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NATURE 



[February 20, 1896 



Renfrew, and then Dumbarton and Edinburgh in Scot- 

 land, and in England, Derby, Warwick, Essex, Middlesex, 

 Surrey, Hants, Sussex and Cornwall. The disease is 

 strictly localised in four very definite centres, each, with 

 the exception of that in which Cornwall is situated, con- 

 taining a group of five counties. These counties are, of 

 course, under different local authorities, so that it is 

 impossible, in some cases at least, to obtain combine 

 action in the matter of taking measures to stamp out the 

 disease. It is objected that each authority must take this 

 matter into its own hands, and act as it thinks best ; but 

 where the welfare of adjacent districts is so closely 

 involved, as in such a case as this, some central 

 authority might surely bring pressure to bear in order to 

 ensure conjoint action. The Board of Agriculture, for 

 instance, might, either by diplomacy or financial argu- 

 ment, compel joint action on the part of the counties 

 situated in the above infected areas, leaving the unin- 

 fected areas free to act as they think proper. A muzzling 

 and registration order so enforced for a couple of years 

 would, in all probability, bring about the disappearance 

 of rabies from our island. It is sometimes objected that 

 the muzzle is a cruel apparatus. We have it on the 

 authority of the most eminent veterinarians, that the cage 

 muzzle, when properly fitted so as to allow the animal to 

 lap water and eat grass, but not to bite, causes little or. 

 ho discomfort to the dog, but that the strap muzzle, which 

 is recommended by some of those who pose as the "friend" 

 of the dog, is not only an uncomfortable but actually an 

 unhealthy apparatus, as it keeps the animal from opening 

 its mouth and getting the free use of its tongue. In 

 Norway, Denmark and Sweden, rabies is little known ; 

 a system of quarantine is insisted upon, so that none 

 but valuable dogs, and therefore animals constantly 

 under observation, can gain access to these countries. 

 Once the disease has been stamped out, it would be a com- 

 paratively easy matter to prevent its reintroduction. Even 

 Darwin, in his time, observed that there was no hydro- 

 phobia in Van Dieman's Land and Australia, and that it 

 only made its a'ppearance in South America in 1803, and 

 that it had then apparently made its way south from 

 Central America. In the old days of long passages to 

 these places, dogs were for long under observation before 

 they were introduced into the new countries, and in the 

 case of America the disease jnust have first appeared in 

 the north, being introduced after a comparatively short 

 voyage, and then gradually making its way south. 

 Muzzling, and the taking up of unmuzzled dogs, when 

 properly carried out, has been so successful hitherto, not 

 only locally in this country, but generally in other 

 countries, that the new order will be warmly welcomed 

 by all who have studied this matter carefully, as the 

 first step towards a really efficacious measure — com- 

 bined action on the part of the authorities in the rabies 

 areas. 



NOTES. 



"The Diffusion of Metals" is the subject of the Royal 

 Society's Bakerian Lecture, which is to be delivered to-day by 

 Prof. Roberts- Austen, C.B., who has obtained some singular 

 experimental results connected with the mobility of solid metals. 

 Many experimenters in this country, especially Prof. Graham 

 and Lord Kelvin, have studied the diffusion of gases and saline 

 solutions, and Prof. Roberts-Austen has measured the rate at 

 which certain metals will penetrate each other. He finds that 

 solid gold, for instance, will diffuse into, and move about slowly 

 in lead, even at the ordinary temperature of the air, and with 

 considerable rapidity if the lead be warmed, though far from 

 melted. Evidence as to the presence of wandering atoms in a 

 solid, possesses much interest now that views as to the nature 

 of metals and other solids have been extended by the discovery 

 hat certain rays of light will penetrate them. 

 NO. 1373, VOL. 53] 



The announcement of the attainment of the North Pole by 

 Dr. Nansen has been received with great popular interest and ■ 

 even enthusiasm. According to Prince Kropotkin, the correct ll 

 text of the telegram which was received at St. Petersburg Ji 

 concerning Nansen was as follows: — "Irkutsk, January 31 

 (February 12).— The contractor for Nansen, Kushnareff, through 

 the Kolymsk ispravnik (chief of police) Kandakoff, by mail from 

 Yakutsk to Kirensk, and thence by telegraph, informs the 

 Eastern Review that Nansen has reached the Pole, has dis- 

 covered land, and returns." M. Kandakoff appears not to be 

 the chief of the police of the Verkhoyansk district, but a "coun- 

 cillor to the Provincial Government of Yakutsk and a member of 

 the Yakutsk expedition," which fact gives a much greater weight 

 to the news. The Russian Government immediately took steps 

 to have the truth of the report tested, but some time must neces- 

 sarily elapse before authoritative confirmation is received. The 

 absence of date and of any hint as to whether a direct message 

 from Nansen or his crew had been received, lead us to suspect 

 that the report may l)e a rumour similar to that which re- 

 ported the Fram in the ice east of Greenland last autumn. 

 It seems rather late in the season, even allowing for the 

 slow rate of travelling in North-eastern Siberia, for information 

 to come from the New Siberian Islands ; while if Nansen had 

 landed himself on the Asiatic coast, it is difficult to believe that 

 his own dispatches should not have reached the telegraph as 

 soon as the vague report. On the other hand, if is necessary to 

 remember that there is nothing improbable in the news. If land 

 intervened and stopped the drift of the Fram, a land expedition 

 would certainly have been made, and the ship afterwards taken 

 south by the clearest route irrespective of destination. She 

 might have been frozen up at the beginning of winter somewhere 

 within reach of the New Siberian Islands, and it is possible 

 enough that she was visited by native hunters, who may have 

 carried a message. While, therefore, we fully recognise the 

 possibility of the news being authentic, and it becomes more 

 probable as the source of the information is inquired into, 

 we must await further information before believing that the 

 past record of Arctic exploration has really been so brilliantly 

 surpassed. 



Mr. William W. Rockhill, whose journeys through Mon- 

 golia and Tibet, and his works upon them, have earned him 

 distinction among geographers, has been promoted to the 

 assistant-secretaryship in the State Department at Washington. 



Miss Catherine W. Bruce has recently made another 

 addition to her numerous benefactions to astronomy in both 

 Europe and America, by presenting to the University of Chicago 

 the sum of one thousand dollars, to be used for the purpose of 

 providing illustrations for the Astrophysical yonntal. 



The death is announced of M. Jules Reiset, member of the 

 Section of the Rural Economy of the Paris Academy of Sciences, 

 and the author of many valuable contributions to agricultural 

 chemistry and animal physiology. 



A lecture will be delivered, on Thursday next, at the Royal 

 Artillery Institution, Woolwich, by Dr. G. H. Bryan, F.R.S., 

 on " Flight and Flying Machines." 



The Ethnographical Survey Committee of the British Asso- 

 ciation would be glad to receive offers of assistance from 

 persons capable of making the requisite measurements of in- 

 dividuals belonging to rural populations. The Committee 

 would supply instruments and full information. It is requested 

 that competent observers might find it interesting to occupy 

 themselves during some part of the Easter vacation in this 

 manner. Applications may be made to the Hon. Sec, Mr, 

 E. S. Hartland, Highgarth, Gloucester. 



