NATURE 



[February 27, 19 19 



did not carry out the necessary calculations in detail, 

 and so reached no definite conclusion. In 1902 Sir 

 G. Darwin announced that he had proved the pear- 

 shaped figure to be stable, but this announcement 

 was followed by a paper from Liapounoff in 1905, in 

 which it was claimed that the pear-shaped figure was 

 unstable. LiapounolT's work was distinguished by the 

 combination of clear physical insight and masterly 

 analytical skill. 



Influenza has again further increased in severity 

 over the British Isles, and the Registrar-General's 



return tor the week ending February 15 shows the 

 deaths in London (County) to be 273 due to the epi- 

 demic. Forty-eight per cent, of the deaths occurred 

 at the ages from twenty to forty-five, so that the 

 death incidence is similar to that when the present 

 epidemic was most virulent at the commencement of 

 'last November, the complaint attacking most sevi 

 the strong and able-bodied 1 . Influenza caused 13 per 

 cent, of the total deaths during the week ending 

 Februarv 15, pneumonia 13 per cent., and bronchitis 

 16 per cent.; in the early part of November influenza 

 caused 57 per cent, of the deaths from all causes, but 

 deaths from pneumonia and bronchitis were not very 

 different from those at present. In the ninety-six 

 great towns of England and Wales, including 

 London, there were 1363 deaths during the week 

 from influenza, and since the commencement of the 

 epidemic in October last there have been 48,736 

 deaths, whilst in London there have been 12.286 

 deaths. The total deaths in any previous epidemic 

 in London have onlv amounted to about 2000. The 

 present is the twentieth week of the epidemic, five 

 of the previous epidemics having continued as long, 

 and the epidemic from October 1904 to April 1905 

 continued for twenty-six weeks, but in London during 

 the whole time the total deaths from influenza were 

 onlv 707, and the maximum number in any week 

 was only forty-five. 



An interesting note is contributed to the German 

 weekly scientific paper, Die Umschau, for Novem- 

 ber 30, 1918, by the editor, Prof. J. H. Bechhold. 

 Prof. Bechhold indicates the manner in which German 

 science can aid the Fatherland in its hour of defeat 

 and assist it to gain the supremacy in the economic 

 sphere. After pointing out that reconstructed Ger- 

 many must perforce be simple in order to conform 

 to the new conditions of life imposed upon her by 

 recent events, he asks the question : In what relation 

 shall science, technics, and art stand in the new 

 State? Germany, it is explained, must in future 

 seek to live upon her own resources; further, she will 

 have only a small amount of raw material surplus 

 to her own needs, and for this reason it will be in- 

 cumbent upon her to export the output of her genius ; 

 to meet the situation as it should be met, Germany 

 will have to build herself up on efficiency manage- 

 ment. She is told that she must attempt to excel 

 all other countries in the quality of her precision in- 

 struments and lenses, artificial silks and textiles, dyes 

 and medicines, high-class furniture and works of art, 

 in order to create a demand for these valuable pro- 

 ducts of her industry in foreign lands. For t li i - 

 reason, Germany will require, says Prof. Bechhold, 

 highly trained engineers, chemists, electricians, skilled 

 mechanics and artificers, md, in order that her needs 

 in these directions may be suitably met, she will 

 further require first-class teachers, first-class training 

 institutions and research laboratories, as well as col- 

 leges. These matters are, it is stated, of such over- 

 whelming importance that they must not be permitted 

 to become a class or caste Question ; there is little 



NO, 2574, VOL. I02] 



er of this at the present time, for already the 



intellectual men in Germany are combining forces in 

 various directions: this is so in the case oi the tech- 

 nical man and the academician, as well as in that of 

 the artificer and the university professor. Finallv, an 

 inventors' institute must be founded in order thai the 

 inventor may be furnished with advice, the commercial 

 possibilities of his work tested, a selection made of 

 what is best, and a good market found for that which 

 is ol real worth. Prof. Bechhold evidently intends that 

 German science shall make a mighty effort in order 

 thai Germany in defeat may prove herself as formid- 

 able in the economic sphere in the future as ever she 

 was before her great downfall. 



Mr. Arthur L. Leach has published an account 

 of the prehistoric remains in the museum at Tenby. 

 An interesting series of adinole and flint implements 

 was acquired from the Ilmle Cave. Mr, Leach main- 

 tains that the relics found in the caves on Caldey 

 Island prove that it was connected with the mainland 

 when the mammoth, rhinoceros, and reindeer were the 

 1 li 11 acteristic fauna of this region, a connection which 

 lasted until Neolithic times. The collection includes 

 many later remains of the Bronze and Romano-British 

 periods. A little rock-shelter, Nanna's Cave, in the 

 Isle of Caldey, the earliest inhabited site which can 

 be approximately dated, was occupied between about 

 ^50 and 400 a.d. 



The measures for the reformation of the numerous 

 wandering criminal tribes which pervade northern 

 India, and are a serious menace to the cultivating 

 classes, have long engaged the attention of the Govern- 

 ment. A fairly satisfactory report of the establish- 

 ment of a reformatory settlement at Amritsar, in the 

 Punjab, has recently been published. The mortality 

 among these people, accustomed to eat carrion and 

 food cooked in an unwholesome way. has been ex- 

 cessive. On their arrival at Amritsar much dismay 

 was caused among them by the discovery that a 

 gallows still stood in one of the jail yards. But they 

 soon became reconciled to their new environment, and 

 manv of the younger members have shown an unex- 

 pected aptitude for industrial work in the woollen 

 mills. The only remedy is to intern these pests of 

 Indian society, and the experience of the Amritsar 

 settlement shows that, under judicious, kindly officials, 

 the younger members at least of the gangs may be 

 trained to abandon their criminal nomadic life, and 

 accustom themselves to industry. 



Mr. T. A. Joyce describes in the January issue of 

 Man a remarkable wooden stool recently acquired by 

 the British Museum from the island of Eleuthera, 

 Bahamas. Objects of wood from the West Indies 

 are by no means common, and specimens from the 

 Bahamas are exceedingly rare. From one of the 

 shorter sides of the seat of this chair projects a knob, 

 which has been carved to represent a grotesque human 

 head, of which the eves and mouth have evidently at 

 some time been emphasised by inlay, probably of 

 shell. These State chairs were used for a honorific 

 purpose, for chiefs and other distinguished persons. 

 \ compliment of this kind was paid to a party sent by 

 Columbus to visit a Cuban prince. The Museum 

 already possesses examples of wooden objects of 

 Taimnn workmanship of very great importance, in- 

 eluding a stool from Cuba of very unusual type. The 

 new specimen is an interesting and important addition 

 to the collection. 



In the course of some " Notes on Birds Observed 

 near Dunkerque," published in British liiriis for 

 February. Mr. H. F. YVitherbv makes some extremely 



