The necessity 

 for such a publication if the results of foreign inves- 

 tigations are to be made available in the engineering 

 industries of this country will be apparent to everv 

 reader. Taking the abstracts which deal with the 

 uses and properties of concrete for structural pur- 

 poses, we find that a five years' experience in Ger- 

 many of the use of furnace-slag as a substitute for 

 gravel and sand in concrete has shown that slag- 

 concrete is stronger than concrete made of Rhine 

 sand. The conditions under which Portland cement 

 can be stored for a couple of years without the 

 strength of the concrete made from it suffering have 

 been investigated in .America. In Germany a saving 

 of 17 per cent, has been effected by the substitution 

 of concrete for brick in workmen's dwellings. In 

 South Africa the manufacture of large pipes of con- 

 crete by the centrifugal process has proved successful. 

 In Belgium the best way of driving concrete piles 

 without injury to them has been investigated; while 

 the American Railway Engineers' .Association has 

 found concrete road-beds uniformly successful. 



In the Journal de Physique for August last MM. 

 H. Abraham, E. Bloch, and L. Bloch describe their 

 direct-reading thermionic voltmeter which is iT)anu> 

 factured by Carpentier. The invention of this 

 instrument is a notable step in the development of 

 the science of electrical measurement. Hitherto it 

 has been impossible to get a direct-reading voltmeter 

 which would read one volt of nlternnting pressure 

 accurately. This instrument gives a direct reading 

 for the ten-millionth part of an alternating volt. It 

 consists of two thermionic amplifiers, followed ^v 

 two thermionic valves in parallel, the "ptate"W. 



