_ Gloucestershire Archzological Society for 
are continuous down to the present day. 
cattle from the gaboon. 
January I, 1914] 
already existing on an Arabic dinar which was coined 
about twenty years before’ his time. 
Tue volume of the Transactions of the Bristol and 
1912 is 
devoted to a descriptive catalogue of the printed maps 
_of Gloucestershire, 1577-1911, by Mr. T. Chubb, of 
the Map Room, British Museum. The series begins 
with the map dated 1577 in Christopher Saxton’s 
“Atlas of England and Wales,” published in 1570, 
and is followed by that by Peter Keer, in his collec- 
tion of twenty-eight maps of his ‘‘Counties of Eng- 
land and Wales,”’ 1599. Thence the series of maps 
Among 
recent catalogues of county maps those by Sir H. G. 
Fordham for Hertfordshire, Mr. W. Harrison for 
_ Lancashire, and Mr. T. Chubb for Wiltshire are the 
most important. Mr. Chubb’s catalogue is an excel- 
lent piece of work, and is provided with an admirable 
series of reproductions of the more important maps. 
It is to be hoped that other local archzological 
societies will follow this model in cataloguing the 
maps of the English counties. 
Tust the use of coloured photography will prove 
to be an important addition to the resources of the 
anthropologist is clearly proved by the admirable 
series of photographs of the pagan races of the Philip- 
pine Islands, illustrating a paper on these people by 
Mr. Dean C. Worcester, in the November issue of 
The National Geographic Magazine. He gives a 
useful account of the relations between the American 
authorities. and these primitive tribes, and of the 
attempts which are being made to bring them within 
the pale of civilisation by roads, schools, police, and 
the regulation of trade. The danger is that the pro- 
cess of reclamation may prove too effective, and that 
as they become civilised they will degenerate and 
decay. This consideration is no doubt present in the 
minds of the authorities, and they are unlikely to 
press our modern civilisation on these races further 
than is consistent with their preservation. 
A REPORT of sleeping sickness in the Island of 
Principe, by Surgeon-Captain Bruto da Costa, has 
been translated into English by Lieut.-Col. Wyllie, and 
published by Messrs. Bailli¢re, Tindall, and Cox. It 
is believed that neither the disease nor the trans- 
mitting fly, Glossina palpalis, are indigenous in the 
island, but that the fly was introduced about 1825 with 
Atoxyl was found useless 
either as a prophylactic or as a cure of the disease; it 
was useful only as a tonic, prolonging life in animals 
experimentally infected. It is claimed that a consider- 
able decrease in the incidence of the disease has been 
effected by measures consisting mainly of draining 
swamps, felling timber, clearing the ‘undergrowth, 
and exterminating pigs in the regions infested by the 
tsetse-flies. It is well known that G. palpalis breeds 
near water, but the author suggests that it cannot 
_ do so under exposure to the direct light and heat of 
the sun, hence the importance of keeping the borders 
of marshes and brooks free from all vegetation or 
overhanging shade. The pigs are believed to afford 
the chief sustenance of the tsetse in the bush, and also 
to carry the flies about from place to place. 
NO. 2305, VOL. 92] 
NATURE 
509 
Ix a memoir entitled ** Botanical Features of the 
Algerian Sahara,”’ issued as Publication No. 178 of 
the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Dr. W. A. 
Cannon gives an extremely interesting account of his 
observations in southern Algeria and the western por- 
tion of the Sahara.’ The chief object of his tour, 
which extended over about six months, and included 
a journey of about a thousand miles through the more 
arid portions of the country, was to investigate the 
climatic and soil conditions of this region with special 
reference to the root-habits of the more striking 
species of the flora. The author’s work on desert 
plants in North America enables him to draw interest- 
ing comparisons between the widely separated arid 
regions of Arizona and Algeria, and the concluding 
portion of this valuable memoir, which is illustrated 
by thirty-six fine collotype plates, gives one of the 
clearest and most complete accounts of desert vegeta- 
tion that has yet been published. One of the most 
striking results of Dr. Cannon’s investigations is his 
demonstration of the fact that, contrary to what might 
have been expected, the prevailing type of root in 
desert plants is neither that with a deep main axis 
(tap-root) nor that which spreads out horizontally near 
the soil surface (as found in most Cacti), but a 
generalised type which is adapted to a wider range of 
conditions. The Algerian desert is more intensely 
arid than Arizona, and while fleshy plants like the 
Cacti are a striking feature of the North American 
deserts, such plants are entirely absent in southern 
Algeria. 
A. PAPER by -Mr. -°"T. Thorne. Baker, - read 
on December 10 before the Royal Society of 
Arts includés an account of physiological effects 
of high-frequency currents. It was stated that 
the upper part of the plant is negative electric- 
ally as compared with the roots, and _ therefore 
the minute hairs on the leaves and stems would act 
as collectors to collect atmospheric electricity, which 
is usually positive in character. The fact that the 
plant itself acts as a battery, and possesses two poles 
of opposite sign, was taken to indicate that these 
feeble differences of potential are of intrinsic use in 
the natural processes of the plant, and it was stated 
that increase of growth can be chiained by the electric 
current. Experiments were described showing the 
effect of electric discharge on various organisms. The 
red variety of the American gooseberry blight was 
not killed by the discharge except where there had 
been a preliminary treatment with soluble sulphide. 
Cheese mites, however, were readily killed. Other re- 
sults were quoted showing the effect of electric stimulus 
on animal life. It was stated that chickens will grow 
under such stimulus at about double the normal rate, 
whilst the mortality is considerably less than usual. 
Considerable care, however, is necessary in adjusting 
the ratio of current to voltage, the frequency of oscil- 
lations, and the quantity of electricity to the dimen- 
sions of the culture house. 
Tue report of the Behar Planters’ Association 
Indigo Research Station at Sirsiah for the year 
1912-13, recently received, possesses the interest of 
being the last of its series. It includes a brief recapi- 
