NoOvEMBER 26, 1903] 
NATURE 
89 
Tue International Aéronautical Committee (president, Dr. 
Hergesell) has discontinued the publication of the pre- 
liminary results of the monthly scientific balloon ascents 
in view of arrangements made for the speedier issue of the 
discussion of the definitive results. We have received, how- 
ever, short summaries of the ascents undertaken by the 
various countries. In August Mr. Alexander’s paper 
balloon, at Bath, attained a height of 13,000 metres. In 
September Mr. Dines’s kite, at Crinan, N.B., reached an 
altitude of 2250 metres. The greatest height attained during 
the last three months was 20,000 metres in an unmanned 
balioon sent up from Strassburg. 
In the Sitsungsberichte der Physikalisch-medicinischen 
Societat in Erlangen, Herr Fritz Buchner describes an in- 
teresting method of measuring the gradual falling off in 
the intensity of the phosphorescence of bodies excited by 
kathode rays. This is effected by an arrangement of 
rotating films, the photographic impression produced by the 
phosphorescent body as measured by the polarisation 
photometer of Martens being taken as the measure of the 
intensity. The author expresses the opinion that the 
phosphorescent light is a direct consequence of the combin- 
ation of the ions produced by the action of the kathode 
rays to form electrically neutral molecules. 
A NEW anti-tuberculous serum is stated to have been pre- 
pared by Dr. Marmorek, of the Pasteur Institute, Paris. By 
the use of a special culture medium for the tubercle bacillus, 
a toxin has been obtained with which horses are inoculated, 
and after repeated doses their blood-serum acquires antitoxic 
properties. The serum may then be employed for treatment, 
and many cases are reported to have been benefited by the 
injections. Dr. Marmorek is well known for his work in 
connection with the preparation of an anti-streptococcic 
serum. 
In the October number of the Journal of Hygiene (vol. 
iii., No. 4) Drs. Hill and Macleod give an elaborate experi- 
mental study of caisson disease and diver’s palsy, Dr. News- 
holme reviews the action of English public health authori- 
ties in regard to tuberculosis, and Dr. Barclay discusses 
the New Zealand birth- and death-rate. The air of the 
House of Commons has been subjected to chemical examin- 
ation by Mr. Butterfield, and to bacteriological examin- 
ation by Dr. Graham Smith, from which it appears that 
the air breathed by our legislators is exceptionally pure. 
Dr. Cropper writes on the occurrence of malaria in places 
usually free from anopheles, and Dr. Nuttall contributes 
an obituary notice of the late Prof. Nocard, with portrait 
and list of his published papers. 
In a report to the Home Office, Dr. Haldane gives an 
account of ankylostomiasis in the Westphalian collieries. 
This disease, which is due to a parasitic intestinal worm, 
has, since its introduction in 1895, been spreading con- 
siderably, so that in 1902 there were more than thirteen 
hundred cases in sixty-nine collieries. Official regulations 
have been drafted in order to stamp out the disease, the 
chief provisions of which are :—(1) no new hands may be 
engaged unless proved to be free from infection; (2) in 
every colliery at least 20 per cent. of the men shall be picked 
out by a specially instructed doctor, and their dejecta ex- 
amined microscopically on at least three occasions; (3) any 
man found to be infected is subjected to a course of treat- 
ment, and is not allowed to resume work until completely 
freed from the worms. In the event of the examination of 
20 per cent. of the men showing the mine to be infected, 
additional measures are taken :—(4) the whole of the men 
No. 1778, VOL. 69] 
employed underground are examined, and if necessary 
treated ; (5) every man treated is to be re-examined monthly 
for three months. In addition, regulations have been made 
for the better sanitation of the mines. The infected men 
are treated in hospital, and receive sickness allowance 
during treatment. 
A BLUE-BOOK containing the official report of the pre- 
liminary conference on wireless telegraphy which was held 
in Berlin last August has just been published. The 
decisions arrived at were known some time ago, and in 
September last we summarised the main points in an article 
in these columns (Nature, vol. Ixviii. p. 437). There is 
little to add to what was then said; the final protocol which 
was drawn up was signed by the delegates from Germany, 
Austria, Spain, the United States, France, Hungary and 
Russia. The delegates of Great Britain and Italy agreed 
to submit the proposals to their Governments with certain 
reserves. In the case of Italy the agreements made between 
the Marconi Co. and the Government greatly limit the 
power of the Italian Government to adopt the proposals of 
the conference. In Great Britain the difficulty lies in the 
fact that the Postmaster-General has no power over tele- 
graphic communications beyond the limits of the territorial 
waters, and special legislation would therefore be required. 
In most of the other countries the telegraphy monopoly 
covers the establishment of wireless telegraph stations. 
When the proposals of the present conference have been 
considered by the various Governments a further conference 
will be held to establish an International Conference. 
Tue third part of Sir C. Le Neve Foster’s general report 
and statistics relating to the output and value of the 
minerals raised in the United Kingdom, the amount and 
value of the metals produced, and the exports and imports 
of minerals, has now been published. This volume deals 
especially with the output during 1902. The total output 
of coal was 227,095,042 tons, which is the largest on record ; 
compared with the output of 1901, there is a rise of 8,048,097 
tons. We consumed 166,694,908 tons in the United 
Kingdom, or nearly 4 tons per head of the population. 
17,649,137 tons of coal were used in blast furnaces for 
making pig-iron. The quantity of coal exported, exclusive 
of coke, patent fuel, and coal shipped for use of steamers 
engaged in foreign trade, was 43,159,046 tons, an increase 
of 1,281,965 tons compared with the preceding year. If 
the quantities shipped for use of steamers engaged in foreign 
trade are added, the total amount of coal which left our 
shores was 60,400,134 tons, or about as much as the entire 
output of the kingdom half a century ago. 
IN a recent note (October 15, p. 578) on articles in the 
October number of the Century Magazine, the name of the 
yellow-fever mosquito was inadvertently given as Culex 
aeniatus instead of Stegomyia fasciata. 
Tue Tyransactions of the Hull Scientific and Field 
Naturalists’ Club for 1903 contain the article on the birds 
of Bempton Cliffs of which a special notice has already 
appeared in our columns. In a note on the dispersal of 
fresh-water shells by beetles, the Rev. E. P. Blackburn 
records the capture of several water insects with pisidia 
clinging to their limbs. 
records 
Special 
Tue report of the Albany Museum for 1902 
satisfactory progress on the part of that institution. 
interest attaches to the announcement of the discovery of a 
small lizard’s skull from the Karoo formation, which it is 
proposed to call Paliguana whitei. This is believed to be 
