114 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [May, 



to lower animals, in most cases producing death within twenty-four 

 hours. 



Cholera and drinking water.— F. G. McKean, chief engineer in 

 the United .States Nayy, states that during ten days in 1885 nine hun- 

 dred persons died of cholera on the island Takashima, in Japan, and 

 that the disease often appears on the island. Suspicion was drawn to 

 the drinking water, which was brought from the mainland. During 

 1 888 the use of this water for drinking purposes was abandoned, and 

 distilled water was used instead. Although cholera prevailed on the 

 neighboring islands, Takashima was entirely exempt. This exemption 

 may haye been a coincidence ; still, it is more than probable, from our 

 knowledge of this disease, that the purity of the drinking water is to be 

 credited with the immunity which the population of the island enjoyed. 

 To be absolutely certain of this will, howeyer. require more extended 

 observation. — Science. 



Rhizopods, — Dr. Max Werworn, of Berlin, gives in the Zeitscrhrift 

 fiir wissen. Zoologie (vol. xlvi, p. 455) a very valuable paper on the 

 certain biological investigations upon several species of rhizopods. 

 The first of these was to determine whether those forms which incor- 

 porate grains of sand into the ectosarc to form a shell-like covering are 

 able to repair this covering when once it is injured. He became satisfied 

 that they were not. Seeking to ascertain the origin of the cell revealed 

 the fact that before the division- of an individual particles of sand are 

 taken into the protoplasm of the original individual to form the shell of 

 the new individual. These tests were made upon diflSugia. 



Rhizopods that secrete a true shell he found able to repair the shell 

 to a limited extent. When the protoplasm as ^vell as the shell was 

 divided into two portions, only one portion, and that the one containing 

 the nucleus, was able to rebuild its shell, although the other portion 

 seemed capaple of performing all the other functions of life. 



Agricultural Experiment Stations. — VVe are happy to note that 

 valuable experiments are l)eing undertaken by many of the stations 

 established under the Hatch bill. We have already cited from at least 

 one of them, and shall be glad to do so frequently if valuable biological 

 facts are reported. 



Diseases of Swine. — The Commissioner of Agriculture has ap- 

 pointed a commission, consisting of Professor William H. Welch, of 

 Johns Hopkins University. Dr. E. O. Shakespere, of Philadelphia, 

 and Professor T. J. Burrill, of the University of Illinois, to investigate 

 the subject of swine diseases in the United States, and the methods 

 of their treatment and prevention. 



\A^ater Supplies Again. — The North American Review for Feb- 

 ruary, in its "notes and comments," gives some crisp points upon 

 this subject, some of which are, to say the least, overstated, but manv 

 of which deserve consideration. 



Botanical Laboratories, — The Botanical Gazette for January, 

 in continuation of its articles upon this topic, has an illustrated article 

 upon the Laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania. 



