October 3, 1901] 



NA TURE 



553 



technical examples. Among a considerable number of natural 

 history subjects there is a notable series, that has been awarded 

 the Society's medal, by Mr. Douglas English. He shows six 

 frames, each containing three or four different photographs of the 

 brown rat, the common mouse, the wood mouse, the field vole, 

 the bank vole and the water vole respectively. The photo- 

 graphs are not of a haphazard kind, for in spite of the diffi- 

 culties of the subjects Mr. English has succeeded in giving 

 typical front and side views of each species. A series of waves 

 and ripple marks in water, sand, snow and clouds, by Dr. 

 Vaughan Cornish, and another of typical cloud forms, by 

 Captain D. Wilson-Barker, are good e.xamples of the kind of 

 work that may be done in this direction. M. Henri Becquerel 

 has contributed several interesting examples of the effects of 

 the mysterious rays that emanate from uranium and radium, 

 including their deviation in a magnetic field and the separa- 

 tion of the different kinds of rays. Recent spectrum work 

 of various kinds is also shown. A series of radiographs by Dr. 

 Hall-Edwards is of especial interest as they were made at 

 the Imperial Yeomanry hospitals at Deelfontein and Pretoria a 

 few months ago. They show bullets in different parts of the 

 body, including the chest, and the effects of soft-nosed and ex- 

 pansive bullets. In the E.xhibition there will be found a fine 

 collection of examples of various methods of photomechanical 

 work. A panorama of the great working hall of the German 

 Electrical Co. is a remarkable photogravure nearly five feet in 

 length, by Messrs. Meisenbach, Riffarth and Co., but the most 

 notable e.xhibits in this section are the colour prints. Three- 

 colour prints by the method of superposed films, superposed 

 carbon prints, and the ordinary three-colour typographic work, 

 photogravure in colours and colour collotypes, may be seen at 

 their best. Those who appreciate the curious in this direction 

 may examine gum. bichromate prints in three colours, and 

 colour effects produced by exposing gelatino-chloride paper 

 through green leaves. Among the new apparatus the European 

 Blair Camera Co. have contributed their new film cartridge, in 

 which the numbers and dividing marks are simple perforations 

 through white paper, showing the black beneath, and therefore 

 cannot have any effect on the sensitive surface. 



The Cunard steamer Liicaina, which arrived at Liverpool on 

 Saturday morning, reported that, on September 25, she had been 

 in communication at sea by wireless telegraphy, svith the same 

 company's outward bound steamer Campania, which left 

 Liverpool on September 21. The ships were 36 miles apart 

 when complimentary messages were exchanged, and were not 

 visible to each other at any lime. 



The annual " cryptogamic meeting" of the Essex Field Club 

 will be held on Saturday, October 12, at High Beach, Epping 

 Forest. Dr. M. C. Cooke, Mr. Massee, Prof. Marshall Ward, 

 F. R.S., and other botanists have consented to act as referees. 

 Prof. Marshall Ward will give an address on "The Scientific 

 Study of Fungi." Botanists and others wishing to attend should 

 communicate with the hon. secretary, Mr. W. Cole, Buckhurst 

 Hill, Essex. 



We learn from the Times that a statue of Pasteur was un- 

 veiled on Sunday at Arbois, where he spent his childhood and 

 where he latterly spent his few holidays. Pasteur's son and 

 his son-in-law, M. Vallery Radot, were present, and almost the 

 whole population of the little town assembled round the statue. 

 M. Decrais, Minister of the Colonies, in a glowing eulogium on 

 Pasteur, stated that in the hope of earning for France the 

 honour of preventing the ravages of yellow fever, Drs. 

 Marchoux and Simon, nominated by the Pasteur Institute, and 

 M. Salimbeni, an eminent Italian, were about to be sent to 

 Brazil to study the malady. M. Liard, of the Institute, also 

 spoke on Pasteur's achievements and character. 

 NO. 1666, VOL. 64I 



Prof. G. Sims Woodhead contributes to the Monthly 

 Review an article upon the prevention and cure of tuberculosis, 

 with special reference to the conclusions stated by Prof. Koch 

 in his address to the recent British Congress on Tuberculosis. 



The last two numbers received of Engler's Bolanische Jahr- 

 bucher (vol. xxx. Heft 2 and vol. xxxi. Heft I and 2) contain 

 several important systematic papers — a monograph of the Disese 

 (a section of Orchidea:), by R. Schlechler, and a monograph of 

 Mahonia, by F. Fedde — a report on the botanical results of the 

 Lake Nyassa and Kinga Mountain Expedition, by Prof Engler ; 

 and a very interesting short paper by E. Ule on ant-gardens in 

 the Amazon region. Several species of ants appear to collect the 

 seeds of the " antepiphytes " and carefully bury them in humus, 

 covering up and protecting the young plants when they germ- 

 inate, and thus producing veritable gardens often of considerable 

 size. Quite a number of these epiphytes — three Arace;E, five 

 BromeliaceEe, five Gesneraceje, one Moraces, two Piperaceas, 

 one Cactacefe — were found by Ule in these gardens and nowhere 

 else. 



The Society for the Protection of Birds is this year offering 

 two prizes, of 10/. and 5/. respectively, for papers on the best 

 means of establishing a " Bird and Arbour Day" in England. 

 In many of the schools of the United States bird days and 

 arbour days have become a very popular institution, and have 

 proved most successful in interesting teachers and children in 

 birds and bird protection ; and the Society's offer will, it is 

 hoped, elicit practical hints as to the way in which the scheme 

 may be introduced and worked in English schools. Papers are 

 to be sent in not later than November 30, 1901, and all 

 particulars may be obtained of the Hon. Secretary, Society for 

 the Protection of Birds, 3, Hanover-square, London, W. 



Dr. T. E. Thorpe's report upon the work of the Govern- 

 ment Laboratory has recently become available. From the 

 large amount of work described in the report, we select a few 

 points for mention. It appears that since the Act was passed 

 limiting the amount of moisture in tobacco to 30 per cent., 

 manufacturers have been using an excessive quantity of oil in 

 roll and cake tobacco. An Act was therefore passed last year 

 limiting the proportion of oil to 4 per cent., and a process for 

 the estimation of the amount of oil has been devised. Liquorice, 

 glycerine, and salicylic acid are other substances found in 

 adulterated samples of tobacco. Two samples of British-grown 

 tobacco were received at the Government Laboratory from two 

 small lots of tobacco which had been grown in England by 

 persons who had not received the permission from the Board of 

 Inland Revenue to grow tobacco— such permission is necessary 

 even for experimental cultivation. A sample of pemmican was 

 examined for the Committee of the National Antarctic Ex- 

 pedition. It was supposed to be quite free from moisture and 

 to contain 60 per cent, of ox lard with a highly nutritive base, 

 but on examination it was found to contain 8 per cent, of 

 moisture and 38 per cent, of starch, whilst the total amount of 

 fat present was only I9'6 per cent. Many other instances of 

 adulterated goods and variation of quality are given by Dr. 

 Thorpe. Thus, in ten samples of india-rubber the proportion 

 of vulcanised rubber was found to vary between 57 and 44 per 

 cent. Analyses made for the War Office showed that several 

 samples of so-called butter were margarine ; baking powders 

 have been found to contain 67 and 75 per cent, of starch ; cocoa 

 paste has yielded 41 per cent, of water and only 23 per cent, of 

 real cocoa ; a sample of mustard contained 60 per cent, of added 

 flour ; strawberry jam 10 per cent, of other fruit, and many 

 other jams and marmalade large proportions of glucose ; oat- 

 meal, flour and arrowroot were found of inferior quality, and so 

 on. Among the drugs examined was a s.imple of effervescing 



