April 22, 1920] 



NATURE 



241 



work, and about a hundred wasps or ants are passed 

 through the interstices. The youths, exhausted by a 

 dance which is kept up all day, present themselves 

 before the medicine-man, who applies the wasp-frame 

 to their chests, backs, arms, and legs. Those who 

 scream or show signs of suffering when they are stung 

 are not allowed to continue the ordeal. Those who 

 pass the test are invested with a headdress and flute, 

 and deemed fit for marriage. But more than this 

 is required. The youth must give proof that he is 

 able to support a family by passing- the target test of 

 throwing cassava pellets at a circle drawn on a piece 

 of wood, and of shooting arrows from a rapidly 

 moving boat. Girls undergo the ordeal of fasting in 

 seclusion, and their bodies are scarified with the sharp 

 teeth of an animal or fish. They are then dressed in 

 aprons, and use charms to stimulate affection in 

 courtship, in which they take the initiative. 



Dr. a M. Blackman discusses in the Journal of 

 the Manchester Egyptian and Oriental Society for 

 iqi8-ig, recently issued, "The House of the Morn, 

 ing " in Egyptian ritual. The Heliopolitan sun-god 

 Re-Atum X^as represented by his priests as re-born 

 every morning as the result of his undergoing lustra- 

 tion, which was supposed to be performed by the sun- 

 god himself, assisted by other divinities. The king 

 of Heliopolis, high priest of the sun-god, was 

 regarded as his son and embodiment. The lustral 

 washing of the king-priest took place before he 

 officiated in the sun temple, and as a result of it he 

 was thought to be re-born like his divine prototype. 

 His purification was completed by fumigating him 

 with incense and presenting him with balls of natron 

 to chew. " By being washed or sprinkled with 

 holy water and fumigated with incense, and by the 

 chewing of natron, the king was mysteriously re- 

 Iiorn,- brought into contact with divinities, and imbued 

 with their unearthly qualities, and his mouth made 

 fit to chant the sun-god's praises and recite the 

 formulae which accompanied the enactment of the 

 various episodes composing the daily service in the 

 sun temple." 



It is well known that in ancient India, as described 

 in the Institutions of Manu, the law-giver, marriage 

 was j>ermitted between members of different castes — a 

 system which was forbidden by later Brahmanical 

 legislation. Mr. Patel, one of the advanced Indian 

 members of the Viceroy's Council, recently introduced 

 a Bill providing that marriages between Hindus of 

 diflfefent castes shall be valid. More conservative 

 members opposed the Bill on the grounds that it would 

 Ondermine the present social system, and that it was 

 opposed to Hindu custom, the potent force which 

 -tantrols Hindu society. It was also pointed out that 

 the enactment of such a law raised the wide questions 

 connected with succession, adoption, and legitimacy, 

 for which no legislation was provided in the Bill. 

 The Government representative. Sir W. Vincent, 

 adopted a neutral attitude, admitting that the ques- 

 tion should be decided by. public opinion carefully 

 devoted, to its consideration. If the Bill is finally- 

 passed it will be a serious blow to caste, but it is 

 NO. 2634, VOL. 105] 



significant of the general feeling that the Moham- 

 medan members refused to sit on the Special 

 Committee appointed to consider it on the grounds 

 that the question was one for Hindus, and that the 

 latter had been obstructive on the grant of communal 

 representation for Dacca University. 



The history of science is rapidly acquiring its own 

 periodical literature. Dr. Sarton in a recent issue of 

 Isis set forth a bibliography of reviews and collec- 

 tions on this subject, of which he recognised sixty- 

 two. Most of these deal with special sciences, among 

 which mathematics and medicine take first place. 

 Several journals are, however, devoted to the history 

 of science as a whole. The earliest was the Archiv 

 fiir Geschichtc der Naturwissenschaften, which has 

 appeared since 1908. Next came Isis, the publication 

 of which was interrupted by the war; it has now re- 

 commenced, and will in future be in English and 

 under the joint editorship of Dr. Sarton and Dr. 

 Singer. The Italians have now also started a 

 quarterly, Archivio di. Storia delta Scienza. It is 

 edited by Prof. Aldo Mieli, who has long devoted 

 himself exclusively to the history of science, and has 

 printed the first volume of a monumental work on 

 the subject. It is encouraging to historians of science 

 that his enthusiasm has overcome the economic and 

 social difficulties that prevail in his country, and that 

 the publication of the Archivio, begun in March, 1919, 

 is now being continued. In addition to original 

 articles on every aspect of the history of science, it 

 will contain reviews, a bibliography of Italian works 

 on the subject, and notices on activities in connection 

 with it, which are very pronounced in Italian uni- 

 versities. The annual subscription to the Archivio is 

 35 lire, and it should be sent to Attilio Nardecchia, 

 Via deir Umilt^ 14, Roma 19. Information concern- 

 ing Isis can be had from Dr. George Sarton, Carnegie 

 Institution, Washington, D.C., U.S.A., or from Dr, 

 Charles Singer, Westbury Lodge, Norham Road, 

 Oxford. 



Misses Blacklock and Carter contribute to the 

 Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology (vol. xiii., 

 No. 4, March, 1920) papers on a mosquito. Anopheles 

 plumbeus. The bionomics of this species are probably 

 less known than those of any European Anopheline 

 mosquito. The species is widely distributed, being met 

 with in the British Isles, in nearly all European 

 countries, and in the Western Himalayas, and is 

 essentially a tree-hole breeder. Experirriental evidence 

 is produced for the first time that A. plumbeus is 

 capable of becoming infected with a malaria parasite, 

 and may therefore transmit malaria. 



A SUGGESTIVE review of the pathology and symp- 

 tomatology of beri-beri is contributed by Dr. F. M. R. 

 Walshe to Medical Science: Abstracts and Reviews 

 (vol. ii.. No. X, April, 1920). The current hypothesis 

 of the nature of beri-beri (a disease particularly of the 

 East characterised by the development of neuritis) is 

 that it is . a " deficiency disease," due to the lack of 

 certain elements or " vitamines " from the food. Dr. 

 Walshe points out that the neuritis of beri-beri is 

 similar to that produced by certain 'poisons, such as 



