January 26, 1922] 



NATURE 



IK 



needs. Dr. F. A. Bather, while in agreement with 

 I lie proposal, maintains that such transference is the 

 policy of the British Museum, which is only prevented 

 troni carrying it out fully by inadequacy of staff. He 

 also points out that the interests of scientific students 

 demand the accumulation of large collections in as 

 few centres as possible, and that the bulk of such 

 material is not really redundant. Sir Frederick 

 Kenyon in his presidential address to the Museums 

 Association in July last expressed a wish to meet the 

 needs of provincial museums if they would make 

 rhem known. 



Dr. Raphael Karsten, lecturer in the University 

 of Helsingfors, Finland, has made an important con- 

 tribution to anthropology in the first part of his 

 "Studies in South American Anthropology." He 

 deals more particularly with personal ornamentation, 

 ceremonial mutilation, and kindred customs. The 

 savage man's love for self-decoration has been dis- 

 cussed by many anthropologists. Darwin believed 

 that the object of these decorations was to make man 

 beautiful, and especially attractive to the other sex; 

 W. Joest, while admitting that body-painting has 

 a practical value in protecting the body from insects, 

 heat, or cold, admits that the principal motive, be- 

 sides inspiring enemies with fear in battle, is sexual 

 desire, a view generally accepted by Westermarck in 

 his "History ot Human Marriage." Dr. Karsten 

 believes that the part which magic has played in 

 < riginating primitive customs has, up to recent times, 

 f)een much underrated, owing to our defective know- 

 li'dge of the psychology of savage man. This side 

 of the subject is pursued in this monograph, which, 

 though principally devoted to South America, dis- 

 cusses the question from other points of view, and, 

 with its careful citation of authorities, deserves the 

 attention of anthropologists. 



National laboratories for the cleaning, restoration, 

 and preservation of antiquities have for some years 

 existed at Berlin, Copenhagen, and Stockholm. Well- 

 known books on the subject have been published by 

 Dr. Rathgen (ed. 2, 1914) and Dr. Rosenberg (1917), 

 the latter dealing with iron and bronze objects only. 

 In our own country there was no laboratory for the 

 purpose until 1920, when Dr. Alexander Scott was 

 induced by the Department of Scientific and Indus- 

 trial Research to direct the work of a small laboratory 

 temporarily equipped at the British Museum (Blooms- 

 bury). So far as the English language was concerned, 

 G. A. and H. A. Auden's translation of Rathgen 's first 

 edition (1905), a chapter in Prof. Flinders Petrie's 

 " Methods and Aims in Archaeology " (1904), and a few 

 articles in the Museums Journal, notably a well-illus- 

 I trated one by Dr. Rathgen (19 13), were about all the 

 museum curator had to guide him. Now the Depart- 

 ment just mentioned has issued a first report by Dr. 

 Scott (Bulletin No. 5, 1921, 25.). It deals with prints, 

 enamels, silver, lead, iron, copper and copper alloys, 

 and rock-paintings. Dr. Scott has attacked the 

 problems de novo, and has evolved some new and 

 ingenious methods. Their success is illustrated by 

 some photographs "before " and "after." 

 NO. 2726, VOL. 109] 



A VERY complete summary on the subject of anthrax 

 infection in man appears in the Bulletin Mensuel for 

 November last of the Office International d'Hygi^ne 

 Publique, Paris (t. 13, No. 11, 1921, pp. 1135-1239). 

 Anthrax infection in man is most commonly seen as 

 a cutaneous manifestion, the characteristic malignant 

 pustule, which is caused by local inoculation. In- 

 ternal anthrax also occurs in the lungs, intestine, and 

 brain, and is caused by inhaling or swallowing the 

 spores of the anthrax bacillus. Internal anthrax is 

 always fatal, but the malignant pustule is fairly amen- 

 able to treatment, if taken in time, by anthrax serum 

 or by excision. The disease is always transmitted 

 from an affected animal, living or dead, or from the 

 commercial products derived from an affected animal, 

 such as skins and hides, goat, camel, or horse hair, 

 and wool. Between 1915 and 1920 a number of cases 

 of human anthrax due to shaving-brushes has been 

 reported in England (49), United States (40), Holland, 

 Italy, and Egypt, the brushes having been made with 

 infected hair. In Holland few cases of human anthrax 

 occur, less than a dozen per annum. The same is the 

 case in Norway, in spite of the frequent occurrence of 

 the disease in domestic animals, though among these 

 the frequency of the disease is diminishing, from 

 686 animals affected in 1906 to 33 in 1920. 



The last report of the Grain Pests (War) Committee 

 established by the Royal Society has now made its 

 appearance. It required the conflagration of a Euro- 

 pean war and the threat of starvation to Britain to 

 stir us to investigate some of the problems connected 

 with the destruction of grain by insects. Though the 

 committee set up by the Royal Society was purely a 

 war one, it seems a pity that it should cease to act 

 just when the fringe of the subject has been touched. 

 Could the Royal Society not be induced to continue 

 the investigations? The present report (No. 9) con- 

 tains a short note by Prof. Goodrich on the parasitisa- 

 tion of certain grain beetles by Hymen optera. It is 

 shown that these parasites are not likely to prove of 

 value as a means of controlling the beetles, as the 

 chalcids are themselves kept in check by carnivorous 

 acarids. The second part is by Dr. J. Waterston, who 

 deals with the systematics of the parasitic Hymen- 

 optera. These parasites are, like their hosts, cosmo- 

 politan, and many of the species previously described 

 were certain to fall as synonyms. This comprehensive 

 and beautifully illustrated paper should prove the basis 

 of future work. The last report is that by Mr. 

 J. H. Durrant on the species of insects found in 

 grain ; hundreds of samples of grain were examined 

 from different parts of the world. These are- all 

 tabulated, showing the species found in each. We 

 note that several species of beetles are new to our 

 lists of grain pests. Altogether, much useful informa- 

 tion is contained in the report. 



In the November issue of the Journal of the 

 Franklin Institute Dr. Carl Hering brings 

 together some of the phenomena produced by 

 the flow of heavy currents in conductors which have 

 been observed in recent times, and points out that in' 



