4IO 



NATURE 



[July 19, 1917 



more and more national. The attempt, chiefly apparent, 

 it seems — at least so far as physiology is concerned — in 

 Germany, to publish the work of scientific men of 

 other nations in their own languages is, according 

 to him, a danger of monopoly hidden under the cloak 

 of apparent internationalisation. Further," we must 

 allow for a sextuple Entente, to include the United 

 States and Japan ; and it seems that this would in- 

 crease the difficulty of making the projected journals 

 suffice for their task. Ententist organisation is cer- 

 tainly desirable, especially for year-books of analysis of 

 published work, but Prof. Gley brings forward certain 

 ■difficulties in the matter, which are, however, it would 

 seem, not insurmountable. An Ententist organisation 

 of detailed " handbooks " of science, something like the 

 best German books, seems to Prof. Gley much more 

 possible. A second part of the article is devoted to 

 the development of laboratories in Germany, which 

 has played a great part in Germany's scientific hege- 

 mony, and to the lessons that France might learn in 

 this respect. In the Revue for April 15 M. Ch.JVlarie 

 suggested the path to be followed in the organisation 

 of scientific records and other publications by the 

 countries of the Entente. 



The Archives of Radiology and Electrotherapy for 

 June (vol. xxii.. No. i) contains an article by Mr. 

 H. C. Gage on simplified X-ray methods. The neces- 

 sity in the present war of coping swiftly with a maxi- 

 mum of cases at a minimum of expense has led to the 

 evolution of new ideas and the modification of old 

 methods. The localisation of foreign bodies and the 

 radiography of the limbs for fractures are dealt with 

 at length. Attention is directed to the use of rapid 

 bromide paper, with wliich it is possible to make good 

 radiographs if an intensification screen be employed 

 for the deeper parts. By its use economy is effected 

 and weight for transport reduced. 



The Indian Journal of Medical Research for April 

 (vol. iv., No. 4) contains a number of valuable papers 

 dealing with a variety of subjects — bacteriological 

 studies of cholera-like microbes, vitality of the tubercle 

 bacillus outside the body, role of the blood in ovulation 

 in mosquitoes, a substitute for " nutrose " (pea-nut 

 flour, ninety-four parts; casein, five parts; sodium 

 canbonate, one part), etc. Lieut. Mackenzie Wallis, 

 R.A.M.C., describes a new test for chlorine in drink- 

 ing water. This consists of an acid solution of benzi- 

 dine or tolidine, which yield a yellow colour with so 

 little as 0-005 P^*"* of chlorine per million of water, and 

 do not react with chlorides. The same author has also 

 investigated the ability of chloramine-T to sterilise 

 water for drinking purposes. One drop of a saturated 

 aqueous solution of chloramine-T (about a 15 per 

 cent, solution) will sterilise two litres of_ water, con- 

 taining an excess of organic matter, in thirty minutes. 

 Water so treated has no unpleasant taste or smell, as is 

 the case when bleaching powder and other hypo- 

 chlorites are used. 



Mr. J. Arthur Hutton gives an account of the in- 

 vestigations (which he has now carried on for many 

 years) into the life-history of the salmon in the Salmon 

 and Trout Magazine for April. The method of " scale- 

 reading" is that mainly employed, and the results 

 apply particularly to the River Wye, but there is also 

 a general discussion of the Billingsgate Market statis- 

 tics, and a strongly urged plea for the general im- 

 provement of the system of collecting salmon statistics 

 throughout the United Kingdom. 



The Madras Fisheries Bulletin, No. 11, consists of 

 a description of the edible molluscs found on the shores 

 of the Presidency. Mr. Jas. Hornell, the writer, 

 gives good accounts of the occurrence and natural 

 history of each of the orincinal species, and adds a 



NO. 2490, VOL. 99] 



figure for each of the more important animals. 

 Except in the case of the poorer classes of coast 

 dwellers, shell-fish are either despised or neglected as 

 articles of food in India — that is, in comparison with 

 the littoral fishing industries of Britain, France, and 

 Japan, for instance. But it also appears to be the 

 case that the larger and more valuable edible molluscs 

 of other parts of the world are either very small or 

 absent on Indian shores, and the suggestion is made 

 that the indigenous supplies should be supplemented by 

 the introduction and cultivation of more valuable 

 species. The report is written from this point of view. 



A BRIEF but felicitous series of notes on the breed- 

 ing habits of the merlin appears in British Birds for 

 July by Mr. E. R. Paton. These cover the whole 

 period, from the first appearance of the merlin on an 

 Ayrshire moor to the disappearance of the young, three 

 in number. The male seems to have taken no part 

 in incubation until near the time of hatching. Both 

 parents took part in feeding the young, but while 

 the female kept to the moor, the male hunted largely 

 for food in a neighbouring wood. Though the nest 

 was in the middle of a grouse-drive, yet no young 

 game-bird was ever killed by either of the parent birds. 

 Incubation lasted thirty days, and did not commence 

 until the full clutch of three eggs was laid. The 

 young were apparently able to fly by the end of July 

 —that is to say, when a/bout one month old. 



Mr. W. H. T. Tams, in the July issue of the Ento- 

 mologists' Magazine, directs attention to the fact that 

 while the noctuid moth, Euplexia lucipara, taken in 

 the British Isles differs but little, in external ap- 

 pearance, from specimens taken in Canada, yet in the 

 structure of the genitalia of the males the differences 

 are of a very striking character. Being now on active 

 service with the Canadian Army Corps, Mr. Tams 

 remarks that he is, for the present, quite unable to 

 carry his investigations further into this subject, and 

 hence appeals to entomologists who may have oppor- 

 tunities for work of this description to make a careful 

 study of specimens of this species drawn from widely 

 different areas of its range, which is considerable, 

 since it is found all over Europe and Asia, as well as 

 in North America. Such an inquiry, he contends, 

 would afford valuable data as to the relation between 

 these structural differences in the genitalia and the 

 geographical distribution of the individuals. 



To the American Naturalist for April (vol. li., 

 No. 604) Dr. P. Hadley contributes a valuable paper 

 on the flagellate genus Trichomonas, usually a harm- 

 less parasite in the intestine of various animal hosts. 

 Dr. Hadley states that these organisms multiply ex- 

 ceedingly in the intestines of diarrhoeic turkeys, pene- 

 trate the epithelium, and, invading the tissues of the 

 host, become intracellular parasites living in the 

 manner of sporozoa and playing a pathogenic rSle 

 associated with the disease known as "blackhead." 

 The author does not state definitely if he considers 

 that the protozoal parasites hitherto recognised as the 

 cause of "blackhead," and regarded as Eimeria 

 avium, are in reality stages in the life-history , of 

 Trichomonas. The questions raised are of mucji in- 

 terest, and call for further elucidation. 



That legislation enacted to secure the exterjriination 

 of " vermin " in response to popular clamour is ever 

 dangerous we have always held. Australia is now 

 learning this to her sorrow. For thirty years com- 

 pulsory poisoning laws have been in force, and the 

 Scientific Australian for March, which has just reached 

 us, now complains that, as a result of these laws, 

 the carrion hawks, crows, and native carnivora have 

 been well-nigh wiped out. As a consequence, decaying 

 bodies are left to be demolished by blow-flies, which 



