294 



NATURE 



[November ii, 1915 



and thej- are at one in attributing their success to 

 the excellent teaching and example of the late prin- 

 cipal. Prof, McCall was a man of action, and did 

 not resort much to the pen. His outstanding abilities 

 were early recognised by the Government and local 

 authorities. He might be described as one of the 

 pioneers of veterinary public health, recognising as 

 he did the importance of veterinary inspection of meat 

 and of dairies, and it was largely owing to him that 

 Glasgow earned the distinction of being the first city 

 to introduce the safeguard to public health on those 

 lines. Amongst his professional honours, Prof. 

 McCall was president of the Royal College of 

 Veterinary Surgeons 1890-91, vice-president 1868-9, 

 1871, and 1873 to 1879, and member of the council 

 1884-95, and 1899-1915. 



Dr. Sidney Coupland's Harveian oration, published 

 in the Lancet of October 30, deserves careful study. 

 Not that we need admire the existence of Harveian 

 and Hunterian orations. It is absurd, thus to make 

 immortality compulsory. There have been a hundred 

 orations in memory of Hunter, and many more than 

 a hundred in memory of Harvey." The result is, that 

 the more courageous orators are venturing to hang 

 their own special subjects on these two exalted pegs : 

 so that we have a Hunterian oration on some new 

 discovery which "would have interested Hunter," or 

 on some new method of treament "not dreamed of in 

 the days of Harvey." These monumental antiquated 

 lectures ought to be on a different man each time — 

 Vesalius, Par^, Jenner, Cooper, Darwin, Pasteur, 

 Lister : a whole host of immortals are waiting their 

 turn. But Harvey's life is always worth hearing of; 

 he might be added to Hazlitt's list of people whom 

 one would like to meet. He lived in wonderful times, 

 and he was a man of great charm and distinction of 

 character, apart from his mighty work in physiology. 

 On Harvey's scientific work Dr. Coupland hangs his 

 own authoritative subject, the pathology and the 

 treatment of insanity. Nothing in all medicine and 

 surgery is more worthy of note than the present 

 materialistic study of " mental diseases." It is bound 

 to give results of very great and lasting value ; it is 

 miles ahead of the old psychological talk, which was 

 a sort of Linnean classifying ; it has revolutionised our 

 concepts of insanity, and it will provide new resources 

 for the treatment "of the insane. But if the men of 

 science and the physicians are to do their best, they 

 must -have the help of public opinion. The old half- 

 superstitious, half-sentimental terror and hatred of 

 insanity must be put away — easier said than done, but 

 worth doing — and we must all be prepared to support 

 any good national plan which can be devised for the 

 early detection, isolation, and treatment of incipient 

 cases. 



A NEW part of the Proceedings of the Prehistoric 

 Society of East Anglia begins the second volume of 

 the publications of this active society. Like the pre- 

 vious parts, it is well illustrated by plates and text- 

 figures, chiefly of implements, and it deals with many 

 subjects of more than local interest. In his presi- 

 dential address Mr. J. Reid Moir returns to the ques- 

 tion of flint implements found beneath the Red Crag 

 NO. 2402, VOL. 96] 



of Suffolk ; and in a subsequent paper he discusses 

 a series of mineralised fragments of bone from below 

 the base of the Red and Coralline Crags, which he 

 considers to be implements of a primitive type made 

 by man. A valuable account of the sub-Crag detritus 

 bed itself is contributed by Mr. Alfred Bell. Mr. 

 R. H. Chandler describes implements of the Les 

 Eyzies type from a working floor in the Cray valley, 

 Kent, and Mr. Henry Dewey discusses the surface 

 changes since the Palaeolithic period in Kent and 

 Surrey. According to Mr. Dewey, " there can be no 

 doubt that flint implements characteristic of widely 

 difi'erent periods all occur together on the surface of 

 the Kent and Surrey hills. The mere fact of their 

 occurrence in considerable numbers suggests continu- 

 ous occupation of the sites from early Palaeolithic 

 to late Neolithic times; 'and that no destructive 

 agencies of sufficient power to remove them acted 

 either during or since the time of their deposit." 



Reference has been made in these columns to the 

 Economic Bulletins on "The House-fly as a Danger 

 to Health" (No. i), and "The Louse in its Relation 

 to Disease" (No. 2), lately published by the trustees 

 of the British Museum. An account, still more con- 

 densed, of "The Danger of Disease from Flies and 

 Lice" has now been issued as a four-page Economic 

 Leaflet (No. i) by the trustees. The life-histories and 

 habits of the insects are dealt with as effectively as 

 possible in the small space allowed, and practical 

 directions for their extermination or for the prevention 

 of their infective activities are clearly given. 



The latest number (No. 2, of vol. vi.) of the Bulletin 

 of Entomological Research is of larger size than usual, 

 and contains at least three papers of importance. 

 Prof. M. Bezzi describes with clear structural figures 

 the Ethiopian fruit-flies of the genus Dacus. Mr. 

 F. V. Theobald contributes part 2 of his enumeration 

 of African Aphididae, diagnosing and figuring man}' 

 new species, and founding three new genera. It is of 

 interest to know that common European species, such 

 as Macrosophum pisi, M. sonchi, and Lachnus vimin- 

 alis, are to be found in Egypt, and the first-named in 

 British East Africa also. Incidentally, Mr. Theobald 

 furnishes a table for the discrimination of all the rose- 

 feeding aphids known to him. Mr. A. T. Stanton 

 describes, with illustrations of external features, the 

 larvae of thirteen Malayan Anopheline mosquitoes. 



A bulletin (No. 8, 1915) issued by the Department 

 of Fisheries for the Indian provinces of Bengal and 

 Bihar and Orissa deals with the statistics of fish 

 caught during the year 1912-13. Mr. T. Southwell 

 refers to the undoubted fact that the supply of fish 

 in the United Province is diminishing. Fresh-water 

 fisheries are certainly exhaustible, and in this case 

 irrigation schemes have produced changes which have 

 led to diminution of the natural resources. The 

 remedy, he indicates, lies in artificial cultivation, 

 basing this procedure upon the scientific knowledge 

 of the natural history of the staple species now gradu- 

 ally being obtained by the Department, Artificial 

 culture,, he says, will not be a difficult task, but it will 



