March 2, 1905] 



NATURE 



42i, 



We learn from the Times that Prof. Adolf Bastian, director 

 of the Berlin Ethnographical Museum, has died at Port of 

 Spain, Trinidad, in his seventy-ninth year, while on a 

 scientific expedition. Prof. Bastian, who was a distinguished 

 traveller for many years, enjoyed a wide reputation as the 

 author of numerous ethnological and anthropological works, 

 of which the best known is " The Peoples of Eastern Asia." 



The council of the University of Birmingham recently 

 assigned a plot of land on the new university site at Bourn- 

 brook in order to enable Mr. Walter E. CoUinge, the lecturer 

 in zoology, to continue his experiments and observations 

 upon the life-histories of the black-currant gall-mite and 

 the plum aphis,, with the view of obtaining remedies for 

 exterminating or holding in check these pests to fruit- 

 growers. 



The annual dinner of the Institution of Civil Engineers 

 will be held on Wednesday, March 22, at Merchant Taylors' 

 Hall, Threadneedle-street, E.C. Sir Guilford Molesworth, 

 president of the institution, will occupy the chair. 



An interesting excursion has been arranged by the 

 American Institute of Mining Engineers. In the first 

 week in July a meeting will be held aft Victoria, British 

 Columbia, and this will be followed by a three weelcs' trip 

 to the mining districts of Alaska. 



A VALUABLE contribution to economic geology is afforded 

 by an article on the Hauraki goldfields of New Zealand 

 published by Mr. W. Lindgren in the Engineering and 

 Mining Journal of New York. The occurrence of gold is 

 very similar to that in Transylvania. The gold is met with 

 in quartz veins traversing andesite altered into propylite. 

 The minerals accompanying the gold are dolomite, pyrites, 

 blende, galena, and ruby silver ore. Near the surface the 

 sulphide ores are oxidised ; and the greatest yield of gold 

 has been obtained at points where the veins cross. 



In the Transactions of the Faculty of Actuaries, No. iS 

 (1905), Dr. James Buchanan discusses the use of various 

 modifications of Simpson's rule in the performance of the 

 integrations involved in the calculation of survivorship 

 benefits. 



In the Physikalische Zeitschrift for February i, Profs. 

 Elster and Geitel discuss the radio-activity of certain sedi- 

 ments from the German mineral springs, and Messrs. A. 

 Herrmann and F. Pesendorfer describe experiments indi- 

 cating traces of radio-activity in the gases from the 

 Sprudel spring at Carlsbad. 



An interesting feature of the Johns Hopkins University 

 Circular is the series of " Notes in Mathematics," edited by 

 Prof. Frank Morley, appearing in the January number. 

 These notes deal with " A system of parastroids " and " A 

 curve of the fifth class " (Mr. R. P. Stephens), " Applications 

 of quaternions to four dimensions " and " Some invariant 

 relations of linear correspondences " (Mr. H. B. Phillips), 

 " A closed system of conies " (Mr. Charles C. Grove), and 

 " The normal form of a coUimation and the reduction of 

 two conies to normal form " (Mr. A. B. Coble). 



Prof. Hans Landolt, of Berlin, has received the Prussian 

 Imperial Gold Medal for Science. 



The city of Lincoln is now suffering from a serious out- 

 break of typhoid fever. The epidemic started at the begin- I 

 ning of January, and up to date nearly 800 cases have been 1 

 notified. The epidemic is plainly a water-borne one, milk I 

 NO. 1844, VOL. 71] 



and other articles of diet being excluded as channels of 

 diffusion by the extent of the outbreak and its regular dis- 

 tribution over the whole area. The water supply of Lincoln 

 is derived from the River Witham, the water being passed 

 through sand filters before distribution. Attention has been 

 directed from time to time to the unsatisfactory quality of 

 the water, and in igoi the boring of a deep well into the 

 sandstone was commenced, but after the bore had reached a 

 depth of 8S0 feet in 1903 the boring tool was lost, and has 

 not been recovered, thus entailing serious delay. The 

 epidemic, it is surmised, has been caused by pollution of the 

 Witham or its tributaries above the intake. It is un- 

 forturtate that works were in progress in the autumn to 

 improve the filter beds by deepening the layer of fine sand, 

 but were put a stop to by the early frost, and the same 

 event caused many of the consumers to leave their taps 

 running, and thus to necessitate an increase in the rate of 

 filtration to meet the increased demand. 



The Fishmongers' Company has published a preliminary 

 report bv Dr. Klein, F.R.S., on experiments undertaken for 

 the company to ascertain the duration of vitality of the 

 typhoid bacillus when introduced into shell-fish. The main 

 conclusions arrived at are : — (i) Oysters readily take up into 

 their interior the Bacillus tylthosus which has been introduced 

 into their shell or into the surrounding sea-water. (2) 

 Oysters, clean at starting, rapidly clear themselves of the 

 ingested typhoid bacilli if they are kept in clean water which 

 is frequently changed. (3) Oysters, clean at starting, clear 

 themselves of the ingested bacilli to a less extent and slower 

 if they are kept in a " dry " state — i.e. out of the sea-water. 



(4) Oysters, from a polluted locality, clear themselves of the 

 ingested bacilli to a less extent, and at a slower rate, even if 

 kept in clean sea-water, than oysters clean at starting. 



(5) Oysters from a polluted locality, containing a large 

 number of the Bacillus coli, very rapidly clear themselves of 

 this microbe, whether kept in or out of the water. This 

 shows that Bacillus coli is foreign to the oyster and is 

 rapidly destroyed by it. When, therefore, it is present in the 

 oyster, it must have been derived from the surroundings. 



(6) However largely infected with typhoid bacilli, the oysters 

 at no time present to the eye any sign of such infection ; 

 they remain in all parts of normal aspect. (7) Cockles and 

 muscles similarly take up the typhoid bacillus, but clear 

 themselves much more slowly, particularly in the case of 

 cockles, than do oysters. 



The geographical results of the National Antarctic Ex- 

 pedition, in so far as they relate to the distribution of land, 

 water, and ice within the area allotted to the expedition for 

 exploration, were described by Captain R.F. Scott before 

 the Royal Geographical Society on Monday. He remarked 

 that the main geographical interest of the expedition was 

 the practical observation of a coast-line from Mount Mel- 

 bourne, in lat. 74i°, to Mount Longstaff, in lat. 83°, and 

 of the conditions which lie to the east and west of this 

 line. The coastal mountains are comparatively low be- 

 tween Mount Melbourne and the Ferrar glacier, and it was 

 the tabular structure of these that first indicated the hori- 

 zontal stratification of the mainland. But low as the 

 mountains are, in one place only does the internal ice-sheet 

 seem to pour any volume of ice into the sea. It is certain 

 that the ice-cap is of very great extent, and there is evidence 

 that it maintains a great and approximately uniform level 

 over the whole continent. The greater portion of this great 

 ice-sheet is believed to be afloat. The soundings made by 

 the expedition show that some hundreds of fathoms of water 

 still intervene between the bottom of the ice at the barrier 

 edge and the floor of the sea ; but the barrier edge sixty 



