l82 



NATURE 



[December 21, 1893 



charged. With a period of 22 seconds, and when the needle is 

 charged by means of 80 small accumulators, one Clark cell gives 

 o f 800 scale divisions on a scale 250 cm. from the 

 instrument. 



Just now Saxony, of which Chemnitz is the most important 

 manufacturing centre, is interested in the comparisons being 

 made in Switzerland between steam-power plants and electri- 

 city gained by utilising water. In connection with this subject 

 the I'nited States Consul at Chemnitz has recently made the 

 following remarks (/?£"z;'(/ of IVade yoitnial) : — " It used to be 

 urged that Switzerland's water supply, if properly utilised for 

 obtaining electricity, would reduce very considerably her cost of 

 production. Not only has she many streams, but they fall from 

 such heights that even rivers of small volume have great power. 

 . . . Every effort that science could suggest, ingenuity devise, 

 or mechanics arrange, was made in different cantons of the little 

 Republic to gather electricity by, and transmit it from, her 

 rivers and streams. The latest reports show that if Switzerland, 

 or any country with streams and climate like hers, is to win her 

 way into the world's markets and take a place in the front ranks, 

 it must be by some better method than the use of electricity 

 gained and transmitted from rivers and waterfalls." Electri- 

 cians will doubtless have something to say on this matter. 



One of the factors in the so-called self-purification of river- 

 water is regarded by some authorities to consist in the destruction 

 and oxidation by bacteria of some at least of the organic material 

 present. Prof. Pettenkofer, who has been investigating the con- 

 dition of the river Isar, in the vicinity of Munich, is of opinion 

 that the green living algae found in this water also play no un- 

 important part as purifying agents. Prof. Schenck {Central- 

 blatt f. Allgem. GesundkeiispJIege, 1893), who has been making 

 a special study, from this point of view, of the Rhine in the 

 neighbourhood of Cologne, mentions that, to his surprise, he 

 found comparatively few algae where most impurities were 

 present, the former being apparently crowded out by the large 

 masses of bacteria. On the other hand. Prof. Percy Frankland 

 has recently stated that, contrary to what might have been 

 anticipated, he found a comparatively small number 

 of bacteria present in the water of a loch, which 

 was so turbid that it was practically opaque when viewed 

 in a glass, by reason of the immense number of algse present. 

 Dr. Schenck's investigations were carried out to ascertain if 

 the city of Cologne could with safety discharge its sewage 

 untreated direct into the river, relying upon the processes of 

 subsequent self-putification for the water to regain its normal 

 condition. The mass of algse found was remarkably small, 

 being chiefly confined to the shallows along the banks, or to 

 those spots where protection was afforded from the rush of the 

 stream ; the varieties, moreover, present were found to vary 

 very considerably at different seasons of the year. But according 

 to Prof. Schenck, the condition of the river banks in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of the site selected for the entry of the Cologne 

 sewage is very suitable for the aggregation of masses of bacteria, 

 and he maintains that in conjunction with other factors of 

 purification, such as mass of water and rate of flow, &c., a 

 rapid and thorough purification of the water may be expected, 

 Whatever the general opinion may be of the wisdom of Prof. 

 Schenck's advice, his investigations show that the alleged action 

 of green algse as important water purifiers cannot be accepted 

 without reservation, but that in the case of each river or stream 

 the nature and growth of these plants must be studied. 



The first part has been sent to us of a work entitled Sporjzoen 

 als Krankheitserreger (Berlin : Friedliinder and Sohn, 1893), 

 by Dr. Alexis Korotneff, Professor at the Kiew University, and 

 Director of the Zoological Laboratory in Villafranca. This 

 "Heft" is devoted to " Untersuchungen iiber den Parasitis- 



NO. 1260, VOL. 49] 



mus des Carcinoms," and is illustrated by four beautifully 

 coloured plates showing the structure of the tissue in cancerous 

 tumours, and the presence of parasites in various stages of deve- 

 lopment. The large amount of work which has been pub- 

 lished during the last three years since Nils SJobring's paper on 

 the parasitic nature of this disease appeared, renders a critical 

 summary, such as Dr. Korotneff has written, of particular in- 

 terest. The author admits, however, that personally the num- 

 ber of cancerous cases which he has examined is insignificant, 

 but adds that the greater part of the drawings which have 

 appeared in the works of Sudakewitsch, Sawtschenko, Kossin- 

 sky, Ruffer, and others on this subject, which are based upon 

 observations made upon hundreds of cases, agree almost entirely 

 with his own, and that he therefore considers his experience 

 sufficient to justify him in expressing an opinion, not only on 

 those cases examined by him, but also " liber jede andere 

 Krebsgeschwulst." 



The Calendar of the Imperial University of Japan for the 

 year 1892-93 has been received. 



The latest volume of the useful Aide-Memoire Series, edited 

 by M. Leaute, and published by MM. Gauthier-Villars, is 

 on the "Choix et Usage des Objectifs Photographiques." The 

 author is Prof. E. Wallon. 



We have received a descriptive catalogue of the exhibits in 

 the Anthropological Building of the Chicago Exposition. The 

 anthropological laboratories contained three general subdivi- 

 sions, viz. physical anthropology, neurology, and psychology . 

 Sections were also devoted to growth and development, and to 

 the anthropology of North American Indians. 



A STATEMENT has been published of the origin, plan, and 

 results of the field and other experiments conducted on the farm 

 and in the laboratory by Sir J. B. Lawes, at Rothamsted, for 

 the last fifty years. To the general statement are appended 

 lists of the titles of all the published papers dealing with Roth - 

 amsted work, with full reference to the journals in which they 

 appeared. 



Mr. S. H. C. Hutchinson, the Meteorological Reporter for 

 Western India, has sent us a brief sketch of the meteorology of 

 the Bombay Presidency from April, 1892, to March, 1893, in- 

 clusive. The year 1892 was one of barometric minimum, and 

 consequently one of excessive rainfall throughout the whole of 

 the Presidency. In some respects the meteorological conditions 

 resembled those of 1878. 



Pathologists will welcome the publication of a new " De- 

 scriptive Catalogue of the Anatomical and Pathological Speci - 

 mens in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edin- 

 burgh," vol, i. In this volume the specimens which exemplify 

 affections of the skeleton and organs of motion are described. 

 A subsequent volume or volumes will include specimens re- 

 lating to the alimentary canal, the respiratory system, &c. 

 Mr. C. W. Cathcart, the Conservator of the Museum, deserves 

 the thanks of all members of the medical profession for his 

 useful and carefully compiled work. 



Tn-E. Bulletin recently issued by the committee for the execu- 

 tion of the photographic star-map, contains Prof. Kapteyn's 

 investigations on the systematic differences between the photo- 

 graphic and visual magnitudes in different parts of the sky. M. 

 Loewy contributes his second memoir on the construction of the 

 catalogue founded on the cliches of the star-chart, and M. 

 Prosper Henry describes the methods of measurement and 

 reduction of the cliches for the catalogue, adopted at the Paris 

 Observatory. 



' A MONOGRAPH of the North American Proctotrypid^," by 

 Mr. William H. Ashmead, forms Bulletin No. 45 of the U.S. 



