NA TURE 



[May 5, 1904 



Bemrose, E. Sandeman, and H. Lapworth, but for the 

 other three days Mr. Bemrose alone will be the director. 

 The details of the excursion seem to have been carefully 

 planned, and full particulars of these, together with in- 

 formation as to special fares and hotel arrangements, can 

 be obtained from the excursion secretary, Mr. H. Kidner, 

 8 Derby Road, Watford. 



A CIRCULAR on the present state of the trade in indigo 

 between India and Aleppo, prepared by the reporter on 

 economic products to the Government of India, is noted 

 in the Journal of the Society of Arts. It appears that 

 between 600 and 700 chests of indigo are imported into 

 Aleppo from India every year. On account, however, of 

 the competition of German synthetic indigo, this is usually 

 sold by the merchants at a loss. This synthetic indigo has 

 two advantages over the natural product, viz. that it is 

 cheaper and that its price does not vary. The native dyers 

 have found that when natural and synthetic indigo are 

 mixed in about equal proportions, the resulting mixture is 

 more durable and also brighter in colour than the natural 

 indigo. On account of the impetus that has been given 

 to the dyeing industry by the popularity of this mixed dye, 

 much more indigo is used than formerly, and the reduction 

 in the demand for natural indigo has not been nearly so 

 great as might have been expected from the introduction 

 of synthetic indigo. 



We have received a copy of the results of the magnetical 

 and meteorological observations made at the Royal Alfred 

 Observatory, Mauritius, in the year 1900, and we note a 

 marked improvement in the form in which the results are 

 now presented, being on the pattern of the Greenwich 

 observations. The routine work has been carried out in a 

 very satisfactory and thorough manner. Photographs of 

 the sun are taken daily, when possible, and the negatives 

 sent to the Solar Physics Committee in London. Meteor- 

 ological bulletins are supplied daily to the local Press, and 

 copies of monthly results are forwarded to this country and 

 elsewhere. Rainfall observations are now made at about 

 seventy stations, and the results are duly tabulated. Special 

 attention is also given to magnetical and seismological 

 observations. 



Mr. J. R. Sutton has contributed to the report of the 

 South African Association for the Advancement of Science 

 a valuable paper containing the determination of mean 

 results from meteorological observations made at second 

 order stations on the table land of South Africa. Observ- 

 ations in Cape Colony are generally made at 8h. a.m. 

 (mean time of the colony), but at some stations other hours 

 are used. The object of the paper is to give materials for 

 reducing these to a common standard of reference. At the 

 cost of a great amount of labour, the author has calculated, 

 from the very complete observations made at Kimberley, 

 the corrections to be applied to means for each hour for all 

 elements in order to obtain the true mean for each month 

 and for the year. He makes suitable reference to the work 

 of the late Mr. Stone, who made a somewhat similar calcu- 

 lation from the Cape observations for 1841-6. 



Dr. T. Levi Civita contributes a note to the Atti dci 

 Lined for March 20 on Kepler's equation nt=iu — c sin u, 

 and the limits of convergency of the well known expansion 

 of u in powers of e. 



Some experiments by Prof. A. Stefanini and Dr. L. 



Magri on the influence of radium on the electric spark, 



communicated to the Aiii dei Lincei, xiii. (i), 6, by Prof. 



Battelli, lead to the following results : — For discharges 



NO. 1 80 1, VOL. 70J 



between two spheres, or between a positively charged point 

 or sphere and negative disc, the discharge is facilitated 

 by radium for short sparking distances and impeded for 

 longer ones ; at these distances the radium influences the 

 positive pole. If the disc is positive and the sphere or 

 point negative, the discharge is impeded at small sparking 

 distances within a limited interval ; in general the effect is 

 nil. For certain sparking distances between a sphere and 

 disc it is possible for radium to impede or facilitate dis- 

 charge according to which electrode is positive. 



In the April number of Climate, the anti-malarial cam- 

 paign at Ismailia is described. Dr. Harford discusses 

 sleepipg sickness and its cause, and articles of medical 

 interest, reviews and notes complete the contents of this 

 useful journal. 



In a pamphlet entitled " Recent Improvements in Methods 

 for the Bacterial Treatment of Sewage " (Sanitary Publish- 

 ing Co.), Mr. Dibdin describes his multiple surface bacteria 

 beds. The basis of his thesis is that there is no need foi 

 sewage to undergo a preliminary anaerobic treatment as 

 in the case of the septic tank process, but that aerobic 

 action alone suffices under the proper conditions. Mr. 

 Dibdin constructs his beds of ridged tiles or of slate debris.. 



In the Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital for 

 February (vol. xv.. No. 155), Dr. Kennon Dunham describes 

 the effects of the Rontgen rays on lower animal life. These 

 differed with the particular species exposed, Chilomonas 

 and two species of Paramoecium being killed after six 

 exposures, each of three minutes' duration on three 

 successive days, while rotifers, Arcella and Cryptomonas 

 were unaffected by this treatment. • As regards the different 

 rays, those having the strongest action were found to be 

 directed from the centre of the anode plate in a line perpen- 

 dicular to its face, and focused by passing through a 

 cylinder of sheet lead. The most destructive rays were pro- 

 duced by a medium low tube excited by a heavy electrical 

 discharge which had been passed across spark gaps or other 

 resistance sufficient to produce rays of great penetrative 

 power, such as will give a clear picture of a deeply seated 

 bone, e.g. the hip, in three or four minutes. Dr. Leonard 

 Hirshberg proves by a number of experiments that the 

 species of anopheles mosquito {A. punctipennis) so abun- 

 dant in and about Baltimore does not transmit malaria. 

 There are also other excellent articles, but of purely medical 

 interest. 



Messrs. Hepburn and Waterston, in the April issue of 

 the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, continue their 

 account of the histology of the motor-cells and accessory 

 nerve in the spinal nerve-column of the porpoise. Another 

 article in the same Journal contains the report of the second 

 of a series of lectures by Prof. A. Robinson on the early 

 development of the ovum and the differentiation of the 

 placenta in various mammalian groups. 



In the April number of the Zoologist the editor, Mr. 

 W. L. Distant, commences a series of articles on rivers 

 as factors in the distribution of animals, dealing in this 

 instance with their restrictive action. Many instances are 

 noted where rivers form the boundary to the range of species 

 or groups of mammals, a notable case being the limitation 

 of the area of the viscacha by the Uruguay River, although 

 the country to the north appears in every way as well suited 

 to the habits of that rodent as are the pampas to the 

 south. 



Three papers on vertebrates constitute the chief contents 

 of the instalment of the Proceedings of the Philadelphia 



