ls 
Marcu 11, 1897 | 
NATURE 
445 
THE current number of the Revue de LP Université de 
Bruxelles contains an interesting memoir by Dr. Funck, entitled 
“Les vaccinations contre le choléra aux Indes.” It will be 
remembered that the first attempts at anti-cholera vaccination 
originated with and were carried out bya Spanish medical man, 
Dr. Ferran, some twelve years ago, and we can but admire the 
splendid audacity which in those early days led him to practise 
inoculations with living cholera bacilli. His vaccine consisted 
of eight drops of a cholera culture mixed with bile, and the mis- 
fortunes which followed his inoculations were, probably, largely 
attributable to his cholera cultures not being pure. That con- 
siderable faith was in the first instance placed in Ferran’s 
process, is shown by the fact that some 25,000 persons under- 
went the treatment. Haffkine’s vaccinations against cholera are 
a direct outcome of the pioneering work published by Ferran on 
this subject in 1885. In the inoculations which have proved so 
successful in India, Haffkine employs first, attenuated cholera 
bacilli, and then, a few days later, virulent cholera cultures ; but 
recently Kolle has obtained equally good results by using dead 
cholera bacilli, which have been destroyed either by heat or 
chloroform. In the latter process rather larger doses have to be 
employed to produce the same effect. The blood of persons 
vaccinated against cholera has been tested as to its protective 
potency, and it has been found to be two hundred times more 
active against cholera infection than that of a non-vaccinated 
individual. That improved sanitation and enlightened hygienic 
measures are capable of combating cholera to a most important 
extent, is shown by the fact that, since the year 1892, whilst in 
Russia 800,000 individuals have fallen victims to cholera ; in 
Germany, including the Hamburg cholera epidemic, only 9000 
cholera deaths have been recorded. 
A DESCRIPTIVE list of all published observations of the 
Aurora Australis is given by Dr. Wilhelm Boller in Gerland’s 
“* Beitrage zur Geophysik” (vol. iii.). From this catalogue it 
appears that the greatest number of observations were made in 
March and October, and the least in June and November. As 
with the Aurora Borealis, the frequency of the phenomena seems 
to vary in consonance with the eleven-year period of solar 
activity. The line which embraces all the observations is a 
circle around the south magnetic pole, this result being similar to 
that obtained by NordenskiGld from the observations of the 
Aurora Borealis. Dr. Boller intends to amplify and continue 
his catalogue, and for that purpose he will be glad to know of 
any records overlooked by him, or of any observations which 
may be made in the future. Letters will find him at the 
Geographical Seminary of the University of Strasburg. 
EVIDENCE of the former extension of glacial action on the 
west coast of Greenland, and in Labrador and Baffin Land, is 
given by Mr. George H. Barton in the American Geologist 
(December 1896), an excerpt from which has just been sent to 
us. Mr. Barton went to northern Greenland with the sixth Peary 
expedition in the summer of last year, and he proposes to con- 
tinue his observations during the coming summer, when Lieut. 
Peary will take another expedition to Greenland for the 
purpose of obtaining the large meteorite which could not be 
shipped last year, The coast of Greenland offers exceptional 
facilities for the study of glacial phenomena. It is hoped, 
therefore, that, as Cornell University and the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology sent parties with the Peary expedition 
last year, other universities, colleges, and scientific organisa- 
tions will send parties to accompany the forthcoming expedi- 
tion. 
AN interesting contribution to the question ‘* How do igneous 
rocks intrude?” has been made by Prof. I. C. Russell, in two 
papers to the Fournal of Geology, and one to the Popular Sczence 
Monthly (December 1896). Besides bringing together a number 
NO. 1428, VOL. 55 | 
of suggestions already made, he introduces some new ideas based 
on his study of the Black Hills of Dakota. In that region a 
number of structures are found (of which striking photographs 
are given), resembling the famous laccolites of the Henry 
Mountains, but, in part, differing from them in the absence of 
any lateral extension. These Prof, Russell calls plutonic plugs. 
A study of these leads him to the suggestion that the whole of 
the Black Hills uplift, and other mountain uplifts in which 
direct elevation and stretching take the place of compression 
and crumpling, may be due to enormous laccolite-like intrusions 
of molten rock at a great depth. Such an intrusion he terms 
a suhtuberant mountain, and suggests that crystalline areas, 
commonly said to show ‘regional metamorphism,” may be 
such subtuberant mountains laid bare. 
OUR congratulations to the Leicester Literary and Philo- 
sophical Society. Stimulated into action by a paper on the 
disappearances of certain species of insects, by Mr, Frank 
Bouskell, a Committee was formed to formulate regulations for 
the protection of local species. As a result of their delibera- 
tions, a list of insects has been drawn up, and the number of 
each allowed to be taken by members of the Society in one season 
has been specified. When a ccllector now sees Leewcophasia 
stnapsis (the Wood White butterfly), he must hold his hand and 
crush his sporting instinct, for none of this insect are to be 
taken. Of Macroglossa fuciformzs only one specimen must be 
taken by each member in a single season, and only one specimen 
of Sesta apiformis, The penalty for breaking these regulations 
are drastic. If a member of the Society, the transgressor is 
liable to be expelled by a bare majority of the members present 
at any meeting, and if a member of any other Society, the trans- 
gression will be reported to that Society. Landowners will 
also be asked to refuse to permit offenders to pass through their 
grounds. The over-zealous collector will, indeed, be ostracised, 
and will find that no one will buy from him, exchange with 
him, or have anything to do with him entomologically. There 
may be a difficulty in carrying out the regulations, and one 
result will probably be that collectors will prefer to go out 
alone in the future. But it is hoped that entomologists will 
remember that they are not supposed merely to fulfil the 
functions of a fly-paper, but also to work for the advancement 
of their science. 
LECTURERS upon geography will be glad to know that lantern 
slides of the illustrations in Dr. Nansen’s ‘‘ Farthest North ” are 
now published by Messrs. Newton and Co., who made the 
slides which Dr, Nansen uses at his own lectures. 
AN elaborate descriptive catalogue of chemical apparatus, 
containing more than five hundred pages, has been issued by 
Messrs. A. Gallenkamp and Co. The list contains quotations 
for apparatus and accessories used in every branch of chemistry, 
and the prices are given both for Germany and the United 
Kingdom. 
The Rendiconti del R. Istituto Lombardo (xxx. ili.) contains 
papers, by G. Melzi, ‘On Certain Rocks from the Island of 
Ceylon,” and an account, by Prof. C. Somigliana, of some de- 
terminations of the specific heat of sea and lake water, under- 
taken by the late Prof. Adolfo Bartoli, of Pavia, shortly before 
his death, and forming his last contributions to science. 
5\TuHe March number of the Geographical Fournad contains a 
fine portrait of Dr. Nansen, reproduced by the Swan Electric 
Engraving Company, and an illustration of the special medal 
presented to him by the Royal Geographical Society. The 
address delivered in the Albert Hall, on February 8, is not 
printed in the ¥serna/, because Dr. Nansen is delivering it in 
