AvcustT 28, 1902] 
NATURE 
423 
setting the ecliptic at the correct inclination, the diurnal movement 
of the horizon with reference to the sun or other object in the 
ecliptic can be made manifest. An objection to the model as 
an educational instrument is that the horizon is only horizontal 
when the latitude for which it is set is 90°. The student of 
astronomy who understands the relationship between the funda- 
mental ‘planes of the horizon, equator and ecliptic might find it 
an advantage to fix his ideas by means of a model of this kind. 
But such a student would be in a position to use a celestial globe 
by which he could see the apparent motions, with reference to 
the horizon, of objects in any part of the celestial sphere instead 
of being limited to the ecliptic. 
THE twenty-fourth Report of the Deutsche Seewarte, Hamburg, 
for the year 1901, exhibits the usual activity in the various 
pursuits in which the institution is engaged. Several meetings 
have been held at Berlin and Hamburg with the view of im- 
proving and expediting the telegraphic weather reports. In 
this most important object andin the establishment of a 7h. a.m. 
Service, several of the European countries are to some extent 
participating, but the movement is due mainly to the impulse 
given to it by the Deutsche Seewarte. The sum of six thousand 
marks has been placed at the disposal of Dr. von Neumayer for 
the purpose of establishing special weather forecasts for agri- 
culturists, probably on the same lines as those for the harvest 
forecasts issued by our own Meteorological Office. The collec- 
tion of observations made at sea, for the construction of sailing 
directions and meteorological handbooks of the various oceans, 
has been vigorously carried on. Complete log-books were 
received during the year from 60 men of war and 538 merchant 
vessels, in addition to some 300 short logs from steamers. The 
majority of the voyages refer to the north and south Atlantic, 
but also include a considerable number in the Pacific and Indian 
Oceans. Telegraphic warnings of storms were issued on fifty- 
nine days ; the number of telegrams (including those to lower 
the signals) exceeded 3000, but the percentage of success is not 
stated. 
EXCLUDING the well-known thermophilic group of bacteria, 
it has generally been considered that an exposure to a tempera- 
ture of 65° C., or frequently to a lower temperature than this, 
ts rapidly fatal to all non-sporing forms of bacterial life. Messrs. 
H. L. Russell and E. G. Hastings, however, describe a micro- 
coccus, isolated from milk, the thermal death point of which is 
76° C. for an exposure of ten minutes. Not all the cells of this 
organism are equally resistant ; as the temperature is raised to 
about 70° C. some of the cells begin to succumb, but a small 
residuum retain their vitality until 76° C. is reached (Cenér. 7. 
Bakt. Zweite Abt., Bd. viii. p. 339). Using this organism, Messrs. 
Russell and Hastings have carried out some interesting observa- 
tions upon the increased resistance of bacteria in milk pasteur- 
ised in contact with the air (z6., p. 462). Heated in bouillon 
and in milk in closed vessels (sealed tubes) the thermal death 
point is approximately the same, viz. 76° C., but in milk heated 
in an open vessel the organism survived a temperature of 80° C. 
It was found that this resistance is due to the protection afforded 
by the membrane which forms when milk is heated freely 
exposed to the air, for in samples of sterile milk seeded with 
the organism and heated in an open beaker to 80° C., on sub- 
culturing numerous colonies were obtained from the membrane, 
while the milk below this was sterile. 
SuRRA, a disease affecting horses and other animals, and due 
to a protozoan parasite, the 77yfanosoma Evansi, has been found 
to be very prevalent in the Philippines, causing the death of no 
less than 2000 of the army transport and cavalry horses in a 
period of six months. This disease, met with also in India and 
Burma, is now regarded as identical with nagana or the tsetse- 
fly disease of Africa. In India, the exact mode of transference 
NO. 1713, VOL. 66] 
of the disease from one animal to another has not been dis- 
covered, though certain ‘‘horse-flies” have been surmised to be 
the intermediaries: In the Philippines, Curry states that the 
intermediary is a fly, the Stomoxys calcttrans. The fly lays its 
eggs in the excrement of horses and cattle, in which its larvze 
and pup thrive, and as the disease is almost always fatal, 
prophylactic measures must be employed, especially the destruc- 
tion of the larvze and pupz in the excrements by treatment with 
lime or petroleum (Amer. A/ed., July 19). 
THE Zoo/ogist for August contains notes on Erasmus as a 
naturalist, by Mr. G. W. Murdock, and a useful account by 
Mr. G. Smith, of Prof. Bachmetjew’s experiments on the 
temperature of insects. 
WE have received a copy of the first number of the Rural 
Studies Series, which contains the report of a lecture by the 
Rev. E. A. Woodruffe-Peacock on the manner in which horses 
—especially thoroughbreds—affect the grass-lands on which 
they are pastured, and the best manner of improving such 
pastures. ; 
THE Memorias of the Scientific Society Antonio Alzate, 
vol. xvi., Nos. 5 and 6, contain an account, by Sejior A. L. 
Herrera, of the means recently taken to mitigate the plague of 
mosquitoes from which the city of Mexico constantly suffers. 
A couple of men provided with tins of paraffin appear to have 
done wonders in the way of destroying the larvz which infest 
the pools and sheets of water in the suburbs. 
IN its report for the year 1901-1902, the committee of the 
Manchester Museum directs attention to the highly satisfactory 
and commendatory remarks on that institution and its work 
which appear in the Blue-book recently issued by the Com- 
missioners on the University Colleges of the country. Among 
the collections received during the year is a fine series of shells 
presented by Mr. R. D. Derbishire, containing a number of rare 
forms and also examples of the range of variation presented by 
particular species. The lectures and addresses delivered during 
the year have proved attractive to the general public, and will 
be continued during the current session, when Prof. Hickson 
will discourse on reptiles, Prof. Weiss on club-mosses and ferns, 
and Prof. Dawkins on caves. 
THE geology and petrography of part of the Ural region of 
Perm, in the upper basin of the Koswa, a.tributary of the Kama, 
has been elaborately dealt with by MM. Louis Dupare and 
Francis Pearce (AZém. de la Soc. de Physique de Geneve, xxxiv. 
1902). In particular, the gabbros and dunites of Koswinsky are 
described, but, there are also full accounts of the orography 
and hydrography of this region. 
In the Pagers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of 
Tasmania for 1900-1901, a great many subjects are dealt with, 
including some useful general articles on the botany, the birds, 
the recent Mollusca, the minerals and the geology of Tasmania. 
In notes on the microscopic structure of some Tasmanian rocks, 
Mr. W. F. Petterd describes some aberrant members of the 
basalt family. Mr. W. H. Twelvetrees describes a new oxy- 
chloride of lead, under the name Petterdite. There are notes 
also on the discovery of amphibian remains in the permo- 
Carboniferous rocks. 
WE have received the annual report for 1901 of the 
Geological Survey of New Jersey, by Mr. H. B. Kiimmel, 
acting State Geologist! He refers to the fact that New Jersey 
is the chief clay-producing State, and that a new and exhaustive 
memoir of the clay deposits is in preparation. The report is 
accompanied by a memoir and map of the Green Pond Mountain 
region, a belt of Cambrian, Silurian and Devonian rocks which 
rest on an eroded surface of gneisses. There are notes on. the 
