352 
IN AVEOLL: 
[AucusT 10, 1899 
Part 6 of the Bulletin de la Classe des Sciences of the Belgian 
Royal Academy contains a preliminary report from the Belgian 
Antarctic Expedition on the soundings of the Bedgica, drawn up 
by M. Henryk Arctowsky. Between the channels of Tierra del 
Fuego and the archipelago of Dirck Gherrits a section was taken 
of the large Antarctic channel which separates the extremities of 
the Andes from the hypothetical Antarctic continent. More- 
over, within the Antarctic circle and on the west of Alexander 
Land a series of soundings were taken while the ship was drift- 
ing with the pack ice. The principal bathymetric discoveries 
were (1) a deep flat-bottomed basin between the south side of 
the Andes and the mountain system forming the framework of 
the lands visited by the expedition; (2) in places a sharp 
declivity forming a demarcation to the continental plateau ; (3) 
the existence of a continental plateau west of Alexander Land, 
and south of the 71st parallel. : 
From Dr. A. Goldhammer we have received copies of notes 
published by him in Wedemann’s Annalen 65 and 67, dealing, 
one with modern theories of electromagnetic phenomena in iron, 
nickel and cobalt, and the other with the Zeeman effect. In 
the former paper the author compares his equations with those 
obtained by Mr. J. G. Leathem, of Cambridge. 
IN the Journal de Physique for June, M. Coloman de Szily 
investigates the effect of torsion on the electric resistance of 
The substance used in the experiments was an alloy 
called ‘‘ constantan,’’ whose resistance is but slightly affected 
by changes of temperature. The general conclusions are: that 
torsion increases the electric resistance of a wire; that up to the 
limit of elasticity the increase is roughly proportional to the 
angle of torsion, but beyond that limit it increases more rapidly ; 
and that the resistance of a twisted wire decreases slowly with 
the time. 
wires. 
In Cosmos, No. 744, M. A. Acloque discusses the affinities 
between cadelis-flies and moths. The author considers that 
even if the distance between the Trichoptera and Lepidoptera 
is not great, there is at the same time a considerable gap 
separating them, and that little or no light on the question of a 
previous connection between the two orders is at present afforded 
by paleeontological considerations. 
Dr. FELICE DELL’ ACQuA, writing in the Rendicont: del R. 
Istituto Lombardo, brings forward considerations, both statistical 
and hygienic, relative to the consumption of meat food. It 
would appear that in Milan the average daily consumption of 
meat amounts to only 1544 grammes per head of population, 
and this the author considers is insufficient. After pointing out 
the desirability of paying greater attention to the diet, especially 
of working people, Dr. dell’ Acqua discusses the beneficial 
effects of a fair proportion of meat on the general physique. 
The various ways of increasing the supply of meat are con- 
sidered. Dr. dell’ Acqua strongly urges the desirability of breed- 
ing more cattle in Italy, and of not slaughtering immature 
animals. Of other sources capable of yielding greater supply 
than at present, the author calls attention to fish, rabbits and 
birds, and he suggests the acclimatisation of foreign animals and 
even the use of horse-flesh. It would appear that in Italy con- 
siderably less animals are slaughtered for food in proportion to 
the population than in France or Germany, or especially 
England. 
UNDER the title ‘‘ The Honey Bee: a Manual of Instruction 
in Apiculture,’” by Mr, Frank Benton, the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture published a very useful Azd/etzn three or four years 
ago. Twenty-one thousand copies of the manual have been dis- 
tributed ; and the third edition, containing a few additions and 
NO. 1554, VOL. 60] 
changes, has now been published. The magnitude of the 
apiarian industry in the United States may be judged from _ 
the fact that more than 300,000 persons are engaged in the cul- 
ture of bees, and the present annual value of apiarian products 
is estimated at 4,000,000/7. Mr. Benton states, however, that 
the present existing flora of the United States could support ten 
times the number of colonies of bees it now supports. An 
advantage of this branch of agricultural industry is that it does 
not impoverish the soil in the least, but, on the contrary, results 
in better seed and fruit crops. For instance, Dr. L. O. 
Howard points out that recent investigations have shown that 
certain varieties of peas are nearly or quite sterile unless hees 
bring pollen from other distinct varieties for their complete cross 
fertilisation. Mr. Benton’s treatise will continue to be of 
great assistance to persons engaged in the management of bees 
for profit. 
In the Verhandlungen der k. k. geol. Reichsanstalt, Nos. © 
and 7, 1899, Dr. M. Remes deals with the question of palaeont- 
ological divisions in the Tithonian limestone of Stramberg. 
This limestone, as is well known, has yielded a varied and 
specially interesting assemblage of life-forms, including types of 
both jurassic and cretaceous character, and is to be looked upon 
as representing a true passage series. The author gives a brief 
account of the attempts that have been made to distinguish 
divisions of horizon or organic facies in the Stramberg Beds, 
and points out that insufficient care has hitherto been exercised 
in keeping separate the fossils collected from the various ex- 
posures in the one neighbourhood. With the results of his own 
studies as a groundwork, as well as the long experience of his 
father in the same field of observation, Dr. Reme& is enabled to 
show the character of the fauna collected from five different ex- 
posures, and to point out petrographical similarities and differ- 
ences. He concludes that the Stramberg limestone forms a 
uniform mass which, while not satisfactorily showing stratifica- 
tion, permits a division according to facies in its different parts. 
It is found that a separation of the jurassic fauna with Zere- 
bratula moravica from the cretaceous fauna with 7. janztor, as 
proposed by Hébert, cannot be justified ; a mingling of jurassic 
and cretaceous forms occurs in like manner at all the points 
examined. The division adopted by Dr. Remek, according to 
organic facies, is threefold. He distinguishes a cephalopod- 
facies (in the Kotoué-Schlossberg rock-complex), a coral- and 
sponge-facies (Gemeindesteinbruch complex), and an echin- 
oderm-facies (in the red limestone of Nesselsdorf). The passage 
of these single rock-masses into one another is stated to be 
gradual. 
Dr. TH. TcHIsTovircH has made the toxic properties of eel- 
serum the basis of some important investigations on the 
mechanism of immunity. These researches emanate from the 
laboratories of Profs. Metchnikoff and Roux at the Paris Pasteur 
Institute, and are published in the dzna/es. Amongst other 
interesting facts brought to light is the discovery that during 
the process of immunising an animal against the toxic effect of 
eel-serum, although it may be trained to resist increasing quanti- 
ties of the toxin, the avéz/oxéc properties of this animal’s blood- 
serum do not increase; on the contrary, the antitoxin of a 
greater or less degree of strength elaborated during the early 
stages of the immunising process steadily declines in antitoxic 
value as the animal gains in power of resisting the toxin. The 
presence, therefore, in the blood of an immunised animal of an 
antitoxin of a greater or less degree of strength cannot be held 
to furnish any information or standard as to the degree of im- 
munity acquired by that animal. Immunity, therefore, depends 
not solely on the production of an antitoxin in the blood, but on 
some other mechanism which Dr. Tchistovitch considers may 
in all probability be dependent upon the leucocytes, 
