June 18, 1914] 
NATORE 
413 
Tue Milk and Dairies Bill passed the second reading 
on June 9. On the whole a favourable opinion was 
expressed with regard to it, though Mr. Astor thought 
there was a real fear that it might seriously diminish 
the quantity of milk available, and so tend to increase 
its price. He also urged the grading of milk. 
THE annual report of the superintendent of the 
Brown Institution (Mr. F. W. Twort) has been issued. 
Some 6000 animals were brought to the institution, of 
which 565 were treated as in-patients. In addition to 
its hospital, important research work is carried out in 
the laboratories of the institution—investigations on 
Johne’s disease of cattle, by Dr. C. Twort; the func- 
tions of the thyroid gland, by Mr. Edmunds; infantile 
diarrhoea, by Dr. Mellanby and the superintendent, 
etc. 
As is well known, those engaged in occupations in 
which much siliceous dust is produced (e.g. potters, 
certain miners, etc.) suffer from a form of lung 
disease. Dr. ‘McCrae has analysed the lungs from 
such cases occurring in the Witwatersrand mines, 
South Africa. He finds that from 2-8 to 9-6 grams of 
silica may be present, compared with 0-55 gram in a 
normal lung. Microscopical examination of the 
siliceous particles showed them to be angular, and 
the majority have a diameter of less than 1 » (South 
African Institute for Medical Research, 1913). 
WE have received from the publisher, Mr. Gustav 
Fischer, Jena, ‘‘Studien zur Pathologie der Entwick- 
lung’’ (Band i., Heft 3, 1914), edited by Profs. R. 
Meyer and E. Schwalbe. The principal contribution 
is by Dr. L. Kech on the morphology of the muscu- 
lature of the human extremities when defective (pp. 
428-539), containing a summary of published examples. 
Abstracts of papers published elsewhere, as well as 
original communications, are included in the volume, 
which should be of considerable service to those en- 
gaged in this branch of research. 
A REPORT of the work of the Radium Institute for 
the year 1913, by the director, Mr. Hayward Pinch, 
has been issued. In all, 860 cases have been treated, 
of which about half were cases of cancer. A number 
of the latter improved more or less, but it is too early 
yet to determine whether they be cured or not. It 
would seem that in cases of cancers of the skin the 
outlook is very hopeful, but that in tumours of the 
tongue and mouth it is less hopeful—though the 
method of burying the radium tube in the tumour has 
been successful in some cases. Tumours of the womb 
vield gratifying results, of the breast fair results. 
Intestinal tumours, though difficult to reach, do well 
in a relatively smail number of cases. Tumours of 
bone, if taken early, do well. In most cases pain and 
irritation are relieved. Besides the direct application 
of radium in the institute, tubes of radium emanation 
and radio-active water are supplied for use outside. 
In his report for 1913 the curator states that the 
Sarawak Museum has made steady progress, the 
number of additions during that year being above the 
average, and articles based on the collections more 
NO. 2329, VOL. 93] 
numerous than usual. The crying need of the moment 
seems to be the expansion and (when necessary) de- 
scription of the large collection of Bornean beetles. 
WirH its June issue the Entomologist’s Monthly 
Magazine celebrates its jubilee, the first number, under 
the editorship of Messrs. Stainton, McLachlan, Rye, 
Blackburn, and Knaggs, having appeared in June, 
1864. Of the contributors to the first volume, eight 
well-known entomologists—Messrs. A. G. Butler, F. 
Enock, C, Fenn, G. Lewis, G. B. Longstaff, G. F. 
Mathew, D. Sharp, and G. O. Waterhouse are still 
with us to testify to the healthfulness of ‘ butterfly- 
hunting.”” Since its commencement, the magazine 
has added no fewer than 2992 species to the British 
fauna. 
Lice (Anoplura) and biting-lice (Mallophaga) infest- 
ing mammals form the subject of an article in the 
May issue of the American Naturalist by Prof. V. L. 
Kellogg, of Stanford University, Colorado. In a 
previous communication on the Mallophaga of birds it 
| has been shown that the evidence of these parasites 
frequently confirms that of other factors in respect to 
the near affinity between hosts that are widely sun- 
dered geographically. Similar evidence is afforded by 
the study of the mammal-infesting types, the author 
remarking that, in spite of the incompleteness of our 
knowledge, ‘‘it is surprising how repeatedly the com- 
monness of parasite species to two or more related, 
although geographically well separated, host-species 
is illustrated. All through the order (f.e., class) from 
Marsupials to Quadrumana this condition is again 
and again exemplified.’’ 
As the result of collecting trips in the Middle and 
Far East, followed by technical work in the chief 
museums of Europe, Mr. C, W. Beebe has evolved a 
scheme of classification of the pheasants and their 
relations, based on the order in which the tail-feathers 
are moulted, a feature he believes to afford the most 
trustworthy indication of genetic affinity. In this he 
is in agreement with the work of Dr. Bureau on the 
tail-moult in partridges, although he was unacquainted 
with those researches until his own were nearly com- 
pleted. On this basis Mr. Beebe (whose article ap- 
peared in the April issue, vol. i., No. 15, of Zoologica) 
divides the pheasant family (Phasianidz) into four sub- 
families. In the first of these (Perdicinz) the tail- 
moult commences with the inner pair of feathers, 
while in the second (Phasianinz) the outermost pair 
are the first to be shed; in the other two sub-families 
an intermediate condition exists. 
A NEW method for determining the densities of 
minerals and rocks at high temperatures is described 
by A. L. Day, R. B. Sosman, and J. C. Hostetter, in 
the American Journal of Science, vol. xxxvii. (1914), 
p. 1. The substance is held down by weights under 
an inverted crucible of graphite, which is immersed 
in a bath of molten tin or silver. Tin has the con- 
veniently low melting point of 232°. The measure- 
ments are made by noting the weight required to pull 
down the crucible and the assay to a given depth 
marked on a stem connected with the crucible. The 
graphite is protected from oxidation by an atmosphere 
