2^6 



NA TURE 



[December 31, 1908 



one to seven kilograms, fell a few days ago in the village 

 of Jubilla del Agua, setting fire to a farm. 



Dr. Harold R. D. Spitta, assistant lecturer on bacterio- 

 logy and lecturer on clinical pathology at St. George's 

 Hospital, has been appointed to the newly created post 

 of bacteriologist to the Royal Household. 



According to the Scientific American, the U.S. War 

 Department has considered the advisability of immunising 

 soldiers against typhoid fever by vaccination. It has 

 decided that inoculation as a preventive against typhoid 

 has been demonstrated so thoroughly, and its efficacy so 

 well established, that the vaccination method is to be 

 .idopted in the United States Army. 



We learn from Science that an investigation into the 

 cause of cancer, and its possible prevention and cure, has 

 been begun in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, 

 Columbia University, under the direction of a committee 

 consisting of Dr. S. W. Lambert, dean; Prof. W. J. 

 Gies, professor of biological chemistry ; Prof. P. H. Hiss, 

 jun., professor of bacteriology; Prof. F. C. Wood, pro- 

 fessor of clinical pathology; Prof. O. \. Calkins, pro- 

 fessor of protozoology; and Dr. I'.ugenc H. Pool, instructor 

 in the department of surgery. 



The American National Association of Audubon Societies 

 is organising a complete census of the game and forest 

 birds of the country. This work will be superintended by 

 a committee consisting of Mr. W. Dutcher, president of 

 the association ; Mr. E. H. Forbush, ornithologist of the 

 Massachusetts State Board ; Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson ; Mr. 

 Frank M. Cbapman, assistant curator at the American 

 Museum of Natural History ; and Dr. T. S. Palmer, of 

 the U.S. Biological .Survey. Thousands of question forms 

 a'-e to be sent to friends of the association throughout 

 .'Vmepica, as well as to all wardens and ofiicials who have 

 o;>pbrtunities of observing the bird life of their own neigh- 

 bourhoods. The object of the census is to collect cogent 

 evidence of the need of greater protection for the nation's 

 birds, especially in the interests of the crops and the trees. 



The following are among the prizes awarded by the 

 Paris .Academy of Medicine for 1908, announcid in the 

 lirilisli Medical Journal : — the Laborde prize (aooi.), for 

 the most notable advancement of surgery, to Prof. Mon- 

 profit, of Angers, for his work on the operative surgery 

 of the stomach; the Theodore Herpin prize (i2of.) to Dr.. 

 ."Mbert Deschamps, of Riom, for an essay on the diseases 

 of energy — general asthenias ; the Amussat prize (4oi.) to 

 Dr. Destot, of Lyons, for a radiographic and clinical 

 study of the wrist and industrial accidents ; the Orfila 

 prize (160/.) to Prof. Calmettc, MM. Boullanger, E. 

 Rolants, F. Constant and L. Massol, and Prof. Buisine, 

 for researches on the purification of water that has been 

 used in towns and of the residual water of factories. The 

 Roger prize (lool.) to Dr. Marfan, for his treatise on the 

 feeding of infants; the Saintour prize (176!.) to Dr. Emile 

 Sergent, for his work on syphilis and tuberculosis ; the 

 Campbell-Dupierris prize (92/.) to Dr. Morris Nicloux, for 

 his work on general ansesthetics from the chemico- 

 physiological point of view ; the Ernest Godard prize (40?.) 

 to Dr. F. W. Pavy, of London, for his work on carbo- 

 hydrates and their transformation — a physiologico-patho- 

 logical study with considerations on diabetes and its treat- 

 ment. 



We regret to announce the death of -M. E. Stuyvaert, 

 who for many years occupied a prominent position in the 

 Royal Observatory of Belgium. For nearly thirty years 

 . NO. 2044, VOL. 79] 



he rendered loyal and efficient service to that institution, 

 both at Brussels and in its more recent installation at 

 Uccle. He was one of the Belgian astronomers who took 

 part in the observation of the transit of Venus in 1882, and 

 from that time onward he took the greatest interest in 

 extra-meridional work. He was in charge of one of the 

 equatorials, and was indefatigable in his observation of 

 comets and planets, as well as of eclipses and occulta- 

 tions. The physical appearance of the larger planets vi'as 

 a subject which engaged his attention, and he pub- 

 lished several memoirs on the surface markings of Jupiter 

 and Mars. His micrometrical measures of double stars 

 from 1878-96 is a well-known work. In addition to instru- 

 mental observation, he paid considerable attention to the 

 subject of meteors and the appearance of the zodiacal 

 light. For some time previous to his death he had been 

 engaged in constructing a large-scale model of the moon, 

 which, unfortunately, is left unfinished. 



.\Ik. H. St. John Gray contributes to the Times of 

 December 26 a full account of excavations in the Maum- 

 bury Rings Circle, of which he was in charge. This has 

 long been regarded as the site of a Roman amphitheatre, 

 and this view is corroborated by the fact that one of the 

 most interesting discoveries made was that of a stratum 

 of shell fragments, quartz, flint, land-shells, &c., similar 

 to that used by the Romans in other places to fill up 

 uneven patches, to prevent the slipping of the gladiators, 

 and to absorb the blood of combatants. Fragments of 

 pottery also indicate Roman occupation, and one portion 

 of the site seems to have been fortified, holes for stakes 

 cut in slabs of Purbeck liinestone having been found at 

 the point where the entrance of the arena was situated. 

 It is interesting to find that this place was occupied by 

 the Neolithic people as a flint workshop. Flint flakes, 

 cores, and hammer-stones wer* found scattered on part of 

 the site, and the picks made of deer's antlers were 

 obviously the implements by which this early race ex- 

 cavated the remarkable pit whence the rough flints were 

 obtained. This pit is at least 30 feet deep, one of the 

 deepest archaeological excavations on record, one of those 

 at Grime's Grave being a few feet deeper. It is much to 

 be desired that a site which seems to have been almost 

 continuously occupied since Neolithic times by various 

 peoples should be fully investigated, and it may be hoped 

 that the appeal for help issued by Mr. Gray from Taunton 

 Castle, Somerset, may meet with a liberal response. 



A SHORT time ago Dr. O. P. Hay's memoir on the 

 fossil chelonians of North America was reviewed in our 

 columns. The author has supplemented this in No. 1640 

 of the Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum with an 

 account of four new species, together with a note on a 

 fifth named by Cope. 



To No. 5 of vol. viii. of the Aliiseums Journal Dr. A. 

 Fairbank, tlic director, contributes an account, illustrated 

 with plans, of the new building for the Museum of Fine 

 Arts in Boston, U.S. .A., which, it is hoped, will be com- 

 pleted early in the new year. Great care appears to have 

 been exercised in the planning of the building, which, it 

 is stated, will be admirably adapted for the display of 

 the treasures with wliich it is to be filled. 



Some time ago Dr. K. Fraas published an account of 

 bones of sauropod dinosaurs obtained by himself in German 

 East Africa. The remains were found lying on the surface 

 of the ground in considerable numbers, and only a por- 

 tion of those seen appears to have been brought home. 

 With the view of securing additional specimens, Dr. Fraas 



