DECEMBER 27, 1906| 
NATURE 207 
Tue report of the Board of Health on Plague in New 
South Wales in 1905 includes reports on the fifth out- 
break of plague at Sydney, by Dr. Ashburton Thompson ; 
on outbreaks of plague on the Clarence and Richmond 
Rivers, by Mr. R. J. Millard; on an outbreak of plague 
at Newcastle, by Mr. R. Dick; and appendices on the 
kind of printed forms used in investigating plague and 
on the epidemiology of plague, the latter being an address 
by Dr. Thompson. Again clear evidence is brought for- 
ward of the correlation between rat plague and human 
plague in the four localities of the outbreaks, and Dr. 
Thompson’s address gives a valuable summary of the 
epidemiology of the disease. The report is illustrated 
with five maps and a chart. 
Tue last Bulletin of the Madras Museum, under the 
editorship of Mr. E. Thurston, contains an interesting 
monograph on the Paraiyan or Pariahs of southern India. 
The name of this caste seems to mean ‘‘ drummers,’’ and 
the Rey. A. C. Clayton, the author of the monograph, 
accepts the theory that they are a people who in former 
times were priests of the non-Aryan or Dravidian races, 
and that the detestation shown by the Brahmans to them 
is based on religious rivalry rather than on their foul 
course of life—the eating of carrion and the like. Mr. 
Clayton gives an interesting account of their religious rites, 
social and domestic ceremonies. These have clearly 
suffered much modification under the influence of their 
Hindu neighbours, and they now retain little that is really 
primitive. Thus they seem to have discarded the totem- 
istic exogamous system of groups, and their religion has 
been largely influenced by Hinduism. This contribution 
to the ethnology of southern India gives a useful account 
of an interesting and little-known people. 
Parts i. and ii. of the fifth volume of Biometrika were 
issued together as a double number at the beginning of 
this month. The volume opens with a full and interesting 
memoir of the late Prof. Weldon, joint founder and co- 
editor of the journal, who died last spring at the early 
age of forty-six; many of our readers may be glad to 
note that this memoir is also obtainable separately from 
the Cambridge University Press. The following article 
is by Prof. Raymond Pearl, on the variation of Chilomonas 
paramoecium under favourable and unfavourable condi- 
tions; it is shown that the individuals under unfavourable 
conditions are smaller than the others and of somewhat 
different shape, and the relation of these facts to the 
theories of Driesch and others is discussed. The promised 
issue of the memoir by the same writer, on which some 
controversy recently took place in our correspondence 
columns, has, however, apparently been deferred to the 
next part. Dr. F. A. Woods and Mr. David Heron, in 
two independent articles, conclude that neither in man nor 
in the horse is there any significant inheritance of the 
sex-ratio, nor is there any evidence of Mendelian inherit- 
ance—important contributions to the literature of this sub- 
ject. Dr. Macdonell contributes a second study of the 
English skull, based on crania discovered during excava- 
tions in Liverpool Street, and Prof. Pearson discusses the 
relations between intelligence and various physical and 
mental characters, all such relations appearing to be very 
light. The concluding article gives an account of an 
.important investigation, by Dr. J. W. Jenkinson, on the 
relation between the first furrow, the sagittal plane, and 
the plane of symmetry in more than Suv frogs’ eggs; the 
results of this investigation show that the conclusions of 
some previous writers, based on the examination of very 
inadequate numbers of eggs, have been stated much too 
NO. 1939, VOL. 75] 
confidently, the variation exhibited being very large indeed. 
The miscellanea, as usual, contain a number of shorter 
articles, chiefly on minor points of statistical theory. We 
note that Dr. Macdonell, Mr. Elderton, and Prof. Pearl are 
now associated with Prof. Pearson in the editing of the 
journal, and it may be hoped that this assistance will lead 
to a more regular issue than in the past. 
In the second number of the Botanical Journal of the 
Imperial Society of Naturalists in St. Petersburg, Mr. and 
Mrs. B. Fedtschenko present an article collating the species 
of Campanulacee from Russian Turkestan. In the course 
of an article on the flora of a district in the Government 
of Riazan mention is made of the discovery of pollen and 
seed from pine trees in the peat that would indicate the 
previous extension of coniferous forests many miles further 
south. A description of plants newly recorded from the 
Crimea is contributed by Mr. A. Younghé. 
the Bombay 
instructive 
On the subject of cotton cultivation in 
Presidency, Mr. F. Fletcher contributes an 
article to the Agricultural Journal of India, vol. i., part iv. 
Premising that the better the quality the longer the cotton 
takes to mature, five regions are distinguished according 
to the nature of the soil and the amount of rainfall. Of 
these, the Surtee-Broach and Karnatak tracts are said to 
be capable of producing the best indigenous cottons, while 
on a portion of the Sind tract that is irrigated excellent 
Egyptian cotton has recently been grown. In the matter 
of new cottons a promising hybrid is announced from the 
Surat farm, and cautious but sanguine views are expressed 
with regard to tree cottons, of which two are discussed as 
forms of Gossypium peruvianum and G. barbadense. 
An interesting account giving practical details of the 
construction of a tramway in connection with the extrac- 
tion of timber from the forests of Goalpara, in northern 
India, is furnished by Mr. W. F. Perrée to the September 
and October numbers of the Indian Forester. For work- 
ing the forests in question, situated north of the Brahma- 
putra towards the Bhutan border, neither sufficient labour 
nor animals could be maintained; further, no water was 
available in parts of the district; for these and other 
reasons an experimental tramway was laid down, and 
subsequently extended for a distance of nine miles from 
the Brahmaputra. Short logs, sleepers, and water tanks 
are conveyed on single trucks, while large logs are placed 
on movable frames mounted on the trucks as bogies. The 
details of construction and cost provide useful items for 
reference. 
Dr. E.-Howarp Apye, whose careful ‘‘ Twentieth Cen- 
tury Atlas of Microscopical Petrography ’’ has already been 
noticed in these pages, is now issuing in parts a work 
entitled ‘‘ Studies in Micropetrography,’’ accompanied by 
actual rock-sections, as well as coloured illustrations. A 
prospectus and sample plate can be obtained from the 
publisher, Mr. R. Sutton, 43 The Exchange, Southwark, 
S.E. The rock-sections are of the same beautiful character 
as those issued with the previous atlas, and the subscrip- 
tion price of 4l. 4s. for forty-eight of these and twelve 
parts of the work cannot be regarded as excessive. The 
plates and detailed descriptions should enable the student 
to go a very long way in self-instruction, while the series 
of preparations would be welcome in any laboratory. With 
a view to systematic arrangement later, we could have 
wished that the descriptions had been printed on separate 
and unpaged sheets. The interesting volcanic ash of Mont 
Pelée is included in the first part issued. Surely, however, 
it would be possible for Dr. Adye to quote published litera- 
