88 



NA TURE 



[November 27, 1902 



and his able ass's ants, L>r-. K ccker and: Schionning, wiih 

 very possible facility for carrying on researches which have 

 rendered Carlsberg so famous. The scientific world, indeed, is 

 apt to forget, dazzled by the renown o( the laboratory, that a 

 successful brewery exists at Cukhcrg which originally called 

 into existence and supplied the wherewithal for the equipment 

 and conduct of Hansen's Institute. 



THEfirms ofHeracus, of Ilanau, and Dr. Siebertand Kiihn, of 

 Cassel, have undertaken the commercial manufacture of flasks, 

 &c , from quartz. The quartz is melted in an oxyhydrogen 

 furnace, and woiked and blown to the desired shape. At 

 present, the cost of these quartz vessels is somewhat high, but if 

 their use becomes at all general, it is hoped that it will be 

 possible to considerably reduce it. The accompanying photo- 

 graph, taken from the Zeitschrifl fib Eleklro< hemic ol November 

 13, shows one of the vessels made by these firms ; it will be seen 

 that the art of turning out such finish) <1 work as in glass blowing 

 has not yet been attained. We recer.tly pointed out some of the 



valuable properties that quartz vessels possess, in a note on a 

 paper by Mr. Hutton on the fusion of quartz in the electric fur- 

 nace ; we do not know whether Mr. IIui ton's process has been 

 taken up as yet with a view to its commercial use. It is a matter 

 for regret that this new and possibly very important industry is 

 apparently to be added to those which our manufacturers at 

 home lack either the ability or energy to tackle with success. 



From the Report of the Medical Officer of Health for the 

 City of London, we gather that a commendable sanitary 

 supervision is being exercised within the City area. A detailed 

 inspection of kitchens of restaurants, Sec, was commenced early 

 in the year. With regard to tuberculosis, the Medical Officer 

 says :—" Although probably not the most important, there can 

 be little doubt as to the cm ill effect of tuberculous meat and 

 milk," and 24 samples of milk were examined by Dr. Klein for 

 the presence of the tuberclj bicillus, but with negative results. 

 During 1901, of 392 samples of milk analysed, 21 2 per cent, 

 were found to be adulterated ; but of 30 samples of milk taken 

 from the churns on their arrival at the railway stations from the 

 country, all were of excellen' q nitty, si i.vi y th it it is the City 

 dealer who is the delinquen'. 



NO. I J2 r \ VOL. 67] 



We have received from the author, Dr. R. von Wettstein, a 

 copy of an essay on neo-Limarckism and its relation to Darwinism, 

 published in the Si/sungsberichte of the German Association of 

 Naturalists and Artists. 



The whole of parts iii. and iv. of the Bulletin of the Society 

 of Naturalists of Moscow is devoted to an elaborate and pro- 

 fusely illustrated memoir, by Monsieur N. K. KoltzofF, on the 

 development of the skull of the lamprey, Petramyzon planeri, 

 in relation to the doctrine of the segmentation of the vertebrate 

 head. It is concluded that the lampreys and their imrri' diate 

 relatives are descended from an ancestral form — the hypothetical 

 Octotrema— furnished with eight pairs of gill-slits. This, in 

 turn, was derived from an earlier form with a still larger number 

 ol slits. 



To the issue of La Belgique Coloniale of November 9, Dr. 

 Forsyth Major contributes some important notes on the okapi 

 skins and skeleton received from the Congo Free State in 

 Belgium, and placed at his disposal for description. The 

 specimens appear to demonstrate that there are two forms of 

 okapi, distinguishable from one another by size, colour, the 

 striping on the legs and the proportions of the skull. For the 

 one represented by the Belgian examples, the author suggests 

 the name Ocapia lebrechtsi, in honour of the S-cretary of the 

 Interior for Belgium. This form is now definitely known to be 

 horned in the male and hornless in the female ; but the author 

 does not at present consider himself justified in stating that the 

 same condition obtains in the form represented by the mounted 

 hornless skin in the Natural History Museum. 



IN a paper published in the Bulletin of the American 

 Museum (vol. xvi. art. 25), Dr. J. E. Ducrden emphasises the 

 importance of boring algas in the disintegration of corals. 

 "Neatly every fragment of dead coral in the West Indies is 

 marked by a number of green specks, indicating the tunnels of 

 an alga, and these in time lead to the breaking up of the whole 

 mass." The author is inclined to believe that boring algas have 

 more to do with the formation of lagoons in coral islands than 

 has the solution of the coral-substance by the carbonic acid 

 contained in the water. " It is ju-t in such quiet spots as 

 lagoons that the various boring alga; would be expected to grow 

 most favourably, and by their incessant ramifications lead to the 

 ultimate disintegration of any block of coral, following it even 

 when reduced to fragments." Nevertheles s, it is not to be 

 assumed that this is by any means the sole agency in lagoon- 

 formation. 



The whole of parts i. to iii. of vol. xxvi. of Notes from the 

 Leyden Museum is occupied by an important paper on the 

 lush-water fishes of Borneo, by Prof. L. Vaillant, of the Paris 

 Museum. It appears that the expedition recently dispatched to 

 Borneo by the Society for the Encouragement of the Scientific 

 Exploration of the Dutch Colonies succeeded in ascending a 

 river on one side of the island and descending by another on the 

 opposite side, thus effecting a complete traverse. In spite of 

 many difficulties, a large collection of fresh-water fishes was 

 made, which includes a number of new species. The import- 

 ance of the collection lies, however, in the proof afforded, that 

 the fresh-water fish-fauna of Borneo differs essentially bom that 

 of Celebes — notably in the presence of carps (Cypritffite) and 

 cat-fishes(Silurida;), which are totally wanting in the lattt r island. 

 It is incidentally mentioned that the fresh- water fishes of 

 Palawan and Balabac are intermediate between those of Borneo 

 and the Philippines, with a preponderance of Bornean t)pes. 



The publications in a European language of the Earthquake 

 Investigation Committee of Japan have now reached their 

 eleventh number. This last issue, which is by Dr. F. Omori, 



