January 8, 1920] 



NATURE 



475 



February, can be obtained from the secretary of the 

 institute. The research work must be on some sub- 

 ject of practical importance relating to the metal- 

 lurgy of iron and steel and allied subjects. The results 

 of research work must be communicated to the insti- 

 tute in the form of a report. By the invitation of the 

 retiring president, Mr. Eugene Schneider, arrange- 

 ments are in progress for holding the autumn meeting : 

 in France next September, provided no unforeseen 

 contingency occurs. Early notice will be given of the 

 precise date and place of meeting and the localities 

 which will be visited. 



We note with much satisfaction that the Govern- 

 ment of New Zealand has extended the absolute pro- 

 tection of seals in the area under its control for a 

 period of three years, and that the Prime Minister 

 of Tasmania has decided not to renew the lease of 

 .Macquarie Island to the company which so mercilessly 

 exploited the wild life over which it had obtained 

 control. Quite apart from the hideousness of the 

 methods of slaughter, this protection has barely come 

 in time to save these creatures from extermination. 

 .Although this danger has, time and again, been 

 pointed out, the authorities allowed commercial in- 

 terests to prevail. Yet the penguins, seals, sea-lions, 

 and sea-elephants which contrived to maintain a hold 

 on life in those inhospitable regions represent types 

 of animal life which it was our bounden duty to pre- 

 serve. \ hope has been expressed that Macquarie 

 Island may be set apart as an inviolable sanctuary for 

 .Antarctic life, and we trust not only that this will 

 be done, but also that steps will be taken to guard 

 against marauders who may be tempted to make 

 occasional raids for the sake of the profits to be 

 gained. To this end the island might be used for 

 the purposes of a biological and meteorological station. 

 Before it is too late we hope that the matter of pro- 

 tection for the whales in the .Antarctic seas will also 

 speedily find a place on the Statute-book. The sub- 

 ject has been long under consideration, but as yet 

 nothing has been done on account of the opposition 

 of commercial interests. 



During 1919 many meteorological features of special 

 interest occurred, and some of these introduced 

 problems well worth discussing. In July and October 

 the weather was exceptionally cold and dry over the 

 British Isles, and the rainfall in both months for the 

 whole country was only 55 per cent, of the normal 

 for the thirty-five years ended 1909. The cold in the 

 autumn was quite remarkable. The Greenwich ob- 

 servations show that the mean temperature for the 

 year was 488° F., which is 13° colder than the 

 normal for the thirty-five years ended 1915; the mean 

 maximum temperature was 567°, and the mean 

 minimum 40-9°. May, June, -August, and December 

 were the only months with an excess of temperature. 

 The warmest month was .August and the coldest 

 February. There were four months, February, July, 

 October, and November, with a deficiency of tem- 

 perature amounting to 4° or more. December was 

 24° warmer than the normal, and 34° warmer than 

 November, when there were only five days with 

 50° or above, whilst December had thirteen such days. 

 NO. 2619, VOL. 104] 



The total rainfall for the year was 234 in., which is 

 01 in. less than the normal. December was the 

 wettest month of the year, and the other months with 

 an excess of rain were January, February, March, and 

 .April. The driest month was May with 0-36 in. 

 March and December both registered precipitation on 

 twenty-two days ; during the year precipitation was 

 measured on 175 days. Bright sunshine was regis- 

 tered for 1489 hours, which is eleven hours more than 

 the normal for the year. May had the greatest dura- 

 tion of sunshine, 268 hours, and December the least, 

 21 hours. 



The Report of the Director-General of Public 

 Health, New South Wales, for the year ended 

 December 31, 1917, has recently reached us. It con- 

 tains the usual full statistical data of the health of 

 the State, and reports on the work of the micro- 

 biological laboratory. The latter is chiefly devoted 

 (pp. 150-280) to an exhaustive inquiry on an epidemic 

 of acute polio-encephalo-myelitis. Some 134 cases 

 occurred, mostly in children, of whom 94 died. The 

 chief features were fever in all cases, convulsions in 

 many, and paralysis in a few, with rigidity and mental 

 lethargy, confusion, and drowsiness as a rule. The 

 disease was proved to be the meningitic or cerebral 

 form of acute poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis, Heine- 

 Medin disease). 



In the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries 

 of Ireland (vol. xlix., part 3, June, 1919) Mr. H. S. 

 Crawford publishes a well-illustrated article on the 

 mural paintings and inscriptions at Knockmoy -Abbey, 

 which are now partially destroyed, but once covered 

 the entire northern wall of the chancel of the abbey 

 church. The writer adduces arguments to show that 

 they probably date from the sixteenth century. "-At 

 an earlier period pictures would hardly have been 

 allowed in a Cistercian church, and at a later the 

 costumes of the figures and the forms of the inscrip- 

 tions would probably have been different." 



In the Journal of the Royal -Anthropological Insti- 

 tute (vol. xlix., 1919, January-June) Prof. F. G. 

 Parsons presents the results of his anthropological 

 examination of a number of German prisoners of war 

 interned in England. He thus states his conclusions : 

 "The more one thinks of it, the more one is con- 

 vinced that since the sixth century the broad-headed 

 -Alpine race has been slowly and steadily supplanting 

 the long-headed Nordic type, not only in Prussia, but 

 in every part of Germanv, and the prisoners at our 

 disposal give no reason for thinking that there is any 

 part of Germany in which the -Alpine or Slav charac- 

 teristics have not dominated the Teutonic or Nordic." 

 This view is based on head and face shape and colora- 

 tion, and, so far as the evidence goes, it is supported 

 by that of stature. The tall provinces are in the north 

 and west of Germany, while the shorter men inhabit 

 the south and east. Curiously enough, after what we 

 have heard of the Pomeranians, they are a short race, 

 the average height being 5 ft. 6-4 in. Of course, it is 

 possible that the exceptionally tall men were drafted 

 into special corps, such as the Guards and Marine Artil- 

 lery, and that these were not fullv represented in the 

 material at the Prisoners' Bureau. 



