August 4, 1904] 



NATURE 



ZZ^ 



To Naturen for June and July Dr. L. Stejneger, of the 

 U.S. National Museum, communicates an interesting paper 

 on the " Celtic pony " recently described by Prof. J. C. 

 Ewart and its relation to the now extinct tarpan of the 

 Russian steppes, and to a Norwegian breed termed the 

 " fjordhest." All appear to be closely related, if not, 

 indeed, identical, the tarpan and the "fjordhest," at any 

 rate, frequently lacking- the callosity on the hind limb. 



Judging from the fact that the one on the brain of the 

 «heep has reached a third edition. Dr. B. G. Wilder's 

 "" Physiology Practicums," published by the author at Ithaca, 

 U.S. .A., appear to have attained the success they deserve. 

 Seven plates illustrate the part before us. 



No interruption to the steady pursuit of science in Japan 

 appears to be caused bv the war, three parts (one of them 

 of exceptional thickness) of the Journal of the College of 

 Science of Tokyo having reached us by last mail. The 

 first of these (vol. xviii., art. 7). which comprises no less 

 than 307 pages of text, illustrated by 23 plates, is devoted 

 to the fourth instalment of Dr. I. Ijima's studies on the 

 hexactinellid sponges. In this section the author treats of 

 the family Rossellidje, which he divides into three sub- 

 families. Of the other two parts to hand, one (vol. xix., 

 art. 14) contains a study by Mr. K. Yendo of the genicula 

 of the calcareous algas of the group Corallina;, while the 

 ■other (vol. xix., arts. 18 and 19) is devoted to descriptions 

 of certain low plant-organisms by Mr. K. Saito. 



The Entomologists' Monthly Magazine for August con- 

 tains notes by Mr. J. R. Tomlin on Manx beetles, which 

 are said to be of interest in respect to island faunas, while 

 Mr. J. J. Walker, who has recently visited Melbourne, 

 contributes a notice of his inspection of the Curtis collection 

 of British insects preserved in the museum of that city. 

 This collection, it appears, was purchased about 1864 from 

 the widow of Mr. J. Curtis. According to Mr. Walker, it 

 contains the types of several of Curtis 's species or varieties 

 — it is a pity that these should be in Australia. 



The Biologisches Centralblatt for July 15 contains the 

 third instalment of an article by Mr. G. Klebs on the problem 

 ■of development, the author in this instance discussing the 

 evidence afforded by the lower plants. Dr. W. Petersen 

 concludes his essay on the value of " indifferent " characters 

 as species distinctions, and Dr. W. Volz communicates a 

 note on the distribution of the two species of gibbon in- 

 habiting Sumatra. 



^ I.s- the Bulletin de la Classe des Sciences (Brussels), 1904, 

 No. 3, M. P. Mansion directs attention to the new inter- 

 national language proposed by Prof. Peano in the form 

 ■of " Latin without inflexions." The attempts at building 

 up a universal language in the forms of the Volapuk of 

 Schleyer and the Esperanto of Dr. Zamenhof have both 

 met with considerable success, but it was left for the 

 mathematician of Turin to reduce the problem to what 

 may be regarded as the limit of simplicity by proposing, 

 in 1903, a modification of Latin, in which not only genders, 

 persons, cases, and numbers are abolished, as previously 

 suggested by Leibnitz, but even tenses and moods are no 

 longer retained. This system would not only have the 

 advantage of making Latin the language of the learned 

 world, as it used to be in the middle ages, but it could 

 be very easily introduced owing to the extent to which 

 Latin is taught in schools all the world over. 



M. E. S. London has carried out a number of experi- 

 CTients on the physiological and pathological actions of the 

 NO. 1 814, VOL. 70I 



radium emanations derived from 10 milligrams of radium 

 bromide dissolved in 10 cubic centimetres of water (Arch. 

 d'Electricit^ ined., No. 142, 1904). Frogs and mice ex- 

 posed to the emanations for 5-6 days became ill and died, 

 hemolysis occurred in defibrinated blood exposed for 

 two or three days, and the vitality of bacterial cultures 

 was destroyed after an exposure of two days. The gastric 

 and pancreatic ferments were, however, unaffected by the 

 emanations. 



The commission consisting of Colonel Bruce, F.R.S. (chair- 

 man). Major Horrocks, Staff-Surgeon Shaw, R.N., Dr. 

 Zammit, chemical analyst and bacteriologist to the Govern- 

 ment of Malta, and Dr. R. Johnstone, of the Local Govern- 

 ment Board, has begun its work of investigating the etiology 

 and pathology of Mediterranean or Malta fever. The experi- 

 mental work is being carried on at the laboratories of the 

 Naval Hospital, of the Army Station Hospital, and at the 

 offices of the Board of Health, Malta. The disease, says 

 the British Medical Journal, is the cause not only of many 

 deaths among sailors and soldiers, but also of much invalid- 

 ing, which is all the greater owing to the prolonged course 

 which the disease commonly runs even in cases which ulti- 

 mately recover. While it is known that the disease is due 

 to a specific microbe, the Micrococcus melitcnsis, very little 

 has yet been certainly ascertained as to the mode in which 

 the specific agent maintains its existence and how infection 

 is contracted. A knowledge of these points in etiology is 

 an essential preliminary to devising and enforcing effective 

 prophylactic measures. 



The Rontgen Society will in future publish its proceed- 

 ings in its own journal, which Vi-iU appear as a bi-monthly 

 " during the working session." The first part of the 

 Journal, dated July, has just reached us, and is a well pro- 

 duced periodical which should be of service to radio- 

 graphers. In addition to four full-page process plates, a 

 separate photogravure portrait of Prof. Silvanus P. 

 Thompson, F.R.S. (the first president of the Rontgen 

 Society), is issued with the number. 



Messrs. Newton and Co.'s new list of X-ray and high 

 frequency apparatus has reached us. It contains particulars 

 of the latest forms of apparatus made by this firm, and 

 should be seen by all workers in this branch of science. 



The summer number of the Chemist and Druggist (dated 

 July 30) contains an article on Sir William Ramsay and 

 his work. The paper contains a full-page illustration show- 

 ing Sir William Ramsay in his laboratory experimenting 

 with radium. The Scientific American for July 23 also has 

 a page illustration of Sir William Ramsay in his laboratory, 

 the original photograph of which was specially taken for 

 our American contemporary. 



Sever.^l of the August issues of the monthly magazines 

 that have reached us contain articles dealing with subjects 

 of a more or less scientific character. Thus Chambers's 

 Journal has a contribution entitled " A Visit to a Wild- 

 .^nimal Farm," the farm in question being that belonging 

 to Mr. R. Leadbetter in Buckinghamshire, and known as 

 Hazlemere Park; Good Words contains an appreciation of 

 Stanley and a summary of the results of his work by Sir 

 Harry Johnston ; and in Pearson's Magazine, under the title 

 of "Two Thousand Photographs a Second," the electro- 

 stereo-chromophotographic camera invented by M. Lucien 

 Bull for the photography of insects in flight is described and 

 graphically illustrated. 



