4'S ' 

 J- 



NA TURE 



[August 30, 1894 



salicylic add or carbolic acid, yield no better results than 

 ordinary toilet soap, the latter destroying the cholera bacillus 

 in from ten to fifteen minutes when applied in the proportion 

 of 2"S parts of soap to looo parts of water. The same journal 

 contains an account of an electric-light bath, consisting of a 

 small cabinet large enough to permit of one person sitting 

 comfortably, the walls of which are completely covered with 

 mirror-glass. From forty to fifty electric lights are so distri- 

 buted that every part of the body of the " bather " is almost 

 equally exposed to the light. Dr. Gebbardt, who communicates 

 the article, reserves his opinion as to the curative merits of this 

 novel bath, but mentions that the intense light, contrary to 

 his anticipations, did not produce an unpleasant or exciting 

 effect, but exercised a calming influence upon him. Like the 

 ordinary vapour bath, the electric light bath is followed by the 

 application of cold water. 



P.\RT v., completing the fifth volume of the Transactions, 

 has been issued by the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' 

 Society, which fully maintains the interesting character of its 

 publications. The first paper consists of the annual " Pre- 

 sidential Address," in which the President (Mr. Thomas South- 

 well) avails himself of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 

 formation of the Society to give a slight sketch of its history and 

 the work it has accomplished ; and we cannot but congratulate 

 the members on the excellent results it has to show, the five 

 thick volumes forming not only an epitome of the natural 

 history of the county for the past twenty-five years, with excel- 

 lent lists of the fauna and flora, but numerous biographical 

 sketches are given, often with portraits, of the men whose 

 labours in the past have proved so valuable to their successors. 

 The address then gives some very interestin^j information as to 

 the physical feature; of the county in times past, as well as of 

 its natural productions. The establishment of a branch of the 

 Society at Cireat Yarmouth called for a second "address," 

 which is devoted to an account of the local naturalists, col- 

 lectors, and gunners, for which, ever since the latter part of the 

 last century, that favoured locality has always been celebrated, 

 as well as to the enumeration of the many ornithological 

 rarities which have there been obtained. Prof. Newton con- 

 tributes a very interesting account of the great flood in South- 

 West Norfolk in i852-53,which resulted in the temporary return 

 to the fens in that district of birds, such as the black tern and 

 black-he.ided gull,which had long ceased to frequent the locality. 

 The occurrence of the bearded seal on the Norfolk Coast, for 

 the first time in Great Britain, is announced. Mr. Stacy- 

 Watson has a very useful paper on the varieties and distribution 

 of the herring. There are also papers on the local occur- 

 rence of fungi and flint implements, with lists of Norfolk earth- 

 worms, ichneumons, mammilla, fishes, birds, hemisphera;, and 

 flowering plants. Of the twenty papers in the number before 

 us there are only two which have not a strictly local bearing. 



The last number of the hvestia of the Kussian Geographical 

 Society contains two papers which are sure to be welcome to 

 geographers. The first, by G. I. TanhlicnT, is on the tundras of 

 North-East Russia, on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, between 

 the rivers Mezen and Pechora. Middendorn"s descriptions of 

 the tundras of northern East Siberia are classic.il for the sub- 

 ject. So arc also Hcketoff's " Flora of Arkhangelsk " and his 

 additions to the Russian translation of Griesebach's work. But 

 so much has lately been written about the tundras and the 

 features they have in common with the steppes, that the necessity 

 of new researches in this direction was very much felt. M. 

 Tanfilieff fully confirms this view, and shows the further likeness 

 which exists between the black-earth, the clay, and the sandy 

 fteppes nn the one side, and the peat-bog, the clay, and 

 the sandy tundras on the other. And he gives, moreover, a 



NO. I 296, VOL. 50J 



very vivid description of the inner processes of the life of the 

 tundra, and enters into very interesting considerations relative 

 to the extension of the ever-frozen soil, and the limits put by it 

 to the n >rthward spreading of forests. The southern limits of 

 the former, and the northern limiis of the forest region, are 

 identical, and wherever there are in the tundra islands of ground 

 which does not freeze, groves of fir-trees appe.ir upon them ; 

 while even in the forest tracts the appear.ince of peat-bog islands, 

 which remain frozen to a great depth, is always followed by a 

 disappearance of the trees. The rivers act as drainage'channels, 

 which prevent water from percolating the soil, and therefore pre- 

 vent it from freezing ; this is why their courses are always fol- 

 lowed by trees, which penetrate into the treeless tundras along 

 the watercourses. The author's remarks on the .Samoyedes 

 and the reindeer are also very valuable. He fully confirms the 

 excellent reputation of these children of the tundra, who, in 

 consequence of the extremely slow growth of the reindeer 

 lichen {Clotlonia rangijtra) are deprived of their pasture 

 grounds, and reduced to complete ruin, by the Zyryanes and the 

 Russians, who bring their herds of over 2000 head of reindeer 

 into the Samoyede domains. 



The other paper, also of great interest, is by V. M. Obruche6F, 

 on the orography of the Nang Shan. The Russian geologist has 

 crossed this system of mountains both in the west of Lake 

 Kuku-nor, at the western end of these highlands, and in the 

 east of the lake ; and, with the information previously g.ithered 

 by Przewalsky and Potanin, he was enabled to draw a 

 scheme map of the whole system, appended to the 

 hvestia. It appears that the highlands of Nang Shan consist ol 

 a series of parallel ridges running west-north-west to east-south* 

 east, both in the north and in the south of Kuku-nor. The 

 first chain is the Lung-thushan, in the north-east of the towns 

 Su-choi and Ilan-chou. Then comes the RichtholVen ridge, 

 continued in the east by the Momo-shan ; then comes 

 Humboldt's ridge, which is supposed by the author to have 

 its continuation in the Maling-shan, while Ritter's ridge is 

 continued east- south-eastwards by the Tsing-shi-ling. Howcven 

 some doubt still prevails as to these last two points, on account of 

 a want of exploration in the middle part of I he highlands. The 

 chain which rises just on the southern coast of Lake Kuku-nor 

 (South Kuku-nor chain of Przewalsky) is continued towards 

 west-north-west by a ridge, to which M. ObruchelT gives the 

 name of Mushketofl's ridge, while the last chain of the group is 

 named Scmenoflt's ridge. Thisclassific.ilion brings some order, 

 which was most desirable, into this grand group of mounlaiDS. 

 Their geological history and later dislocations are also discussed 

 in the same paper. 



A RECENTLY published Biillelinof the U.S. Fish Commission 

 (vol. xi., 1891) contains the results of a search for a fish- 

 hatching station in the Gulf States. The character of the 

 biological station which the United States Government desired 

 to establish is indicated in the following extract from the in- 

 structions to Prof. Everminn : "To unite in one station the 

 facilities for fish-cultural work with the salt-water specieSi 

 for the pond culture of fresh-water species, for the investi- 

 gation and development of methods for the propagation aad 

 rearing of the oyster, and for the investigation of the marine 

 life of this coast. This m:ans, of coarse, a laboratory of marine 

 biological research, not large or expensive, but thoroughly 

 equipped in all respects for its work." The ex|ilor.ilions led to 

 the conclusion that no point on the coast examined offered en- 

 tirely satisfactory conditions for the establishment of a comMncd 

 fresh and salt water station, though a site near Galveston pre- 

 sented soae advantages. In addition to the reports prepared by 

 Prof, livermann, the volume referred to above contains reports n 

 [ mattersconnectcd with his investigations. Such, for instance, is 



