October 25, 1900J 



NATURE 



627 



Sir Henry Dyke Acland, whose death we recorded last 

 week will probably be remembered more on account of the 

 influence he exerted on behalf of scientific education at Oxford 

 than for his contributions to natural knowledge. He was born 

 in 1815, and graduated in medicine in the University of Oxford in 

 1846, having previously been appointed Lee's Reader in Anatomy. 

 He became Radcliffe Librarian in 1851, and Regius Professor 

 of Medicine in 1857, which post he held until the year 1894. 

 He was a member of the General Medical Council from 1854 to 

 1874, and president in the years 1874-1887, when Sir Richard 

 Quain succeeded him. Referring to his work on the Council, 

 the Lancet says it was invaluable, and as he was likewise a 

 member of the Medical Education Committee of the Hebdomadal 

 Council of the University of Oxford, his influence on the scope 

 and direction of the course of studies of a medical student was 

 very great indeed, and was invariably directed towards the en- 

 largement of the scope of scientific training. Not only did he 

 use his influence for the good of the medical profession in his 

 own country, but he extended his interests to foreign countries, 

 and in 1879 sent an eloquent and encouraging letter to the 

 authorities of the Johns Plopkins University, urging his readers 

 to higher things and to the raising of the standard of medical 

 education. He always placed the greatest stress upon general 

 culture as a necessary qualification for the successful medical 

 man, and being himself of very wide interests and a man of 

 science, displayed an excellent example of a scientific and 

 scholarly physician. In 1869 he was appointed a member 

 of the Commission to inquire into the sanitary laws of England 

 and Wales, and did valuable work in connection with it. He 

 was the author of several works on medical and scientific sub- 

 jects, including an important memoir on the visitation of cholera 

 in Oxford in 1854, and another on village health and village life 

 written in 1884 for the International Health Exhibition. 



A LITTLE more than a year ago the attention of the Council 

 of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society was 

 directed to the fact ithat Dalton's tomb in Ardwick cemetery, 

 Manchester, was in a very bad condition, owing to neglect. A 

 committee was appointed to take steps to put the monument in 

 a thorough state of repair, and there was no difficulty in obtain- 

 ing subscriptions for this purpose. A full-pige illustration of 

 the tomb in its restored condition appears in the latest number 

 of the Memiirs and Proceedings of the Society. 



Referring to the age of the big trees of California, Prof. 

 C. E. Bessey records in Science that he once counted with much 

 care the rings of growth of the tree of which the stump con- 

 stitutes the floor of the so-called dancing pavilion. This count 

 was made from circumference to centre, and every ring in all 

 that distance was counted, no estimates or guesses being made. 

 The result was that 1147 rings were counted, and accordingly 

 it is safe to say that this tree, which was fully 24 or 25 feet 

 in diameter, and considerably more than 300 feet in height, 

 acquired these dimensions in eleven hundred and forty-seven 

 years. Prof. Bessey doubts whether any of the existing tree s 

 approach the age of two thousand years. 



A DESCRIPTION of the condition of gases, materials and food 

 in a mine which had been tightly closed for fifteen months was 

 given by Mr. F. G. Meachem at the recent meeting of the 

 Institution of Mining Engineers. When the mine was reopened, 

 the air was analysed and was found to consist of 84 per cent, of 

 nitrogen, 12 per cent, of fire-damp, and 4 per cent, of carbon 

 dioxide. The gases were greatly compressed, and it is estimated 

 that about 1,500,000 cubic feet escaped from the first bore hole 

 in twenty-four hours. When the mine was entered, it was found 

 that the gases had had no deleterious effect upbn the food, or 

 the materials left in the mine ; in fact, everything left in the mine 

 was found practically undamaged. Bread had become as dry as 

 NO. 16x7, VOL. 62] 



biscuit, cooked bacon was as fresh as when left, and water in the 

 horses' tubs had not evaporated, although surrounded by per- 

 fectly dry coal-dust. Previous to the fire, oatmeal was supplied 

 to men working in hot places to mix with their drinking-water, 

 and this was found to be as sweet as when sent down the pit. 

 The rails and ropes were not rusted. Men's clothing was dry, 

 and in practically the same condition as when left. In the 

 stables, the chaff was unimpaired, and the horses readily ate it. 

 The timber in the pit did not seem to have undergone any 

 change whatever. In the three months that had elapsed since 

 the reopening of the mine, greater decay had taken place than 

 during the fifteen months that the pit was closed. 



Malaria is not the only disease which is propagated by 

 mosquitoes. In the Atti det Lincei, ix. 5, Prof. Grassi and G. 

 Noe describe observations on the transmission of the filariae of 

 the blood by mosquito bites. The same species. Anopheles 

 claviger, which is mainly responsible for the dissemination of 

 malaria, also plays the part of host to Filaria iininitis. The 

 present investigation deals with the mode of exit adopted by 

 the filariae in passing from the mosquito to the punctured 

 animal, and it would appear that the parasites make their escape 

 by means of a rupture in the integum2nt of the labium. In the 

 succeeding part of the same journal, Prof. Grassi describes ex- 

 periments carried out by a committee with the assistance both of 

 the Italian Government and of the Mediterranean Railway Com- 

 pany, with a view to the prevention and cure of malaria in 

 infected districts. The experiments were carried out in the 

 plains about PcEStum, which have long been known as a hot- 

 bed of malaria (" malaricissima " is the epithet Grassi applies to 

 the region), and fell into two categories, namely, cure of the 

 disease by the use of quinine, and protection from the bites of 

 Anopheles claviger by the use of wire gauze as a covering for 

 windows, doors and even chimneys of houses, the inhabitants 

 of which were required to remain indoors from before sunset till 

 after sunrise, or to go about covered with veils at night. By 

 thus preventing mosquito bites, it was found that the malarial 

 regions could be safely inhabited even at the season when the 

 fever was at its height, and under such conditions the district 

 might be made as healthy as any part of Italy. 



In opening the recent International A eronautical Congress at 

 the Meudon Observatory, the president, M. Janssen, rapidly 

 and very eloquently reviewed the most im portant points of the 

 progress made since the meeting of the last congress held at 

 Paris in 1889. During the interval, progress has been consider- 

 able in all directions, and new and important questions have 

 been dealt with. The military authorities of several of the 

 European countries have rendered much assistance in allowing 

 their balloons and requisite appliances to be used in scientific 

 investigations. In Germany alone no less than seventy-five 

 ascents have been made during the last five years, the results of 

 which have recently been discussed in a valuable work by MM. 

 Assmann and Berson. Since the last congress in 1889, M. Le 

 Monnier's idea of employing unmanned balloons has beea 

 realised ; the success of these ascents and the results obtained 

 by their means, notably in the investigations of MM. Violle and 

 Cailletet, have given rise to the creation of the International 

 Aeronautical Committee, which recently met in Paris under the 

 presidency of Dr. Ilergesell. M. Janssen also referred to the 

 important results obtained from kite observations, especially by 

 Mr. Rotch and M. L. Teisserenc de Bort. At the Berlin 

 Meteorological Office a new service has been established for 

 experiments, both with kites and balloons. The use of balloons 

 for astronomical observations was also discussed, and recom- 

 mended for observing the Leonid showers in November next. 

 This method was successfully used under M. Janssen's direc- 

 tions by M. Hausky, in 1898, and was adopted by other 

 countries in the following year. 



