558 



NATURE 



[July i, 1920 



October 15, 1919, to January 31, the deaths in London 

 had ranged irregularly from 12 to 24. The return for 

 the week ending June 12 gives only 13 deaths in 

 London due to the disease, and in the preceding week 

 the deaths were only 19, For the seventeen weeks 

 ending May 29 the average deaths per week numbered 

 59, and in ten previous epidemics out of a total of 

 twenty-eight since 1890 this number was exceeded, 

 the highest weekly average being 500 in the epidemic 

 of 1918-19, which lasted thirty-one weeks; the next 

 highest was 171 in the epidemic of 1891, and 162 in 

 1892. The maximum number of deaths in a single 

 week in the recent epidemic was 131, whilst in that 

 of 19 18-19 the number was 2458, the next highest 

 maximum being 506 in 1892 and 473 in 1895. O^ the 

 twenty-eight epidemics since 1890 only two have em- 

 braced the summer months, those occurring in 189 1 

 and 19 18. The age incidence of the last three 

 ■epidemics has differed widely from all others inas- 

 much as the active and able-bodied, aged between 

 twenty and forty-five, have suffered most severely, 

 although the attack, which has apparently now abated, 

 was less marked in this respect than the two epidemics 

 of 1918 and 1918-19. 



Medical Science: Abstracts and Reviews for June 

 (vol. ii., No. 3) contains among its articles a review 

 of the subject of tuberculosis, particularly in connec- 

 tion with the war. Tuberculosis only slightly in- 

 creased in France and England during the war, and 

 mainly among young women in industry, whereas, in 

 Belgium, Germany, and Austria, all classes of the 

 community suffered and to a rapidly increasing extent. 

 The principal causative factor for this difference 

 appeared to bj that of food. 



In recent years the development of genetics has 

 been marked by the establishing in various countries 

 of a number of new scientific journals dealing with 

 this rapidly growing subject. The latest addition to 

 this list is H-ereditas, the first number of which we 

 have just received. It is issued by the Mendelian 

 Society of Lund, Sweden, the president of which. 

 Prof. H. Nilsson-Ehle, is well known for his breeding 

 experiments with wheat. The journal will appear 

 three times annually so far as possible, making a 

 volume containing about 350 pages. The contributions 

 are to be published in English, German, or French, 

 and the subscription is 25 Swedish crowns per volume. 

 The first number includes a study of the resistance of 

 wheat to the nematode Heterodera and its inherit- 

 ance, by Nilsson-Ehle ; the hereditary transmission of 

 deaf-mutism, by Lundborg, and of hereditary tremor, 

 by E. Bergman ; the rate of pollen-tube growth in 

 GEnothera and its possible effect on inheritance-ratios, 

 by Heribert-Nilsson, as well as studies of colour in- 

 heritance in peas and poppies, chlorophyll factors in 

 the onion, and bud-sports in wheat. The new journal, 

 which thus includes in its range the study of human 

 as well as plant and animal material, will be a wel- 

 come channel of publication for the growing Scan- 

 dinavian school of geneticists, and will take its place 

 among the standard journals on this subject. 



In the Reports of the South African Museum for 

 1918 and 1919 Dr. L. P^ringuey records some new 

 NO. 2644, VOL. 105] 



facts relating to the Strand-loopers. In a cave-shelter 

 a slab-painting was found above the kitchen-midden 

 material and beneath a stalactitic column. Skulls in 

 the midden were filled with gypsum. The geological 

 conditions indicate that these formations must have 

 taken a long time to produce — ^a longer lapse than is 

 usually accepted. "If we take into consideration the 

 conclusions of Shrubsall, that Strand-looper skulls 

 differ materially from the Hottentot or so-called Bush 

 races, I am justified, I think," says Dr. P^ringuey, 

 " in claiming for the Strand-looper branch of the 

 ' San ' that occupied at one time the southern littoral 

 of the former Cape Colony, not only a mode of culture 

 more primitive than that retained by any living human 

 race, but also a greater antiquity than for any other 

 living African race." From the South-West Protec- 

 torate was obtained, and is figured in the Report, a 

 rock-graving on which hoofs of animals and reduced 

 representations of human feet had been produced by 

 picking. Such gravings may, perhaps, denote places 

 where the Bush people had found game. These are 

 only a few of many interesting discoveries mentioned 

 in these Reports. 



The Smithsonian Institution has a custom, which 

 we commend to the British Museum, of publishing 

 each year an illustrated account of its explorations 

 and field-work. The report for 1919, just to hand, 

 contains narratives and illustrations that might well 

 stir the enthusiasm of the American public and 

 lead to donations for similar purposes. Where so 

 much is of interest to astronomer, anthropologist, 

 ethnographer, geologist, and zoologist, we should be 

 hard put to it to make a selection did we not find 

 some notes by Mr. C. M. Hoy on the extermination of 

 the Australian native fauna, to which the attention of 

 British naturalists should be directed. "The greatest 

 agent working towards the extermination of the native 

 animals is the fox; next come the cattle and sheep 

 men, who distribute poison by the cartload in the 

 effort to reduce the rabbits. This has also caused or 

 helped to cause the extermination of some of the 

 ground-inhabiting birds. Another great agent is the 

 bush-fires which sweep over the country. These are 

 often lit intentionally in order to clear out the under- 

 growth and thus increase the grass. . . . The country 

 at BuUiac is a good example of what the cattleman 

 will do in a few years' time in killing off and burning 

 the timber, and the consequent destruction of animal 

 life. . . . The extermination of the native mammals 

 has apparent)y gone much farther than is generally 

 thought. Many species that were plentiful only a few 

 years ago are now almost, if not altogether, extinct. 

 Diseases have also played a great part in the exter- 

 mination. The native bear died in thousands from a 

 disease which produced a great bony growth on their 

 heads. A mysterious disease also spread through the 

 ranks of the native cat, Dasyiirus viverrinus ; the 

 domestic cat also played a great part in their exter- 

 mination. Even adult specimens of Dasyurus were 

 often dragged in by the family cat. . . . There are 

 verv few game laws in Australia, and no one gives 

 anv attention to the ones that are in order." 



