302 



NATURE 



[July 28, 1898 



A RECENT number of the Aberdeen Journal prints a com- 

 munication, received from a correspondent, on the pollution of 

 the river Lossie, by which, it is said, thousands of trout have 

 been poisoned. At the place where the poisoning has occurred 

 the Lossie is at its broadest and deepest, and has been one of 

 the favourite haunts of Elgin anglers. It is fully a mile further 

 up the river from the place where the town's sewage enters, and 

 the water here had continually been used by the cottagers at 

 Scroggiemill and Sheriffmill for domestic uses. In the opinion of 

 many people the pollution is due to the influx of distillery refuse. 

 The same issue of \\\& Journal %\.zXe.% that a number of distilleries 

 have combined together to offer a premium of 2000/ to any 

 person devising and handing over to them for their sole use a 

 scheme for the purification of the residual products of dis- 

 tilleries. 



Prof. Kuttner, of Tubingen, has, says the Lancet, been 

 making some interesting experiments with the Rontgen rays at 

 the Constantinople Hospital. In his report, just issued, he says 

 that while the apparatus proved of service when applied with 

 the screen, it was rarely possible to take a satisfactory photo- 

 graph on account of the difficulty of bringing the patients into 

 the proper position. The former method proved often the only 

 way to ascertain the site of a projectile which had entered the 

 body and had remained there. This was applicable to all parts 

 of the body except the stomach and head. A bullet in the 

 brain, for instance, showed very indistinctly. Prof. Kuttner 

 says it is noteworthy that splinters of bullets and of bone which 

 had penetrated into the soft parts of the body could not be 

 distinguished from each other. Also, he says, it was proved 

 that the opinion that deep-lying masses of pus could be located 

 was erroneous. Injuries to the central nervous system, the 

 spinal cord, and the peripheral nerves were solely ascertainable 

 by the aid of the Rontgen rays. It was impossible to do this 

 before. Furthermore, it could be seen whether a bone was 

 totally or only partially severed — a matter of great importance 

 as far as therapeutics are concerned. For shot wounds in the 

 extremities he recommends that a photograph be taken. His 

 conclusion is that the Rontgen rays are of great importance for 

 medical aid in war, but only for fixed hospitals, such as reserve 

 hospitals and those installed in fortresses, while for moving field 

 hospitals their application is very limited. 



The Paris correspondent of the British Medical Journal 

 states that the French State engineers have succeeded in giving 

 a formula for making lucifer matches which does not include 

 either white phosphorus or any substance injurious to health. 

 Machinery has also been invented which will contribute to the 

 health and safety of those engaged in match manufacture. The 

 machinery has been tested, and, after a few improvements have 

 been made, it will be generally adopted in the Government 

 match factories. 



The July issue of the Kew Bulletin states that, in response 

 to an inquiry from the Kew Gardens for specimens of all the 

 plants yielding a milky juice, samples of Fiji rubber have been 

 received and examined. The first samples received proved 

 entirely valueless ; but the second, received in March last, were 

 more promising. Alstonia plumosa is described as abound- 

 ing in the forests, and if carefully treated might prove a useful 

 rubber-producing plant ; but, (judging from the specimen of 

 rubber received, the preparation of the article has almost 

 become a lost art, for the specimen was soft and viscid on the 

 outside, with little or no elasticity, and practically without 

 value. A later specimen, received in June, was not so viscid, 

 but it gradually became hard and inelastic. A sample of rubber 

 from a tree known as "Baka" {Ficus obliqua, Forst. f.) was 

 also received, and although not sufficiently coagulated, was 

 regarded as suitable for mixing purposes, and to be worth to- 

 NO. 1500, VOL. 58] 



day from \s. to \s. ^d. per pound. A substance obtained from 

 the * ' Ban " tree, possibly a member of the Sapotacea, but, in 

 the absence of flowers, otherwise indeterminable, was slightly 

 elastic, and might command a sale at lod. to is. per pound. 

 Other specimens, obtained from the " Wasalili " {Carruthersia 

 scandens. Seem. ) and the "Malawaci" (Trophis anthropopha- 

 gorum, Seem.), were entirely deficient of elastic properties, and 

 reported to be of no commercial value. 



The Engineer gives particulars of two forms of artificial 

 india-rubber — one emanating from France, the other from Ger- 

 many. Textiloid is the name of the French form. It consists 

 of resinoline and admixtures. The resinoline is said to be 

 obtained by treating oil with three or four times its bulk of 

 metallic carbonates, and then with nitric acid. Then follow 

 saponification, precipitation by means of an acid, and dis- 

 solution in alcohol or ether. A hundred parts of resinoline are 

 mixed with twenty of zinc, oxide of manganese, «S;c., and sixty 

 parts of methylated spirit ; after several hours the mass is 

 kneaded for one hour or more, and finally compressed. The 

 German process consists in the oxidation of linseed oil, with 

 the addition of prepared jute refuse, or similar hitherto worth- 

 less textile refuse, by which means a substance is produced 

 which possesses many of the qualifications of genuine india- 

 rubber. It is capable of being utilised in many ways, and of 

 being manufactured into various articles hitherto made of 

 india-rubber. 



The Council of the Anthropological Institute has decided to 

 alter the size of the quarterly journal of the Institute. The 

 journal in its present form compares unfavourably in size with 

 several Continental publications, and does not allow sufficient 

 scope for extensive illustrations. At the present time there is no. 

 anthropological publication in England capable of meeting these 

 requirements, and it has occasionally happened that papers of 

 much interest, accompanied by valuable photographs and draw- 

 ings, have been published abroad for want of a suitable medium 

 in London. With the desire of obviating this unsatisfactory 

 state of affairs, the Council of the Institute has resolved to 

 sanction additional expenditure on printing in the hope that the 

 proportionate increase in the interest and utility of the journal 

 will secure for it the sympathy and support of all those interested 

 in anthropological studies throughout the Empire. The attempt 

 will be made in the new series to apportion the available space 

 as evenly as possible between the different branches of study 

 included in the general science of man. Folk-lore is provided 

 for elsewhere, but physical anthropology, prehistory, and 

 ethnology have all claims to a more liberal treatment than they 

 have hitherto been able to obtain. In view of the temporary 

 dislocation of existing arrangements which the proposed change 

 will entail, it has been decided that there shall be no issue of 

 the present series in August, and that the new series shall 

 commence in November with a combined August and November 

 part. 



In a note in the Rendiconto of the Naples Academy, Signor 

 A. Costa briefly summarises the various problems opened out by 

 the recently discovered reciprocal action of animal toxins. In 

 November 1892, this writer observed when in Algiers that when 

 the sting of a Tunis scorpion was followed by that oi Scolia. 

 inter stincta Kl. in the same finger seventeen hours later, the 

 result was a complete removal of all the symptoms of poisoning, 

 the finger regaining its normal state. The recent discovery by 

 M. C. Phisalix, that the poison of hornets confers immunity 

 against viper bites, now suggests the following questions: (i) 

 Have the poisons of all hymenoptera the power of sterilising ? 



(2) Of what animals are the poisons capable of sterilisation ? 



(3) Does any specific or generic relation exist between the 



