Sept. i 3) 1883] 



NA TURE 



459 



indoors ; the greater the cold, the worse the overcrowding 

 in the densely-peopled portions of our cities, and hence 

 opportunities for personal infection, which are at their 

 minimum in the hot summer months when doors and 

 windows are open, reach their maximum in the coldest 

 months. 



Some diseases find the autumn months especially 

 congenial to their development and spread, and of these 

 the one that merits most attention as the present season 

 advances is enteric fever, or typhoid fever as it is more 

 commonly, but less appropriately, named. So peculiarly 

 is this affection identified with the autumn months that 

 amongst its best-known synonyms the terms autumnal 

 fever or fall fever are well known ; and under ordinary 

 circumstances the largest number of attacks occurs in the 

 month of October; November follows next, and then 

 come September and August. Fortunately, as regards 

 enteric fever also, something more than season is needed 

 to favour its appearance and spread. The infection of 

 enteric fever is of all others the one that in our climate 

 can most easily be rendered harmless. For its develop- 

 ment it needs that special form of filth which is asso- 

 ciated with human excreta, and whether these foul the 

 air of our dwellings by reason of defective means of 

 drainage, or whether they pollute the soil on which we 

 live or from whence we derive our water supplies, it 

 matters little. Wherever the contamination is there is 

 a soil adapted to the reception and cultivation of the in- 

 fection. In this respect enteric fever resembles cholera, 

 and, if the warnings which have been so widely circu- 

 lated throughout the country during the past few months 

 with regard to the measures that should be taken with a 

 view to the prevention of the latter disease have not 

 been unheeded by the public and by our sanitary authori- 

 ties, we should this autumn feel more satisfied than we 

 ever have done that the conditions necessary to the 

 spread of this autumnal fever do not prevail amongst us 

 as they have done heretofore. Scarlet fever, again, often 

 reaches its widest prevalence towards the commencement 

 of the fourth quarter of the year ; and respiratory 

 diseases, including pneumonia, which has now come to 

 be regarded as much more frequently a specific pulmonary 

 affection associated with defective local sanitary circum- 

 stances than a mere result of cold, as a rule rise steadily 

 in prevalence until about the middle of November, when 

 tbey again tend to subside. 



Seasons and their predisposing influences must neces- 

 sarily go and come, but they alone do not suffice for the 

 production of the specific infections. As the science of 

 preventive medicine progresses, we may hope that other 

 conditions, as necessary to the development of infection 

 as are the climatic ones, will steadily be removed, and 

 that our sense of security against preventable disease 

 may not be troubled by mere considerations of season. 

 For the moment the indications are to secure that the air 

 in our dwellings, as also our water, milk, and other food 

 supplies, shall be as far as practicable free from the risk 

 of all contaminating influences ; to maintain, as regards 

 our homes and our bodies, the utmost procurable cleanli- 

 ness ; and so to clothe ourselves that we shall be able to 

 resist the depressing effects of the damp and cold which 

 are sure to alternate with the finest weather an autumn 

 season can produce. 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 

 The Tropical Agriculturist : a Monthly Record of In- 

 formation for Planters of Coffee, Tea, Cocoa, Cinchona, 

 Indiarubber, Sugar, Tobacco, Cardamoms, Palms, Rice, 

 and other Products suited for Cultivation in the 

 Tropics. Compiled by A. M. and J. Ferguson, of the 

 Ceylon Observer. (London : J. Haddon and Co., 3, 

 Bouverie Street, 1S82.) 

 A BULKY volume containing thirteen monthly num- 

 **• bers and occupying more than a thousand pages 

 can hardly fail to contain a large amount of varied and 

 useful information, especially when it deals with such a 

 subject as tropical agriculture. Not only tropical but 

 subtropical regions are laid under tribute, the latter being 

 represented chiefly by Southern Australia, New Zealand, 

 and China, while Ceylon and the various provinces of 

 India receive, as might be expected, the greatest share of 

 attention. There are, moreover, abundant references to 

 several oceanic islands which have within recent years 

 been invested with more or less political interest. Thus 

 of Fiji it is stated that the planters are chiefly concerned 

 in growing sugar-cane, coffee, and cotton, and though it 

 is claimed that the first-named is indigenous, the best 

 kinds of cane grown in the plantations have been intro- 

 duced. The Sea Island cotton is easily cultivated, but 

 the production has lately fallen off, the quotations 

 being too low to tempt the planter. Tobacco answers 

 well, and it is believed that cocoa, tapioca, gingen 

 pepper, and all sorts of spices, camphor, and vanilla, 

 might also be profitably grown. Madagascar appears 

 to have bright agricultural prospects before it, as it is 

 admirably adapted to the cultivation of sugar and coffee, 

 and indeed as a sugar-growing country it seems likely 

 that it will before many years leave Mauritius in the 

 background. The small islands between Madagascar 

 and the mainland are enthusiastically spoken of as a new 

 planting region : "situated in a most salubrious climate, 

 between the southern tropic and the line, they are 

 admirably adapted for the cultivation of sugar, coffee, 

 vanilla, cocoa, spices, cloves, and other products, many of 

 which are pure articles of luxury, and will always com- 

 mand a high price in the European market." 



Judging from the space allotted to them and the amount 

 of interest that appears to centre round them, the staple 

 crops of tropical agriculture are tea, coffee, cocoa, and 

 sugar ; cinchona and tobacco ; indiarubber, cotton, and 

 gums, to say nothing of rice. Of the first group, tropical 

 countries may rest fairly securely in the cultivation of 

 tea, coffee, and cocoa, and although the sugar-cane is largely 

 planted in the southern United States and the sugar-beet 

 is so extensively grown in Europe, yet we gather that sugar 

 cultivation is a thriving industry in India, Java, Mauritius, 

 the Malay peninsula, Queensland, Fiji, Brazil, Jamaica, 

 and Trinidad. Cinchona is of course a highly popular 

 subject, and from this volume alone a very large amount 

 of useful information may be gleaned. On account of 

 the rapid development of the electrical industries and of 

 the increasing use of elastic tires for wheels, the demand 

 for indiarubber and guttapercha is continually increasing, 

 and this will no doubt be met by the extended cultivation 

 of these products. The official papers relating to the 

 introduction of the Para and Ceara rubber plants into 



