October 19, 1S93] 



NATURE 



599 



A DAINTY brochure, by Martha F. Sesselberg, entitled " In 

 Amazon Land," and containing adaptations from Brazilian 

 writers, with original selections, has been published by Messrs. 

 G. P. Putnam's Sons. The part of the book of interest to us 

 refers to Amazonian legends, beliefs, traditions, and super- 

 stitions. 



A SECOND edition of "An Introduction to Human Physi- 

 ology," by Dr. A. D. Waller, F.R.S., has been published by 

 Messrs. Longmans, Green and Co. Several alterations and 

 transpositions of text have been made, and the results of many 

 recent investigations have been included, thus giving additional 

 value to an already highly appreciated work. 



\Ve have received the Transactions of the Sanitary Institute, 

 vol. xiii. The volume consists chiefly of reprints or abstracts 

 of the papers read at the conferences which were organised in 

 connection with the congress held at Portsmouth in 1892. It 

 also includes an address to sanitary officers, delivered by Sir 

 Douglas Galton at Worcester. 



A CLASSIFIED list of plants in the Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Trinidad, has been issued as a Bulletin of Miscellaneous In- 

 formation, No. 17, by Mr. J. H. Hart, the Superintendent. 

 The list contains the names of plants under cultivation and in- 

 digenous in the Gardens, and is of scientific as well as economic 

 interest. 



Dr. Kicuchi, ot Tokyo, has just published, in Japanese, 

 a text-book on Trigonometry, thus carrying on the good 

 work he has begun in his manuals on Geometry, Logic, &.<:., 

 and in his translations of " Clfford's Common-sense of the 

 Exact Sciences," of " Russell's Technical Education," &c. The 

 degree of Rigakuhakushi (= D.Sc.)is a degree conferred by 

 the Minister of Education with the advice of the Council of the 

 University. 



Lieut. J. P. Finlev has prepared a report on " Certain 

 Climatic Features of the Two Dakotas" for the U.S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. The report is illustrated with 163 tables, 

 charts and diagrams, and it presents a vast amount of infor- 

 mation concerning the meteorological phenomena which are 

 believed to have a marked influence upon the agricultural inter- 

 ests of the States investigated. From the report it appears that 

 the Dakotas should at once resort to an extensive system of 

 irrigation in order to increase the precipitation and check the 

 high evaporation. Forests ought also to be preserved, and 

 extensive plantings of trees should be made. In the words of 

 the report, " The meteorological and physical features of the 

 Dakotas are such that, under the influence of settlement and 

 the consequent development of agriculture, changes are effected 

 which tend to the rapid dissipation of the moderate rainfall, 

 through absorption and evaporation. Irrigation and reforesta- 

 tion are the only remedies." 



The disinfecting properties of peroxide of hydrogen have 

 long been known, but considerable additions have been 

 recently made to our more exact information concerning its bac- 

 tericidal action. Richardson {Chein. Soc. Journal, Sept. 1893) 

 has shown that the antiseptic action of sunlight on urine is due to 

 the production of peroxide of hydrogen, for samples exposed to 

 sunshine remained clear, and on examination were found to 

 contain peroxide, whilst similar samples kept in the dark be- 

 came turbid and contained no peroxide. Traugott, in " Einige 

 Ergiinzungen zur Praxis der Desinfection " [Zeitschrift jiir 

 Hygiene, vol. xiv. 1893, p. 427), points out as the result of his 

 investigations that this material may be substituted in all cases 

 for corrosive sublimate and carbolic acid where the period of 

 contact is not less than a quarter to half an hour ; but that it 

 is not suitable where rapid disinfection is required, as in the 



NO. 1251, VOL. 48] 



case of the disinfection of the hands, (Sec. Being innocuous and 

 also harmless as regards clothing and the like, it is a safer dis- 

 infectant for general application than the former ; its cost is, 

 however, considerably greater. Some years ago, Heidenhain 

 stated that he had constantly used peroxide of hydrogen as a 

 gargle in cases of diphtheria, and Traugott mentions in his 

 memoir that ten seconds' contact of a 2 per cent, solution of 

 H2O3 with a young and vigorous growth of the diphtheria 

 bacillus on blood serum, entirely destroyed this organism. If 

 however two days' old cultures were similarly treated, contact 

 fbr thirty minutes, even when repeated three times, was not 

 sufficient for its annihilation. Thus the therapeutic value of 

 this material consists in its immediate application at the very 

 outset of the disease, whilst it may be recommended as an 

 important prophylactic during epidemics of diphtheria. 



As regards the hygienic importance of peroxide of hydrogen, 

 and its practical application, the experiments of Van Tromp and, 

 later, Altehoefer on its action upon bacteria, pathogenic and 

 otherwise, in water are of much interest. Van Tromp men. 

 tions that an addition of peroxide of hydrogen in the proportion 

 of I : 10, 000 parts of the water, when shaken up and allowed to 

 stand for twenty-four hours, is usually sufficient to sterilise a 

 water. Altehoefer, however, found that to ensure sterility it 

 was advisable to use larger quantities, viz. I : 1000 parts of the 

 water. Experiments made with waters purposely infected with 

 cholera and typhoid bacilli, respectively, showed that in both 

 cases these organisms were destroyed after twenty-four hours 

 by this proportion of peroxide of hydrogen. Altehoefer, more- 

 over, specially mentions that he found this addition in no way 

 interfered with the dietetic value of the water, and recommends 

 its application for household purposes as a protective measure 

 during any epidemics of typhoid fever and cholera. Traugott 

 also testifies to the innocuous character of this material even 

 when swallowed in large doses, and states that 100 grm. or half 

 a wineglassful of a 5 per cent, solution was administered by one 

 of the doctors in a hospital in Breslau without any ill-effects 

 whatever, whilst undoubted benefit was derived from its use. 

 Care must, however, be taken that the particular material 

 employed is as pure as possible, as traces of the poisonous 

 barium chloride in larger or smaller quantities may:be present ; 

 moreover, it is important that the sample should be freshly 

 prepared, as its strength and consequently bactericidal action is 

 reduced when it has been preserved for some time. 



We are indebted to The Gas World for the following par- 

 ticulars concerning a remarkable process, which is now being suc- 

 cessfully worked, for very considerably increasing the illuminating 

 power of coal gas, involving what at first sight would appear 

 the highly dangerous operation of introducing into the gas a 

 quantity of pure oxygen. In the year 1890 Mr. Edward Tatham, 

 of New South Wales, made the bold proposal to add consider- 

 able quantities of pure oxygen to warm, heavy oil gas, with the 

 object of producing a st.iblegasof very high illuminating power. 

 Later in the same year Dr. L. T. Thorne communicated to the 

 Gas Institute the results of preliminary experiments with this 

 gas, which he had carried out on behalf of Erin's Oxygen Com- 

 pany. These experimental results led to the conclusion that 

 rich oxy-oil gas per se was far and away more effective as an 

 illuminant than the coal gas now employed for this purpose, 

 but that its more immediate prospect of use lay in the direction 

 of enhancing the lower illuminating power of ordinary coal gas. 

 Preparations have since been made for practically testing the ap- 

 plicability of oxy-oil gas to the enrichment of coal gas, and the 

 Hydro-Oxy Gas Patents Proprietary, Limited, have erected at 

 II, Salisbury-square, E.C., a complete experimental plant for 

 the purpose. Moreover, the corporation of Huddersfield are 

 erecting a plant for the purpose of enriching the coal gas sup- 



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