564 



NATURE 



[April 13, 1899 



forms which in man remain sterile. Such forms on entering 

 the intestine of the perfect insect of Anopheles claviger, are 

 developed as typical spororoa which form an enormous number 

 of sporozooids, and these, accumulalini; in the salivary glands of 

 the mosquito, return to man in the act of puncture. They may, 

 however, instead undergo another life-cycle giving rise to spore- 

 formation. (2) The development of malarial hxmosporids in 

 the body of the mosquito has been demonstrated fur the parasite 

 of autumnal fever and for that of ordinary fever. (3) While the 

 transference of the hcemosporids from man to mosquitos and 

 Z'iic versa has been abundantly proved, it is still an undecided 

 point whether the parasites are transmitted from mosquitos to 

 their progeny. 



In the Journal of Conchology for April 1899, Mr. L. St. G. 

 Byne describes a series of investigations undertaken by him, 

 at the instigation of Mr. J. Cosmo MelviU, on the corrosion and 

 consequent deterioration of marine shells in public collections. 

 This corrosion Mr. Byne is led to attribute to the action of 

 butyric acid upon the calcium carbonate of the shells. The 

 butyric acid was derived originally from the decay of portions of 

 the animal left in the shells. A subsidiary cause is the action of 

 acetic acid, formed by the fermentation of the gum used in 

 attaching the shells to tablets. The white powdery substance 

 upon the surface of the affected shells consists of calcium 

 butyrate, mixed in some cases with a little calcium acetate. 

 Mr. Byne thinks that, in all probability, treatment with corro- 

 sive sublimate solution will prove an effectual remedy. We 

 would suggest that Mr. Byne's conclusions may have an im- 

 portant bearing on another question, namely, the permanency 

 or otherwise of microscopic preparations of foraminifera. 



The Comptes rendus of the Paris Academy of March 27 con- 

 tains a notice, by M. Leon Teisserenc de Bort, of three unmanned 

 balloon ascents made under his directions on March 24. One 

 of the balloons was despatched from his observatory at Trappes 

 at 8h. 30m. a.m., in clear weather, and with a light north-west 

 wind, and fell at Treves (in Rhenish Prussia) ; the instruments 

 have not yet been returned. Another was sent up near Limoges 

 at 9h. 27m. a.m., in cloudy weather, with moderate N.N.W. 

 wind, and occasional snow-squalls. It fell at Peroles, after a 

 flight of thirty-seven miles, having attained an altitude of about 

 twenty-eight thousand feet ; the lowest temperature recorded 

 was - 47°'2, the temperature on the ground being 32 5. In 

 order to determine the influence of the sun's rays on the temper- 

 atures recorded, one of the balloons was despatched from Trappes 

 (before sunrise) at 3h. 45m. a.m. This fell about seventy miles 

 in an east by south direction. At the above altitude a temper- 

 ature of — 6l^'4 was recorded, the temperature on the ground 

 being 26" '6. 



We have received from M. A. Lancaster, the director of the 

 Belgian Meteorological Service, a very interesting sketch of the 

 climateof the Congo, abstracted from ihe Anniiaire of the Royal 

 Observatory of Belgium for 1899, and chiefly based upon a work 

 entitled " Le Climat du Congo," by A. Lancaster and E. Meule- 

 man, published in 1898. In our latitude temperature is the principal 

 element which determines the character of the seasons, but in the 

 Congo State temperature is relatively uniform throughout the 

 year, the principal element being rainfall, the frequency and 

 amount of which are very marked during some months, while in 

 others rain completely fails. In the equatorial zone, the mean 

 temperature in the afternoon during the year is generally about 

 86" and about 68" during the night, with but slight variation 

 from one day to another. The rainy season commences in the 

 oarly part of October, and ends about the middle of May. In 

 proportion to the distance from the coast and to the proximity 

 of the equator, the wet and dry seasons are less marked, and rain 



NO. 1537, VOL. 59] 



falls with variable intensity throughout the year. Generally 

 speaking, the rainfall of the Congo is nowhere exceptional. 

 Thunderstorms are very frequent in the interior of the State ; 

 in the equatorial regions they occur at all seasons, while more to 

 the south and in the west they only take place during the rainy 

 season. 



The Chicago Health Department are to be congratulated on 

 the results which they are able to publish attending the use of 

 diphtheria antitoxin in combating diphtheria. During a period 

 of forty-one consecutive months, 4000 cases of " true diphtheria " 

 were treated with a mortality rate of less than 6 '8 per cent., 

 whilst within the last four months still greater success has 

 followed the work of the department, for 418 cases have been 

 treated with a mortality of less than 4 '8 per cent. In the three 

 years following the introduction and use of the antitoxin, the 

 department record a decline in deaths from diphtheria of 43 per 

 cent., compared with the death rate from this disease registered 

 for the three years previous to the use of antitoxin. 



The yournal of the Society of Arts contains in one of its 

 recent numbers the report of the lecture given before the 

 Society by Mr. H. A. Acworth, on leprosy in India. In the 

 discussion which followed, a warm tribute was paid to the 

 author for the splendid work which he carried out in starting, 

 entirely through his own efforts, a magnificent leper asylum on 

 the outskirts of Bombay at Matoonga. As Lord Onslow (who 

 presided) justly stated, " after mature consideration, the 

 Government of Bengal and the Supreme Government of India 

 had adopted the recommendations which Mr. Acworth was th 

 first to bring into practrice, viz. the segregation of lepers. 

 Opinion is still divided as to the wisdom of this policy in com 

 bating leprosy, but there is no doubt that Mr. .^cworth's ex 

 periment has been attended with success. To all interested in 

 this important subject, the paper in question contains a mass of 

 interesting information, as well as statistics culled from very 

 various sources. 



The University of the State of New York has just issued, as 

 Museum Bulleliii No. 19, " A guide to the study of the 

 geological cuUections of the New York State Museum," by Dr. 

 Frederick J. H. Merrill-, director and state geologist. The 

 bulletin aims to supplement the collections with such general 

 information as cannot be given by cabinet specimens, and to 

 direct visitors to trustworthy sources for more detailed inform- 

 ation. For this purpose it places within the reach of students 

 a brief synopsis of the geology of the Stale, and shows by 

 photographic illustrations the exact appearance of many typical 

 exposures. After a general introduction, follow sections deal- 

 ing with the geologic formations of the State, economic geology, 

 suggestions for study under the heads of geological text, 

 reference-books and field work, and the origin of the museum. 

 The bulletin, which may in fact be regarded .is an introductory 

 text-book of geology illustrated by I0c.1l examples of geological 

 structures, contains 162 pages of text and 119 plates, and is 

 sent post paid by the University for forty cents. Teachers of 

 science in the colleges and schools of the State will doubtless 

 appreciate the efforts of Dr. Merrill and his associates to extend 

 the usefulness of the museum and increase the interest in the 

 collections. 



A cari-;kui. examination of the rude stone monuments of 

 Japan, and of the sepulchral chambers termed " dolmens," has 

 led Mr. W. Gowland to conclude ( Transactions and Proceedings 

 of the Japan Society, vol. iv. part iii., 1899) that they were 

 built by the ancestors of the present Japanese. The aboriginal 

 inhabitants were apparently the .\inu, who occupied the whole 

 country until they were gradually driven back to the north by 

 a more powerful race. Whence came the invaders from whom 



