146 



NATURE 



{Jitne 16, 1 88 J 



cholera, and cholera are substantially the same as the 

 curve for diarrhosa, all showing the same close obedience 

 to temperature. It is a noteworthy circumstance that 

 these four curves group themselves into pairs— diarrhoea 

 and British cholera on the one side, and dysentery and 

 Asiatic cholera on the other. The chief points of differ- 

 ence are that dysentery and Asiatic cholera begin mark- 

 edly to rise considerably later than the other two allied 

 diseases, attain their ma.ximum a month later, and fall 

 more rapidly than they rose, the annual phases being 

 nearly a month later than those of diarrhoea and British 

 cholera. 



The peculiarly malignant character of summer diarrhoea 



among young children under five years of age may be 

 shown by the weekly mortality from diarrhoea, rising from 

 20 in the middle of June, to 342 in the first week of 

 August, 1880, when the mean temperature of July and 

 August was about the average. In July, 1876, when the 

 temperature was 3"'6 above the average, the weekly 

 mortality from diarrhcea among children rose to 502 on 

 the last week of that month. On the other hand, during 

 the cold summer of 1S60, the diarrhcea mortality for all 

 ages did not in any week exceed ninety. 



Of the British large towns the lowest mortality from 

 summer diarrhcea is that of Aberdeen, which has the 

 lowest summer temperature. The diarrhoea mortality of 



Jan. Feb. March. April. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. 



mm 



I. — Weekly Deaths from Diarrhoea calculated on the Annual MoitUity per looo of the populatii 



each town is found from year to year to rise proportionally 

 with the increase of temperature, but the rate of increase 

 differs greatly in different towns, thus pointing to other 

 causes than mere weather, or the relative temperatures 

 and humidities of these towns, as determining the mor- 

 tality. Fig. 1 1 shows the weekly death-rate from diar- 

 rhcea for six of the large British towns, viz., Leicester, 

 curve I ; Liverpool, 2 ; London, 3; Bristol, 4; Ports- 

 mouth, 5; and Edinburgh, 6; from which it is seen 

 that though the summer temperature of London is 

 hotter than that of Liverpool and Leicester, its diarrhcea 

 mortality is very much less. In this respect London 

 contrasts very favourably with the great majority of 

 British large towns, showing its sanitary conditions 



generally are at least fairly satisfactory ; but inasmuch as 

 it is somewhat in excess of a few of the towns whose 

 summer temperature is scarcely lower, London offers 

 problems in this field to the sanitary reformer for his 

 solution. 



Figs. 6 to 10 give the curves for thrush, tabes mesen- 

 terica, enteritis, j'aundice, and atrophy and debility, all ol 

 which have their maximum fatality during the hottest 

 period of the year, and all of which, it will be noted, are 

 bowel complaints. Indeed with the apparent exception 

 of one or two nervous diseases, all those diseases which 

 indicate an increase in their death-rate during tlie summer 

 months are bowel complaints. Alexander Buchan 

 {To be continued.) 



NOTES 



The British Association having decided to hold its annual 

 meeting this year at York, where, fifty years ago, its first meeting 

 was held, it has been thought that advantage should be taken of 

 this jubilee meeting to show, as far as possible, the progress 

 which has been made during the past half century in the con- 

 struction of instruments of scientific research, and, with this 

 view, it has been decided to invite men of science, Ecientific 

 societies, and manufacturers to exhibit, at the meeting, instru- 

 ments of the latest patterns, and tools used in their construction . 

 and if the science be fifty years old, the instruments used in 1831 ; 

 otherwise specimens of the earliest patterns that can be found. 

 The Exhibition will b: for the week of the meeting only, viz. 

 from August 31 to September 8. To ensure that specimens 

 intrusted for exhibition shall be as advantageously placed as 

 possible, a special sub-committee, called "The Museum Sub- 

 Committee," has been formed at York, w ho will be happy to 

 afford every possible information. The sub-committee includes 

 several gentlemen who have had considerable experience in the 

 arrangement of exhibitions, and they will give their personal 

 attention to the unpacking, arrangement, and care of objects 

 intrusted to them, so that the risk of injury will be reduced to a 

 minimum. The articles exhibited will be insured against fire^ 

 and provision will be made for police protection ; beyond this 

 the committee does not hold itself responsible. It is requested 

 that exhibitors will put a value on their exhibits, in order that 



the necessary insurance may be made. The propo-i^ed Exhibition 

 will also include apparatus and specimens illustrative of papers 

 to be read at tlie Association meeting, which the authors may he 

 willing to allow to be examined at leisure, as well as instruments 

 constructed for the prosecution of special reearches which have 

 not yet become articles of ordinary commerce. It is very desir- 

 able that such instruments and apparatus should be exhibited in 

 action, if arrangements can be made for the purpose. 



The thirtieth meeting of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science will be held at Cincinnati, Ohio, com- 

 mencing on Wednesday, August 17, and following days. As it 

 is generally believed that the Cincinnati meeting will be the 

 largest and most important scientific meeting ever held in the 

 West, every effort will be made by the Local Committee to pre- 

 pare, in advance of the meeting, a satisfactory general programme 

 for the week. At the Boston meeting several changes in the 

 constitution were proposed, which will come up for action at 

 Cincinnati, the object of the changes being the reorganisation of 

 the sections, and also to extend the scope^ of the Association, 

 Should these changes be adopted, the Association will embrace 

 eight sections of equal standing, each presided over by a vice- 

 president, and having its own secretary and sectioral committee. 

 The following is the division proposed, and upcn which final 

 action will be taken at Cinciimati :— Sec. A. Physics ; Sec. B. 

 Astronomy and Pure Mathematics ; Sec. C. Chemistry, including 

 its applications to Agriculture and the Arts ; Sec. D. Mechani- 



