June 14, 1883] 



NATURE 



151 



sections fail far below what might have been anticipated. 

 At the Fisheries Exhibition in Berlin three years ago, 

 Japan was excellently represented ; and when we recol- 

 lect that fish forms, one of the principal — probably next to 

 rice and millet, the principal — staples of Japanese food, 

 that the fishing-grounds extend from the most northern 

 Kuriles almost within the Arctic circle, through various 

 zones clown to the most southern islands of the Loochoo 

 archipelago, where they approach the sub-tropical regions, 

 and that the primitive methods of catching and preserving 

 fish of more than one race are now daily practised in 

 various parts of this chain of islands, known as the 

 Japanese Empire, it will be seen what scope the Japanese 

 authorities had to make their section of much practical 

 and scientific interest. At Berlin their section did pos- 

 sess such interest, and the collection formed for exhibition 

 there has, we believe, been made the nucleus for a do- 

 mestic and permanent Fisheries Exhibition in Tokio. 

 Failing the time or funds necessary to make a re- 

 presentative collection for London this year, it was 

 open to the Japanese Government to take a single 

 portion of their vast fishing-grounds — such as Yezo, or 

 the Inland Sea, or the Loochoo Archipelago— and repre- 

 sent that only. This has been done by China with 

 marked success. As it is, Japan is represented in the 

 small space allotted to her by specimens of the fish tinned 

 at the Government canning establishments at Sapporo in 

 Yezo, and by a stall full of pictures on silk, lacquer, &c, 

 of fish and fishing. These latter are all marked, " For 

 sale at the close of the Exhibition." Doubtless the 

 Japanese authorities had good reasons of their own for 

 thus limiting their participation in the present Exhibition ; 

 still it is permissible to express regret that they did not 

 add, as they undoubtedly could have done, more to its 

 value and interest. 



In the Malay States and the Straits Settlements fi-h is 

 not such a staple of food as in Japan, and they are on the 

 whole fairly represented. The curious Malay method of 

 catching fish by constructing long and labyrinthine bam- 

 boo and cane fences, wide at the beginning and narrow- 

 ing towards the end. where the fisherman's hut is placed 

 aloft, is represented by two or three models. These long 

 fences, sometimes stretching far out to sea, are familiar 

 objects to every traveller in the Straits. They are pro- 

 tected by stringent local ordinances, and woe betide the 

 unskilful shipmaster who runs his vessel through them. 



The Chinese section, viewed from a popular stand- 

 point, is certainly a success. No pains appear to have 

 been spared to make it representative of the Celestial 

 Empire in its decoration. The Chinese ambassador 

 himself has contributed two scrolls in large charac- 

 ters containing verses of poetry. To the staff of the 

 Imperial Customs under Sir Robert Hart — foremost in 

 all that is for the welfare and good name of China — 

 belongs the credit of this section. It would of course be 

 impossible to represent in a single foreign contribution 

 the fisheries of China, extending over more than 2000 

 miles of coast line, as well as many thousands of miles of 

 rivers and canals, and accordingly it was decided to re- 

 present thoroughly one portion of the coast. At Berlin 

 the Ningpo fisheries were so represented, and for this 

 year, Swatow, a treaty port on a large estuary a little to 

 the north of Canton, was selected. The nets, boats, 

 lines, traps, and other implements used in fishing here, 

 the dresses of the fishermen at various seasons, models 

 of their huts, and a scientific classification of the fish 

 caught in this district, form the bulk of the Chinese 

 exhibits. In addition to Swatow, an attempt has been made 

 also to represent Ichang, a port on the Yang- tsze, situated 

 about 1000 miles from the sea, as well as the fisheries of 

 South Formosa and the neighbouringislands. The collec- 

 tions were evidently made and catalogued in China and 

 arranged here by experienced hands. The special cata- 

 logue published by the order of Sir Robert Hart forms a 



complete descriptive guide to the whole, and is most 

 interesting and instructive. Speaking generally, it may 

 be said that the observer is most struck in this section 

 with the extraordinary ingenuity displayed in utilising the 

 most ordinary and unpromising objects for the purpose 

 of fishing. Thus in Swatow they employ a boat drawing 

 a few inches of water, with the rail nearly level with the 

 surface. A narrow plank fixed along one side is painted 

 white, and the light of the moon falling on it causes the 

 fish to mistake it for water. They jump over the plank 

 into the boat, where they get entangled in moss or gra:>s. 

 At Ichang, a wild animal such as the otter is trained, not 

 to catch fish, but to frighten them into the net ; while at 

 Ningpo, cormorants are regularly and systematically- 

 trained to fish. These and many other devices shown at 

 the Exhibition mark the Chinese as the most ingenious 

 and accomplished fishermen in the world. A large col- 

 lection of corals, of crustaceans, mollusks, and other fish 

 will attract the scientific observer, who will be much 

 assisted in his examination by the special catalogue before 

 mentioned. 



NOTE ON THE INFLUENCE OF HIGH TEM- 

 PERATURE ON THE ELECTRICAL RESIST- 

 ANCE OF THE HUMAN BODY 



TPHE experiments which I have now for some years 

 -*- been carrying out as to the various forms of medical 

 electricity have begun to furnish trustworthy results. 

 Some of these, with the help of De Kilner, were incor- 

 porated in a paper read before the Society of Telegraph 

 Engineers on March 9, 1S82. We there stated that at 

 present "we are hardly in a position to say how far the 

 resistance of the body varies in health ; but in disease it 

 can be fairly stated that it sometimes diminishes and 

 sometimes augments." Of this fact we gave illustrations. 



It had often occurred to me that the temperature of the 

 human body very probably influences its resistance ; and 

 some experiments had been made with a view of testing 

 the amount of such influence. But in pathological re- 

 searches it is often difficult to find a case not open to 

 exception, and it is frequently necessary to wait a con- 

 siderable time before, in the impossibility of experiment, 

 accident presents one possessing the necessary conditions. 

 Such a case I have now met with, and it is worth while 

 to place it on record, if only to enable other observers to 

 prosecute this line of investigation. 



The patient is a young and intelligent gunsmith aged 

 twenty-two. He had rheumatic fever severely twelve 

 years ago, which, as is usual in young subjects, has left 

 permanent heart disease behind it. This did not, how- 

 ever, prevent his following his trade until the beginning 

 of April in the present year. He then began to suffer 

 from morning rigors, occurring at first at the interval of 

 from seven to ten days, but, since Easter, daily. He came 

 into my ward in St. Thomas's Hospital on April 28. It 

 is not necessary to detail the medical history of the case 

 in a scientific periodical ; it will be sufficient to state that 

 about 8.30 a.m. he was in the habit of suffering from 

 severe attacks not unlike those of ague, in the course of 

 which the temperature rapidly rose to 105 3 F. In the 

 afternoon it sank to the normal human temperature of 

 98 or 99 F. The cause of this remarkable symptom is 

 still somewhat obscure ; it has completely resisted the 

 action of quinine and other antiperiodics, as well as 

 salicylic acid, aconite, and other approved lowerers of 

 temperature. It is probably due to ulcerative endocarditis 

 slowly advancing. The most remarkable part of the case 

 is that it causes the patient no suffering or inconvenience 

 whatever. His mind is clear, and, except the feeling of 

 chilliness during the period of heat, he makes no com- 

 plaint. He is able to take interest in the determinations 

 which I proceed to give. 



It occurred to me that this unusual range of daily tem- 



