November 16, 1905] 



NA TURE 



57 



SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN THE PHIL1PPIXE 

 ISLANDS. 



THE valuable scientific work which is being' carried 

 ^ out in the Government laboratories, Manila, 

 has from time to time been noticed in these columns, 

 and the record for the third year is stimulating read- 

 ing- and reflects the greatest credit on those by whom 

 it has been done, and on the enlightened Government 

 which has rendered it possible. 



Dr. Paul Freer details in his report J the routine 

 work of the laboratories and the nature of the investi- 

 gations which have been carried out. In the chemical 

 laboratory the analysis of foods and drugs, the 

 standardisation of weights and measures, and the 

 examination of the natural products of the country, 

 vegetable and mineral, are some of the subjects dealt 

 with. In the biological laboratory clinical investi- 

 gations and pathological examinations are carried 

 out, while valuable work is being done by the attached 

 botanist and entomologist. The serum laboratory has 

 been occupied in the preparation of an anti-rinderpest 

 scrum, which greatly mitigates the ravages of the 

 disease, and of vaccine virus, while investigations 

 have been made on plague and on the preparation of a 

 cholera vaccine. 



on a laboratory stale, rooms for photometry, adjust- 

 ment of weights and measures, assaying and mineral 

 analysis, organic combustions, agricultural work, food 

 analysis, &c, together with balance rooms, laboratory 

 for physical chemistry and physics, and a room for 

 spectroscopes and instruments of precision. All the 

 work tables are supplied with gas, electricity for light 

 and power, steam, vacuum, and compressed air. 

 There are in addition boiler and engine house, cold 

 storage, cremating furnace, photographic laboratory, 

 incubating chambers, animal house, serum laboratory, 

 &c. ; nothing, in fact, seems to have been forgotten. 



Lastly, there is an excellent library of some 17,000 

 volumes, and the list of current periodicals on all 

 subjects is very complete. Reference is made to the 

 difficulties which have had to be overcome in pre- 

 serving the books from the ravages of damp and of 

 insects in this tropical climate. The legs of the book 

 presses (which are of metal) stand in tins of petro- 

 leum, which effectually prevents the access of insects 

 when the books are on the shelves, and varnishing 

 the books with the following varnish has been found 

 to be of service : — pure white shellac 50 grams, resin 

 20 grams, bichloride of mercury 1 gram, alcohol 

 1000 c.c. The constituents are mixed, and after 

 twentv-four hours are filtered. The report and 

 bulletin are illustrated with a num- 

 ber of plates, plans, and charts. 

 R. T. Hewlett. 





Fig. i.— The New Laborato 



lildings, Ma 



While so much good work has been done in the 

 past, we may expect considerable development in the 

 future, as Dr. Freer is able to chronicle " the erection 

 of new laboratories, the completeness of the arrange- 

 ment and equipment of which will materially facilitate 

 scientific investigation. The accompanying illustra- 

 tion shows the front elevation of the new buildings, 

 which have the form of the letter " T," consist of 

 two stories, and are erected on a site 23 acres in 

 extent, on which an up-to-date hospital is also to be 

 established, laboratory and clinical work thus being 

 brought into proper contiguity. 



The eastern half of the structure is devoted to 

 biological work, and comprises rooms for the pre- 

 paration of culture media, bacteriological and patho- 

 logical laboratories and pathological museum, 

 botanical room and herbarium, entomological room, 

 and general biological laboratory, while the western 

 half is devoted to chemical and physical work, and 

 comprises laboratories for organic and physiological 

 chemistry, a commercial laboratory with stills, baths, 

 and machinery for carrying on commercial processes 



1 Third Annual Report of the Superintendent of the Bureau of Govern- 

 ment Laboratories, Manila, 1905. 



- Bureau of Government Laboratories, Bull. No. 22, roos. (r) Descrip- 

 tion of New Buildings, by Paul C. Freer, M.D., Ph.D. (2) A Catalogue 

 of the Library, by Mary Polk, Librarian. 



DR. WALTER F. WISLICENUS. 

 A STRONOMERS have univer- 

 ■**- sally acknowledged the value, 

 the accuracy, and the completeness 

 of the " Astronomische Jahres- 

 bericht," which, appearing annually 

 for the last six years, has presented 

 an admirable history of the progress 



tof the science. The systematic ar- 

 tt~ SB rangement and organisation of its 

 1 <!>».' contents have made this compilation 

 a necessity in every observatory, and 

 the announcement of the death of 

 its originator, Dr. Walter Wisli- 

 cenus, at the early age of forty-six 

 will have been received with pro- 

 found regret by all who know this 

 work. The deceased astronomer, who occupied the 

 position of Professor extraordinary at Strassburg, 

 began his career at Dresden, but the fame of Win- 

 necke as a teacher, coupled with the advantages 

 afforded by the efficient equipment of the new observ- 

 atory at Strassburg, induced Dr. Wislicenus to 

 migrate to that university, with which he remained 

 connected until his early death. 



Although Dr. Wislicenus will be best remembered 

 for his literarv work, and particularly for that already 

 mentioned, his services to practical astronomy were 

 bv no means few or unimportant. In 1882, while 

 still a student at Strassburg, he took part in the 

 German expedition to Bahia Blanca to observe the 

 transit of Venus, and for this task he was eminently 

 fitted by the study he had made of the use of the 

 heliometer. He not only continued to observe with 

 this instrument after his return to Strassburg, but 

 added a series of meridional observations of the zone 

 — 2 to —6°, and some of the results of his work are 

 incorporated into two papers, one on the determin- 

 ation of the period of rotation of Mars, and the other 

 on the absolute personal error in meridian observ- 

 ations ; but his most important services were rendered 

 in the cause of astronomical literature. 



Besides his articles in Valentiner's " Handworter- 



NO. 188 I, VOL. 7$~] 



