494 



NATURE 



[March 26, 1896 



October ; a curve of the monthly frequency shows that a con- 

 siderable maximum coincides with the equinox. The most 

 striking characteristics are the suddenness of their appearance 

 and the narrowness of the storm area ; in some cases Father 

 Dechevrens has shown that the diameter did not exceed fifty 

 miles, and that the velocity of translation may vary from eight to 

 twenty-six miles per hour. The author discusses, at some length, 

 the various signs which precede the occurrence of the typhoons. 



The numbers of the Natiirwissenschaftliche Wochettschrift for 

 February i6 to March 8 contain an account, by Dr. H. Hallier, 

 of a botanical investigation of Central Borneo, organised at the 

 instance of the Dutch Government, under the direction of Dr. 

 Treub, of Buitenzorg. This portion of the island is an almost 

 unknown land from a natural history point of view ; previous 

 explorations having been made from Sarawak, Labuan, British 

 North Borneo, and Dutch South Borneo. A very large collec- 

 tion was made, calculated to amount '\.o about 3000 distinct 

 species of dried plants, as well as a considerable quantity of 

 alcohol material, and many living roots. These are now being 

 examined at the Botanical Institution at Buitenzorg. The 

 mountain K'nepai was ascended, about 1125 metres high. Its 

 flora is described as being especially rich in Orchidere and in 

 species of Nepenthes. 



The interesting question has been recently again raised, by 

 Messrs. Gotschlich and Weigang, as to whether the virulence of 

 cholera cultures is dependent upon the number of bacilli present, 

 or whether the age of the culture affects the toxic character 

 of the individual bacilli. Estimations have been made of the 

 number of bacilli present in cholera cultures at different periods of 

 time, and it has been found that a rapid diminution takes place 

 with the increasing age of the culture. Thus at 37° C. at the 

 end of two days, only 10 per cent, remained of those present at 

 the close of the fully virulent age of twenty hours, whilst after 

 three days only i per cent, were left. Messrs. Gotschlich and 

 Weigang have also determined the approximate number of 

 individual cholera bacilli which constitutes. a lethal dose, and 

 this they state to be from 200 to 300 million bacilli, and that as 

 long as this number is present, it is a matter of no consequence 

 whether the dose is abstracted from a twenty hours' old culture 

 or from a three days' old culture. The apparent diminution in 

 the virulence of cultures some days old, is not due to the attenua- 

 tion of the bacilli at this age, but is attributable to a smaller 

 number being present in the culture, for equally fatal results 

 were obtained when larger quantities of such cultivations were 

 employed. 



Psychology has found in America a congenial field for 

 development, one of the clearest marks of its vitality there 

 being the excellent Psychological Review. The March number 

 of that journal contains the address recently delivered by Prof. 

 McKeen Cattell as President of the American Psychological 

 Association ; and how great has been the academic recognition 

 of the subject in America during the past few years is shown by 

 his remark, that " psychology is a required subject in the under- 

 graduate curriculum wherever studies are required, and among 

 university courses psychology now rivals the other leading sciences 

 in the number of students attracted, and in the amount of original 

 work accomplished." The following other indications of growth 

 are recorded in the same journal : — The psychological department 

 of Cornell University has moved to Morrill Hall, where it is 

 said to have nine rooms and four thousand square feet of floor 

 space. The psychological laboratory of the University of 

 Nebraska has been moved into the first-floor of the new library 

 building, and occupies a series of five rooms with a floor 

 space of three thousand square feet. In the new biological 

 buildings, which the University of Chicago will erect with a part 

 of the million dollars given by Miss Culver, ample provision 

 NO. 1378, VOL. 53] 



will be made for the psychological laboratory. In the new 

 Schemerhorn Hall of Natural Sciences, to be erected for Columbia 

 University at a cost of about 400,000 dollars, more than one- 

 tenth of the building is allotted to psychology. At this rate of 

 progress, America will soon rival Germany in psychological 

 laboratories and productions. 



The Academie Royale de Belgique announce the following 

 prize subjects for 1897 : — New researches on the thermal con- 

 ductivities of liquids and solutions. An important contribution 

 to the geometry of straight lines. A discussion, from the 

 theoretical point of view, of the question of variations of latitude, 

 and their causes, the paper to include a criticism of the works 

 of geometers on the subject, from Laplace to the present time. 

 New researches on the physiological r6le of albuminoid sub- 

 stances in the nutrition of animals and plants. New anatom- 

 ical and systematic researches on insects of the group 

 Aptera. Does there exist a nucleus in Schizophytes ? If so, 

 what is its structure, and what its mode of division ? A discussion 

 of the changes made in the classification of the deposits which 

 constituted the Laekenian system of Dumont, most of which are 

 usually referred to the Upper Eocene ; to bring forward new 

 evidence in support of the classification adopted. The value of 

 the prize to be awarded for the best work in each of these 

 subjects is six hundred francs. Memoirs may be written in 

 French or Flemish, and should be addressed to the Secretary of 

 the Belgian Academies before the beginning of August next year. 



Messrs. Williams and Norgate have just issued a classi- 

 fied list of recent scientific publications, chiefly of foreign origin. 

 Book-hunters seeking scientific works would do well to consult 

 the list. 



Mr. Hiram S. Maxim is contributing a series of illustrated 

 articles on " Automatic Firing Guns" to Industries and Iron. 



A paper on "The Food and Labour- Power of Nations," 

 contributed by Prof, F. S. Nitti to the March number of the 

 Economic Journal^ contains a large number of facts and figures 

 of interest from a physiological, as well as from an economic 

 and social, point of view. 



The T6ky5 Mathematico-Physical Society has recently pub- 

 lished in its Proceedings a reprint of Clifford's Translation of 

 Riemann's Habilitationschrift (1854), viz. on the hypotheses 

 which lie at the bases of geometry (Nature, vol. viii. Nos. 

 183, 184, and Mathematical Papers, pp. 55-71). 



An elaborate discourse on Helmholtz's investigations on the 

 " Grundlagen der Mathematik und Mechanik," which was 

 delivered in November last at Heidelberg University, by Prof 

 Leo Koenigsberger, the occasion being a celebration in memory 

 of the founder of the University, has now been published by 

 B. G. Teubner, of Leipzig. A photogravure of Helmholtz 

 forms a frontispiece to the reprint. 



We are glad to receive from the agricultural department of the 

 University Extension College, Reading, the second annual 

 report of field experiments on hay, pasture, potatoes, swedes 

 and mangels, carried out in Berkshire, Hampshire, and Oxford- 

 shire, during 1895, under the direction of Mr. Douglas Gilchrist 

 and Mr. P. H. Foulkes. A notable feature of the work is that 

 it was carried out on land placed at the disposal of the experi- 

 menters by various land-owners and farmers, who also gave 

 assistance in the actual superintendence and cultivation of the 

 plots. Two important Farmers' Clubs have also co-operated 

 in the work. By thus enlisting the help of farmers, interest in 

 agricultural experiments is greatly increased, and the results are 

 more likely to command the attention of practical men than if 

 they were obtained by flower-pot cultivation. 



