232 



NATURE 



[July 8, 1897 



dimensions of the ring and its period of revolution round the 

 sun will also vary, their maximum and minimum values occur- 

 ring respectively at the times of maximum and minimum solar 

 spot frequency. We may mention in this brief note that 

 Leverrier was led to attribute a certain unexplained excess in 

 the motion of Mercury's perihelion to the action of a disturbing 

 body, a ring of small bodies, circulating round the sun within 

 the orbit of this planet. It is stated in the paper that the 

 eminent man of science, Dr. J. P. Joule, F. R. S., considered 

 this hypothesis of Baxendell's very favourably, likening this 

 supposed vibratory nebulous ring to a pendulum. 



An exhaustive memoir on the plague bacillus has appeared 

 in the Centralblatt fiir Bakteriologie, and is from the pen of 

 Dr. Rudolf Abel. In some respects this microbe resembles 

 the cholera bacillus as regards its possible mode of distribution, 

 and like it is apparently transmissible through water. Wilm states 

 that he has discovered the plague bacillus in no less than 

 three wells upon which suspicion had fallen. This investigator 

 has also examined the vitality of the bacillus in various descrip- 

 tions of water, and found it living for twenty days in distilled 

 water. In well-water it survived sixteen days' immersion, and in 

 sea-water six days. But these experiments were not quite satis- 

 factory, inasmuch as considerable quantities of culture material 

 were introduced into the waters along with the bacillus. Dr. Abel 

 used distilled water and sterile, and also non-sterile, tap-water, 

 and found that the plague bacilli in all cases were still living 

 at the end of twenty days. In these investigations less culture 

 material was added to the waters in question ; but still it would 

 have been undoubtedly better if the method had been adopted 

 of first diluting the material of infection in water, so that the 

 culture material was not directly introduced into the experi- 

 mental waters. The plague bacillus is easily grown, and is 

 very hardy, although in no instance have spore forms been dis- 

 covered. Sunshine appears to be its most powerful natural 

 enemy, for Dr. Abel found that one hour's insolation, when 

 finely spread out in broth on cover-glasses, destroyed it. 

 Kitasato in Hong Kong exposed bubonic pus on cover-glasses 

 to sunshine, and found that the bacilli were killed in from three 

 to four hours ; similar results were obtained with pure cultures 

 by Wilm. The bacillus is also sensitive to desiccation. 

 Numerous investigations have been carried out by Dr. Abel on 

 the action of disinfectants on the bacillus ; and the memoir con- 

 tains a mass of valuable information, gathered from various 

 sources, on the character of this important micro-organism. 



The Secretary of Agriculture in the United States is arranging 

 with recently-appointed ministers and consuls for an investiga- 

 tion of and report of agricultural conditions and work in the 

 countries to which they are sent. Prof. Plumb, of Purdue 

 University, Indiana, has been commissioned to report on the 

 condition of dairying in certain countries he proposes to visit. 

 Other specialists will go to Australasia and to Mexico, and the 

 latter will collect specimens and data of what may be desirable 

 from the semi-arid regions. Advantage will be taken of the 

 visit of an expert to Central Asia, and tree seeds from there are 

 expected. Prof. Hanson, of the Agricultural College of South 

 Dakota, who is coming to Europe, will be sent on to Asia to 

 bring back seeds of trees and legumes. Especial attention will 

 be given to the search for vegetation of high and dry altitudes 

 which may be introduced into America with success in similar 

 altitudes. 



The June number of the Mathematical Gazette, published 

 under the auspices of the Mathematical Association (formerly 

 the Association for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching), 

 contains interesting papers on the projection of the sphere, by 

 Prof. Alfred Lodge and by Mr. P. J. Heawood. Among the 

 miscellaneous matter, teachers would do well to read Mr. 

 R. F. Muirhead's brief note calling attention to certain flaws in 

 NO. 1445. VOL. 56] 



the ordinary text-book treatment of uniform acceleration in 

 dynamics. 



Among the publications which have recently reached us 

 attention may be directed to the Photogram for July, which con- 

 tains several articles of interest. Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, in a 

 short communication on the " Photography of Birds' Nests," 

 pleads for good photographs of the nests of all birds that are 

 nest-builders. His article is illustrated by a photograph of the 

 nest of the cat-bird {Galeoscoptes caroliuensis). Other articles 

 in the same number are " Photography and Art," by C. E. 

 Benham, and "The Restoration of Faded Prints," by A. 

 Villain. In the latter two methods of restoration are described, 

 and particulars given of a process by which greater permanence 

 to photographic prints may be secured. — The Irish Naturalist 

 has, as its leading contribution, " Some Observations by 

 English Naturalists on the Fauna of Rathlin Island and Bally- 

 castle District." The authors are R, Standen, Lionel E. Adams, 

 G. W. Chester and J. Ray Hardy, who treat respectively of 

 general observations, land and fresh-water mollusca of the 

 Ballycastle District, the marine mollusca of Rathlin Island, and 

 the Coleoptera of Rathlin Island. — The Observatory for July 

 contains as frontispiece a striking photograph of the late Mr. E. 

 J. Stone, F.R.S. In the July number of the Strand Magazine 

 is the first of a series of articles by Grant Allen, entitled 

 " Glimpses of Nature." The present instalment bears the at- 

 tractive title of " The Cows that Ants Milk," and is well illus- 

 trated by F. Enock. — Another publication, the first part of 

 which has just been issued, deserves mention. It is an album 

 of pictures entitled "All about Animals," and contains well- 

 executed reproductions of twenty of Gambler Bolton's well- 

 known photographs. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Campbell's Monkey {Cercopithecus camp- 

 belli, var.) from Appantoo, Coomassie, presented by Dr. 

 Thomas Pigg ; an Orang-outang {Simla satyrus) from Borneo, 

 presented by Dr. H. Dohrn ; a Bonnet Monkey (Afacacus 

 sinicus) from India, presented by Mr. James Callingham ; a 

 Common Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), British, presented by 

 Lady Acland Hood ; two Palm Squirrels (Sciurus palmarum) 

 from India, presented by Mr. C. Ingram ; a Vulpine Phalanger 

 {Trichosurus vulpecula) from Australia, presented by Mr. M. A. 

 Murray ; a Common Seal {Phoca vitulifta), British, presented 

 by Mr. Wethenhogg ; two Babirussas {Babirussa alfurus, 6 9) 

 from Celebes, presented by H.G. the Duke of Bedford; two 

 White-crested Jay Thrushes {Garrulax leucolophus) from the 

 Himalayas, presented by Mr. B. H. Jones; a Red-crested Cardinal 

 {Paroaria cucullata) from South America, presented by Miss E. 

 M. Kenyon Welch ; a Blackbird ( Zi/r^wj- merula, var.), British, 

 presented by Mr. A. Lawford Jones ; eight Spotted Geckos 

 {Pachydactylus maculatus), twenty-four Hispid Lizards {Agama 

 kispida), thirteen Rough-scaled Lizards {Zonurus cordylus), two 

 Delalande's Lizards {Nucras delalandii), two Three-streaked' 

 Skinks {Mabina trivittatus), two Aurora Snakes (Lamprophis 

 aurora), two Infernal Snakes {Boodon infernalis), a Lineated 

 Snake [Boodon lineatus), a Smooth-bellied Snake {Homalosoma 

 lutrix), two Rough-keeled Snakes [Dasypeltis scabra), eleven 

 Rufescent Snakes (Leptodira holambceia), eight Crossed Snakes 

 {Psammophis crucifer), five Rhomb-marked Snakes [Trimero- 

 rhimis rhombeatus), a Yellow Cobra [Naia Jlava) from Port 

 Elizabeth, Cape Colony, presented by Mr. J. E. Matcham ; a 

 Salvadori's Cassowary {Casuarius salvadori) from New Guinea, 

 two Gentoo Penguins (Pygosceles tceniatus) from the Falkland 

 Islands, an Indian Dial Bird (Copsychus saularis) from India, a 

 Banded Ichneumon {Crossarchus fasciatus) from Africa, de- 

 posited ; a Tayra (Galictis barbara) from South America ; two 

 Black Cuckoos {Eudynamis orientalis), three Ruddy Finches 

 {Car-t>odacus erythrinus) from India, purchased. 



