40 



NA rURE 



[May 9, 1 90 1 



ground so rapidly that, at the present time, there are no less 

 than some 1400 shooting stations in Hungary and many more 

 similar stations in Italy. Dr. Pernter and others were dele- 

 gated by the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture to witness and 

 report upon the results of experiments as to the efficacy of the 

 system. The experiments were made both in horizontal and 

 vertical directions, with the result that in the horizontal direction 

 the whirls which on leaving the mortar attained a velocity .of, 

 say, 170 miles an hour were reduced, at a distance of So to 100 

 metres, to less than 100 miles an hour, and in the vertical direction 

 an initial velocity of 200 miles an hour was reduced to about 75 

 miles an hour at a height of about 1 10 metres. It was estimated 

 by Dr. Pernter that the whirls would in no case reach a greater 

 height than 400 metres. The only thing that can at present be 

 positively asserted is that it is not impossible that the shooting 

 may sometimes prevent hail ; it is, however, improbable that the 

 energy of the whirls — except under the most favourable con- 

 ditions — can directly influence its formation. 



The unexpected death of Dr. Kohlstock, which occurred at 

 Tientsin on April 15, causes a great loss to the medical depart- 

 ment of the German Army, in which he was regarded as one of 

 the best and ablest organisers. At the time of his death he 

 was forty years of age and was sent, some months ago, to 

 Tientsin, with a view to directing the military hospital there. 

 Prof. Kohlstock will be best remembered in this country by the 

 conspicuous part he played in 1896 in his capacity as Prof. 

 Robert Koch's first assistant during the former's sojourn in 

 South Africa for the purpose of investigating and combating the 

 rinderpest. In Germany, however, his name is associated with 

 several other by no means less important scientific researches. 

 In 1890 he began some special bacteriological studies under the 

 superintendence of Prof. R. Koch, and in the following year 

 the " Seminar fiir orientalische Sprachen " was founded in 

 Berlin, and Dr. Kohlstock, upon Prof. Koch's recommendation, 

 became lecturer on tropical hygiene at that institute. To his 

 connection, as a teacher, with this institute he mainly owes 

 the title of professor, which was conferred upon him by the 

 German Government in 1S98. But his activity and interest 

 were not confined to this work alone, indeed his subsequent 

 appointment as a scientific adviser to the German Foreign Office 

 in matters bearing upon tropical hygiene very largely increased 

 his usual work and brought him into public prominence, with 

 the result that he was .soon requested by several private colonial 

 associations to accept a post similar in character to that he held 

 in connection with the Foreign Office, but he declined these 

 oflers. His scientific and literary contributions are numerous, 

 but they are entirely devoted to the domain •of clinical and 

 bacteriological research in connection with malaria and yellow 

 fever. One popular book, however, which he wrote about two 

 or three years ago is likely to survive him for some time to 

 come, namely, his " Aerztlicher Rathgeber fur Ost-Afrika und 

 andere tropische Malaria-Gegenden." Lastly, in conjunction 

 with Prof. Koch he originated the scheme for the establishment 

 of the so-called " Deutsche Anstalt fvir Tropen-Hygiene," which 

 was recently erected in Hamburg. 



Mr. J. H. Hart's Annual Report on the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens of Trinidad for the year 1900 deals, as usual, with the 

 botanical and meteorological work in the Gardens, and also the 

 monthly rainfall statistics at some scores of points of observation 

 throughout the island. Several seismographic records were 

 supplied to Prof. Milne, the most important being that of the 

 Caracas earthquake of October 29, the shock commencing 

 suddenly, without' any preliminary tremors, and agitating the 

 instrument for two hours. In the herbarium several fungi and 

 parasitic insects injurious to vegetation were under investigation, 

 and also a disease occurring in the cacao plantations of Surinam. 



NO. 1645, VOL. 64] 



A course of agricultural education for elementary school teachers 

 having been inaugurated appears to have proved highly success- 

 ful, four courses being attended by 112 teachers and 10 cadets. 

 Sugar cane experiments were confined to the raising and trial of 

 new seedlings, and the cultivation of small areas of a few 

 standard kinds for control purposes, no manurial experiments 

 being attempted. From May 1899 to May 1900 there were 170 

 new canes analysed, 131 being Trinidad seedlings, the rest 

 Demerara, Barbados and standard kinds. The question of the 

 pollination of the cane by wind or insects is still unsettled, but 

 it is found that the greatest variety and the best kinds of canes 

 come from seed harvested where several distinct varieties are 

 planted closely together. Notes are given on the experimental 

 cultivation in the Gardens of rubber, nutmegs, coffee, oranges, 

 guava and other plants. Botanical officials in other West 

 Indian islands supplied as many as seventy varieties of sweet 

 potatoes, but in all cases their yield was very poor. 



In his natural history notes Mr. Hart states that in the St. 

 Ann's and Maraval rivers two species of small fish are found, 

 one not so large as the English stickleback, the other slightly 

 larger. They are commonly found in garden fountains and 

 tanks, and both destroy the larvre and eggs of mosquitoes. The 

 question of the benefit of introducing these or similar fish into 

 noted malarial districts is well worthy of consideration. It is a 

 fact that the common gold-fish or carp does not increase in their 

 presence owing to the smaller fish devouring the eggs of the 

 larger. Gold-fish, however, are said to destroy mosquito eggs 

 and larv.-e. The study of living specimens of insects is rendered 

 difficult by the behaviour of small ants, which attack and destroy 

 nearly every form of insect. All experiments have, therefore, to 

 be conducted in receptacles standing above water. In tapping 

 Para rubber trees it i? found thiat some of the coagulated rubber 

 is cut up and carried away by a large species of black ant. 

 Species of bees, genus Trigona, have also been observed carry- 

 ing off' the coagulated rubber fluid from the stems of CastiUoa 

 elastica. Similar species use resinous exudations from the 

 Gayiinias and other trees as ready-made wax for their nests, 

 and in some cases actually cut the bark in such a manner as to 

 cause a flow of the desired fluids. 



The April number of the Journal of the Franklin InstittUe 

 contains the first part of a paper by Mr. Edwin Swift Balch, 

 entitled " Antarctica : a History of Antarctic Discovery." In 

 the introduction to his paper, the author says — " Not long since 

 Sir Clements Markham proposed in the Geographical Joiirnal, 

 for November, 1899, to divide the Antarctic into four quad- 

 rants, each covering 90° of longitude, and to bear English 

 names. The advantages of this proposition on the score of 

 convenience are not self-evident. Moreover, it is only just to 

 remember that, besides Englishmen, mariners of many other 

 nations have made discoveries in the Antarctic. A letter that 

 I wrote on this matter was published in the Nation, New York, 

 May 10, 1900, and also in the Evening Post, New York, of the 

 same date. Up to that time I had made no special study of 

 Antarctic geography, and discovered then how difficult it was 

 to find accurate data." In the present instalment the author 

 covers, with considerable detail, (a) Voyages leading from a 

 belief to a disbelief in a Terra Australis Incognita, and 

 [b) Voyages up to the discovery of a South Polar Continent. 



Sir Martin Conway has drawn up, in the form of a 

 pamphlet entitled "The Rise and Fall of Smeerenburg, Spits- 

 bergen," and privately printed, the results of much careful and 

 laborious investigation into the history of the rival fisheries 

 carried on in Spitsbergen during the seventeenth centur)'. In 

 1614 the Noordsche or Greenland Company, which had obtained 

 the monopoly of the whale fishery for the Dutch Republic, sent 

 up a force " which the English, under Captain Joseph, were too 



