or 
NATURE 
[ NovEMBER 19, 1896 
says: “I am glad the Royal Society is likely to take up 
the question of the cattle plague. It is strange that the 
natives here insist that the crocodiles and hippopotami 
are dying of it. I cannot believe it true, but we came 
upon a dead hippopotamus ; an unusual thing, since the 
people are such keen hunters, and its hide so valuable 
here. 1 shall, however, try and verify these reports, and 
let you know. The plague has now reached Sekome’s 
town (near Lake Nyami), and will presently be in | 
Damaraland and German South-west Africa. It ought 
to have been most easy to prevent its progress westwards, | 
for there is but little communication between Nyamiland 
and the rest of the Protectorate, since the Kalahari 
Desert, with its sand and thirst, intervenes. But nothing 
whatever has been done. 
are dying of eating too much ‘rinderpest’ beef. 
‘Biltong’ for futureuse. I see that Mr. Long pooh-poohed 
England. Probably tanned hides would not, but surely 
raw hides would bring it for certain ? 
Beddoe tells me the natives | 
I do not | 
know if this is true; all the natives eat it, and convert it into | 
There is nothing | 
more extraordinary in the course of this plague than the | 
different classes of animals it has attacked in different | 
localities. In East Africa, the buffalo, eland. and giraffe, 
I believe, suffered most. 
harte-beests, and zebra were, I think, exempt. The 
smaller sort of water-buck (Aoéus Koé@) suffered to a 
great extent, but nothing like the other game. Yet Mr. 
Sharpe, now acting Commissioner in Nyasaland, reported 
that round Lake Moero, two years later, the animals 
that suffered most after the buffalo were zebra and 
lechive. Now here, on the Botletle River, they say 
crocodiles and hippopotami, and also, I have heard, 
elephants, donkeys, and dogs are affected. 
here said to go mad before death, and become very 
dangerous. Iam delighted to hear the matter has been 
taken up, and is likely to be referred to a Committee of 
the Royal Society.” 
As Major Lugard has been in contact with the advance 
of the disease in East Africa in 1891-92, and is now 
brought face to face with it under most trying circum- 
stances in South-west Africa, the account given of how 
differently it affects the various animals in different 
localities may be of interest ; as also the impression left 
on his mind that, under proper care, the advance of the 
epidemic might have been averted had the British and 
German Governments a few years ago taken the step 
The common water-buck, all , 
Animals are | 
A dense fog obscured the stars at Bristol on the night 
of the 13th, and observations were not possible. On 
the 14th the sky cleared late at night, and the morning 
hours of the 15th were beautifully clear. From a position 
having a somewhat restricted view of the firmament, I 
counted nineteen meteors between 4 and 6a.m.,and of these 
eleven were Leonids. The display was, therefore, more 
active on the morning of the 15th than on that of the 
14th, if we compare my figures with those obtained by 
Mr. Blakeley at Dewsbury. But the shower was of minor 
importance as regards numbers, and fell below the 
strength of that observed by me in 1879 and 1888, when 
certainly there was little reason to expect any pronounced 
activity. 
Of the eleven Leonids observed by me on the morning of 
the 15th, three were pretty bright, and left streaks for about 
5 seconds. The paths were as follows, and it would be 
at M y | interesting to hear of duplicate observations of either of 
the idea of imported hides bringing the disease into | 
these :— 
Date. GM.T. Mag. From To 
h. m. ‘ e 
Nov. 15 4 49am Y 200 + 18 208 + 16 
os 5" re eS ee 203 +20 210 +18 
» 527) a 149% + 31 149} + 33 
I carefully pencilled the tracks of these and eight other 
Leonids on an 18-inch globe, and found the radiant point 
sharply defined at 
150° + 223°, 
and this agrees very closely with the position determined 
in previous years. 
Among the meteors I recorded, there were two Taurids, 
and two very swift flights from Gemini at about 
108° + 25°. 
A correspondent at South Croydon informs me that 
his attempted observations of the Leonids failed owing 
to overcast sky and rain. I fear, therefore, that reports. 
generally from the London district will be very un- 
favourable. 
Attempts to photograph the meteors, and to derive 
| an accurate radiant by this means, will probably have 
now adopted by the Cape Government, and examined | 
the nature of the disease when it attacked their posses- 
sions in East Africa as in Nyasaland. 
JOHN KIRK. 
THE LEONID METEOR SHOWER, 1806. 
aiek expected display does not appear to have. been 
a brilliant one. It may have offered a more attrac- 
tive spectacle to American observers, for it seems to 
have been very probable that the richest part of the 
stream was encountered by the earth during daylight of 
the 14th in England. At stations far west an opportunity 
might have been afforded of witnessing a tolerably active 
return of the phenomenon ; but of this we have not yet 
received definite information. 
From my own observations at Bristol, and from others 
secured by Mr. Blakeley at Dewsbury, it appears that 
the shower was a very ordinary one, both on the morn- 
ings of the 14th and 15th. Mr. Blakeley watched the 
sky from midnight on the 13th to 4h. 15m. a.m. on the 
14th, and during this long interval only recorded twelve 
Leonids. He says: “ Meteors of all kinds were scarce, 
and the Leonid shower was especially disappointing, 
fewer of its meteors being seen than last year during a 
shorter watch of the sky. Twelve in a period extending 
over a period of 44 hours is a very poor result.” 
NO. 1412, VOL. 55] 
met with little success anywhere in consequence of the 
poorness of the display. I believe that only during a 
very rich shower, will this method prove successful. Even 
then the limits of error will be larger than many people 
anticipate, as the meteor flights are not emanations from: 
a point, but an area the actual centre of which is not 
defined with great precision. Still it is well the photo- 
graphic method should be fully and fairly tried, as naked- 
eye observations are often more than 1° in error in fixing 
the radiant. 
Since the above was written, several accounts have 
| been received which show that the display of Leonids 
was pretty active in the early part of the night following 
November 14. One observer states that there was quite 
a rich shower of meteors at about 11h. 3om. Mr. Corder 
at Bridgwater watched the sky from 14h. to 18h. 30m... 
on November 14, and counted about seventy meteors. He 
saw eleven Leonids in the first thirty-five minutes of the 
period named, but the shower fell off rapidly afterwards. 
Mr. Corder determined the radiant at 146° + 25° on 
November 13, and thinks it shifted to 150° + 23° on 
November 14. On the nights of November 12 and 13 
he saw fewer Leonids than on November 14, and there 
is little doubt that the maximum of the shower occurred 
early in the night of November 14, and before the moon. 
had set. W. F. DENNING. 
For the observance of these meteors a watch was kept 
by me, commencing on the evening of the 12th, but the 
weather was such that only two nights were suitable for 
observation, namely the 12th and 14th. Arrangements 
#iad been previously made to keep a photographic record 
of the region about the radiant point, by fixing a 
