462 



NATURE 



[September 8, 1898 



The Michigan State A'^ricultural College has just issued a 

 bulletin embodying an elaborate series of experiments on the 

 use of tuberculin. As a diagnostic agent, expert opinion appears 

 to be practically unanimous that tuberculin is of the greatest 

 value, and such favourable testimony regarding its efficacy as 

 that of Prof. Grange, of the Michigan College, who states he has 

 used it in upwards of a thousand instances during two years, 

 and did not meet with a single case which impeached the trust- 

 worthiness of the test, is only one out of many similar statements. 

 Tuberculin is now, in fact, an article of commerce, and its pro- 

 duction on a business scale is conducted all over the world. 

 The Pasteur Vaccine Company of Chicago, for example, 

 elaborate tuberculin, and send out detailed instructions for its 

 application. -But despite the increasing favour with which it is 

 regarded, a great deal yet remains to be done in perfecting its 

 production, so as to ensure greater uniformity in its reaction, 

 whilst careful scientific records of its influence on animals 

 treated with it are much wanted. It is to help in supplying such 

 data that Mr. Marshall, assistant bacteriologist of the Michigan 

 College, has taken up the subject, and now publishes the results 

 of very careful observations on " the relation of the tuberculin 

 test to normal temperatures." 



Some time ago Dr. Franz Kerntler published a paper on the 

 fundamental laws of electrodynamics, of which we gave a short 

 notice in Nature. In it the author attempted to discriminate 

 between the various laws of force between two current-elements, 

 all of which laws were in conformity with the accepted theory 

 of action between closed circuits as laid down by Maxwell and 

 others. Dr. Kerntler is continuing his difficult investigation by 

 •examining into the possibility of an experimental discrimination 

 ibetween the different laws of force, and we have received a copy 

 of his further paper on the subject, published by the Pester 

 Xloyd Gesellschaft of Budapest. 



Some diversity of opinion has existed among physiologists as 

 ■to the physiological signification of eating salt ; according to 

 Bunge, the use of sodium chloride with food is to counteract the 

 -effects of the potassium salts predominating especially in vege- 

 table diet, while other physiologists regard salt purely in the 

 nature of a condiment with no special action. M. Leon 

 Fredericq, writing in the Bulletin de V Academic Royale de 

 Belgique, describes his observations on certain salts used by the 

 natives of the Congo State. These salts are produced by the 

 incineration of aquatic plants, and are placed on the market in 

 the form of cakes produced by evaporation of the solution formed 

 by dissolving the residue. An analysis shows them to consist 

 almost entirely of chloride and sulphate of potassium, the former 

 largely preponderating, and the presence of sodium being only 

 •detectable by the spectroscope. The fact that salts of potassium 

 are thus used for cooking purposes seems to negative the views 

 •of Bunge, and to support the opinion, previously advanced by 

 .Lapicque, that the use of salt is primarily to improve the flavour 

 of food. 



Messrs. F. King and Sons, Halifax, are publishing a 

 second edition of Mr. H. Ling Roth's valuable monograph on 

 "The Aborigines of Tasmania." The first edition, published 

 in 1890, consisted of 200 copies, issued to subscribers only. In 

 the preparation of the second edition, Mr. Ling Roth has been 

 assisted by Mr, James Backhouse Walker, of Hobart, Tasmania. 



The American Entomological Society has just published, in 

 pamphlet form, a biographical notice of the late Dr. George H. 

 Horn, by Mr. Philip P. Calvert, and a list of his entomological 

 papers (i860- 1896), with an index to the genera and species of 

 Coleoptera described and named, by Mr. Samuel Henshaw. 

 The biography is a very good one, and will be read with interest 

 by entomologists. 



NO. 1506, VOL. 58] 



A LIST of Rontgen apparatus just issued by Messrs. Isenthal, 

 Potzler, and Co., contains descriptions of several novel pieces of 

 apparatus. The smallest coil described in the list gives a six- 

 inch spark in air ; while the largest gives a spark having a 

 minimum length of 40 inches. The catalogue is a striking 

 testimony to the advances which have been made in Rontgen 

 photography during the last two years or so, and it should be 

 seen by medfcal men and others who contemplate obtaining an 

 outfit for work with Rontgen rays. — Another new catalogue to 

 which attention may profitably be called is Mr. R. Kanthack's 

 catalogue of optical instruments. The high order of the instru- 

 ments described in the catalogue is vouched for by the fact that 

 the microscopes are exclusively of Messrs. Zeiss and Leitz's 

 manufacture, while the prisms, lenses, mirrors, and astronomical 

 instruments bear the name of Steinheil, Mr. Kanthack being 

 sole agent for the productions of this celebrated firm of Munich 

 opticians. 



A " Review and Bibliography of the Metallic Carbides," by 

 Mr. J. A. Mathews, has been published as No. 1090 of the 

 Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, upon the recommend- 

 ation of the Committee on Indexing oChemical Literature, 

 appointed by the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science. On account of the renewed attention given to this 

 class of bodies during the last five years, Mr. Mathews's review 

 of the work accomplished up to the end of 1897 will be of 

 considerable interest ; and, in conjunction with the bibli- 

 ographical references, will be of value to the chemical student 

 and investigator. The general plan adopted is to give a 

 concise account of the methods of preparation, and physical and 

 chemical properties of the car bides now known, considering 

 them in alphabetical order. Following each descriptive portion 

 are the references to the literature bearing upon the substances 

 to which it refers. The result is a very handy bibliographical 

 dictionary of metallic carbides, and chemists will thank Mr. 

 Mathews for preparing it, and the Smithsonian Institution for 

 making it available. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Humboldt's Lagothrix {Lagofhrix hum- 

 boldti) from the Upper Amazon, presented by Mr. E. H. L. 

 Ewen ; a Ruppell's Colobus {Colohus gueresa) from Nigeria, pre- 

 sented by Mr. H. S. Kelly ; a Hoolock Gibbon {Hylobates 

 hoolock, 9 ) from Assam, presented by Mr. Lionel Inglis ; a 

 Duke of Bedford's Deer {Cervus xanthopygius) from Mant- 

 churia, presented by H.G. the Duke of Bedford ; a Brazilian 

 Hang-nest {Icterus Jamaica), a White-throated Finch (Sperm- 

 ophila albogularis) from Brazil, presented by Mr. Percy M. 

 Calder; five Rufous Tinamous {Rhynchotus rufescens) from 

 Brazil, presented by Mr. Ernest Gibson ; two Augural Buzzards 

 (Buteoauguralis), three Goliath Beetles {Goliathus druryi) from 

 West Africa, presented by Dr. Chalmers ; a Lazuline Finch 

 {Guiraca parellina) from Central America, presented by Mr. 

 John B. Toone ; an Iceland Falcon {ffierofako islandus) from 

 Iceland, presented by Mr. C. R. Anderson : two Great Kan - 

 garoos {Macropus giganteus, S 9 ) two Great Wallaroos {Macro - 

 pus robustus), eleven Brush Turkeys ( Talegalla lathami), twelve 

 Roseate Cockatoos {Cacatua roseicapilla), six Greater Sulphur- 

 crested Cockatoos {Cacatua galerita) from Australia, a Red- 

 bellied Wallaby {Macropus billardieri), two Bennett's Wallabys 

 Macropus bennetti), a Dormouse Phalanger {Dromicia nana) from 

 Tasmania, two Brush-tailed Kangaroos {Petrogale penicillata), 

 five Silky Bower Birds {Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) from New 

 South Wales, a Brown-necked Parrot {Pceocephalus fusicollis) 

 from West Africa, two Pretre's Amazons (C/^ryj^//5 ;)r^/rzV), a 

 Red-vented Parrot {Pionus menstruus) from South America, 

 deposited. 



