258 
NATURE 
[JANUARY 14, 1897 
instituted proceedings in the Court of Chancery to establish 
their claim, and restrain the defendants (members of the public 
who recently visited the Causeway) from trespassing on the 
Company’s ground. The costs of defending the public rights 
may amount to 40o/. or more, and this has to be raised by 
subscription. We hope and believe that when the general 
public come to know how matters stand, and that prompt and 
decisive action is necessary, they will rally to support the 
Defence Committee, and contribute to defray the expense 
involved in defending the suit. Subscriptions are earnestly 
appealed for, and may be forwarded to Sir William M‘Cammond, 
Town Hall, Belfast, Treasurer; or, Seaton F. Milligan, Bank 
Buildings, Belfast, Hon. Sec. The National Footpath Preserv- 
ation Society has prepared a leaflet containing a tracing of the 
Causeway and neighbourhood from the 6-inch Ordnance Map, 
and views of the basaltic formations. These illustrations, with 
the text which accompanies them, should be successful in 
gaining subscriptions for the righteous cause which the Defence 
Committee has in hand. 
THE epidemic of bubonic plague at Bombay has assumed 
very alarming form. According to the official returns there 
have been up to the present 2850 cases of plague and 2028 
deaths. The mortality for the past week from all diseases was 
1711. The exodus from Bombay has now amounted to 
between 100,000 and 150,000 persons. The plague is also 
rapidly increasing at Karachi, where, up to january 10, there had 
been 220 cases and as many as 214 deaths. In connection with 
the question of the spread of plague, some remarkable information 
is contained in a lecture delivered by Dr. James Cantlie before 
the Epidemiological Society, and printed in the Zancet. Rats 
appear to be particularly susceptible to plague. There was a 
great mortality amongst, rats, in the Hong-Kong epidemic, and 
in Canton the rats entirely disappeared from. districts of the 
city where the diseases had lasted; for, some time; as many as 
22,000 dead rats were collected in a few weeks. But more 
remarkable than this tremendous mortality is the fact that a 
month before the plague broke out in Bombay, it was known 
that the rats were dying in thousands... The rat,. therefore, 
seems to be affected before the human being ; and the fact of 
dead rats being found:about a house during the plague epidemic 
is, Dr. Cantlie thinks, a true warning that the inmates of the 
house will, in all probability, be attacked. Not only rats, but 
pigs, dogs, snakes, jackals, and pigeons are affected by a fatal 
malady whilst plague is epidemic among human beings. What 
Dr. Cantlie concludes from the study of infection of animals 
is: (1) that the rat is the animal most liable to be attacked by 
plague ; (2) that rats suffering from, or dead from plague may 
infect other animals, such as snakes and jackals, who consume 
them; (3) that rats are always affected by a disease similar to 
plague at the same time man suffers; (4) that the rat may 
infect man, but the means of conveying the contagium is not 
known. As to the high mortality of rats before the plague, it 
seems doubtful whether rats are really infected before human 
beings, or whether only the incubation period is shorter in them 
than in man. 
To our previous brief note (p. 159) on Mr. J. E. S. Moore’s 
work at Lake Tanganyika, where he spent some months in 
the study of the fish and fresh-water medusz of the lake, we 
now add the following particulars from the Central African 
Gazette, published at Zomba :—‘‘ Mr. Moore spent most of 
his time at the station of Nyamkolo, on the southern shore 
of Lake Tanganyika, and from there he made various journeys by 
boat and by land, travelling up the west coast as far as 
Muliro’s, and up the east shore of the lake as far as the 
Belgian station Karema. He also crossed over from the south 
end of Tanganyika to the mountains overlooking the north- 
NO. 1420, VOL. 55] 
western end of Lake Rukwa, and saw this lake in the dis- 
tance. It is a curious fact that although five or six Euro- 
peans have seen Lake Rukwa, only two have been able to 
reach its waters. Dr. Cross in 1889 made his way through 
the swamp and reeds near the southern end of the lake, and 
Mr. Nutt in 1895 just reached the shore at the south-western 
side. Mr. Moore verified the report, which travellers on Tan- 
ganyika have heard from time to time, that there -is a large 
fish in the lake which rushes at the paddles of a canoe pass- 
ing through the water. He actually say this take place. 
He also discovered a large electric fish which gives a severe 
shock on being touched, Tanganyika, indeed, appears to be 
full of fish. By trailing a line with an artificial minnow 
behind the boat, Mr. Moore caught enormous numbers of fish, 
some of them up to sixty pounds in weight—bright clean fish 
with silvery scales. The heaviest fish which was seen in the 
lake weighed over ninety pounds; this was a sort of mud 
fish. Sponges were also discovered in Tanganyika, which, 
though of no great size, were undoubtedly real sponges. On 
the east side of the lake, in a bay where the striped leech 
was very common, Mr. Moore found a small fish about the 
size of a small minnow, whose back was striped in imitation 
oi the leech, and this seemed to protect it against the raids of 
the kingfishers which, while constantly picking up other small 
fish, avoided this particular one.” 
In the current number of the Astrophysical Journal (Decem- 
ber 1896), Mr. L. E. Jewell gives us the results of his investiga- 
tion of the relative quantities of aqueous vapour in the atmosphere 
determined by means of the absorption lines in the spectrum. 
The method of observation was to estimate the intensity of the 
water vapour lines in terms of the solar lines most nearly equal to 
them in intensity,and close enough to render the comparisons exact. 
The work was found to be considerably facilitated by making a 
scale, the use of which eliminated several otherwise necessary 
computations and reductions. Among some of the results may 
be mentioned the following :—The intensities for the summer 
months, were much greater than for the winter months. A 
comparison of the curves (deduced from monthly means) repre- 
senting these intensities, and one representing oxygen, shows 
that water vapour is very differently Gistributed in our atmo- 
sphere from oxygen, and is also greatly different at different 
seasons. The curves of intensity indicated ‘‘ a remarkable 
difference between the conditions prevailing during cold waves 
and very warm humid weather.” Mr. Jewell is of opinion that 
observations made with small spectroscopes having insufficient 
dispersion to easily see the various lines distinctly, are worse 
than useless for weather forecasting, as the region of the rain 
band contains many solar lines which cannot be distinguished 
from water vapour lines without good definition and consider- 
able dispersion. With sufficient dispersion, however, the study 
of the distribution of water vapour in the atmosphere is of great 
value, but hardly sufficient to justify the use of spectroscopes at’ 
most meteorological stations. 
WRITING in the Monthly Weather Review, Prof. Cleveland 
Abbe says :—Many persons still fail to realise the fact that the 
weather proverbs which pass down from generation to genera- 
tion as unquestioned as are the nursery stories, belong to what 
may {be properly called mythology. Like the myths and 
legends of ancient times, they may, possibly, have had some 
slight basis of fact; they may possibly have applied 
satisfactorily to some far-off period and some far-distant 
land, or to. one special occasion, but do not, necessarily, 
hold good. to-day and in our own country. At a recent 
meeting of the Meteorological Society of France, the members 
discussed thé. popular proverb : ‘‘ When it rains on St. Medard’s 
day it will:rain for forty days unless fine weather returns on 
