544 



NA TURE 



[October 5, 189: 



organ itself. It must not be supposed, however, that the elec- 

 tricity is generated in the electric centres, and that it is con- 

 veyed by the electric nerves to the electric organ. On the 

 contrary, it is generated in the electric organ itself, but it is 

 only produced so as to give a " shock " when it is set in action 

 by nervous impulses transmitted to it from the electric centres 

 by the electric nerves. 



The Humanitarian contains a revised form of the 

 paper on "Cremation" read at the Edinburgh meeting 

 of the British Institute of Public Health by Sir Spencer 

 Wells. 



Mr. Geoffrey Winterwood writes on " Mars as a 

 World " in Good Words, his article being based in 

 the main upon Camille Flammarion's recent work on 

 Mars and its conditions of habitability. The article is 

 brightened by nine excellent illustrations. " The Cold 

 Meteorite " is the title of a poem by Mr. W. R. Hunting- 

 don in the Century Magazine. The meteorite is thus 

 apostrophised : — 



" far better 'tis to die 

 The death that flashes gladness, than alone 



In frigid dignity to live on high ; 

 Better in burning sacrifice be thrown 



Against the world to perish, than the sky 

 To circle endlesslj', a barren stone." 



HYDROPHOBIA STATISTICS FOR 1S92 AT 

 THE INSTITUT PASTEUR. 



A N account of the anti-rabic vaccinations undertaken 

 ■^*- last year in the Pasteur Institute in Paris has been 

 recently published {Annales de I'lnstitut Pasteur, vol. 

 vii. p. 335, 1893). From the statistics here given it 

 appears that no less than 1790 persons underwent this 

 treatment during the past year in Paris alone, and that 

 out of these only four subsequently died from rabies. In 

 600 of these cases the bites were attributed to animals 

 suspected of suffering from hydrophobia at the time, 

 but in all the others the certainty was established by 

 subsequent veterinary examination, as well as by the 

 death from rabies of other animals bitten by the animal 

 in question. 



Since the beginning of the Pasteur treatment in 1886, 

 the mortality from bites on the head after treatment is 

 stated as 1.48 per cent., from wounds on the hands o'55, 

 and o'24 per cent, from bites on the limbs. 



Thus by far the most serious cases are those in which 

 the head is attacked, and it is pointed out how unfortu- 

 nate is the delay which frequently occurs between the 

 wound and the arrival of the patient for treatment, the 

 interval militating most seriously against the success of 

 the subsequent inoculations. 



The following table indicates the nationality of the 

 patients admitted to the Institute during the past 

 year : — 



Algeria is specially mentioned as being amongst those 

 districts from which the largest number of cases are 

 yearly sent to the Institute. 



Last year a patient came from Madeira, rabies having 

 been imported for the first time into the island by a dog 

 from Portugal. 



A most unusual occurrence is drawn attention to, viz. 

 the death of a patient, a young Englishman, treated in 

 1887, and who died last year, five years therefore later, of 

 rabies. Such an exceptional case has not^een met with 



NO. 1249, VOL. 48I 



since the commencement in 1886 of the anti-rabic in- 

 oculations, which up to the present number 12,782. 



Taking the average of cases received during the past 

 six years, rabies appears to reach a maximum in the 

 spring and a minimum in the autumn. 



NOTES. 



The Harveian Oration will be delivered by Dr. P. H. Pye- 

 Smith, at the Royal College of Physicians, at four o'clock on 

 Wednesday, October 18. 



The vacancy in the Mineralo ical Department of the 

 British Museum, occasioned by the death of Mr. Thomas 

 Davies, has been filled by the appointment by the trustees of 

 Mr. Leonard J. Spencer, of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, 

 who gained the first place at the competitive examination. 



Throijgh the munificence of Mr. F. Duncane Godman, 

 F.R.S., a bo:anical exploration of the island of St. Vincent 

 was made by Mr. Herbert H. Smith and Mr. G. W. Smith ia 

 1889 and 1890. The plants then collected, and those from 

 St. Vincent previously in the Kew Herbarium, have now been 

 arranged, and the resulting catalogue constitutes the Kciu 

 Bulletin for September (No. 81). All the 977 plants collected 

 by the Smiths are included, whether indigenous or naturalised, 

 and, in addition, 179 flowering jilants and 24 ferns not collected 

 by them. We read that, "with regard to the general distribu- 

 tion of the indigenous plants, the principal points are the wide 

 geographical range of the majority, and the smallness of the 

 endemic element, conditions that obtain throughout the whole 

 chain of islands from Tobago to the Virgin group, which are in 

 striking contrast to the proportions of the endemic element in 



Cuba and Jamaica The fern vegetation is very rich and 



varied, and, in relation to the area, far in excess as to number 

 of species to that of New Zealand, which is generally regarded 

 as one of the most highly concentrated 



We learn from the Pioneer Mail that Mr. Dallas, Assistant 

 Meteorological Reporter to the Government of India, leaves 

 shortly for Madras, in order to assist the authorities in starting 

 a daily weather report in thit Province. 



Dr. Henry B. Ward, of Michigan University, has been 

 appointed Associate Professor of Zoology to the University of 

 Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebr. 



Dr. E. Symes Thompson will lecture upon the voice, at 

 Gresham College, Basinghall Street, on October lo, 11, 12, 

 and 13. The lectures are free to the public, and commence 

 each evening at six o'clock. 



A VERY brilliant meteor was seen about 9.45 last night at 

 Leicester (says the Times of October 2). It seemed to burst 

 from near the zenith, and proceeded towards the western horizon, 

 increasing very rapidly in brilliancy, until the ground and 

 atmosphere were lit up so that objects in the landscape could be 

 clearly seen at a long distance for several seconds. Mr. H. 

 Cook, of the Birmingham and Midland Institute, says that the 

 meteor was also seen at Neen Sollars, near to Cleobury 

 Mortimer, Salop, at the above-mentioned hour. 



Dr. O. Loew, of Munich, well known for his investigations 

 of the nature of protoplasm in connection with Dr. T. Bokorny, 

 has been appointed Professor of Agricultural Chemistry in the 

 University of Tokio, Japan ; and Dr. D. Brandis, a fellow of 

 our Royal Society, Professor of Forestry in the University of 

 Bonn. 



In two recent numbers of the Botanisches Centralblatt is a 

 detailed account, by Dr. F. v. Herder, of the Herbaria and 

 Botanical Museums in St. Petersburg. Of these, five in num- 

 ber besides private collections, the richest and most important 



