July i8, 1901] 



NA rURE 



28; 



l2-i6, were described at the beginning of this year (January 3, 

 p. 236), when the invitation circular was distributed. We 

 are now informed that 114 papers have been proposed by 

 zoologists of various nationalities, so that the Congress promises 

 to be of real scientific importance. The magnificent rooms o' 

 the German House of Parliament have been put at the disposal 

 of the Congress, and, with the exception of a few lectures to be 

 delivered in the Chemical Institute of the University, all the 

 meetings will be held in the Reichstag building. The sections 

 of the Congress will be : I. General zoology : II. Vertebrata 

 (biology, classification, distribution) ; III. Vertebrata (anatomy, 

 histology, embryology) ; \\. Evertebrata except Arthropods ; 

 V. ■\rthropoda ; VI. Economic zoology (fisheries, &c. ) ; VII. 

 Nomenclature. Zoologists who wish to read papers should send 

 abstracts not exceeding fifteen lines of print to the Prtesidium of 

 the Congress not later than August i. The complete papers 

 must be sent in not later than October i. The Congress will 

 be opened at the Reichstagsbaude on Sunday, August ix, at 

 8 p.m. The subjects of lectures to be delivered in the course of 

 the meeting are : the malarial problem from a zoological point 

 of view, by Prof. G. B. Grassi ; vitalism and mechanism, by 

 Prof. Biitschli ; theories of fertilisation, by Prof. Yves Delage ; 

 the psychological attributes of ants, by Prof. Forel ; mimicry 

 and natural selection, by Prof. E. B. Poulton ; fossil remains 

 of man, by Prof. Branco. Letters and applications for tickets 

 should be addressed to the Piasidium des V. Internationalen 

 Zoologen-Congresses, Berlin N. 4, Invalidenstrasse 43. 



The new pathological institute connected with the London 

 Hospital Medical College was opened by Sir Henry Roscoe on 

 July 10. The building has cost 20,000/., the fitting-up will 

 need another 1000/. and the carrying on of the department will 

 cost about 1200/. a year. The director of the iristitute is Dr. 

 Bullock. Mr. Sydney Holland, who occupied the chair at the 

 opening ceremony, remarked that in the new laboratories studies 

 of the causes of disease could be made under conditions which 

 made success possible and advance probable. There would be 

 an orderly continuity of observation which had hitherto been 

 impossible and which would be carried on by men who were 

 specially trained in that science and who loved it for its own 

 sake and for its benefit to their fellow men. This was work by 

 which the whole country would benefit, and yet they got no 

 help from the Government. Scotch hospitals and Irish hospitals 

 obtained grants from the Government, but English hospitals got 

 none and were cramped in every direction for funds. Every 

 German town, even small ones, had its pathological laboratories. 

 The County Council had established one at Claybury, but the 

 one they were opening was the first attempt in London to deal 

 so completely with this most important branch of medical know- 

 ledge. In opening the building, Sir Henry Roscoe remarked 

 that it was unique among the large hospitals of London. It 

 was the most completely equipped department for dealing with 

 pathology in a manner worthy of the importance of that branch 

 of medical science. For it was now generally acknowledged 

 that pathology was an essential portion of those studies which 

 made up the great science of medicine. It was necessary to 

 have a centre where pathology was studied for its own sake and 

 not for purposes of immediate practical application, still less for 

 mere exariinational purposes. The institute would form, he 

 trusted, an introductory stage for entrance to that still higher 

 and more advanced school of research which had its home in 

 he Jenner Institute at Chelsea. 



An unfortunate controversy having arisen on the question of 

 priority in the proof of the mosquito theory of the transference 

 of malarial infection. Major Ronald Ross has published some 

 correspondence en the subject which shows that the claims of 

 some of the Italian observers cannot be substantiated (" Letters 

 NO. 1655, VOL. 64] 



from Rome on the New Discoveries in Malaria," 1900). These 

 eight letters were written by Dr. Edmonston Charles, a resident 

 in Rome, to Major Ross, then in India, and date from Novem- 

 ber 4, 1S9S, to January 14, 1899 ; a letter from Dr. Daniels is 

 included, and they are preceded by a critical introduction, and 

 terminate with a postscript and bibliography by Ross. At this 

 period the Italians, notably Grassi, Bignami and.Bastianelli, 

 were endeavouring to follow Ross's investigations on the develop- 

 ment of the malarial parasites in the mosquito, and Dr. Charles 

 acted as an intermediary, informing Ross of the progress made 

 by the Italians, and similarly communicating to the latter Ross's 

 observations and handing them his specimens. In the first 

 letter, Charles asks for specimens for Marchiafava "of the 

 mosquito in which human malaria develops." Grassi now 

 denies that Ross ever detected this species. It is pointed out 

 how closely the Italians followed and how well informed they 

 were of the details of Ross's work, yet now Grassi states that 

 his labours were independent of Ross. In the third letter, with 

 regard to the cultivation of crescents in the "dappled winged 

 mosquito" by Ross, Charles says, "he (Grassi) seemed per- 

 fectly satisfied that your description referred to the Anopheles 

 elaviget:" Grassi now contends that he could not identify the 

 malaria-bearing mosquito from Ross's description. Bignami, 

 Grassi and Bastianelli have frequently stated that Ross's first 

 successful experiments with human malaria were unsound, 

 because the insects employed might have already bitten another 

 animal before having been fed on man. Yet in Ross's publi- 

 cacion it is clearly premised that the insects had been bred in 

 bottles from the larvae. These and other claims are dealt with 

 in this publication. 



The art of producing decorative illuminating effects by the 

 use of electric light is one that has in recent years called forth 

 the application of great engineering skill. Particular attention 

 has been given to this point at the Pan-American exhibition 

 now being held at Buffalo, and those who are fortunate enough 

 to visit this exhibition will be able to admire what is probably 

 the most comprehensive and carefully studied system of illu- 

 mination that has as yet been carried out. The less fortunate 

 can obtain some idea of the great beauty of some of the 

 effects from the very excellent photographs that have been re- 

 cently appearing in the Eleclrical Review of New York. Those 

 responsible for the illumination at Buft'alo were to a certain 

 extent favoured by circumstances in that they had a cheap supply 

 of electricity available from the neighbouring power station at 

 Niagara. It was thus possible, not only to get current cheaply, 

 but also to control the lighting of the whole exhibition from one 

 centre. Power is transmitted from Niagara, 20 miles distant, at 

 a pressure of 11,000 volts, and after undergoing a transformation 

 down to an intermediate voltage of 1800 is again transformed 

 down to the voltage for supplying the lamps. An additional 

 eft'ect is produced by gradually bringing up the lamps from dark- 

 ness to full candle power instead of switching on the full light 

 instantaneously. To carry this out the whole of the current 

 used for illuminating the buildings is passed through three 

 large water rheostats, consisting of iron tanks 10 feet long by 

 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep, into which cast-iron plates, 8 feet 

 long by J inch thick, are slowly lowered ; when the plate 

 reaches the bottom of the tank it strikes a clip which short 

 circuits the rheostat. The three rheostats are worked simul- 

 taneously, the plates being lowered and raised by a small 

 electric motor ; 45 seconds is taken to light up the lamps, which 

 are put out in a somewhat longer period of about 75 seconds. 



The director of the Belgian Meteorological Service has 

 recently published a very useful memoir on the direction of the 

 wind at Brussels, compiled from fifty years' observations (1842- 

 1891). The work forms the third part of the series, those 



