458 



NATURE 



[Sept. i 3) 1883 



made we shall be able to judge of the actual changes in 

 the features of this part of the globe which have been 

 wrought by this great outburst. It appears to have 

 been the first belief of the naval authorities upon the spot 

 that these changes were of such magnitude as to render 

 it unsafe for vessels to attempt to pass the Straits of 

 Sunda until new surveys had been made. Later accounts, 

 however, prove that the principal channel by which 

 vessels traverse the straits has remained unaffected by 

 the eruptions. 



We may confidently hope that a comparison of the 

 times at which the great sea-wave, produced by the earth- 

 quake, reached various ports will enable us to correct and 

 extend our knowledge concerning the depth of certain 

 portions of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. For this, as 

 for many other details of great importance to science, we 

 must await the careful collection and sifting of evidence 

 which will doubtless be undertaken by a Commission 

 appointed by the Dutch Government. 



The portion of the Island of Java visited by this terrible 

 calamity is exceedingly fertile, rich, and populous, and if 

 the present estimate of the loss of life be not excessive, 

 this catastrophe must probably rank as the greatest which 

 has occurred in modern times, so far as the destruction of 

 human life is concerned. 



The repeated eruptions of Vesuvius and Etna have 

 failed to drive away the vine-dressers from the fertile 

 slopes of those mountains, and in the same way the forces 

 of destruction which evidently lie dormant beneath Java 

 only produce temporary interruptions in its story of plenty 

 and prosperity. As it is now, so was it in past geological 

 times. The districts of Hungary, Auvergne, and the 

 Inner Hebrides, which in former geological periods were 

 subjected to subterranean disturbances similar in character 

 and violence to those which now affect Java, were, in 

 the intervals between the volcanic outbursts, rich and 

 fertile, a fact which is testified to by the remains of forests 

 and of the wild animals which roamed through them, 

 found in the deposits lying between successive lava-flows. 

 Volcanic eruptions are frequently very destructive ; earth- 

 quake shocks are often still more fatal to man and his 

 works ; but fortunately successive catastrophes of both 

 kinds are usually separated by long intervals of time, and 

 it is the recognition of this fact which leads men to brave 

 alike both kinds of danger. 



AUTUMN SANITATION 

 TT is not only the steady decline of cholera in Egypt 

 *■ that gives substantial assurance that we shall now 

 escape any epidemic in this country, but it is also the 

 advancing season. There are, however, few subjects con- 

 cerning which less is known than the influence of climate 

 and season on the progress of the infectious diseases. 

 But, as regards cholera, we know from experience that it 

 is not very likely to make its appearance in this country 

 when once the colder weather has set in. It has gene- 

 rally first shown itself with us during the hot summer 

 months, and it is probable that a foul, damp air, together 

 with a certain degree of warmth, are most favourable to 

 its prevalence. It is not that we have never suffered 

 from it during the colder months, for it was somewhat 

 widely prevalent in October and November of 1853, the 



year which preceded the great epidemic of 1854, when so 

 many cities, both in the Old and New World, were 

 devastated. And even though actual winter has, even on 

 such an occasion as that referred to, for a time completely 

 checked the further progress of cholera, yet there is no 

 reason to believe that any cold which the human frame 

 can bear has the power of destroying the infection. At 

 Moscow and at Orenburg in 1830 cholera prevailed in 

 spite of a temperature of - 4 F. And judging from 

 analogy it would appear that much lower degrees of tem- 

 perature than these fail to destroy infections such as that 

 of cholera. Thus, tubes containing the characteristic 

 spores of the bacillus anthracis have been exposed to a 

 temperature of - 32° F. ; and yet on being thawed they 

 have remained potent for harm as before. Indeed, we 

 may infer that, provided other conditions necessary for 

 the life of the contagion are present, warmth is not 

 essential, and that no amount of cold is absolutely in- 

 compatible with the development either of the cholera 

 poison or of the infection of many other contagia. Still, 

 cholera has been with us essentially a summer epidemic, 

 and as each week of the present month passes away with- 

 out its being imported into the country we may feel more 

 and more assured that we have succeeded in escaping the 

 danger of an outbreak. 



There is also another disease that with the commence- 

 ment of autumn rapidly subsides. We refer to that form 

 of diarrhoea known as infantile, a specific disease that 

 causes year by year a large fatality, especially in certain 

 of our manufacturing towns. This disease, too, is, to a 

 certain extent, one of season. At Leicester, Preston, and 

 Nottingham, the death-rate from this cause is always 

 exceptionally high during the third quarter of the year, 

 its main incidence being on the first two months of the 

 quarter. Thus, taking the year 1881, it appears that, 

 whereas the mortality from this cause in the twenty large 

 towns and cities of England was 409 and 593 respectively, 

 it rose to 4390 in the third quarter. But temperature 

 alone does not account for this large mortality. Oldham, 

 Rochdale, and Halifax resemble the three towns above- 

 named in many important social and other respects ; they 

 do not materially differ from them as regards climate, and 

 yet the infantile diarrhoea death-rate is with them always 

 exceptionally low. Indeed the difficult problems con- 

 nected with the etiology of this disease are such that the 

 Government have commissioned Dr. Ed. Ballard to 

 make a comprehensive inquiry into its causes, and it is 

 hoped that his investigations, which have now been in 

 progress for more than two years, will throw important 

 light on the whole subject. 



But as the diseases of one season subside those of 

 another make their appearance. Many of the public are 

 under the vague impression that cold weather and a good 

 sharp frost have some effect in " clearing the air " and in 

 getting rid of infection. But, as regards some diseases, 

 this is altogether a mistake. Thus, typhus fever and 

 small-pox, which are at their lowest ebb, or altogether 

 disappear, d«ring the hot summer months, tend to re- 

 appear as the autumn sets in, and they assume their 

 greatest force at the depth of winter. But this again is 

 probably not all due to seasonal causes. The cold with 

 which these diseases are so specially related forces those 

 who are poor and ill-clad to remain huddled together 



