June 23, 1898] 



NATURE 



179 



loss of consciousness, followed speedily by death. Dr. 

 Foster therefore recommends that the linings and fittings of all 

 mine shafts and roadways in mines should be made fire-proof, 

 or of fire-resisting materials, unless the shafts and roadways are 

 decidedly wet or damp. The use of oxygen in restoring suf- 

 ferers from carbonic oxide poisoning is referred to, and the 

 suggestion is made that a supply of compressed oxygen should 

 be available in every district, and also apparatus for penetrating 

 into noxious gases. With Dr. Foster's report is a report by Dr. 

 Miller upon physiological effects of carbon monoxide poison- 

 ing, and an appendix containing statements concerning the 

 sensations, symptoms, and after-effects produced by breathing 

 the gas. 



Dr. Issatschenko, of the bacteriological laboratory attached 

 to the agricultural department of the Russian Government, has 

 just made a preliminary communication on a new microbe 

 pathogenic to rats which he has discovered. A disease, which 

 assumed epidemic proportions, broke out amongst the rats kept 

 for experimental purposes in the laboratory, and from the liver 

 and spleen of affected animals a bacillus was isolated, which 

 proved on inoculation to be extremely fatal as regards both rats 

 and mice. ■ Receiving food infected with this organism rats and 

 mice invariably succumbed, the former after from eight to four- 

 teen days, the latter after from four to eight days. Following 

 Pasteur's example in the case of a bacillus similarly fatal to 

 rabbits, attempts were made to turn this new microbe to prac- 

 tical account and utilise it as a living rat poison. The results 

 so far have not been very encouraging, but further experiments 

 are being made in this direction. It is apparently quite without 

 effect upon pigeons and rabbits. As regards its artificial 

 cultivation this microbe is very accommodating, growing luxuri- 

 antly upon all the customary culture media with the exception 

 of potatoes. In microscopic appearance it varies, as is so often the 

 case, according to the nature of the medium in which it has been 

 previously grown. It is mobile, and is endowed with lateral 

 flagella. 



Increasing attention is paid nowadays to the elevation and 

 ^ub-soil by those who are in a position to choose their place of 

 residence. It is true that many circumstances have to be taken 

 into consideration in fixing upon a home, and not the least im- 

 portant is the construction of the house itself— more important, 

 probably, than the question of a gravel or clay sub-soil. 

 Elevation and surroundings, again, may confer advantages not 

 to be had in a low-lying gravel area. To those, however, who 

 are seeking for homes on particular' sub-soils or in particular 

 situations the handsome embossed model just published by Mr. 

 E. Stanford, London, will prove an excellent general guide. If. 

 the more elevated regions of Shooter's Hill, Sydenham and 

 Wimbledon, of Hampstead, Highgate and Harrow, appear, to 

 stand out in somewhat mountainous form, owing to the 

 horizontal scale of one inch to a mile and the vertical scale of 

 one inch to a thousand feet, the main features can nevertheless 

 be readily grasped. The leading roads and railways are shown, 

 the sub-soils are distinctly coloured, and along the margin of 

 the model there are sections depicting the underground structure 

 of the country. The model itself measures 2 feet by i foot 

 $ inches, including its frame, and it takes in Barking on the 

 north-east, a part of Harrow on the north-west. Long Ditton 

 on the south-west, and Orpington on the south-east. The 

 model is made of tinned steel plate, enamelled in colours, and 

 its price is 150?. It has been prepared by Mr. James B. Jordan, 

 the geology being compiled from the maps of the Geological 

 Survey, the work chiefly of Mr. Whi'aker. House-hunters who 

 consult it will see at a glance the advantages to be gained from 

 qertain localities, and also the districts that should, if possible, 

 be avoided. For educational purposes in schools the model 

 may prove of considerable service. 

 NO. 1495, VOL. 58] 



An interesting address entftled " Types of Scenery and their 

 Influence on Literature," recently delivered at Oxford by Sir 

 Archibald Geikie as the Romanes Lecture, has been published 

 by Messrs. Macmillan and Co., Ltd. The object of the 

 address was to point out the leading types of scenery that dis- 

 tinguish the British Isles, and to show that it is possible to trace 

 from each of them an influence upon the growth of English 

 literature. For instance. Sir Archibald points out that the English 

 lowlands have had a distinct influence upon our literature. 

 They are washed by the sea along the whole of their eastern and 

 northern borders. Moreover, the coastline is indented by 

 numerous bays, creeks, and inlets, which furnish many admir- 

 able natural harbours. There can be no doubt that this feature in 

 our topography has powerfully fostered that love of the sea which 

 has always been a national characteristic. To fhe same cause 

 may be traced that appreciation of the poetry of the sea so 

 noticeable in our literature. For a century after Milton's time 

 poetry became with each generation more polished and artificial. 

 When at last a reaction set in, the impulse that led to the most 

 momentous revolution in the history of English poetry came in 

 large measure from the writings of three poets, each of whom, 

 drew his inspiration from lowland scenery — Co\vper, Thomson,, 

 and Burns. The uplands, which include the border country of 

 England and Scotland, produced the Border ballads, and the 

 highlands of Western Argyleshire are portrayed in Macpherson's 

 " Ossian " ; while the Lake District, also mountainous, claims 

 attention for, its influence on the progress of natipnal literature,, 

 for it was amidst its scenery that William Wordsworth was born 

 and spent most of his long life. Towards the end of his inter- 

 esting address Sir Archibald Geikie remarks : — " It is curious to 

 remember that three of the poets whom I have singled out as 

 illustrations of the influence of our lowland, upland, and high- 

 land scenery upon our literature have held up the geologist to- 

 ridicule. Cowper put that votary of science into the pillory 

 among the irreligious crowd, about whose ears the poet loved to- 

 ' crack the satiric thong.' Wordsworth treated the geological 

 enthusiast with withering scorn. Scott, with his characteristic 

 good humour, only poked fun at him. It was reserved for a 

 poet of our own day to look below the technical jargon of the 

 schools, and to descry something of this wealth of new interest 

 which the landscape derives from a knowledge of the history of 

 its several parts. But Tennyson only entered a little way inta 

 this enlarged conception of nature. There remains a boundless 

 field for some future poetic seer, who, letting his vision pierce 

 into the past, will set before the eyes of men the inner meaning 

 of mountain and glen." 



The twenty -sixth annual report of the Board of Directors of 

 the Zoological Society of Philadelphia has been received. The 

 number of visitors to the Gardens of the Society during the 

 year covered by the report was 173,999. In addition to this, 

 125,000 free tickets were issued to the Board of Education for 

 the admission of pupils of the public schools. The Society's 

 collection of animals numbers 1019, of which 339 are mammals, 

 421 birds, 238 reptiles, and 21 batrachians. Among the ad- 

 ditions to the collection were two young West Indian seals 

 (Monachus tropicalis). Although the existence of a peculiar 

 species of seal in the Caribbean Sea has been known for several 

 centuries, no detailed description has been given of it until very 

 recently, and no living specimens had been procured until a 

 schooner was sent out last spring by a firm of merchants for the 

 purpose of capturing some, which was finally effected on a small 

 coral reef off the Campeachy coast of Yucatan. These animals 

 were distributed among various zoological collections, and three 

 were secured by Philadelphia. It was hoped that observations 

 might be made upon the habits of this almost unknown species, 

 but unfortunately, in all these cases, the animals were induced 

 to take food with difficulty and in small quantity, and they lived' 



