Feb. 7, 1889] 



NATURE 



357 



of small-pox and typhus were mainly due to these causes. (3) 

 The cheapness of food, clothing, and fuel had, of course, dimin- 

 ished the tendency to disease, and the ease with which fresh fruit 

 and vegetables were to be got had abolished the taint of scurvy 

 which was so fatal to our ancestors. (4) The water-supply had 

 been improved, and the intake of the water companies was now 

 removed to a portion of the river less tainted with sewage than 

 that formerly in use. (5) Although the system of sewage dis- 

 posal was an undoubted evil, and had given us three or four 

 epidemics of cholera, and was the foster-mother of typhoid, still 

 it was probable that so far the balance for good was in its 

 favour, because it had removed a good deal of filth from 

 dwellings. 



The outlook in the future was dashed by three considerations : 

 — (i) Our system of sewerage and water-supply had increased 

 overcrowding by enabling us to build houses of any height 

 without inconvenience to the occupant, and without any curti- 

 lage whatever, and since all sanitarians recognized that over- 

 crowding was the greatest of all sanitary evils, it was impossible 

 to shut one's eyes to this danger. 



(2) There was an expensive and menacing "loose end" to 

 our sanitation in the shape of 150,000,000 gallons of sewage 

 pouring into the Thames every day. The only proper destination 

 of organic refuse was the soil, and it was not possible to see the 

 end of the gigantic blunder we had committed in throwing it 

 into the water. 



(3) The rapid increase of population along the Valley of the 

 Thames where sewage disposal is on the same lines as in London, 

 must make us apprehensive for our water-supply, because the 

 various tricks played with sewage in the shape of precipitations, 

 &c., were not probably of a kind to make the effluent a desirable 

 or a wholesome beverage. If the evil effects of free trade are to 

 be counteracted, it will be by returning the refuse of our towns 

 free of cost to the impoverished agriculturist. " If we go on as 

 we are going," said the lecturer, in conclusion, "and if our 

 brethren in the colonies follow our bad example, as they appear 

 to be doing, it will be a Chinaman rather than a visitor from New 

 Zealand who will sit in contemplation on the ruins of London 

 Bridge." 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — Among the scientific lectures this term, we may 

 note the following : — 



Prof. Clifton, Acoustics and Magnetism ; Mr. Selby, Theory 

 of Electrical Measurements. 



Prof. Odling, Four-carbon Compounds ; Mr. Veley, Physical 

 Chemistry ; Mr. Vemon-Harcourt, Quantitative Analysis. 



On the Biological side, the Linacre Deputy- Professor, Mr. 

 Hatchett Jackson, lectures on the Morphology of the Inverte- 

 brata, Mr. P. C. Mitchell on the Morphology of the Cell, and 

 Mr. Barclay Thompson on the Osteology of the Sauropsida. 

 Prof. Burdon- Sanderson's subject is the Nervous System. Prof. 

 Green is giving two courses of lectures on Geology, and Prof. 

 Gilbert lectures on the Rotation of Crops and the Feeding of 

 Animals. 



On the Mathematical Lecture List we find that Prof. Sylves- 

 ter is treating of Surfaces of the Second Order (illustrated by 

 models), Prof. Price of Hydromechanics, and Prof. Pritchard 

 of the Elements of the Planetary Theory. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



The Quarterly yournal of Microscopical Science for December 

 1888 contains the following : — Note on a new organ, and on 

 the structure of the hypodermis, in Periplaneta orientalis, by 

 Edward A. Minchin (plate xxii.). The new organ consists of 

 two pouch-like invaginations of the cuticle lying close on each 

 side of the middle line, between the fifth and sixth terga of the 

 dorsal surface of the abdomen. They are covered by the fifth 

 tergum ; when exposed they are seen to open by two slit-shaped 

 openings, which open backwards. They are lined by a con- 

 tinuation of the chitinous cuticle, which forms within the pouches 

 numerous stiff, branched, finely-pointed hairs, below which are 

 numerous glandular epithelial cells. As to their function, it is 

 suggested that they are stink glands. — On certain points in the 

 stRicture of Urochajta, E.P,, and of Dichogaster, nov. gen., 

 with further remarks on the nephridia of earthworms, by 

 Frank E. Beddard (plates xxiii. and xxiv.). The important 



facts recorded about the anatomical structure of the species of 

 these two genera, and on the nephridia in earthworms, do not 

 admit of being further condensed. Dichogaster damonis, nov. 

 gen. et sp., is described from Fiji. — On the development of 

 Peripatus noz'a-zelandia, by Lilian Sheldon (plates xxv. and 

 xxvi. ). A further supply of living specimens was obtained in 

 January 1888. Twenty-seven out of forty-nine were females. 

 The uteri of all but nine of these were filled with embryos. The 

 stages of development did not allow of all the gaps left in Miss 

 Sheldon's previous paper being filled up, but this paper is a 

 welcome addition to our knowledge. A useful summary of the 

 author's investigations is appended. — Note on the development 

 of Amphibians, chiefly concerning the central nervous system ; 

 with additional observations on the hypophysis, mouth, and the 

 appendages and skeleton of the head, by Dr. Henry Orr, 

 (plates xxvii. to xxix.). — Studies on the comparative anatomy of 

 Sponges, ii. on the anatomy and histology of Stelospongus 

 flabelliformis. Carter ; with notes on its development, by Arthur 

 Dendy (plates xxx. to xxxiii.). This interesting paper may 

 be regarded as the first-fruits of Mr. Dendy's researches 

 into the anatomy and embryolc^y of recent Australian Sponges, 

 and we hope to be long favoured with such. The embryos, 

 " each as large as a small pea," of S. flabelliformis. Carter, 

 were found in abundance. Though varying in diameter from 

 about 3 to almost 5 mm., they exhibited nearly the same stage of 

 development. Doubtless we may expect at some future time 

 the whole story of their evolution. The membrane connecting 

 the fringes of the " choanocytes," which have been so clearly 

 demonstrated by Sollas in the Tetractinellida, and the occurrence 

 of which in Leticonia aspera has been described by George Bidder, 

 also occurs in this Sponge, and has been called by Mr. Dendy 

 " Sollas's membrane." — On some points in the natural history 

 of Fungia, by J. J. Lister. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, January 24. — "On the Influence of 

 Carbonic Anhydride and other Gases on the Development of 

 Micro-organisms." By Percy F. Frankland, Ph.D., B.Sc. 

 (Lond.), F.C.S., F.LC, Assoc. Roy. Sch. of Mines, Professor 

 of Chemistry in University College, Dundee. 



Carbonic anhydride, hydrogen, carbonic oxide, and nitrous 

 oxide, were the gases employed in a series of experiments for 

 observing what action was exerted by them on pure cultivations 

 of Koch's comma Spirillum, Finkler's comma Spirillum, and the 

 Bacillus pyocyaneus. It was found that hydrogen had the least, 

 and carbonic anhydride the most, prejudicial influence uoon these 

 micro-organisms. There is, therefore, no longer any doubt that 

 in the anaerobic culture of organism*; hydrogen is by far the most 

 suitable medium for the expulsion of air, whilst carbonic anhy- 

 dride is not only ill-suited owing to its markedly deleterious 

 action upon many forms of Bacteria, but in many cases is quite 

 unfit for such a purpose. 



With carbonic oxide and nitrous oxide it was found that 

 although the development of the B. pyocyaneus was checked, 

 yet on removing the cultivations to an aj>-chamber almost the 

 same number appeared as were developed on the original air- 

 control plates. This was not, however, the case with Koch's 

 comma Spirillum and Finkler's comma Spirillum, only a com- 

 paratively small number of the organisms surviving the exposure 

 to these gases. Similar experiments made with nitric oxide, 

 sulphuretted hydrogen, and sulphurous anhydride resulted in the 

 complete destruction of the above organisms. 



January 31. — "Auto-Infection in Cardiac Disease." By L. 

 C. Wooldridge, M.D., Assistant-Physician, Guy's Hospital. 



The author had previously described the fact that the lymph 

 and chyle produce a poisonous influence when injected into the 

 blood. The symptoms so produced have been described by the 

 author as "fibrinogen intoxication." The chief symptoms of 

 this condition already described are intravascular clotting, delay 

 in clotting of the shed blood, great tendency to haemorrhages, 

 occasionally marked fever. In the present paper the author 

 shows experimentally the following : — 



(i) To aftect the blood a certain quantity of the fluid of 

 lymph, or the fibrinogen solution, must reach the blood in a 

 given time or no poisoning is produced. A small quantity of 

 the fluid, injected rapidly, will cause instant death. The same 

 quantity, diluted and injected during three or four minutes, 

 instead of suddenly, has no effect at all. The author regards 



