172 



NATURE 



[July 5, 1917 



the ideas of the original inventors, and in no way 

 detract from their credit. It remains, therefore, cer- 

 tain that, whatever value may attach to the contribu- 

 tions of others, the largest share in the honour of 

 having invented the aeroplane must always he given 

 to the two brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright." 



Mr. E. Sidney Hartland, president of the Bristol 

 and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, devoted 

 his annual address, published in vol. xxxix. of the 

 society's Transactions, to a discussion of the legend 

 of St. Kenelm, the b-oy-saint, whose shrine at the 

 ancient Abbey of Winchcombe, in a beautiful little 

 dale at the foot of the Cotswold Hills, was a famous 

 place of pilgrimage until the Reformation. To-day 

 not one stone upon another of this great religious 

 building remains. The abbey was founded about the 

 end of the first decade of the ninth century by Ken- 

 wulf, king of the Mercians and father of the 

 honoured saint, whose remains were probably interred 

 there. But, as is the case with many elaborate 

 legends of this kind, the story of his life fails to stand 

 the detailed historical criticism which Mr. Hartland 

 has devoted to it. The paper, which is very interest- 

 ing, may be regarded as a studv of the value, for his- 

 torical purposes, of local tradition, and will be valu- 

 able both to the antiquary and to the student of folk- 

 lore. 



Much progress has been made during the last 

 century in the scientific treatment of the geography of 

 Ptolemy. But the standard edition by C. Mueller, 

 continued iby C. Th. Fischer, is still incomplete, and 

 the condition of the MSS. offers an opportunity for 

 much useful work. In a paper contributed to vol. 

 xxxvii., part i., of the Journal of Hellenic Studies for 

 1917, Mr. L. O. T. Tudeer examines the maps at- 

 tached to various MSS., especially that known as the 

 " Codex Constantinopolitanus Chartaceus," which has 

 been assigned to the fourteenth or fifteenth century. 

 At first sight the maps of this MS. give a pleasing 

 impression, but more careful examination discloses 

 various difficulties and discrepancies which it is not 

 easy to explain. Either >&. copyist has first copied the 

 maps without writing down the names from his 

 authority, and after finishing his work has added 

 names from the text, not from his model, or else the 

 maps did not originallv belong to the text, but some 

 draughtsman afterwards traced them, and he has not 

 always been careful to avoid faults and inconsisten- 

 cies. Mr. Tudeer 's careful examination of the MS. 

 material should prove to be of value in clearing up the 

 many difficulties of this great early contribution to 

 scientific geography. 



In the Scientific Monthly for June, 1917, vol. iv., 

 No. 6, Dr. Jonathan Wright contributes an article 

 entitled " Demonology and Bacteriology in Medicine." 

 He begins with a survey of the beliefs of various 

 savage races, which consider that all, or most, kinds 

 of disease are due to the action of demons or male- 

 volent spirits. This account would be more useful to 

 the student if the writer had not adopted the careless 

 method of quoting his authorities without precise 

 references. He remarks that we may venture to 

 assert that primitive men were right in supposing that 

 "some external agent, demon or bacterium, intro- 

 duced from without, is the cau^e of most disease. 

 Indeed, in pointing out tlie conception of a conflict 

 of the evil spirits of disease with the good spirits 

 that defend the body within, we are perhaps within 

 hailing distance of the time when Hippocrates defined 

 disease as a conflict between opposing forces waged 

 in the bodies of men and animals. It persists as the 

 best definition of disease modern science can give, 



NO. 2488, VOL. 99] 



but the concept d'd not originate with Metchnikoff, 

 nor even with Hippocrates. For, of the people of the 

 Lower Niger, to whom neither Socratic nor Hippo- 

 cratic wisdom seems to have penetrated, it is said that 

 'every medicine to be of any use must have within it 

 a spiritual essence to defeat the operatipns of the 

 aggressive invader.'" 



An admirable survey of the American warblers and 

 their value to the agriculturist appears in the 

 National Geographic Magazine (vol. xxxi.. No. 4). 

 The author, Mr. Henry Henshaw, described some 

 thirty-six species of these birds, giving details of their 

 nesting habits, distribution, and migration. His 

 essay is supplemented by thirty-two exquisitely 

 coloured figures, drawn by Louis Fuertes, the finest 

 bird artist America has yet produced. His work, 

 indeed, compares favourably with that of the best 

 European artists — and they are very limited in num- 

 ber. 



The great snowstorm which crossed Ireland from 

 N.E. to S.W. during January of this year seems to 

 have exterminated a number of resident species of 

 birds throughout the area covered by the storm. A 

 long account of the havoc wrought is given in the 

 Irish Naturalist for June by Mr. C. B. Moffat. The 

 thrush was the first to succumb, then the blackbird, 

 stone-chat, golden -crested wren, long-tailed titmouse, 

 grey wagtail, and meadow-pipit. Scarcely any 

 meadow-pipits survived, and the number of summer 

 visitants to the islands seems to be far below the 

 average. This will mean that very few young will be 

 reared this year, since the meadow-pipit is the favourite 

 dupe of the cuckoo, which will in consequence mono- 

 polise most of the nests of this bird to the exclusion of 

 the rightful occupants. 



I Prof. G. H. F. Nuttall, The Museums, Cambridge, 

 ' is engaged in an investigation on human lice, and 

 I desires to obtain specimens and accurate information 

 ! concerning these parasites from different parts of the 

 i world. The specimens should be killed and well pre- 

 \ served in -70 per cent, alcohol ; about fiftv adults, 

 I besides larvae, if obtainable, are desired from each 



locality. Head-lice and body-lice should be kept apart. 

 ! They should be accompanied by brief notes regarding 



their prevalence on the races or inhabitants of the 

 I region wihence they are sent. Where specimens are 

 1 not procurable, any written communication on the sub- 

 : jeot will be welcomed by Prof. Nuttall, and references 

 j to the mention of lice in works of travel may prove 

 ! useful. Communications may be written in any 



European language, according to the convenience of 

 i the correspondent. 



j An urgent plea for the establishment of a chair of 

 I economic ornithology at one of our universities is 

 ', made bv Mr. W. Berry in the Scottish Naturalist for 

 j June. By way of illustrating his arguments he gives 

 analyses of the crop contents of a number of sparrows, 

 wood-pigeons, and pheasants. While admitting, as 

 all must, that the house-sparrow sadly needs thinning, 

 he re-directs attention to the fact that these birds do 

 assist in keeping down insect pests. Black game and 

 pheasants are recommended, he remarks, by the 

 Board of Agriculture for wholesale destruction, withr 

 out distinction of district or topography. Yet an 

 analysis of the crop contents of 183 pheasants made 

 in 1893 disclosed the remains of more than 100,000 

 injurious beetles and other insects, larvae, ard slugs, 

 while the total number of husks and fragments of 

 corn of any kind was thirty-seven. In another case 

 the crop contents of a single cock pheasant froin 

 Argyllshire yielded no fewer than 2286 specimens of 

 Bibio, and 508 of the heather beetle, which plays so 



