November io, 1898J 



NA TURE 



41 



the (jrocc-etlings has been published. During the year, 2S3 

 merchant ships were supplied with registers, and 794 logs were 

 received ; the majority of the observations were made in the 

 North Atlantic, but the other oceans are also fairly represented. 

 The observations for the North Atlantic are chiefly utilised in 

 the preparation and publication of results for one-degree squares 

 and of daily synoptic weather charts, both of which works we 

 have already noticed. The Seewarte undertakes the verification 

 of a large number of instruments ; it also publishes the results 

 of scientific investigations in the work entitled Aiis dciii Archiv 

 der Deiilschen Seewarte. This valuable publication has also 

 already been referred to in our columns. The collection of 

 observations from distant stations is a useful addition to the 

 various other labours of the institution, but the publication of 

 the results has been temporarily retarded by pressure of other 

 work. 



Pkodlems on the deformation of an elastic ellipsoid are 

 known to require for their complete solution functions in work- 

 ing with which a fairly good mathematician may easily go out of 

 nis depth. MM. Eugene and Francois Cosserat, however, 

 rend us a note, reprinted from the Coinptes rendiis, in which 

 hey show that the particular solutions corresponding to 

 harmonics of the second and third orders, assume comparatively 

 simple forms. 



; A HIOHI.V interesting note by Prof. B. Grassi, on the connec- 

 tion between mosquitoes and malaria, appears in the Atti dei 

 'pincci, vii. 7. The theory that these insects disseminate the germs 

 pf malaria by their punctures, seems to have been first brought into 

 |iotice by Laveran ; but Dr. Grassi for a long time had doubts 

 in the subject, owing to the absence of malaria from certain 

 Jistricts where mosquitoes abound ; Schwetzingen, in Germany, 

 Wing a notable instance. A careful classification of the various 

 Ipecies of gnat found in different districts has now led him to 

 "he conclusion that, while certain kinds are not confined to 

 nalarious regions, the distribution of others coincides very 

 losely with the distribution of the disease. The common 

 ^ultx pi/liens is to be regarded as perfectly innocuous ; being 

 post abundant in places from which malaria is absent. On the 

 kher hand, a large species (Anopheles claviger, Fabr. ), known 

 ti Italy as "zanzarone," or " moschino," is constantly found 

 issociated with malaria, and is most abundant where the disease 

 s most prevalent. In illustration of this fact Dr. Grassi enum- 

 jrates a number of striking coincidences in which both gnats 

 (nd the disease are confined to the same limited and well-defined 

 egions. Another disseminator of malaria is Ctilex penicillaris, 

 )nd the author gives authentic instances in which recorded 

 Junctures of this gnat have been followed by febrile symptom.s. 

 Certain other species of Anopheles aje confined to the marshy 

 pgions where malaria rages, and two or three additional species of 

 \tilex are suspected, but on less conclusive evidence. The fact is 

 ,ientioned that Anopheles elaviger confines its attacks chiefly to 



tie evening after sunset, and in this circumstance the old super- 

 ition that it is dangerous to fall asleep in malarious regions 

 just after sunset, finds a ready explanation. These facts open 

 np new hopes that it may be possible to stamp out malaria by 

 laking proper steps for the destruction of mosquito larvae in 

 iistricts where dangerous species abound. 



. The annual report tor 1896-97 on British New Guinea 

 f-9046-5) contains only a few notes of interest to science, 

 ■■he reports of visits of inspection are not so full as in previous 

 iCars, and there are the ominous footnotes " not printed " 

 lating to several documents of interest. The natives of the 

 wer villages of the Mambare River are very untrustworthy. It 

 I'as during the visit to this district that the inspectors " for the 

 jrst time learned how the natives make the hole for the recep- 

 lon of the wooden handle in stone clubs. It is chipped out by 

 NO. 1515, VOL. 59] 



I 



means of a small stone about the size and nearly of the shape of 

 a rifle bidlet." On the crossing of the Chirima they were visited 

 by about one hundred natives from the village of Neneba. They 

 are the only tribe that actually live on a spur of Mount .Scratch- 

 ley. They are somewhat darker in tint than the coast people, but 

 distinctly lighter than the average Fly River man. They are of 

 fair size and wiry in build. No wavy- haired native was seen in 

 that part of the country, and young men wear the eyebrows, while 

 the elders have whiskers. The features are good and not irregular. 

 The men wear the T-bandage, and the women, in addition to 

 this, wear a petticoat and a mantle. The chief ornaments are 

 earrings made of lizards' tails, and cigarette-holders carried in 

 the lobe of the ear. They had the bow and arrow, and stone 

 clubs, but, like many other bow and arrow tribes, they have no 

 pottery. The floors of their houses are six or eight feet above 

 the ground. At the village of Gosisi, on the Vanapa, the natives 

 did not appear to know of any place or people on the other side 

 of the Owen Stanley range. The men of these tribes have 

 remarkable physical proportions and strength. 



.\n interesting pamphlet upon the temperance question, from 

 the pen of Dr. Archdall Reid, has just reached us. It is entitled 

 " The Temperance Question from a Biological Standpoint." 

 The author bases his theories and conclusions upon Weiss- 

 manism, viz. upon the assumption that inborn or congenital 

 characters alone are transmitted to the offspring, acquired 

 characters not being transmitted. Man is still undergoing 

 evolution at the present day, and this, according to the author, 

 mostly consists in the acquisition by him of immunity against 

 disease or the effect of powerful drugs, including harmful 

 narcotics. Alcohol is a harmful narcotic ; from this it follows 

 that one of the directions which the evolution of man is taking 

 at the present day is the acquisition of immunity against 

 alcohol, .and this takes the special form of a diminution of the 

 " normal " craving for alcohol. According to Dr. Reid the 

 longer a race h.is had alcohol, and the easier and more abundant 

 its supply, the more siber it is. For instance, the grape-grow- 

 ing southern Europeans are at the present time more sober than 

 the races of northern Europe, where alcohol is more difficult to 

 obtain, although formerly they were quite as drunken. They 

 have become now immune to alcohol. The method by which 

 this immunity has come about is naturally, from the point of view 

 of the temperance reformer, of the utmost importance. Since, 

 if it could only be imitated successfully, the temperance question 

 would be solved. According to Dr. Reid this diminution of the 

 craving for alcohol has been produced by the action of natural 

 selection working in the presence of an abundant supply of the 

 harmful substance in question. Any cause which reduces the 

 supply of alcohol, or in any way increases the difficulty of 

 obtaining it, in that it hampers the action of natural selection, 

 tends to perpetuate drunkenness rather than to produce temper- 

 ance. This truly dreadful picture of the world, or rather all 

 races not yet immune, becoming "thoroughly drunken before 

 they can hope to become thoroughly sober," can, to some ex- 

 tent, be mitigated by artificfal selection. The innate drunkard, 

 when found out by letting everybody have free access to alcohol, 

 must be treated as a lunatic, and above all not be allowed to 

 procreate. By this means the alcohol tainted "germ plasm" 

 will finally be eliminated, and the race will become immune to 

 alcohol. 



The older entomologists used to complain that the Lepidop/cra 

 were a peculiarly difficult order to classify, owing to the want 

 of any salient characters ; but now that the details of their 

 structure are more minutely studied, the difficulty is rather to 

 decide on the importance to be attached to the structure of par- 

 ticular organs. Even the eggs are now taken into account in 

 classification, and also the larvae -in their various stages, for the 

 earlier stages often possess characters of importance, throwing 



