January 8, 1903] 



NA TURE 



231 



River. In the Semliki Forest, Mr. Daggett hopes to be able 

 to obtain fresh specimens of the new African mammal (Okapia 

 johnstoni), which are much required at South Kensington. 



The Institution of Electrical Engineers has issued the pre- 

 liminary programme of the visit to Italy to be made this spring. 

 It is proposed to leave London on April 2, and the first tech- 

 nical visit will be to the Valtellina Railway and power-house on 

 April 4. At Como also the tomb of Volta can be visited the 

 next day. On April 6, the party will leave for Milan, travelling 

 via the Milan- Varese Electric Railway and visiting the works of 

 Messrs. Tosi, at Legnano, in passing. On April 7, the Paderno 

 power-house will be inspected. On April S, visits will be made 

 to various places of technical interest in Milan, including the 

 Technical High School, and on the next day to the power- 

 houses at Vizzola and Tomavento. The party will break up on 

 Thursday, April 9, or on the Friday morning (Good Friday). 



Among the many papers of interest in the December number 

 ofth; Geographical Journal may be specially mentioned Dr. 

 Stein's account of his exploration* in Chinese Turkestan, and 

 the readers of Nature will not fail to note the importance of 

 his discovery of inscribed wooden tablets on the Niya River 

 site. Here, in a small decayed building, he found more than 200 

 documents on wood of all shapes and sizes. B-sides tablets 

 with the Indian Kharoshthi writing, he unearthed several 

 narrow pieces of wood bearing Chinese characters, and many 

 of the former were still protected by the strings with which they 

 were originally tied and bore clay seals. On the seals, we have 

 figures of Pallas Athene, with shield and aegis, Eros and Athene 

 Promachos, and these prove beyond all doubt the influence which 

 classical Western art has exercised even in distant Khotan. 

 Many of the documents bear dates which are mentioned in con- 

 nection with the names of rulers, and the texts, which seem 

 10 be written in an early form of Indian Prakrit, cannot fail to 

 throw great light on the early, unknown history of the district 

 wherein they have been found. It is important that the materials 

 which Dr. Stein has secured should be worked thoroughly, for 

 they may contain information con;erning the frequent com- 

 munication which must have existed between the East and the 

 West during the early centuries of the Christian era. 



The unfortunate fatal accident which occurred at the Fulham 

 Public Baths on December 23 serves to show how dangerous 

 an electric shock may be when the conditions are such that really 

 good contact is made. In this case, two bathers were killed by 

 standing up in their baths and putting their hands on a metal 

 rail running along the top of the partition between the baths; 

 on top of this rail ran the iron pipes containing the electric- 

 supply leads. It seems that there was leakage, possibly in a 

 faulty lampholder, to these pipes, which were insufficiently 

 "earthed." The bathers therefore completed the earth 

 through their bodies to the bath itself, and thus received a 

 shock which, in spite of the fact that the pressure could only 

 have been something like 170 volts, had fatal results on account 

 of the very good contacts which existed. The circumstances of 

 the case are altogether exceptional, and there is absolutely no 

 need for users of electric light to take any alarm. The moral to 

 be drawn is that in an installation of this kind, where it is pos- 

 s ble for people to make direct contact between their damp skin 

 and parts of the installation, more care should be taken in de- 

 sign and supervision to prevent any possibility of contact with 

 any live metal. 



The outbreaks of typhoid fever at Winchester and at South- 

 ampton again direct attention to the possibility of the typhoid 

 infection being spread through the agency of shell fish, in these 

 instances through oysters. Dr. Nash, in a report on an out- 

 NO. 1732, VOL. 67] 



break of typhoid fever at Southend-on-Sea, finds that the inci- 

 dence of the disease was thirty-six times as great among shell-fish 

 consumers as among those who do not eat shell-fish, and ex- 

 presses the opinion that if the eating of shell-fish were abandoned 

 in Southend, the incidence of typhoid fever would lessen by fully 

 one-half. In the Southend outbreak, cockles were mainly 

 responsible for the spread of the infection. 



A large portion of the contents of the January number of 

 Climate is devoted to a consideration of the possibility uf 

 stamping out malaria. Major Ronald Ross discusses the pre- 

 valence of malaria at Ismailia, and comes to the conclusion that 

 if the mosquitoes in the district were even partially eradicated, 

 as might easily be done, ' malaria would almost disappear. 

 Sir William MacGregor describes the Italian campaign again-t 

 malaria, and draws attention to the prophylactic use of quinine, 

 the protection of dwellings with wire gauze, the cultivation of 

 the soil and the drainage of swamps as means of diminishing 

 the prevalence of malaria. 



At an international maritime congress recently held at 

 Copenhagen, M. Willaume-Jantzen, subdirector of the Danish 

 Meteorological Institute, contributed an interesting paper on 

 the climate of the coast of Iceland, based on eighteen to 

 twenty-two years' observations at four representative stations — 

 Vestmannoe (south), Stykkisholm (west), Grimsey (north) and 

 Papey (east). Generally speaking, the lowest mean barometric 

 pressure in the north Atlantic lies to the south-west of Iceland, 

 and to the north-east of the island there is another area of mean 

 low pressure, but a little higher than that on the south-west. 

 These two areas determine the prevalent -winds on the east 

 coast, which blow with nearly equal persistency from north-east 

 and from north-west. But from its position with regard to the 

 advance of barometric depressions from west to east in the 

 Atlantic, the pressure in Iceland is subject to sudden and great 

 variations, causing frequent storms, the average annual number 

 of days of storm on the east coast being seventy-five. Generally 

 speaking, the summer climate on the coast is fresh and the 

 winter mild, but the latter may be very severe with northerly 

 winds and the approach of polar ice. In some localities, fog is 

 very prevalent ; at B;rufiord, near Papey, it occurs on 212 days, 

 but at Stykkisholm on nine days only. Rainfall is heavy on the 

 south and light on the north ; at Vestmannoe there are 225 

 days on which rain falls on a yearly average. 



The volume containing the meteorological observations and 

 results for the United States Naval Observatory, Washington, 

 under the direction of Prof. J. R. Eastman, for the jear 1901, 

 has been recently received. As in former years, it contains the 

 details of all the observations which are made every three hours 

 during each day. These include the corrected readings of the 

 barometer, and of the wet and dry bulb thermometers, the 

 symbols indicating the character of the clouds, the estimated 

 amount of cloudiness, wind direction and velocity, together with 

 the daily means. The six tables which follow record the results, 

 such as the maximum and minimum temperatures for each 

 month, daily and monthly means of the corrected barometric 

 readings, &c. The volume contains also the meteorological 

 observations made at the same hours at the new naval observa- 

 tory with a view to determine the difference of the thermometric 

 conditions at the two localities, in order that future records at 

 the new observatory can be properly compared with the records 

 at the old observatory, which extend from 1845 to 1S92 in- 

 clusive. 



We have received from the editors of the Phologram a new 

 edition of a set of cards which are intended for the pocket-book 

 of the photographer. These cards, 5x3 inches in size, contain 

 a great amount of very useful information, some of which the 



