January 21, 1915] 



NATURE 



569 



expect of her? For we have got this protective treat- 

 ment straight from her ; it has been copied out of her 

 book. We protect our men from having typhoid once, 

 by giving them a dose of the very stuff which she 

 gives them to protect them from having typhoid 

 twice. The treatment is not perfect ; but it does pro- 

 tect our men from the misery of illness or death, and 

 from the grave offence of spreading infection among 

 their friends. Meanwhile, the anti-vivisection societies 

 are hard at work, doing all that they can to rob our 

 men of this protection ; and that by methods which 

 are singularly repugnant to public opinion. 



The announcement that the King has been pleased 

 to approve the grant of a Royal Charter of Incorpora- 

 tion to the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, is 

 one of interest and importance to those interested in 

 the mining industry, as well as to the profession 

 represented by the institution. Its objects are defined 

 in the charter as for "the advancement of the science 

 and practice of mining in respect of minerals other 

 than coal and of metallurgy in respect of metals other 

 than iron." The institution was founded in 1892, and 

 its founders wisely based qualification for membership 

 upon strictly professional lines, avoiding the tempta- 

 tion, which some other kindred societies were unable 

 to withstand, to open the door wide from considera- 

 tions of finance. This test for admission to its ranks 

 has been maintained and strengthened in the inter- 

 vening years, and a high professional standard has 

 been attained by rigidly scrutinising the statements of 

 candidates for admission and by direct inquiry with a 

 view to their confirmation. The council also has the 

 right, which is exercised, to investigate cases of 

 alleged breach of professional conduct, and to expel 

 any member against whom such a charge has been 

 substantiated. In 1905 the membership of the institu- 

 tion was 1324, and at the end of 19 14 it was 2500. 

 The institution occupies its own freehold house at 

 No. I Finsbury Circus, E.C., and has an ordinary 

 income of more than 5000Z. Its influence for good 

 in the educational, technical, and professional world 

 has well merited the recognition bestowed upon it by 

 the Crown. 



Amethysts were used extensively by the ancient 

 Egyptians, and it has hitherto been a puzzle whence 

 they obtained the stone. In the Cairo Scientific 

 Journal for August, 1914, Mr. G. W. Murray reports 

 that he and Mr. C. M. Firth recently found a piece 

 in Wadi Bahan in lower Nubia, and in May this 

 year Mr. G. B. Crookston discovered considerable 

 workings for amethyst near Gebel Abu Diyeiba, and 

 practically on the footpath between the phosphate 

 mines of Wasif and Um Huetat. The workings are 

 very extensive, and the amethysts occur lining cavities 

 in a kind of red granite. These cavities occur along 

 veins in the granite, which run in remarkably straight 

 lines for hundreds of yards. 



With reference to Dr. Bastian's paper on the pro- 

 duction of fungus-germs and other living forms from 

 Zoogloeal masses (Nature, December 24, 1914, p. 462) 

 Dr. Margaret C. W. Young directs attention to work 

 she has carried out on the apparent development of 

 NO. 2360, VOL. 94] 



very different forms of living organisms from a single 

 parent one. Thus by heating spores of Bacillus sub- 

 tilis in a weak alkaline solution to 110° C, colonies 

 of cocci, streptococci, and yeasts were observed to 

 develop. By other treatment subtilis cultures seemed 

 to pass into protozoal stages. Dr. Young holds that 

 bacteria of the B. subtilis and mesentericus groups 

 •are really sporozoites of a protozoon the life-history 

 of which embraces amoeboid, flagellate, sporulating, 

 and granular forms. In this, the sexual part of the 

 cycle, the organism is almost invariably parasitic. 

 Outside the host, it exists in fungal forms which may 

 range from a coccus to an aspergillus (British Medical 

 Journal, September 25, 1909, and October 3, 1914). 



To Captain Stanley Flower, director of the Giza 

 Zoological Gardens, we are indebted for a copy of a 

 new issue of his list of the zoological gardens of the 

 world, apparently published at Cairo. In normal 

 times the list should have been revised up to the 

 end of 1914, and published in January, 1915; but the 

 war rendered this impracticable, and it is therefore 

 corrected only down to the end of July last. The 

 entries include 166 different establishments, public 

 and private. 



In Nature of July 9, 1914 (p. 478), a letter was pub- 

 lished from Mr. Lydekker in which it was stated that 

 an okapi sent home by Dr. Christy from the Belgian 

 Congo had been mounted with true horny sheaths on 

 the bony horn-cores. To make sure that there had 

 been no mistake Mr. Lydekker wrote to Dr. Christy, 

 who is now in the Congo, asking whether the animal 

 had been correctly mounted in this respect. We 

 understand that in a reply just received Dr. Christy 

 says, "quite correct." 



The opening article in the January number of the 

 Museums Journal is devoted to the Royal Natural 

 History Museum of Belgium (see p. 404). Although 

 Belgium possessed natural history collections of con- 

 siderable value at a much earlier date, it was not until 

 1846 that the museum in Brussels was placed on a f>er- 

 manent footing, Vicomte du Bus, who did such good 

 work on the fossil whales of the Antwerp Crag, being 

 the first director, A new era in the history of the 

 institution was inaugurated when Dr. E. Dupont 

 was appointed director in 1868. In 189 1, under the 

 same director, the transference of the collections to 

 a building in the Pare Leopold, originally constructed 

 for the offices of the old zoological gardens, was com- 

 pleted, and the new museum, as it had now become, 

 was opened by H.M. King Leopold II, The accom- 

 modation was soon, however, found to be altogether 

 inadequate for the proper housing and display of the 

 collections; and a comprehensive scheme of additions 

 was planned. Only a portion of this scheme has, 

 however, yet been carried out— the remainder is likely 

 to remain in nubibus for many a long year. 



The last number of the Journal of the Quekett 

 Microscopical Club is especially interesting in contain- 

 ing a report of the 500th ordinary meeting. Mr. A. E, 

 Hilton has a useful note on the continuous cultivation 

 of the Mycetozoon Badhamia utricularis on moistened 

 bread, to which from time to time there may be 



