6i8 



NATURE 



[October 27, 1892 



than those known as Late Celtic. "The style of art," he 

 says, "which controlled the manufactare of Late Celtic objects 

 involves such an enormous advance in metallurgical skill over 

 that of the Bronze Age, that it is impossible to suppose the two 

 are connected by any evolutionary stages in this country. From 

 the standpoint of archaeological research this interval, or rather 

 hiatus, can only be bridged over by the supposition that the 

 people who owned Late Celtic remains were newcomers and 

 conquerors in Britain." Much light will no doubt be thrown 

 on the question by the further exploration of these remarkable 

 mounds. 



A LIVELY correspondence on the subject of birds versus in- 

 sects has been going on in the Malta papers. According to the 

 Mediterranean Naturalist, the enormous increase of insectife- 

 rous pests during the last few years has caused the agricultural 

 industries to decline to an alarming extent, and it is urged that 

 the evil has now increased so much as to call for legislation. In 

 the Maltese Islands there are no laws for the protection of birds, 

 and, the lower classes of the Maltese being keen sportsmen, no 

 opportunities are allowed to either the migratory or the indi- 

 genous species of increasing. 



It was observed by Prof. Voit that when dogs were fed ex- 

 clusively on bread they daily lost albumen, though not weight ; 

 the body becoming more watery and the haemoglobin of the 

 blood diminishing. This matter has been recently further in- 

 vestigated in his laboratory by Herr Tsuboi. Of three rabbits, 

 one was fed with milk, rolls, and some hay ; another with much 

 hay ; the third with potatoes. The last had more water in 

 muscles and blood, and less haemoglobin than the first. In 

 another experiment (with like results) one of two cats was fed 

 with meal and fat, another with bread and some meat extract. 

 Again, three rabbits were fed with potatoes, the first with iron 

 added, the second with serum, the third with blood. The last 

 was found to have most solid matters in muscles and blood, and 

 most haemoglobin. It is not (the author points out) the amount 

 of food by itself alone that determines the result, otherwise, in 

 the fasting state, the haemoglobin would be least, whereas it is 

 the same as with good feeding. It is rather the insufficient 

 composition of the food, the too small amount of albumen, 

 with excess of starch-flour that has the injurious effect. 



The phosphoroscope of Becquerel is a well-known instrument, 

 enabling one to observe the phosphorescence of some substance 

 when the exciting light is gone. It is designed to be used with 

 sunlight. M. Lenard has devised an instrument {La Nature) 

 for use with the electric spark. To the armature of a Foucault 

 interrupter in an induction coil, is attached a light wooden rod, 

 having at its end a piece of blackened pasteboard, which is 

 thus driven up and down before a spark-interval between two 

 brass knobs connected with the coil and a condenser (added to 

 intensify the spark). The body to be examined is placed close 

 behind the interval, so that it is uncovered very quickly after the 

 spark passes. Some curious phenomena are observed. The 

 short duration of the spark makes the screen seem at rest, and 

 some thousandths of a second after one sees a luminous body 

 behind where it was ; so that at first sight one might think the 

 screen opaque to the spark, but transparent for the phosphor- 

 escent light, an illusion due to the persistence of luminous im- 

 pressions. Some bodies, such as various carbonates of lime, 

 behave very much alike in this apparatus and in Becquerel's ; 

 some are favoured in the latter, and on the other hand, crystals 

 of arragonite, which are invisible after solar illumination, give a 

 faint reddish light after the spark. Various experiments are 

 described. The most curious results are furnished by the re- 

 markable substance, asaron. In a Crookes tube this gives a 

 bright light, it gives also a distinct glow in the ultraviolet spec- 

 NO. 1200, VOL. 46] 



trum of the spark ; but in the phosphoroscope it is absolutely 

 dark. The vibratory movement ceases immediately with the 

 excitation. 



The new number of the Internationales Archiv fiir Ethno- 

 graphie (Band v.. Heft 4) consists mainly of the first part of 

 what promises to be an elaborate paper (in German) on the in- 

 habitants of the Nicobar Islands, by Dr. W. Svoboda. In 

 October, 1886, while the German corvette, Aurora, lay in the 

 harbour of Nangcauri, Dr, Svoboda had many opportunities of 

 seeing the natives, and Mr. E. H. Man gave him facilities for 

 the thorough study of a splendid collection of ethnographical 

 objects from various parts of the group. Afterwards he extended 

 his knowledge of the subject by reading books which dealt with 

 it, and by visiting the ethnographical museums of Berlin and 

 Vienna. The results he is now bringing together, and those of 

 them embodied in the present contribution show that he is not 

 only a good observer but that he knows how to state facts clearly 

 and concisely. The paper is illustrated with coloured plates 

 and woodcuts. 



The British Institute of Public Health has now an official 

 quarterly journal, called The [ournal of State Medicine. It is 

 published by Charles Griffin and Co. The second number has 

 appeared, and contains original papers on the following subjects : 

 —lead in articles of food, by Prof. William R. Smith ; points 

 in the aetiology of typhoid fever, by Edmond J. McWeeney ; 

 chemical bacteriology of sewage, by W. E. Adeney ; and new 

 method of sewage purification, by W. Kaye Parry. 



A NEW and revised edition of the late Prof. Moseley's well- 

 known "Notes by a Naturalist on H.M.S. Challenger^" has 

 been issued by Mr. John Murray. It includes an excellent 

 portrait, which vividly reminds us of the great loss inflicted on 

 science by his premature death. 



Messrs. Whittaker and Co. have published the first part 

 of a work entitled "Dissections Illustrated : A Graphic Hand- 

 book for Students of Human Anatomy," by C. Gordon Brodie. 

 The plates are drawn and lithographed by Percy Highley. The 

 work will be completed in four parts. The present part deals 

 with the upper limb, and includes seventeen coloured plates. 



A SECOND edition of "A Short Manual of Inorganic 

 Chemistry," by Dr. A. Dupre and Dr. H. W. Hake (Charles 

 Griffin and Co. ), has been issued. The authors have endeavoured 

 to bring the statement of facts up to date without increasing 

 the bulk of the work, and to remove those errors to which their 

 attention has been drawn. 



A re-determination of the mechanical equivalent of heat 

 has been made by M. C. Miculescu at the Sorbonne. An 

 account of the method appears in the Annates de Chimie et de 

 Physique for October. The method was that of water friction 

 at constant temperature. The liquid was enclosed in a cylindrical 

 vessel with three envelopes. Water was kept circulating round 

 the innermost one at such a rate that the diff"erence of temperature 

 of the water at entrance and exit was constant as measured by a 

 thermopile. The heat thus derived from the water inside could 

 be estimated by the quantity of water passed through. The 

 water inside was stirred by vanes mounted on an axial shaft kept 

 rotating by a gramme machine of i horse-power running at 

 1200 revolutions per minute. The expenditure of work was 

 measured by making the whole apparatus its own dynamometer. 

 It was suspended so as to turn round the common axis of the 

 stirrer and the motor. The resistance met with by the former 

 tended to turn the apparatus in the direction of revolution of 

 the latter. It was kept stationary by a weight attached to an 

 arm exerting a measurable couple. The mean of 31 values 

 ranging from 425'2i to 427 '12 was 42670 in kilogram-metres 



