3i6 



NATURE 



[February 2, 1899 



demarcating the " Durand " boundary. It commenced 

 with the commencement of demarcation at Wana ; it 

 continued /(/// passu with the process at Chitral : and it 

 ended only when the proposal to divide the Mohmand 

 country in half by an outward and visible boundary line 

 was abandoned. 



" And how can we blame these people, simple, 

 savage and unsophisticated as they are ? We may 

 explain to them as much as we like, and protest as 

 loudly as we can, but when they see the long line of 

 boundary pillars going up ; when they are told that 

 henceforth all inside that line practically belongs to the 

 British Raj ; and that from this time their allegiance 

 must be to us ; and when, finally, they note our sur- 

 veyors at work, mapping their country, and measuring 

 their fields, their reflection is, 'Methinks you do protest 

 too much ! ' And they are irresistibly driven to the con- 

 clusion that their country is anne.\ed and their inde- 

 pendence gone." 



It is, indeed, hardly necessary to assume that the 

 Pathan is either "simple'' or "unsophisticated" to 

 account for his arrival at this conclusion. 



The story of the campaign is well told, and the illus- 

 trations, although here and there they betray the 

 sketchiness of the amateur, are on the whole exceed- 

 ingly effective. 



Preliminary Report of an Investigation of Rivers and 

 Deep Ground Waters of Ohio as Sources of Water 

 Supplies. By the State Board of Health. Pp. 259. 

 (Cleveland : J. B. Savage Press, 1898.) 

 By an Act of the Legislature of the State of Ohio, 

 U.S.A., it is provided that no city, village, or corporation 

 shall introduce a public water supply, or system of 

 sewerage ; or change or extend any public water supply 

 or outlet of any sewage unless the proposed works shall 

 have been submitted to, and received the approval of, the 

 State Board of Health ; and by a subsequent Act it was 

 ordered that the Board of Health should examine and 

 report annually on the condition of all public water 

 supplies. The enactment of these laws grew out of the 

 general recognition of the fact that the pollution of 

 streams and lakes by sewage had already reached a 

 point when it had become a menace to public health, and 

 that some intelligent supervision and control of the sources 

 of public water supply had become necessary. 



The Board of Health, in order to be in a position to 

 deal in a comprehensive manner with the various schemes 

 submitted for approval, has commenced an investigation 

 of all the sources of supply and of the streams and rivers 

 of the State ; maps and statistics have been prepared, 

 showing the principal towns and villages and the sources 

 of water supply and sewage disposal ; and a laboratory 

 has been established for chemical and bacteriological 

 examination. The report now issued deals in a very 

 cornplete and comprehensive manner with the way in 

 which the investigations of the Board are carried out ; 

 the rnethods of analysis, the results of bacteriological 

 examination, reports on gauging, and the merits of 

 different geological formations as sources for water 

 supply. Although confined to the water supply of Ohio, 

 the information given cannot but be of great interest and 

 value to sanitary engineers and chemists engaged in 

 works of a similar character in this country. 

 The Periodical Cicada. By C. L. Marlatt, First 



Assistant Entomologist. Bulletin, No. 14, New Series. 



Department of Agriculture, Division of Entomology. 



(Washington, 1898.) 

 Wi: learn from Dr. L. O. Howard's " Letter of Trans- 

 missal," prefixed to this Report, that it is intended to 

 replace a former Bulletin on the ^aIne subject published 

 in 1885. He says that the insect is "distinctly 

 American, and has the longest life period of any known 

 insect. Economically, it is chiefly important in the adult 

 NO. 1527, VOL. 59] 



stage from the likelihood of its injuring nursery stock and 

 young fruit trees by depositing its eggs." We are in- 

 clined, however, to think that several large wood-feeding 

 insects, such as Longicornes and Siricidae, sometimes 

 surpass the Cicadae in the length of their life ; and one or 

 two Lepidoptera, such as Eriogaster lancstris, may re- 

 main in the pupa state for many years. Among the 

 peculiarities of this Cicada are the periodicity of its 

 broods, some appearing at intervals of seventeen years 

 (whence its name), and others at intervals of thirteen 

 years ; and the dimorphism of the insect, which con- 

 stantly exhibits a large form and a small form side by 

 side in the same brood. This periodicity renders it easy 

 to calculate when it will be common in any special 

 locality, according to the number of thirteen-year or 

 seventeen-year broods which may be running their co'urse 

 parallel with each other. Owing to the destruction of 

 forests, however, it is much less abundant than formerly, 

 and is hardly to be reckoned now with really destructive 

 insects. The English sparrow, too, destroys great 

 numbers. W. F. K. 



The Brain-Machine : its Power and Weakness. By 

 Albert Wilson, M.D. Pp. vi -f 157 -f 24 Plates. 

 (London : J. and A. Churchill, 1S99.) 

 Much instructive information concerning the structure 

 and mechanism of the brain and nervous system, and 

 the mechanism of thought and mind, is presented in a 

 popular style in this volume. The aim of the author 

 appears to be to show how to preserve the health and 

 integrity of the brain-cell, and to point out the im- 

 portance of the subject in national as well as individual 

 welfare. The volume should be of assistance to parents 

 and schoolmasters who are concerned with the education 

 of children, for while the author pleads for the cultivation 

 of brain-power, he shows that the mens sana requires to, 

 be in corpore sano. 



The Sni'astii-a. By Thomas Wilson. Pp.255. (London: 



W. Wesley and Son, 1898.) 

 Thi.s interesting monograph on the .Swastika, prepared 

 by Mr. T. Wilson, Curator of the Department of Pre- 

 historic Anthropology, United .Slates National Museum, 

 appeared in the report of the Museum for 1894, and has 

 already been described in these columns. The Swastika 

 is the earliest known symbol, and the object of Mr. 

 Wilson's memoir is to trace its migrations. The volume 

 contains 374 figures in the text, and 25 plates, including 

 a chart of the geographical distribution of the symbol. 

 Many students of archaeology will be interested in the 

 contents. 

 Dictionnaire Technique Frani^ais-.lnglais. By A. S. 



Lovendal. Pp. viii -I- 158. (Paris: Boyveau et 



Chevillet, 1899.) 

 The French and English equivalents of the names of 

 tools used in various trades are shown in parallel columns 

 in this volume. We have, for instance, the phrase " Etau 

 a tige a machoire ctroite" as the equivalent of dog-nosed 

 tail vice, and the phrase " Compas double calibre k j de 

 cercle entaille " as the equivalent of egg callipers with 

 groove wing. The volume will be of service to technical 

 students both in France and England, and it will serve 

 to warn translators against the literal rendering of ex- 

 pressions with which they are not familiar. 

 Incubators and Chicken Rearing .Appliances. Pp. \ii 



-f 64. (London :-Cassell and Co., Ltd., 1898.) 

 Thk chapters on the construction and use of incubators, 

 contained in this pamphlet, originally appeared in the 

 periodical Work. They are essenti.dly practical, and 

 may furnish keepers of poultry with useful hints. The 

 references to the natural heat of a hens body as 98° F., 

 and the heal at which to work, will be understood by t)v 

 readers of the pamphlet, but it would have been better ; 

 have used the word temperature instead of heat. 



