636 
of September a few large ‘bergs have been passed on the steamer 
route between Belle Isle and the 50th meridian, but the ‘strait 
of Belle Isle appears to have been quite free since about August 
20, while no ice has been met with on the banks of Newfound- 
land for a long time past. For the month of September, 4300 
observations of North Atlantic sea-surface temperatures were 
discussed, the results showing that nearly the whole of the area 
northward of the 48th parallel was warmer than the average, 
while between 30° and 48° N. there was a deficiency. In the 
immediate vicinity of the British coasts there was aslight defect, 
the air temperature over the land having been from 1° to 3° below 
the average. Further information relating to the West Indian 
volcanic eruptions is given, based on reports from captains of 
ships and on the preliminary report to the Royal Society by 
Drs. Anderson and Flett. At 2.30 a.m. on May 8, volcanic 
ash was falling on board the barque /ziter, at a distance of 
930 miles east-south-east (to windward) of St. Vincent, about 
twenty-four hours after the violent outburst from the Soufriére, 
so that the upper counter current had an average velocity of 
about forty miles an hour. Off Martinique, at 1.15 p.m. on 
August 21, the s.s. Dahomé was enveloped in a dust cloud from 
Mont Pelée, the darkness being more intense than that of night, 
while steam was rising from the sea in localities where the hot 
mud from the volcano fell into the water. Captain Leutken 
heard no noise or rumblings. 
WE have received from Messrs. Crompton and Co., Ltd., a 
pamphlet describing the latest pattern of Crompton potentio- 
meter. The advantages possessed by this instrument for accu- 
rate measurements in direct-current work are well known. It 
can bé used to measure either P.D., current, resistance or 
power; the actual measurement being in all cases made by 
balancing two potential differences. The instrument can be at 
any distance from the circuit under test, the lead wires intro- 
ducing no error, since, when balance is obtained, no current 
flows through them. The form of instrument designed by 
Messrs. Crompton is very compact and convenient, and enables 
a measurement of any kind to be made with very little trouble. 
The shunts and volt-boxes made to accompany the potentiometer 
give it'a very wide range, and in its (latest form provision is 
made for easily testing its accuracy by comparing the resistance 
coils with the slide wire, With this instrument, a standard cell 
and a galvanometer, the electrical engineer has practically al 
he requires for accurate testing work. 
AN important memoir, by Sir George King, on the flora of 
the Malay Peninsula, is in course of publication in the Journal 
of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, the last fasciculus received in 
this country dealing with the begonias and allied groups. 
THE latest issue of Gegenbaur’s M@orphologisches Jahrbuch 
mammals. In the one, Herr G. Ruge continues his account of 
the variations of form in the liver of the Primates, dealing in 
this instance with the American monkeys; in the second, Herr 
J. Tandler discusses the development of the cranial arteries. 
_TuHE Indian Forest Department has just issued the first 
fasciculus of a series of tracts dealing with insects affecting 
the forestry of the country under the title of ‘‘ Departmental 
Notes.” The part before us is by Mr. E. P. Stebbing, the 
lecturer to the school of the Department at Dehra Dun, and it 
is proposed in later numbers to give information with regard to 
both injurious and beneficial species. By this means it is hoped 
that the officers of the Department and others interested in 
forestry may be able to keep abreast of modern researches 
connected with the subject. Several of the insects referred to 
in ths's part are new toscience. For the benefit of non-entomo- 
logical readers, the descriptions might, we think, have been made 
alittle less technical. 
NO. 1721, VOL. 66] 
NATURE 
| OcTOBER 23, 1902 
AMONG recent papers in the Proceedings of the Washington 
Academy is one by Prof. C. H. Eigenmann on the degenerate 
eyes of the blind, burrowing amphisbzenian lizard Rhinewra 
Jloridina. . The case is especially interesting on account of the 
occurrence of a fossil representative of the same genus in the 
Miocene of Dakota. Unfortunately, nothing is known with 
regard to the eyes of the extinct form, but from the fact that all 
the living members of the group are blind, it seems practically 
certain that the degeneration of the eyes took place before the 
differentiation of the existing genera, in other words, at least 
as early as the lower Miocene. In the existing form, not only 
is the eye invisible externally, but there is no indication of the 
aperture by which it formerly opened on the surface. 
Dr. W. BorCHERS AND MR. L. StocKeEm describe an apparatus 
for the electrolytic separation of calcium from the fused chloride 
in the Zeitschrift fiir Elektrochemie for October 2. The separa- 
tion of the alkali earth metals is one of the most difficult of 
electrometallurgical problems, on account of the conflicting 
character of some of the necessary conditions. The form of 
furnace used in the present experiments consists of a circular 
carbon box serving as anode, which is supported on, but insu- 
lated from, a cooling arrangement ; a thin iron rod in the centre 
of the box is used as kathode, and this is connected to the cooler. 
The floor of the box is covered with fluor-spar, on the top of 
which is the layer of molten calcium chloride.  This-arrange- 
ment allows the temperature to be so regulated that it is above 
the melting point of calcium chloride, but below that of calcium. 
The calcium separates in spongy form and can be removed by 
suitable tongs; if it is pressed together before it is taken out, 
so as to get rid of some of the chloride, a white metallic mass 
containing about 90 per cent. calcium can be obtained. A 
somewhat similar arrangement is described for the separation . 
of strontium. The apparatus, the authors state, is suitable for 
lecture experiments and also for the preparation of the metal in 
large quantities. 
THE so-called foul brood of bees was first described under 
that name by Schirach in 1769, but it is supposed that so far 
back as Aristotle it was a recognised disease and that the 
remarks about it made by this writer undoubtedly refer to 
this particular malady. ‘It was in 1885 that Messrs. Watson- 
Cheyne and Cheshire, with Koch’s new bacteriological methods 
at their disposal, submitted this destructive disease to an 
elaborate scientific investigation, and shortly after presented to 
the scientific world a certain Baci//us alvei which was accepted . 
as the fons et origo of the foul brood of bees. The subject has 
occupied much attention, not only of apiarists, but also of 
scientific men, and in rg00 Mr. Francis Harrison, of Ontario, 
published an important memoir dealing with methods of 
effectually combating the disease. The latest contribution to 
the scientific work on the subject emanates from the University 
of Liége, and the funds for carrying it on were provided by the 
Belgian Government. Dr. Lambotte, as the result of his 
extended researches, affirms that the Bacillus alvez of Cheyne 
and Cheshire is identical with the well-known and widely 
distributed Bacillus mesentericus vulgaris, and must be placed 
in the same category with, for example, the ubiquitous &. col 
communis, which, although a normal and harmless inhabitant 
of the intestine, may under given conditions become pathogenic 
and give rise to disease. The endowment of harmless micro- 
organisms by suitable means with pathogenic properties is, of 
course, a well-recognis2d. achievement, and Dr. Limbotte has 
shown experimentally how the familiar so-called potato-bacillus 
may artificially become invested with disease-producing powers 
and can engender foul-brood disease in bees. 
Tue Department of Revenue and Agriculture of the Govern- 
ment of India has recently published the seventeenth issue of 
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