2 NATURE 
ing a wide variation. In several cases the combs 
are combined to form composite figures. In the 
opinion of the authors the four phases represented 
extended over a long period, from Aurignacian to 
Neolithic times. The pictures are, although 
inferior in execution, closely related to those of 
Altamira, Niaux, and Font de Gaume, while the 
signs and symbols follow closely the rock engrav- 
ings of Portuguese South-east Africa. 
The most outstanding feature is the appearance 
of fish among the animal forms. The fish repre- 
sented are of the Plaice or Brill family, and form 
the only instance so far known of fish painted on 
the walls of a cave, although engravings of fish 
have been reported from Pindal, Niaux, and “La 
Gorge d’Enfer.” The book is admirably illus- 
trated, and maintains in every way the high level 
which we have come to associate with the publica- 
tions of the Institut de Paléontologie Humaine de 
Monaco. Witiiam WRIGHT. 
BACTERIOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN 
BOMBAY. 
HE report of the Bombay Bacteriological 
Laboratory for the year 1914, by Major W. 
Glen Liston, reached this country recently. The 
report is divided into two parts: (1) that dealing 
with plague work, and (2) that dealing with 
general preventive medicine. Statistics are 
furnished which tend to show that the uninocu- 
lated are attacked three times more frequently 
than the inoculated (against plague). One draw- 
back to the use of plague vaccines is the severe 
reaction which follows, deterring others from 
undergoing the operation. It is now suggested, 
as results of experiments on rats and observations 
on man, that a small initial dose of 1-2 c.c. should 
be given, to be followed in a week by a second 
dose of 2-4 c.c. It appears that there are two 
other species of fleas of the genus Xenopsylla— 
viz., X. brasiliensis and X. astia—besides the 
originally known species X. cheopis, which, how- 
ever, forms 80 per cent. of the three species con- 
cerned. Whether they all transmit plague is a 
question which must arise. The results of the 
examination of rats in the laboratory show that 
both in the case of M. rattus and M. decumanus 
there is a rise above the mean in the rate of 
infection in the latter half of January, whereas 
the rise above the mean in human plague mortality 
occurs in the first half of March. The fall below 
the mean occurs at the same time for both species 
of rats and for man—viz., in the first ‘half of 
June. The summit of the infection for M. rattus 
precedes that of M. decuwmanus by a fortnight, 
while the infection of the latter and the mortality 
in man reach their maximum at the same time— 
viz., in the latter half of April. 
It is disheartening to see in connection with 
the prevalence of guinea worm in the town of 
Ranebennur that years have passed in a fruitless 
discussion of various plans to improve the water 
supply of this town. The guinea worm infection 
is 1°45 per cent. In the village of Desai it jis 
NO. 2447, VOL. 98] 
[SEPTEMBER 21, 1916 
calculated that the extermination of guinea worm 
would result in a net gain of 219 rupees per annum. 
Here, as elsewhere, sanitation always means a 
net cash gain in the end. The nature of rat-bite 
fever. is unknown, but the fact that salvarsan 
rapidly cures it suggests a spirochete origin. A 
“number of cases” came under observation; but 
why not state the actual number? ‘The report, 
though short, contains much of interest and evi- 
dence of good, sound work. 
Jj. W. Wa 
NOTES. 
We record with deep regret the death on September 
16, in his seventy-third year, of Sir Lauder Brunton, 
Bt., F.R.S., consulting physician to St. Bartholomew’s 
Hospital, and of high distinction by his work and 
teaching in physiological medicine. 
WE regret to see in the Morning Post the announce- 
ment of the death of Prof. Pierre Duhem, professor 
of theoretical physics in the University of Bordeaux, 
and the author of several works of wide interest 
on the history of natural philosophy and physical 
subjects. 
One of the incidental effects of the European war 
upon America is the stimulus it has given to the adop- 
tion of the metric system. Very many American fac- 
tories now turning out munitions for the Allies are 
working almost entirely in metric dimensions. Even 
locomotives are being manufactured in metres and 
millimetres. ‘‘ The same thing, in all likelihood,” says 
the New York Evening Post, “is taking place in Eng- 
land, which is furnishing munitions for Russia and 
other of her Allies.” 
A New York telegram announces the death on Sep- 
tember 18, at sixty-six years of age, of Mr. Seth Low, 
president of Columbia College from 1889 to 1golI, 
during which period the college became Columbia 
University. Referring to his work for the university, 
the Times says: ‘‘He did much by his businesslike 
administration, his liberality (he personally contributed 
200,000l. to the fund which enabled it to be removed 
to its magnificent site on Morningside Heights, New 
York City), and his especial interest in the department 
of political science.” 
Tue Sociedad Argentina de Ciencias Naturales, of 
Buenos Aires, which issues the journal Physis, has 
arranged to hold meetings similar to those of the 
British Association, every two years, in one of the 
towns of the Argentine. No scientific asseribly of 
this kind has hitherto been held in South America. 
The first meeting will be held at Tucuman in the last 
week of November next, in commemoration of the 
first centenary of the declaration of the independence 
of the Argentine Republic in 1816. Tucuman is the 
busiest and most populous town in the north of the 
republic. It possesses a university, a Museum of Natural 
History, of which Prof. M. Lillo is director, two 
agricultural experiment stations, and other institutions 
of scientific interest. The Governor of the State, Don 
Ernesto Padilla, is honorary president of the local 
committee for the meeting. The president of the 
whole assembly will be Prof. A. Gallardo, director of 
the Buenos Aires Museum; and the Minister of Public 
Instruction will be the honorary president. There will 
be nine sections, which, with their presidents, will be 
as follows :—I., Geology, Geography, and Geophysics, 
M. Enrique Hermitte; II., Palaeontology, M. ‘Carlos 
Ameghino; ITI., Botany, Prof. C. M. Hicken; IV., 
