February 2, 1893 J 



NATURE 



most remote part of Yezo visited, a region which had scarcely 

 been traversed by the Japanese. Here the Ainu were found to 

 be more hairy than elsewhere, and to present many Aryan 

 features in their general appearance. One ^etuliar fact brought 

 out by many measurements was the remarkable length of their 

 arms. The measurement across the outstretched arms is always 

 from three to five inches more than the height of the individual. 

 The future capital of Hokkaido (the name given to Yezo and 

 the Kurile Islands collectively) is to be erected on the 

 Ka-Tiikawa plain, in the very centre of Yezo, and roads are 

 being pushed forward to connect it with all parts of the coast. 

 It will, when completed, take the place of the present capital, 

 Sapporo. According to Japanese map;, Mr. Landor's journey 

 extended to 5000 miles, but his own reckoning puts it as 3803 ; 

 almost the whole distance was done on horseback. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCA TIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — By the death of Prof. Westwood on January 2 the 

 University lost one of the most learned of its members, and 

 another link with the earlier study of science in Oxford is gone. 

 Prof. Westwood became Hope Professor on the foundation of 

 the chair by the Rev. F. W. Hope in i86x, and afterwards 

 devoted his time to the perfecting of the collection which Mr. 

 Hope bestowed on the University. The collection, which has 

 received considerable additions from other sources, including the 

 Burchell collection, Wallace's types, &c., has attained some- 

 what unmanageable proportions, and its present quarters are 

 too small for its proper display. Whoever succeeds to the 

 chair, it is to be hoped that suitable provision will be afforded 

 to enable him to make the collection of more use to University 

 studies than has hitherto been the case. 



In November last an examination for a RadclifFe Travelling 

 Fellowship, thrown open, pro hac vice, to all branches of natural 

 science, was held, but the result has not yet been announced. 

 It is now announced that an examination will be held during 

 this term for a second Radcliffe Fellowship, the subjects being 

 strictly medical. It is believed that the results of the two ex- 

 aminations will be published together at the end of this term. 

 There is some dissatisfaction at the delay in announcing the 

 result of the first examination. 



Prof. Ray Lankester has recovered from the illness which 

 necessitated his absence from Oxford last term, and has resumed 

 his lectures on the Vertebrata and a senior course on the 

 Arachnida. 



The Mathematical Scholarships and Exhibitions have been 

 awarded as follows : — 



Senior Mathematical Scholar, R. C. Fowler, B.A., of New 

 College. 



Proxime Accessit, S. F. White, B.A., of Wadham College, 

 to whom the Examiners have awarded Lady Herschell's book. 



Junior Mathematical Scholar, C. B. Underbill, Balliol 

 College. 



Junior Mathematical Exhibition, T. F. McKean, Hertford 

 College. 



Proxime Accessit, W. C. Childs, Corpus Christi«College. 



The Duchess of Marlborough has bestowed on the Chemical 

 Department the entire collection of chemical and electrical 

 apparatus belonging to the late Duke. The collection, which 

 includes two exceptionally fine spectroscopco, delicate balances, 

 &c,, has been brought to the Museum from Blenheim, and 

 forms a valuable addition to the Chemical Laboratory. 



Mr. E. L. Collis, of Keble, is President, and Mr. M. D. 

 Hill, of New College, is Treasurer of the Junior Scientific 

 Club this term, and Messrs. C. H. H. Walker, of University 

 College, and T. H. Butler, of Corpus Christi, are respectively 

 Chemical and Biological Secretaries. The first meeting is held 

 on Wednesday, February i, when Mr. J. E. Marsh exhibits 

 some products of the electrical furnace, and Messrs. Finn and 

 Fremantle read papers on East Africa and Hermaphroditism. 



At a meeting of the Biological Club, on Saturday last, Mr. 

 G. C. Bourne read a paper on the influence of the nucleus on 

 the cell. 



Cambridge. — The Senate have resolved to appoint a Demon- 

 strator in Palseozoology in connection with the Geological 

 Department. He will have no stipend from the University, 

 but will be remunerated from the fees paid by students. 



NO. I 2 14, VOL. 47] 



Dr. AUbutt, Regius Professor of Physic, Dr. A. MacAlister, 

 Professor of Anatomy, and Dr. Donald MacAlister, University 

 Lecturer in Medicine, have been appointed to represent the 

 University at the Eleventh International Medical Congress to 

 be held at Rome in SepteiYiber next. 



Dr. W. H. Gaskell has been appointed a member of the 

 Special Board for Medicine, and Mr. C. T. Heycock a member 

 of the Special Board for Physics and Chemistry. Dr. Ransome, 

 F.R.S., Honorary Fellow of Gonville and Caius College ; Dr. 

 Corfield, F.R.S, Professor of Hygiene and Public Health in 

 University College, London ; Dr. J. Lane Notter, Professor of 

 Military Hygiene at Netley ; ani Dr. Thorne Thorne, 

 F.R.S., Medical Officer to H.M. Local Government 

 Board, have been appointed Examiners in State Medicine for 

 the Diploma in Public Heallh during the current year. 



SirG. G. Stokes and Dr. Hobson have been elected Exam- 

 iners for the Adams Memorial Prize to be awarded in 1895. 



Mr. E. H. Acton, of St. John's, and Mr. T. H. Eastertield, 

 of Clare, have been approved as Teachers of Chemistry with 

 reference to the r^ulations for medical and surgical degrees. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, December 15, 1892.— " Experiments on the 

 Action of Light on Bacillus anthracis." By Prof. Marshall 

 Ward, F.R.S. 



It is abundantly evinced by experiments that direct insolation 

 in some way leads to the destruction of spores of Bacillus 

 anthracis, and in so far the results merely confirm what had 

 already been discovered by Downes and Blunt in 1877 and 

 1878.1 



From the fact that an apparent retardation of the development 

 of the colonies on plates exposed to light was observed several 

 times under circumstances which suggested a direct inhibitory 

 action of even ordinary daylight, the author went further into 

 this particular question with results as startling as they are import- 

 ant, for if the explanation given of the phenomena observed in the 

 following experiments turns out to be the correct one, we stand 

 face to face with the fact that by far the most potent factor in 

 the purification of the air and rivers of bacteria is the sunlight. 

 The fact that direct sunlight is efficacious as a bactericide has 

 been long suspected, but put forward very vaguely in most cases. 



Starting from the observation that a test-tube, or small flask 

 containing a few c.c of Thames water with many hundreds of 

 thousands of anthrax spores in it may be entirely rid of living 

 spores by continued exposure daily for a few days to the light of 

 the sun, and that even a fe^- weeks of bright summer daylight 

 — not direct insolation — reduces the number of spores capable of 

 development on gelatine, it seemed worth while to try the effect 

 of direct insolation on plate-cultures to see if the results could be 

 got more quickly and definitely.'- 



Preliminary trials with gelatine plate-cultures at the end of 

 the summer soon showed that precautions of several kinds were 

 necessary. The direct exposure of an ordinary plate-culture to 

 the full light of even a September or October sun, especially in 

 the afternoon, usually leads at once to the running and lique- 

 faction of the gelatine, and although the exposed plates eventually 

 showed fewer anthrax colonies than similar plates not exposed, 

 the matter was too complicated to give satisfactory results. 

 Obviously one objection was that the spores might have begun 

 to germinate, and the young colonies killed by the high tempera- 

 tures. 



Experiments made in October with gelatine plates wrapped in 

 black paper, in which a figure — a square, cross, or letter — was 

 cut, also led to results too indefinite for satisfaction, although it 

 was clear in some cases that if the plates lay quite flat, the 

 illuminated area was on the whole clear of colonies, while that 

 part of the plate covered by the paper w as full of colonies. 



But another source of vexation arose. After the plates had been 

 exposed to the sunlight for, say, six hours, it was necessary to 

 put them in the incubator (20^-22° C. was the temperature 

 used) for two days or so, to develop the colonies, and in many 

 cases it was observed that by the time the colonies were sufficiently 



» See p. 237 of "First Report to the Water Research Committee of the 

 Royal Society" (" Roy. Soc. Proc" col. 51, 1892) for the literature on this 

 subject up to 1891. 



- It appears that Buchner (Cenir.f. Rakt. vol. xii. 1892) has already done 

 this for typhoid, and finds the direct rays of the su nmer sun quite effective. 



