432 



NA TURE 



[August 29, 1901 



districts of French Congo immediately under the Equator ; but 

 it now appears that the range of this Anthropoid Ape extends 

 further north into the interior of Kamerun. The specimen in 

 question has, as we are informed, been acquired by Mr. Walter 

 Rothschild for the Tring museum. 



The fifth International Congress of Criminal Anthropology 

 will be held at Amsterdam on September 9-14. 



The death is announced of Admiral de Jonquieres, who 

 became a membre libre of the Paris Academy of Sciences in 

 1863, and was renowned for his works in geometry. 



In addition to the papers already mentioned to be read before 

 the Zoological Section at the forthcoming meeting of the British 

 Association, it is hoped that Mr. J. .Stanley Gardiner will give 

 an account of his recent researches upon the coral islands of the 

 Maldives. 



A RE.M.4RK.^BLE discovery of PaK-eolithic implements has 

 lately been made on the estate of the Marquis of Ailesbury, at 

 Knowie Farm, on the borders of Savernake Forest. Between 

 200 and 300 implements (according to a report in the Times) 

 have been obtained from a pit which has been opened in a high- 

 level valley gravel. The implements, which are mostly made of 

 flint, have been well fashioned, and some have been finely 

 polished, as if from the effects of blown sand. They include 

 forms familiar from the Somme valley, and also from Hoxne 

 and other places in this country. 



The new milk standard adopted by the Board of Agriculture 

 will come into force on September i. The regulations state 

 that when a sample of milk (not being sold as skimmed, 

 or separated, or condensed milk) contains less than 3 per cent, 

 of milk-fat, or 8-5 per cent, of milk-solids other than milk-fat, 

 it will be presumed for the purposes of the Sale of Food and 

 Drugs Act, 1S75 to 1S99, until the contrary is proved, that the 

 milk is not genuine. Where a sample of skimmed or separated 

 milk (not being condensed milk) contains less than 9 per cent, 

 of milk-solids, it will be regarded as not genuine. 



The death of Dr. Adolf Fick, late professor of physiology at 

 the University of Wiirzburg, is announced in the Times. Dr. 

 Fick was born at Cassel in 1829, became professor of physiology 

 at the University of Zurich in 1S56, and in 186S was called to 

 the chair of physiology at the University of Wiirzburg, a position 

 that he held until his retirement a few months ago. Among his 

 published works may be mentioned a treatise on medical physics, 

 1S57, which passed through many editions ; a compendium of 

 physiology, 1S60 (third edition 1882); " Anatomy and Physio- 

 logy of the Senses," 1862; "Mechanical Work and the Pro- 

 duction of Heat during Muscular Action," 1S82 ; " Ursache 

 und Wirkung," 1882; " Versuch iiber die Wahrscheinlich- 

 keiten," 1SS3. Prof. Fick was also an active contributor to 

 the leading scientific reviews, and furnished many important 

 papers to the records of his University. 



The Paris correspondent of the Lancet announces that legal 

 authority has just been given for the creation of a fund for 

 scientific research. It is divided into two sections, and its 

 object is the promotion of purely scientific work relative (a) to 

 the discovery of new methods of treatment of the diseases 

 which attack man, domestic animals, and cultivated plants ; and 

 (h') to the discovery, apart from the medical sciences, of the laws 

 which govern natural phenomena (mechanics, astronomy, 

 natural history, physics, and chemistry). The income of the 

 fund will be derived from the following sources: — (i) Grants 

 made by the Government, by the departments, by the com- 

 munes, by the colonies, and by other sections of the population. 

 (2) Gifts and bequests. (3) Individual or collective subscrip- 

 tions. (4) Grants deducted from the portion of the proceeds of 

 NO. 1 66 1, VOL. 64] 



the /a?-«-w«/«f/ assigned to philanthropic or charitable purposes 

 locally ; the annual amounts of these grants, which will not be 

 less than 125,000 francs (5000/ ), will be fixed each year on the 

 application of the council of management by the special com- 

 mission held at the Ministry of Agriculture. (5) Interest of 

 money invested in Government securities or deposited with the 

 Treasury. The fund is subject to the authority of the Ministry 

 of Public Instruction, and is managed by a council assisted by 

 a technical commission concerned with the grants. 



The New York Board of Health has distributed a circular 

 of information, prepared by Dr. H. M. Biggs, upon the cause 

 and prevention of malarial fever. This course has been taken 

 because malarial fever is prevalent in certain boroughs of New 

 York City, and is likely to extend on account of the extensive 

 excavations and consequent formation of rain-pools in various 

 parts of these boroughs, if means are not employed for its pre- 

 vention. The circular states that the following simple pre- 

 cautions suffice to protect persons living in malarial districts 

 from infection : — (l) Proper screening of the house to prevent 

 the entrance of the mosquitoes. The chief danger of infection 

 is at night, inasmuch as the Anopheles bite mostly at this time. 

 (2) The confinement and continuous screening of persons in 

 malarial districts who are suffering from malarial fever. (3) The 

 administration of quinine in full doses to malarial patients to 

 destroy the malarial organisms in the blood. (4) The removal 

 of the breeding places of the mosquitoes through drainage, 

 filling up of holes and surface pools, and emptying of tubs, 

 pails, &c. , which contain stagnant water. (5) In pools which 

 cannot be drained or filled, the destruction of the mosquito 

 larvK by the use of petroleum thrown upon the surface, by the 

 introduction of minnows and other small fish which eat the 

 larvce, or by both methods. 



The removal of the astronomical instruments from the 

 Observatory at Pekin, as a part of the German loot, has already 

 been mentioned in these columns. No particulars of the action 

 have come under our notice, but the right of Germany to the 

 instruments has just been questioned, so that the subject is still 

 under discussion. 



With the intention of directing attention to the cultivation 

 of the vine in the colonies, Sir James Elyth, Bart., contributes 

 to the Chamber of Cvmmercc Journal for September an instruc 

 tive article upon vine culture. His remarks upon the value ol 

 scientific investigations in connection with the industry are o 

 interest. It is pointed out that owing to the invasion of phyl 

 loxera, and the consequent scientific discoveries for its preven 

 tion or extermination, labour on the vineyards has become con 

 tinuous throughout the year. It is a common remark amongst 

 the present proprietors of the Medoc, that in their fathers' time 

 the vines were simply pruned, the land ploughed four times a 

 year, and the grapes gathered at the vintage, leaving all else to 

 nature and the seasons. Now, from the moment the grapes are 

 gathered, scarcely a week — certainly not a month — passes, but 

 some process for the defence of the roots, the stems, or the 

 leaves takes place. The greater care exercised in planting, and 

 the experience acquired in combating all the enemies to the 

 well-being of the vine, promise not only to conquer these in- 

 sidious fungoid and insect pests, but vastly to increase the pro- 

 portional productivity of the areas under vines. For instance, 

 there has been a considerable increase in the fecundity of the 

 vine since steps have been taken to regenerate the vineyards 

 which have been affected by phylloxera. This niay be judged 

 by the fact that, whereas in 1875, which, as is welKknown, was 

 a record year in France for quantity as well as quality, an ex- 

 ceptional average yield of 294 galluns per acre was produced, 

 the average yield in 1900 was as much as 343 gallons per acre. 



