Sept. 2 2, iSSi] 



NATURE 



45^5 



Failing in this, with a dexterity worthy of the Knight of the 

 Shears it cut the worm in two, letting about three-fourths of it 

 fall to the ground. The remainder was then easily dragged to 

 the surface of the leaf, where the wasp spent some fifteen minutes 

 in cutting down, trimming, and reducing it tu a globular ma-s of 

 about an eighth of an inch in diameter. Then resting fjr a few- 

 minutes, and taking a fre^h h .Id of its booty, it flew briskly 

 away. J. T. Brovvnell 



Lyons, N.Y., August 13 



Treatment of Hay Fever 



SoJiE years ago Pn f. llclmhokz, in a letter to you, gave an 

 account of a remedy he liad found for "hay fever." Thi-; was 

 simply to treat the part of the nose, which seems to be the seat 

 of the trouble, with sulphate of quinine solution by pouring it 

 into the nose with a pipette, while lying on a sofa with the head 

 turned upside down. Having had the most enjoyable part of 

 sumnier destroyed by hay fever ever ^ ince I can remember, I 

 have tried every remedy 1 have beard of, including internal doses 

 of arsenic, and I have found them all to fail. Prof. Helmholti's 

 method only gives me relief for ten minutes or so, and cold water 

 does the same. I have tried solutions of sulphate of zinc and 

 tannin, and many other astringents, but all to no purpo. e. As 

 many others knew that I was experimenting upon myself i 1 this 

 matter, I have had several patients trying all the remedies that I 

 have tried, and I can therefore say wi'h certainty that no remedy 

 yet published will care hay fever. I have however succeeded in 

 finding a method which is a really effectual cure, ar.d as I know 

 that many are rendered miserable during the most enjoyable part 

 of the year, I hasten to give them the benefit of the result of my 

 inquiries. One thiig which milled me was that my eyes were 

 often very much inflated an 1 pained during an attack, an 1 1 

 often tried remedies for my eyes (which have sometimes gone 

 wrong when I had no hay fever) when they were only affected 

 in sympathy with my nose. 1 found that the only thing required 

 w as to prevent the entrance of the pollen grains into the nose. 

 When there are not many in the air, as during or after rain, it is 

 simply necessary to stop the nose v\ith a spring chp. I have 

 used a piece of brass or steel ribbon bent dcu')le, and having 

 only sufficient spring to close the nostril- without undue pressure. 

 This causes the jiatient to breathe by the mouth, but one soon 

 gets accustomed to the inconvenience. I fcjund th.it to stop the 

 no.-trils with cotton wool was far too irritating, especially as 

 tho!e afflicted with hay fever are so owing to the tenderness of 

 the internal co.ating of the nuse. When going amongst hay a 

 further precaution must be taken, viz., plugsjing the ducts from 

 the eyes. I used for thii purfose dumb-bell shaped pieces of 

 glass, which are easily slipped into the duels, and can he removed 

 when wanted. Thus protected, any one who is troubled by hay 

 fever can go into the camp of the enemy and stir up hay in a 

 field with as much impunity as one not troubled with this "sixth 

 sense." The season for hay fever is nearly passed now", but I 

 hope that the publication of this note will be the cause of relief 

 to many during next summer, and on tha plea I ask its publi- 

 cation in your valuable j .urnal, and 1 hope tbat medical men i'l 

 the South of England, where hay fever is common, will give it 

 a trial and report upon it next summer. In Scotland hay fever 

 is practically unknown. T. B. Hannay 



Cove Castle, Loch Long, N.B. 



Red Rainbows 



Prof. S. P. Thomtson's letter (p. 459) makes me recall 

 that when on September 2 last year I crossed Wales westwardly 

 from Hereford, on a fine mnny day, the train ran into a misty 

 shower after 6 p.m. at Machynlleth, and out of it as we neared 

 the viaduct at Barmouth. The -un had been ob cured for some 

 time, when it suddenly shone out through a chink between sea 

 and cloud, causing in the east a very beautiful red rainbaw. 

 Like Prof. Thompson, I was under the impression that the 

 phenomenon was of no uncommon occurrence, so did nothing 

 more than note it in my diary. Henry Muirhead 



Camlmslang, September 16 



Infusorial Parasites on Stickleback 



One day in June, when examining a very small stickleback 



under the microscope, I was surprised to find it infested by 



numbers of infu-oria, evidently parasitic upon it. Thi^ led me 



to examine others fro.n the same water, viz , a pond very rich in 

 infusoria! life generally, as also specimens from the river clo e at 

 hand. Kvery specimen from the pond was similarly attacked, 

 while ncme of those from the river were so. The parasite is 

 apparently Tricliodiiia fediculi<s, which is staged to be pirasitic 

 upon Hydra vulgaris. Want of literature on the subject has 

 prevented me from following the matter up, but it seems that I 

 have found, if not a ne* species, at lea t a new host for a know.i 

 species. I shall be glad if any of the readers of NAiUREcan 

 give me any information on the subject. N. II. Poole 



Charterhouse, Godalming 



Photographing Diffraction Rings — Optical Phenomenon 

 The peculiar char.acter of the ph.tographs of an opening to 

 the sky in the dark Cyclopean gallery at Tiryns, to which Mr. 

 W. J. Stillman calls attention (Nature, vol. xxiv. p. 260), finds 

 an obvious explanation in the well-known optical phenomenon 

 of diffraction rings, produced when a beam of light is trans- 

 mitted through a small circular aperture, and viewed by means 

 of a lens. I-I;irl your "Cecropian" correspondent examined the 

 image of the illumin.atcd opening by the assistance of a len-^, the 

 pheno.nenon of concentric coloured rings w-ould, doubtless, have 

 been recognisable to the eye. Hence the only point of interest 

 in the jihenomenon obsened by Mr. Stillman is the significant 

 fact that in securing the fleeting images of the rings on the gela- 

 tine plate— the actinic rays being alone effective — alternate dark 

 and bright concentric rings are produced, as in the case of 

 homogeneous or monochromatic light, instead of the colom'ed 

 rings seen by interpo ing a lens between the aperture and the 

 eye. In other terms, the impressions on the gelatine plate being 

 due to the action of the monochromatic .actinic rays, the theory 

 of diffraction shows that the concentric rings should be alternately 

 dark and liright. Thi; is an important chcumstance iii the 

 applications of photograjihy to such investigations. 



Berkeley, California, Augu-t 16 John Le Conte 



A Prin.itive Diving-Bell 



In Nature, vol. xxiv. p. 201, it is stated that Herr Eu'de 

 has fiund a description of a primitive diving-bell in a work of 

 Bartolini, 1674. The inven'or appears to have been Franci cus 

 Kcsler, I6l6. This description of Kesler's diving machine will 

 also be found, together with representations of the same, in 

 Schwenter's " Pelicire Phy>ico-Mathematica;," 1636, a very rare 

 and cuvi ms volume ; so rare indeed thai it is stated in Coimos, 

 January 27, i860, " it is not to 1 e f. und in the Imperial Library, 

 mr in any of the ] ubiic libraries of Paris." J. van Lennep, in 

 Notes and Queries, December 15, 1859, p. 503, says "there is 

 a Dutch translation of Schwenter, 1672 ; of this rare volume I 

 fortunately possess a copy." N. .S. Heineken 



Sidmauth, September 11 



IttavioLaudi. — Messrs. Triibner, publishers, Lcndo.i, might 

 be able to help- you to get copies of the Chinese translations 

 mentioned in Mr. Fryer's articles on " Science in China." 



FREDERICK CURREV, M.A., F.R.S. 



THE late Frederick Currey, whose death was an- 

 nounced in last week's Nature, p. 475, was born 

 at Eltham on .■\iigust 4, 1819, educated at Eton and 

 Trinity College, Cambridge, there obtaining a scholar- 

 ship, and attaining his B,A. in 184T ; three years later he 

 proceeded to M.A., and was called to the Bar, afterwards 

 practising as conveyancer and equity diaughtsmaii. 



His first public performance as a scientific writer was 

 a tran>lition of Schach's -'Das Mikroskop"in 1853,3 

 second edition of wliich was called for within two years. 

 In the Microscopical Jountalior 1854 he published some 

 observations on two new fungi, and by the sa'ne channel 

 he afterwards communicated several papers, chiefly on 

 the obscure points in the reproduction of the lower 

 cryptngai-ns. The Greenwich Natural History Club was 

 established in 1852, Mr. Currey being one of the earliest 

 members, and the next year he read a paper on the 



