February 20, 1896] 



NATURE 



Z7^ 



Mitchell, has produced an excellent translation of " Le 

 Mouvement,"by E. J. Marey (G Masson, Paris), on which 

 they may be much congratulated. The work will be most 

 acceptable to a large number of readers widely differing 

 in their lines of study. In many cases the details of the 

 construction of the apparatus and its use are so clearly 

 given, that but little difficulty should be experienced by 

 any of those who wish to use chronophotography in 

 researches on the movements of any animals, from 

 elephants to microscopic insects. The translators have 

 reproduced a large number of plates, amongst which the 

 following seem to be good illustrations of chronophoto- 

 graphy. 



The flight of the heron (p. 233). 



The arrangement of apparatus for taking three simul- 

 taneous chronophotographs of a flying bird from three 

 points of view — from the front, the side, and from above 

 (p. 236). By means of these chronophotographs, bas- 

 reliefs have been constructed, showing the successive 

 attitudes of the bird during flight. 



Different figures of rotation (Figs. 15-24); amongst 

 which that of a certain sphere (p. 30) is most curious. 

 "The inner and outer surfaces of this sphere can be 

 seen at one and the same time." 



Fig. 92. Successive phases of a long-jump ; this should 

 be of interest to the tyro in athletics, as by it the exact 



does not originate de no7>o, but can only be introduced 

 into a district or countrj' by being passed on from animal 

 to animal, different species of which, however, are affected 

 in very varying degree. In the second place, the disease 

 may remain latent for a long period after an animal has 

 been infected— through a bite, usually ; for this reason it 

 is sometimes a very difficult matter to trace the infection 

 to its source, with the result that the method of spread 

 of the disease was for long very imperfectly understood, 

 although the means for preventing its extension, when 

 once it had obtained a foothold in a district, had long 

 been elaborated and found to be thoroughly efficient 

 when properly applied. 



In this country our statistics relating to the localisation 

 of rabies are now so full and trustworthy, that it seems to 

 be little short of a public heaUh scandal that the disease 

 has not long ere this been completely eradicated from 

 our midst. Let us take this new muzzling order, which 

 is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. For some 

 time past it has been perfectly well known that an out- 

 break of rabies was not only imminent, but had actually 

 occurred in the north of London. The disease has made 

 its way apparently from Essex to Middlesex, or it may 

 be from the north, but up to the promulgation of the 

 muzzling order, which came into force on Monday, no 

 definite effort had been made to circumscribe the 



Successive phases of a long jump. (Chronophotography on a fixed plate.) 



position of the champion athlete may be seen at any 

 instant. 



It is much to be regretted that several plates in the 

 French edition have been omitted, notably that of the 

 camera and revolving disc, which shows at a glance the 

 disposition of the different parts of one of the most 

 important instruments ; and that of the print, at the end 

 of the French edition, called " Escrime au Ba^on," which 

 is full of life and energy, and would certainly appeal 

 much both to the scientific and to the artistic reader. 



F. J. S. 



THE NEW MUZZLING ORDER. 

 C INCE Darwin, in his "Journal of Researches," wrote 

 '^ of the occurrence of hydrophobia in Central and 

 South America, much has been learned of the nature of 

 this disease. He says : " In so strange a disease, some 

 information might possibly be gained by considering the 

 circumstances under which it originates in distant 

 climates ; for it is improbable that a dog already bitten 

 should have been brought to these distant countries." 

 It is now known that such a possibility must receive 

 careful consideration. In the first place, it has now been 

 placed beyond doubt that hydrophobia is a specific infec- 

 tive disease, which so far as can at present be ascertained, 



NO. 1373. VOL. 53] 



disease. We may expect that the regulations now 

 brought into force will very soon have the desired 

 effect of diminishing the number of animals returned, 

 as rabid ; but from the experience of the Berlin 

 authorities, we cannot expect to stamp out the disease 

 even in London so long as Middlesex, Surrey, and the 

 surrounding counties of Essex, Sussex, and Hampshire 

 return cases of rabies, and any one of them fails to 

 enforce a muzzling order. In Berlin, up to July 1853, 

 there was no muzzling order, and in 1852 there were 107 

 cases of rabies reported, and up to July 1853, 85 cases. 

 After this there was a marked fall in the number of 

 cases ; but so long as the law was merely municipal, the 

 disease had still to be reckoned with. Since, however, 

 the Prussian Animals Diseases Acts, 1875 and 1880,. 

 were passed (relating to the whole of Prussia), the 

 disease has become rare, and only occurs along the 

 Freftch and Russian borders. 



It is to be noted that rabies in England and Scotland 

 is at present confined entirely to certain populous- 

 counties and centres, and that it is especially common in 

 those districts in which dogs are favourite domestic com- 

 panions or pets. On examination of the Rabies Chart 

 for the year 1894, it is found that the majority of cases 

 occur in Lancashire, the West Riding of Yorkshire, then^ 

 longo tntcrvallo, Cheshire, London, Ayr, Lanark, and 



