43^ 



NA TURE 



[Februray II, 1909 



Macmillan and Co., Ltd., to illustrate various breeds of 

 farm animals. Te.\t-books containing sufficiently good 

 illustrations to show what is wanted are too costly for 

 class work, and photographs are not altogether suitable. 

 These pictures are of a good size (30 inches by 20 inches), 

 thev depict good examples of the breed, and they are 

 coloured. The set of six includes the thoroughbred horse, 

 the Shire horse, the Shorthorn cow, the Ayrshire cow, 

 "Lincoln and Southdown sheep, Large White and Berkshire 

 pigs. 



The journal 0/ Agricuhurc of South Australia for 

 N'ovembcr, igo8, contains a short paper on. the poisonous 

 properties of the Cape tulip. Two species of this plant 

 are found in South Australia, both imported from South 

 .Africa : Ilomeria miniaia, the two-leaved Cape tulip, and 

 //. collina, the one-leaved Cape tulip ; the latter is the taller 

 and handsomer, and is sometimes cultivated in gardens. 

 The experiments recorded show that the plant is poisonous, 

 but is carefully avoided by animals that regularly graze 

 on land infested with it. There is some danger, however, 

 that animals newly arrived and hungry may eat the plant, 

 with serious consequences. 



We have received from Prof. Potter a copy of a paper 

 recently published by him in the Journal of Agricultural 

 Science, in which he suggests a method not hitherto tried 

 for checking parasitic diseases in plants. It is well known 

 that the waste products of metabolism, when permitted to 

 accumulate beyond a certain stage, are inimical to the 

 organism, gradually checking growth and producing results 

 which finally prove fatal. By growing a pathogenic 

 organism {Pseudomonas destntctans) in a culture medium, 

 he obtained a to.xic solution which, on inoculation into a 

 turnip suffering from the disease caused by this organism, 

 completely inhibited further progress of the disease. The 

 method promises to be distinctly useful in dealing with 

 plant diseases. 



Mr. a. R. Horwood has embodied the results of an 

 investigation, ranging over six years, of the fossil flora 

 of the Leicestershire and south Derbyshire coalfield in a 

 paper read before the Leicester Literary and Philosophical 

 Society, and published in vol. xii., part ii., of the Trans- 

 actions. The main object was to obtain evidence that 

 would fix the position of the local Coal-measures in the 

 British Carboniferous series. In the case of fossil plants 

 such evidence is derived from the general collection rather 

 than from any specific types. A few of the recorded species 

 are rare, such as Calamocladus lycopodioides and Neuro- 

 pteris callosa ; also it is interesting to learn that Leicester- 

 shire provided the type of Trigonocarpus Parkinsoni, a 

 sr-od that has been assigned to the group of fossil plants 

 known as pteridospcrms. 



A CURIOUS instance of the light which may be thrown 

 by anthropology on the system of Egyptian hieroglyphics 

 is recorded by Mr. A. M. Blackman in the January issue 

 of Man. The symbol representing the word msy, " to 

 give birth," has been interpreted by Dr. Borchardt in the 

 Zcitschrift fiir Agyptische Sprache (December, 1907) to be 

 derived from a fly-flap made of fox skins. Mr. Blackman 

 has now found in Nubia that dead foxes are hung over 

 the doors and on the roofs of houses as a charm to protect 

 the women inmates from malignant influences at the time 

 of childbirth. It follows, therefore, that the use of the 

 symbol derived from a fly-flap was a secondary idea, the 

 primitive conception on w'hichit was based being its use 

 as a birth amulet. 



N'O. 2050, VOL. 79] 



The London County Council is doing useful worli in 

 popularising the study of anthropology by the issue of a 

 series of guides to the collections in the Horniman 

 Museum, Forest Hill. The last number, entitled " .\. 

 Handbook to the Weapons of War and the Chase," is 

 the work of Dr. H. S. Harrison, the curator of the 

 museum, is edited by the advisory curator. Dr. A. C. 

 Haddon, and is published at the modest price of twopence. 

 After a short introduction dealing with the origin and 

 primary characteristics of weapons, we have a series of 

 articles describing the various types, of which those on 

 clubs of various kinds, spear-throwers, and the composite 

 bow may be specially commended. Unfortunately, only 

 two plates are supplied. If the book were issued in a 

 better form, with superior illustrations, it might be a 

 useful addition to the library of the anthropologist. 



The Journal of Hygiene dated November last (viii.. 

 No. 5), though only just issued, contains an important 

 paper by Miss Chick and Dr. Martin on the process of dis- 

 infection, in which a number of factors modifying the 

 velocity of disinfection is discussed and the conditions neces- 

 sary for determining the germicidal power of disinfectants 

 and their standardisation detailed. 



In a report of the Board of Health, New South \\'alcs, 

 which has recently reached us. Dr. Ashburton Thompson 

 gives details of an outbreak of plague (the seventh) at 

 Sydney in 1907. Forty-seven cases occurred, of which six- 

 teen ended fatally. For some years now the health staff 

 has instituted a crusade against the rats, large numbers, 

 of the rodents being systematically destroyed, and a pro- 

 portion of them examined bacteriologically. As in previous 

 epidemics, numbers of the rats were found to be infected 

 with plague during the epidemic period. In fact, the 

 careful investigations of the Sydney Board of Health have 

 demonstrated in successive epidemics the close connection 

 that exists between plague in rats and plague in man. 



The subject of dangerous trades Is one which has rightly 

 attracted the attention of the public, and a hitherto un- 

 suspected source of danger was recently brought to light 

 in relation to the carriage and storage of the substance 

 known as ferro-silicon. This material is manufactured by 

 heating a mixture of iron ore, quartz, coke, and lime in 

 an electric furnace, and is used by steel makers as a con- 

 venient method for the addition of silicon to certain grades 

 of steel. A cargo of this material was being conveyed 

 from Antwerp to Grimsby in December last, and five 

 Russian immigrants in the steerage were found dead in 

 the morning, their symptoms suggesting cholera. No 

 suspicion of a dangerous cargo existed, and the necessary 

 measures of precaution were taken by the Grimsby authori- 

 ties. The viscera were sent to the laboratories of the Royal 

 Institute of Public Health, and no true cholera organisms 

 were discoverable. The subsequent investigations carried 

 out by Dr. Dodd, Dr. Harris, and Prof. W. R. Smith at 

 the laboratory seem to prove beyond question that death 

 resulted- from poisonous emanations from the ferro-silicon. 

 When dry this substance emits no fumes, but when 

 powdered and moistened fumes were formed, and proved 

 fatal within a few hours to animals in the immediate 

 neighbourhood. It was proved that arseniuretted hydrogen 

 is produced in small quantities, but the chief gas evolved 

 is phosphoretted hydrogen, a gas which is so poisonous 

 that 0-02 per cent, of it in air is fatal to small animals 

 within half an hour. Now that the source of danger is 

 known, one can only hope that in the future suitable pre- 

 cautions will be taken to prevent the recurrence of fatalities 

 similar to those which have led to the discovery of the 

 danger. 



