858 

" NATURE 
[JuNE 23, 1923 

Research Items, 
ETHNOLOGY oF Matta AND Gozo.—In the Journal 
of the Royal Anthropological Institute (vol. lii., 
1922) Mr. L. H. Dudley Buxton publishes an ex- 
haustive essay on the ethnology of Malta and Gozo. 
The skulls discovered in the course of excavation and 
examination of the existing population lead to some 
interesting conclusions. The First Race, the Mega- 
lith builders, are certainly akin to the early and 
present inhabitants of North Africa, Sicily, Corsica, 
Sardinia, and Spain, all belonging to the Mediterranean 
races. Their successors, the Second Race, exhibit 
Armenoid characteristics, and were probably immi- 
grants from the eastern Mediterranean. Their arrival 
probably occurred towards the end of the Bronze or 
in the Early Iron Age. Armenoids with an admixture 
of Mediterranean blood, they probably came to Malta 
from Carthage. They may have destroyed the 
previous inhabitants, or they may have pursued 
methods of peaceful penetration. At any rate, 
they established themselves firmly in Malta, and all 
later introduction of foreign blood has failed to raise 
the variation. In later times there have been local 
variations, but the differences between Malta and Gozo 
are not greater than the differences between the 
general population of Malta and at least one, and 
possibly more, of the more isolated villages. 
TREATMENT OF LeEprosy.—In a recent lecture 
delivered to the Royal Society of Arts and published 
in the Journal of the Society for May 18, p. 452, Sir 
Leonard Rogers dealt with the problem of leprosy. 
He estimates that at least three million lepers exist. 
The disease is communicable, though its infectivity 
is very slight, and isolation of the infective cases is 
the only practical preventive measure. Hitherto no 
effective treatment has been known; but during the 
last few years, and largely through the researches of 
Sir Leonard Rogers, certain derivatives of chaul- 
moogra oil, an old Indian remedy for tuberculosis and 
leprosy, have been found to exert a beneficial action, 
and many of the treated cases have lost all signs of the 
disease and appear to be cured. 
GIARDIAS LIVING IN MAN AND OTHER ANIMALS.— 
Giardia Lamblia is a well-known protozoan parasite 
of the human intestine, and other similar parasites 
are met with in the intestinal tract of the rabbit, dog, 
and tadpole. It has been supposed, therefore, that 
man may become infected from these lower animals. 
In order to throw some light on this question, the 
various species have been critically examined by 
R. W. Hegner (American Journ. of Hygiene, vol. ii., 
No. 4, pp. 435 and 442). G. duodenalis from the rabbit 
and G. canis from the dog are considered to exhibit 
such differences in size, form, and structural details as 
to constitute species distinct from each other and from 
G. Lamblia. G. agilis from the tadpole is more like 
G. Lamblia than the two others, but is sufficiently 
different to constitute a distinct species. G. alata, 
another giardia from the tadpole described by Kunstler 
and Gineste, is considered to be identical with G. agilis. 
CANCER IN PLAants.—The exhaustive researches of 
Erwin F. Smith, of Washington, in the pathology of 
crown gall in plants have led him repeatedly to 
emphasise the resemblances between the abnormal 
growths which may be produced in plants by the 
experimental inoculation of Bacterium tumefaciens 
and malignant tumours in animals. According to 
his view, which is shared by Jensen, the bacteria 
provide the stimulus at the beginning of the disease, 
which is then continued by the stimulated but 
NO. 2799, VOI. III] 

uninfected cells behaving as parasitic cells similar 
to cancer cells. A careful re-investigation of the 
facts by W. Robinson and H. Walkden in Manchester 
(Annals of Botany, vol. cxlvi., 1923, p. 299) does not, 
however, bear out this interpretation. They find 
that the careful examination of serial sections usually 
reveals the relatively close proximity of the causal 
bacteria to the proliferating tissues, and that there 
is no evidence that the cells continue to g: in 
an abnormal way when they are removed from the 
immediate influence of the bacterium. The analogy 
with animal cancer, in their view, wholly breaks 
down. - 
FRUIT-GROWING IN NortH CaRoLina.—Supple- 
ment No. 19 to the U.S. Monthly Weather Review 
contains a discussion by Mr. Henry J. Cox, meteor- 
ologist, on ‘‘ Thermal Belts and Fruit-growing in 
North Carolina,’ and an Appendix by Mr. W. N. 
Hutt, former State Horticulturist, on ‘‘ Thermal 
Belts from the Horticultural View-point.” The 
whole subject is treated with minute detail, specially 
screened temperature observations having been taken 
at several fruit orchards and at different positions 
on the slopes of the same orchard. The subject is 
well illustrated by plates and diagrams, and the results 
obtained are scientifically manipulated. Minimum 
temperature and its duration are the chief factors 
involved in the growing of fruit. Valley floors 
must in nearly all cases be avoided unless means are 
available for orchard heating, since on critical nights 
of temperature inversion the thermometer at the 
bottom of valleys often falls 15° or 20° F., and some- 
times even 25° or 30° F., lower than higher up on 
the slope. Dense vegetation is responsible for great 
loss of heat through radiation, and a cultivated 
orchard is therefore warmer than one planted in 
grass. The topography of a region is paramount. 
The Appendix shows the differences of temperature 
at 16 stations, and a summary of the horticultural 
data, such as first bloom, full bloom, and bloom all 
shed, of apples and peaches, with the cause and 
date of injury where experienced, and the yield. 
Much of the damage sustained is due to cold-air 
traps or frost pockets. In some years a heavy 
yield of grapes is secured, while apples are a failure, 
this being due to the later blooming period of grapes. 
The apple tree is normally an alternate bearer, and 
the heavy drain on the energies of the trees one year 
is usually followed by a weaker bud development 
and lighter crop the following season. 
MIocENE CICHLID FisH FROM Hairi.—Prof. T. D. A. 
Cockerell describes and figures under the name of 
Cichlasoma woodringi, n. sp., an interesting fossil 
fish from the Miocene of Haiti (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 
vol. Ixiii. art. 7). Cichlid fish abound in South and 
Central America and in tropical Africa, while fossil 
representatives have been found in Algeria (Palzo- 
chromis) and in the Eocene of Wyoming (Priscacara). 
Six species or races of Cichlasoma are living to-day 
in Cuba, and the question arises whether these last 
are an invasion from the south or the remains of 
a once widely distributed Antillean fauna. Prof. 
Cockerell is inclined to hold the latter view. 
THe FoRMATION oF ViTAmMiIN-A.—It has been 
known for. some time that the only source of vita- 
min-A is the plant, and that the green parts are richer 
in it than the colourless parts are. Dr. Katharine H. 
Coward has carried the investigation further, and 
her results are given in two papers in the Biochemical 
