540 



NATURE 



{Oct. 6, 1887 



to Kew : — ".The Indians are certainly a very fast-decreasing race, 

 and at the present day cannot exceed two thousand in number. 

 The combs, or rather brushes, mentioned [by Mr. Ball in his 

 paper, p. 225] are formed of a species of very tough grass, not 

 of roots. The use of vegetable dyes is also rapidly dying out 

 amongst them, though they still make a considerable quantity of 

 textile fabrics, of which I have numerous examples ; the same is 

 to be said of their silver ornaments." Vice-Consul Goodhall, of 

 Bahia Blanca, has taken much trouble to obtain information about 

 the plants used by the Indians for dyeing purposes. He has 

 unfortunately failed in obtaining any trustworthy specimens, as 

 " the Indians are most jealous about affording any information 

 on the subject." Mr. Konald Bridgett, Consul at Buenos 

 Ayres, has sent to Kew some articles dyed by the Indians, in 

 which the greens and yellows are native dyes made from roots 

 and plants. These have been sent to the Chemistry and Dyeing 

 Department of the Bradford Technical College. A number of 

 Indian ornaments, also obtained by Mr. Consul Bridgett, have 

 been forwarded to the Ethnographical Department of the 

 British Museum. 



A HIGHLY ingenious modification of Cowper's writing tele- 

 graph has been shown at the American Exhibition, by Mr. J. H. 

 Robertson, an American electrician. The movement of a pen 

 at the sending station varies the resistance of two electric 

 circuits along which two currents are flowing. These varying 

 currents act upon two coils at the receiving station so as to im- 

 part motion in two directions to a pen filled with ink, so that the 

 resultant motion of this pen exactly reproduces the movement of 

 the writing pen at the sending station. Mr. Robertson has 

 replaced Mr. Cowper's resistance coils by a series of thin carbon 

 disks, which vary their resistance with variation of pressure, as 

 was discovered by Edison and utilized in his carbon telephone 

 transmitter. He has also improved the receiving portion, and 

 has made the apparatus very practical. It is being commercially 

 worked out in the United States, and we shall watch its progress 

 with much interest. It forms a really beautiful system of written 

 messages, and is decidedly simpler than any previous system of 

 facsimile telegraphy. It is very doubtful whether there is a 

 demand for such a system, for the operation is necessarily 

 slow. 



The sef sion of the International Hygienic Congress at Vienna 

 was closed on Sunday, when it was finally decided that the next 

 session should be held in London in 1891. The meetings were 

 remarkably successful, and did much to enlighten the public as 

 to the nature of the questions which are now being discussed by 

 students of hygienic laws. On Wednesday, September 28, in- 

 terest was centred chiefly in the Third Section, where the circum- 

 stances under which cholera is disseminated were considered. 

 Prof. Max Gruber, of the Vienna University, who gave an 

 account of the incidents of cho'.era in Austria during the years 

 1885 and 1886, stated that he could find no evidence of water 

 having played any part in disseminating the disease during that 

 period. He believed that cholera was disseminated by human 

 intercourse, and this experience, he said, coincided with that of 

 English observers. On the other hand. Dr. Spattuzzi, of Naples, 

 attributed the absolute immunity from cholera enjoyed by Naple? 

 during 1885 and 18S6, and the comparatively small extent of 

 the disease during the present year, to the excellent water supply 

 provided in 1884. Prof. Pettenkofer made some interesting 

 statements on the influences which, in his opinion, locality and 

 season have on the spread of cholera. In support of his views 

 he referred to experiences in India, where each province has its 

 own time of year when the disease is more prevalent, but he also 

 freely admitted the effects of pilgrimages and fairs in spread- 

 ing the disease. In the course of the debate Prof. Pettenkofer 

 again took occasion to pay a high tribute to England for the 



measures adopted for the prevention of cholera ; and M. Proust, 

 of Paris, expressed himself in the same sense. Thursday was 

 devoted to excursions and the visiting of public institutions in 

 Vienna. On Friday Sir Douglas Galton, who presided over the 

 First Section, offered some valuable remarks on the treatment of 

 infectious fevers. He showed that in London much had been 

 done by the system of isolating small-pox and scarlet-fever 

 patients quickly, by taking them to a ship-hospital, or to hospi- 

 tals remote from dwelling-houses. " But it is most undesirable," 

 he added, " that in these isolated hospitals too many patients 

 should be concentrated in one ward. The principle should be 

 smaller wards, of four to six patients at most, and great simplicity 

 of construction with ample aeration." Sir Douglas expressed 

 the opinion that the bodies of patients who die of infectious 

 fevers should be burned, and in this view he was supported by 

 Sir Spencer Wells, who said that the good done by giving the 

 people pure air and water, wholesome food, and proper dwellings 

 must to a large extent be counteracted by the continual presence 

 of thousands of putrefying bodies in and around centres of popu- 

 lation. On Saturday much interest was excited by the proceed- 

 ings of the Third Section, when the question of preventive 

 inoculation against rabies was discussed. At the final meeting 

 on Sunday morning the usual votes of thanks were passed, and 

 Prof. Ludwig, the President, said that all the objects of the 

 Congress had been attained. Dr. Roth, of London, expressed 

 a hope that the " protectorate" of the next Congress would be 

 un dertaken by the Prince of Wales. 



Sir Spencer Wells was entertained at a grand banquet on 

 Friday evening last by some of the leading surgeons and pro- 

 fessors of Austria- Hungary and by a deputation of the younger 

 surgeons and students. Only one toast was given — that of 

 " The Guest of the Evening." It was proposed by Prof. Breisky, 

 who said that he and many others present were indebted to the 

 teaching of Sir Spencer Wells for much of their success. Re- 

 plying to this toast. Sir Spencer Wells spoke of the changes 

 which have taken place in surgery during the last thirty-five 

 years, and of the great results accomplished by wise sanitary 

 legislation. "If," he said, " we had in England full power, a 

 competent Minister of Public Health, and an efficient staff of 

 health officers and engineers, the present death-rate of London — 

 that is, 19 in a thousand — might certainly be reduced to 14, or 

 probably to 12." 



Mr. F. a. Bather and Mr, G. W. Gregory have been 

 appointed assistants in the Department of Geology of the British 

 Museum (Natural History), to fill the vacancies caused by the 

 resignations of Mr. William Davies and Mr. Robert Etheridge, 

 Junior. 



On Saturday last the foundation-stone of the Walker 

 Engineering Laboratories in connexion with University College, 

 1 iverpool, was laid by Sir James Poole, Mayor of the city. Sir 

 A. B. Walker's original gift to the institution was a sum of 

 ;^/5,ooo, but Sir James Poole was able to announce that Si| 

 Andrew had generously increased the amount to ;^20,ooo. 



By his will, dated August 5, 1887, Mr. Richard Quain^ 

 F.R.S., who died on September 15, has bequeathed almost th^ 

 whole of his fortune, amounting to about .)^7S,ooo, to UniveH 

 sity College, London, subject to certain annuities to family 

 connexions. The College will at once benefit to the extent of 

 about ;^6o,C)00. The annual income is to be applied to " the 

 promotion and encouragement in connexioti with University 

 College, London, of general education in modern languages 

 (especially the English language and composition in that lan- 

 guage) and in natural science." The trustees, Lord Justice 

 Fry, Sir William Jenner, Mr. George Brodrick, the Warden of 

 Merton, and Sir George Young, are authorized to carry out the 

 testator's wishes either by salaries "or other payments to those 



