October 28, 1897 



NA TURE 



619 



any definite recommendations as to this until further light has 

 been thrown on the matter by the investigations now being 

 conducted by the Post Office. Experiments which have been 

 made at the instigation of the Commissioners proved satisfactory, 

 communication having been obtained without the aid of inter- 

 mediate wires between two points on either side of the Bristol 

 Channel, distant about nine miles from one another, and it has 

 further been arranged for a practical trial of the system at a 

 light- vessel. 



In iheyounialdc Physique for October, M. Henri Becquerel's 

 explanation of the experiments of M. Le Bon on the so-called 

 black light {luiniire noire) is given. M. Becquerel finds that all 

 the observed phenomena can be attributed to the action of 

 ordinary red and infra-red rays. Not only is ebonite transparent 

 to such rays, but they possess the property of extinguishing the 

 phosphorescence of sulphide of zinc, and of acting on a slightly 

 ' ' fogged " photographic film in exactly the manner observed by 

 Le Bon. Moreover, when the ebonite is replaced by a sheet of 

 red glass the same phenomena are observed. 



Wk have received the first number of a new series of the 

 "Publications of the University of Pennsylvania" devoted to 

 mathematics. It contains " Contributions to the Geometry of 

 the Triangle," by Robert Judson Aley, and " Properties of the 

 Locus r = constant in Space of n Dimensions " by Paul Renno 

 Heyl. In the latter, the author finds expressions for the 

 measure of the content 'of the locus of the extremity of unit 

 radius vector, and arrives at the result that this content is a 

 maximum in the case of five-dimension space. A corresponding 

 maximum is also shown to exist for the measure of boundary of 

 the same locus. 



The Corporation of Bristol, as owners of the port and docks 

 built at Bristol and at Avonmouth and Portishead, are making 

 great efforts to draw to the port some of the enormous trade 

 which is now carried on between this country and the United 

 States and Canada. At one time the port of Bristol stood first 

 as the great centre for all the trade with the countries on the 

 other side of the Atlantic, but gradually as the size of vessels 

 increased, and as other ports improved their shipping facilities 

 while Bristol practically stood still, the trade was directed 

 principally to Liverpool, and more recently also largely to 

 Southampton. However, owing to improvements which have 

 been carried out at Avonmouth, a large firm of shippers have 

 now commenced to run a regular line of steamers between 

 Canada and Bristol, and cargoes of 8000 tons of miscellaneous 

 merchandise have been quickly and efficiently discharged at the 

 Avonmouth Dock. To further foster and secure this growing 

 trade, the Corporation have recently decided to apply to Parlia- 

 ment for power to expend a million and a half of money in 

 building a new and enlarged dock of 40 acres, which is to have 

 an entrance lock 850 feet long, capable of receiving the largest- 

 steamers at present likely to be built. 



Among various important articles in the Anna/en der 

 Hydrographie und inaritimen Meteorologie for September, 

 there is one of special interest, by Dr. G. Schott, on the fogs 

 of the Newfoundland Banks. Fogs are prevalent in various 

 parts of the world, but there is no district in which navigation is 

 endangered in a similar way by the combination of icebergs and 

 fog. The author has shown the distribution of fog upon twelve 

 monthly charts, compiled from all the materials collected by the 

 Deutsche Seewarte, for the routes of steam vessels between New 

 York and 40° west longitude. The charts show that the period 

 of most copious fog is from April to August inclusive ; in Sep- 

 tember there is a sudden and considerable decrease, while 

 February has the least amount. There are two regions in the 

 district under consideration which have the greatest frequency 

 NO. 1461, VOL. 56] 



of fog, viz. south of Nova Scotia and the eastern part of the 

 Great Newfoundland Bank. On the Bank itself, especially on 

 the western side, the frequency of fog is much less, owing to the 

 water being considerably warmer there than on the eastern side,^ 

 ajid because the sudden changes of the sea temperature do not 

 occur there to the same extent as on the eastern side, where the 

 two currents come into contact. 



A SUGGESTIVE paper by Prof. W. P. Mason, entitled " Sani- 

 tary Problems connected with Municipal Water Supply," has 

 been published in the Journal of the Franklin Institute. Some 

 interesting facts are recorded concerning the health of some 

 American cities in relation to typhoid fever and water supply. 

 The writer tells us that the average annual typhoid death rates 

 for thirteen Massachusetts cities before the introduction of a 

 public water supply was 7 '94 per 10,000, whilst since the im- 

 provements have been carried out the deaths from typhoid fever 

 have fallen to 3 '83 per 10,000. In the whole State of Con- 

 \ necticut the percentage of typhoid deaths to total deaths has 

 j fallen from about 5-8 in 1870 to l"84 in 1893. But although 

 much advance has been made in the improvement and protec- 

 tion of American public water supplies, a great deal remains yet 

 to be done. A source of pollution too often overlooked is the 

 contamination of water in the pastures through which it passes. 

 Mason cites an instance which came under his notice of twenty- 

 six cows in a pasture through which ran the open watercourse 

 connecting the storage and distributing reservoirs of a city. The 

 animals had perfect freedom to wade in the stream to within a 

 few yards of the point where the water entered the city mains. 

 A very remarkable example of how typhoid fever may be spread 

 is given in the case of a serious outbreak of this disease which took, 

 place at Plymouth, Pa. The origin of this disastrous epidemic 

 was traced to a single typhoid patient whose dejecta were thrown 

 out upon the snow of a frozen hillside, at the base of which ran 

 a small stream, whence the town water supply was ultimately 

 : drawn. Several weeks elapsed, during which the dejecta were 

 I hard frozen before the March thaws permitted the melting snows 

 [ to wash them into the stream below ; but during this interval 

 the typhoid germs had retained their vitality and full comple- 

 ment of virulence, as demonstrated by the otherwise quite un- 

 j accountable outbreak of typhoid fever in the said town. Various 

 ( investigators have shown that typhoid bacteria can stand being 

 j frozen ; indeed, it has been found that three months' continuous 

 j freezing does not destroy these germs. 



I A Louisiana Society of Naturalists has been established, 

 I with about forty-five members. The Secretary is Mr. E. 

 Foster, of Nesv Orleans. 



A. ViERKANDT gives in Globus (Band Ixxii. p. 133) a long. 

 i and illustrated account of Ehrenreich's " Anthropologische 

 Studien iiber die Urbewohner Brasiliens." The evidence seems 

 to these authors to show that the American Indians are a 

 distinct race of mankind, and not a branch of the Mongolian 

 race. 



The primitive inhabitants of India in their ethnological, 

 religious and linguistic aspects, is the subject of two illustrated 

 ; articles in Globus (Band Ixxii. p. 53, 77), by Prof. Gustav 

 i Oppert. This is a preliminary sketch of a memoir that the 

 j author is preparing, and which promises to be of considerable 

 j importance. 



In a collection of fifteen skulls from the Papuan Gulf, Dr. 

 G. A. Dorsey (Denial Revieiv, Chicago, vol. xi.) finds three 

 examples of suppressed third molars and two examples of 

 supernumerary pre-molars. The occurrence of the latter looks 

 like an atavism, while the absence of the wisdom-tooth is 



