February 2, i 



NA TURE 



The interruption due to this consonaiit is probably the 

 least marked of any. The pronunciation of /', i/, / and 

 other consonant elements in the middle of words usually 

 causes a more or less complete cessation of oscillations 

 on the part of the flame for a considerable period of 

 time. 



No. 6 shows the record for the ending of the word 

 doctor, spoken hurriedly. The photograph shows the 

 behaviour of the flame from the moment when the first 

 vowel sound is just being cut off" by the closing of the 

 mouth for the enunciation of that portion of the word 

 represented by the letters cl. The whole of the last 

 syllable, which is almost completely suppressed and 

 slurred over, as is too often the case in every-day 

 speech, is shown. The period of quiescence in this 

 instance is greater than that which takes place between 

 the successive words of a sentence spoken in the ordinary 

 manner. This peculiarity has already been referred to in 

 a previous paragraph. 



No. 7 is a portion of the photographic record of the 

 word Ran/an, comprising the closing vibrations due to 

 the first vowel sound a and the transition of this into 

 the form of the rolling r which follows. The letter r 

 was given a much stronger roll in speaking this word 

 than is customary in English, for the purpose of studying 

 the flame record thus obtained. Each contact of the 

 tongue to the roof of the mouth in the production of the 

 trill is shown in the flame record by a partial blotting-out 

 of the serrated image. 



No. 8 shows the results obtained when the speed of the 

 film was increased to fi\e metres per second. The upper 

 line of flame-images is that obtained from a continuously 

 sounded rolling?-. It is possible in this instance to show 

 only the details of a single member of the series of trills 

 which make up this comple.x sound. The lower record, 

 which was taken upon the same film and at the same 

 speed, is that of the vowel a flat (as in cat) continuously 

 sounded throughout the entire revolution. 



It is the writer's opinion that very interesting and 

 possibly important results might be obtained by the use 

 of longer Alms driven at even higher rates of speed. 

 There are indications, in certain of the photographs 

 obtained in the course of the experiments just described, 

 of vibrations of higher pitch, which are not properly 

 separated from one another even at the speed of five 

 metres per second. Edw.^rd L. Nichols. 



Cornell University. 



THE STUDY OF TROPICAL DISEASES. 

 T^HE Geographical Journal for December contains an 

 -*■ interesting monograph, by Ur. Wistenra Sambon, 

 upon the acclimatisation of Europeans in tropical lands. 

 The subject-inatter of this paper was discussed at the 

 Royal tieographical Society last ,\pril, and various 

 opinions were e.xpressed upon it. Dr. Sambon is, further, 

 the author of other communications dealing with this 

 question. Put briefly, his contention is that there is 

 nothing inimical to Europeans in tropical climates which 

 cannot be prevented by hygienic measures. The two 

 main characteristics of the tropical climate, \'\i. heat and 

 moisture, are practically never per se the cause of dis- 

 ease, nor do they per se cause any deterioration in either 

 the colonists themselves or their progeny. The mass of 

 the so-called diseases of tropical climates has a parasitic 

 origin. The enormous number of deaths from malaria in 

 the unhealthy regions of Africa, and from snake-bite in 

 India, are quoted by the author as examples of this. Even 

 heat-stroke is, according to him, of parasitic origin. 

 Further, not only is the great enemy to colonisation after 

 actual occupation, the microbe, but the same agency 

 comprises the great difficulty in colonisation. For in- 

 stance, in the French E.xpedition to Madagascar in 1896, 



NO. 1527, VOL. 59] 



only seven men were killed by Hovas, and ninety-four 

 wounded ; the deaths due to pathogenic micro-organisms 

 numbered 6000, and the sick list from the same cause 

 I 5,000. From these facts the contention is that all we 

 have to do in order to make Europeans thrive in the 

 tropics, is to exterminate the pathogenic micro-organisms 

 which are the cause of so-called tropical disease ; these 

 once subjugated, and Europeans could live in the tropics 

 like natives. 



How this is to be done is naturally the difficulty. In 

 the case of the malarial parasite, for instance, should we 

 set about producing immunity, or destroying the parasite 

 in the most exposed phase of its life-history ? The latter 

 method is the one which recommends itself as being, if 

 the most difficult, at the least the most radical ; hence the 

 importance of the minute study of the life-history of each 

 pathogenic parasite. 



To render Europeans capable of supplanting natives in 

 tropical countries is more, as Sir Harry Johnston pointed 

 out, than we want. The desideratum is to render a rela- 

 tively small nuinber of Europeans capable of ruling the 

 tropics. The limited knowledge we now possess of the 

 means of curing tuberculosis, and of exterminating the 

 tubercle bacillus, even although some of our best workers 

 and thinkers ha\e devoted themselves to the subject for 

 more than a quarter of a century, prevents the most 

 sanguine of us from expecting that the means of exter- 

 minating the malarial parasite will be hit in the imme- 

 diate future. In spite, however, of this, no one can 

 legitimately doubt that the careful study of the life- 

 history of the parasite, and the nature of the so-called 

 predisposition to malaria, will avail much in lowering the 

 European death rate in the malarial regions of the 

 tropics. 



In this connection, it is interesting to note that there 

 will, before long, be established in London an institution 

 for the study of tropical disease. This institute will 

 have a double function, viz. education and research. 

 Use will be made of the clinical materia' of the port 

 of London for teaching qualified medical practitioners 

 who, either as members of the Government services, or 

 as private individuals, intend practising in the tropics. 

 In addition, research work upon the nature and caus- 

 ation of tropical disease will be undertaken and en- 

 couraged. The founding of this institution, as is 

 invariably the case, has not been free from difficulties. 

 Some of these, if not all, are probably by this time 

 well known to the public, as, after a preliminary state- 

 ment of grievances in the medical press, a lively 

 correspondence has been devoted to this subject in the 

 Tl/ztes. 



The site of the institute has been fixed at the branch 

 hospital of the Seamen's Hospital Society, between the 

 Royal Victoria and the Albert l)ocks. Upon the school 

 buildings and enlargement of the hospital 13,000/. is to 

 be spent, towards which the Colonial Office contributes 

 3350/. The maintenance of the school and the additional 

 beds is estimated at 3050/. per annum, of which 1000/. 

 will be paid annually by the Colonial Office in fees for the 

 instruction of its students. The curriculum to be followed 

 at the schools is to be arranged by a committee of 

 experts. 



The opposition to the scheme chiefly arises from three 

 sources. The established medical schools, or rather 

 their representatives, say that, both with regard to 

 clinical material and laboratory accommodation, there 

 is no need to go to the expense of building and institut- 

 ing a new school. The staff of the Dreadnought Sea- 

 man's Hospital, of which the hospital which is to be 

 metamorphosed into the new school is a branch, agree 

 in the main, and emphasise the incongruity of choosing 

 a relatively small hospital to the exclusion of the parent 

 hospital and its staff. A third class of opposition, which 

 may be described as unattached, appears in the form 



