December 31, iyo8J 



NA TURE 



259 



Jrying; is found lo £;ivc muih bi'ttrr results, and to yield 

 a finer product, than more rapid drying' would do. 



HVDKOCYANIC acid is fast becoming a recOi«nised agent 

 for the destruction of various insect pests that infest green- 

 houses, trees, &c., although the conditions for success 

 .ire not yet fully known. It is used in combating citrus 



ale^ in .South Africa, New South Wales, Florida, and 

 'Uewliere, with results which, on the whole, arc very 

 ^alisf.•^ctory. The fumigation of trees growing in the open 

 ,iir is made possible by covering the tree with a tent. 

 Dr. .Morrill recently described in Bulletin No. 76, 

 Mureau of Entomology, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

 an ingenious graduated tent that not only covers the tree, 

 biii also indicates the volume enclosed, thus enabling the 

 operator to use a definite quantity of hydrocyanic acid 

 for each cubic foot of air. The tent is shown in the 

 illustration ; it is a large sheet with numbers painted on 

 it in two directions at right angles, starting from the 

 middle. .A table has been drawn up showing the proper 

 amount of potassium cyanide to use when any particular 

 numbers mark the base of the tent. The melhod marks 



KiG. I. — Eighty-foot tent covering large seedling orange tree, .showing 1. m ,1 

 of enabimg operators to iiss the proper amount of potassium cyiuaUc. 



FiLi. 2. — Carrying 5-gallon crocl<s containing acid and water under the te 

 ducing the cyanide. 



a distinct advance in outdoor fumigation by enabling the 

 operator to avoid an excess of hydrocyanic acid, which 

 would injure the tree, whilst ensuring a sufficiency to kill 

 the pest. 



The Philippine Journal of Science for September (ill., 

 No. 4) contains several papers of medical interest. Mr. 

 Old reports several cases with unusually severe symptoms 

 e.iused by stings of an unknown variety of jelly-fish, and 

 Mr. Ruediger describes filtration experiments with the 

 virus of cattle plague which show that the virus is small 

 • •nough to pass through the pores of the Berkefeld filters 

 \', N, or W, but not through a Chanibcrland B filter. 



In a second report on research work issued by the 

 Metropolitan Water Board, Dr. Houston, the director of 

 water examinations, details the methods employed and the 

 results obtained in experiments planned with a view to 

 I he detection of the typhoid bacillus in raw Thames, Lee, 

 and New River waters. The result is that the typhoid 

 bacillus was not once detected. Dr. Houston says, " the 

 most recent tests for B. typhosus, applied to a considerable 

 volume of raw river water, at weekly intervals, during a 

 ])eriod of twelve months, and involving the study of 7329 



NO. 2044, "^'OL. 70] 



samples, failed to reveal the presence of a single typhoid 

 bacillus. It would, however, be altogether presumptuous 

 to infer from these observations that the typhoid bacillus 

 Is never present in the raw river waters, or to conclude 

 that any relaxation in the processes of purifying the raw 

 river waters, by storage and filtration, before delivery to 

 consumer, is justifiable." 



Wl! have received No. i of I he weekly report of the 

 seismologlcal stations established by Messrs. Nobel at Baku 

 and Balakhany, the instruments in each station being a 

 pair of Zollner light horizontal pendula with photographic 

 registration. We may take this as an Indication of th^ 

 growing interest in the study of earthquakes and of the 

 recognition of Its economic applicability by a firm which 

 has always been remarkable for enll.ghlennient and i)ro- 

 gressiveness. 



In the U.S. Monthly Weather Revieiv for .\ugust last 

 Prof. C. Abbe, in a note entitled " The Duty of the 

 Government to Protect the People from Swindlers," says, 

 with reference to rain-making and other experiments ; — 

 " It is the duty of the editor lo call attention to the fact 

 that the folly of any human attempt 

 to make rain or to alter the weather 

 in any way has been so abundantly 

 demonstrated in this country, in 

 Europe, in Australia, in New Zealand, 

 and elsewhere, that it is high time 

 our law givers made it a penal offence 

 to do this or to secure money under 

 such false pretences as these promises 

 are." No special mention is made of 

 the dispersion of fog ; would Prof. 

 .Abbe Include this under altering thi- 

 weather in any way? 



The current nuinber of the Journal 

 of the Scottish Meteorological Society 

 (vol. xiv.. No. " 25) contains an 

 Important discussion of the climate of 

 Orkney, by Mr. M. Spence. Krom 

 1827 to 1S85 observations were made 

 lu.u. a li.i ilic inup.s at Sandwick by the Rev. Dr. 



Clouston; since that time they have 

 I, preparatory to intro. ^^^^ continued first by Dr. Fortcf- 

 cue at Swanbister, and after- 

 wards by Mr. Spence at Deerness. Dividing ih..- 

 rnean temperatures into two periods of forty years, thr 

 first, 1827-66, gives 46°-i ; the second, 1867-1906, gives 

 45°-6 ; difference, o"-5. A comparatively small range is 

 natural, from the insular position ; the lowest inean for 

 any month is 3i°-3 [February, 183S), and the highest 

 6t°.4 (July, 1852) ; the mean difference between day and 

 night temperature is very small. The mean annual rain- 

 fall (1841-1907) was 367 inches ; the driest month is May, 

 the wettest October. The Orkneys surpass any other 

 district in Great Britain in the number of gales, the yearly 

 average being about ninety-.seven. Winds from S. and 

 S.E. are much more frequent than from S.W. and W. 

 Mr. Spence remarks that the Orkney statistics " entirely 

 dispose of the belief that is almost universal, at least in 

 these islands, that there arc equinoctial gales." Except- 

 ing that it avoids extremes, the climate as a whole does 

 not vary greatly from that of the north of Scotland. 



From a reprint that we have recently received of Prof. 

 L. Palaz?o's presidential address to the International 

 Seismologlcal Association at Its meeting at the Hague in 

 SepteiTiber, 1907, we observe ihat he attributes more pat- 



