November 21, 1907] 



NA TURE 



ing, mining and architecture, Prof. E. H. L. Schwarz, 

 of Rhodes University College, Grahamstown ; Section D, 

 botany, zoology, agriculture and forestry, bacteriology, 

 physiology, hygiene. Dr. S. Schonland ; Section E, educa- 

 tion, philology, psychology, history and archaeology, Mr. 

 \V. G. Bennie ; Section F, economics and statistics, 

 sociology, anthropology and ethnology, Mr. \V. Hammond 

 TooUe. The local honorary secretary at Grahamstown is 

 Prof. J. E. Duerden, of the Rhodes University College. 



The Paris correspondent of the Times states that, 

 according to a telegram from Montpellier, a mass of 

 earth, having a volume of about 400,000 cubic metres, and 

 forming one whole slope, as it were, of Mont Bringuez, 

 near Lodfeve, in the Department of the H6rault, has 

 become detached and has moved over a distance of about 

 1200 feet, carrying with it the tilled soil, fields, woods, 

 and meadows, and obliterating all the ordinary landmarks, 

 bridges, roads, &x., on its passage. A large chestnut 

 grove has thus been moved about 500 feet without, 

 apparently, suffering any damage, but numerous lakes have 

 been formed in the vicinity, and the spectacle is said to 

 resemble that of a region devastated by an earthquake. 



.'\n appeal to the charitable public on behalf of the 

 underfed children attending elementary schools has reached 

 us from the London County Council. For many years 

 past various associations have rendered valuable assistance 

 in collecting and distributing funds. With these associ- 

 ations the Council is in close connection, and every effort 

 is being made to bring the Council, the associations, and 

 the schools into such relationship as will result in a 

 highly efficient organisation for relieving distress. In 

 order to meet the needs of the coming winter, the Council 

 is anxious that at least 15,000?. should be raised. If, 

 however, the response is not adequate this winter, there 

 will probably be no alternative in the winter of 1908-g but 

 to resort to the rates. The Council has voted a sum for 

 equipment and appliances, and will place every convenience 

 at the disposal of the associations. Contributions may be 

 sent to any of the other associations cooperating with the 

 Council, or to Mr. H. Percy Harris, chairman of the 

 London County Council, 98 Gloucester Terrace, Hyde 

 Park, W. ; Mr. John T. Taylor, chairman of the Educa- 

 tion Committee, 19 Woodchurch Road, Hampstead, N.W. ; 

 or Mr. E. A. H. Joy, chairman of the Subcommittee on 

 L'nderfed Children, Tower House, Woolwich. 



A MEETING of representatives of sanitary committees of 

 county and borough councils and port sanitary authorities 

 of England and Wales was held at Caxton Hall, West- 

 minster, on November 15. The object in view was to 

 consider the establishment of a permanent union of such 

 authorities to secure uniformity of action in the adminis- 

 tration of matters relating to public health. Mr. H. W. 

 Newton, chairman of the sanitary committee of the New- 

 castle Corporation, who presided, moved the following 

 resolution, which, after considerable discussion, was 

 adopted by a large majority. The resolution approved of 

 the establishment of a union of the sanitary authorities 

 of England and Wales for the purpose of promoting the 

 public-health interests of the nation. The union is to have 

 for its immediate objects : — (i) to secure, so far as may 

 be practicable, harmony of interest and uniformity of 

 action among sanitary authorities in general on matters 

 relating to the public health ; (2) to stimulate and con- 

 centrate effort for the purpose of effecting necessary 

 sanitary reforms, whether for the public weal or the 

 benefit of individual sanitary districts ; (3) to encourage 

 and promote the study of practical hygiene, and to educate 

 NO. 1986, VOL. 77] 



opinion with respect to the national as well as the local 

 importance of public-health work in general ; (4) to con- 

 sider the different conditions and circumstances, general 

 or local, whereby disease is liable to be caused to man, 

 and, so far as may be, to obtain their removal. Other 

 resolutions were also adopted empowering the chairman 

 and Dr. H. E. Armstrong, of Newcastle, as a provisional 

 committee, to draw up a constitution to be discussed after- 

 wards, and to communicate with sanitary authorities ask- 

 ing their adhesion to the union under the name of 

 " National Union of Public Health .\uthorities." 



The October issue of the Museums Journal is illustrated 

 with a portrait of the late Mr. John Maclauchlan, president 

 of the Museums Association, 1906-7. Mr. Maclauchlan 

 presided at the July meeting of the association in Dundee, 

 when he appeared to be in excellent health, but in 

 September he was prostrated by the acute development of 

 a mortal disease with which he had been afflicted for some 

 time, and on October i the attack had a fatal termination. 



In the -August number of the Philippine Journal of 

 Science (ii.. No. 4), Lieut. Clarence Cole records the fre- 

 quent occurrence of the parasitic worm Necator americanus 

 in natives of the Philippine Islands ; Mr. Harry Marshall 

 gives a good summary of the trend of recent research in 

 immunity ; and Dr. Musgrave and Mr. Richmond discuss 

 the relation of infant feeding and infant mortality in the 

 Philippines. 



We have received No. 8 of vol. i. of the Bulletin of 

 the Committee for the Study of Special Diseases, Cam- 

 bridge. It contains an inquiry into the value of the 

 opsonic index by Messrs. FitzGerald, Whiteman, and 

 Strangeways. As the result of an enormous amount of 

 work, the conclusion is arrived at that, unless at least 

 1000 cells are counted, the percentage error may be so 

 great as to render the method worthless. In view of the, 

 concordant experience of a number of different observers 

 on the value of the method, this conclusion cannot be 

 accepted as final, though it is difficult to detect any fallacy 

 in the experimental details. 



To the sixth number of British Birds Mr. H. S. 

 Gladstone communicates some interesting particulars with- 

 regard to the Irish nesting-colony of red-necked phalaropes, 

 the one place in the United Kingdom where the species is 

 known to breed. Although not reported until 1903, it 

 appears that a few pairs of the birds had established them- 

 selves three years previously. In 1902 seventeen birds, 

 mostly females, were seen ; two years later Mr. Gladstone 

 estimated the number at thirty pairs, while in 1905, when 

 the nesting-area had become considerably enlarged, he 

 considered there were nearly fifty couples. Unfortunately, 

 the original tenant, who did all he could to protect the 

 birds, has left the farm, and there are ugly reports of a 

 big egging-raid having taken place during the past- 

 season. 



A REM.^RKABLE new dipterid larva, Acanthoniera tetra- 

 truncutn, from Paraguay, is described by Mr. Karl Fiebrig 

 in the Zeitschrift fiir wissenschajtliche Insectenbiologie, 

 ser. 2, vol. ii., pp. 316-323 and 344-347. The larva, it 

 appears, is a wood-borer, and has the mouth-parts modified 

 into a powerful boring organ. The terminal segment of 

 the body forms an extremely hard, chitinous shield, beneath 

 which is a " mouth-like " chamber for the reception of 

 the posterior stigmata, these being thereby completely 

 protected from contact with foreign bodies. There is, 

 moreover, a finger-shaped tracheal organ in this region 

 which may act as a kind of " gill-stigma." The adapta- 



