March 20, 1902] 



NA TURE 



473 



objectionable, though a three to four inch limit might be im- 

 posed for lighting purposes alone. We should like to have 

 seen some remarks upon the purification of the gas and the 

 ventilation of buildings in which it is used in an unpurified con- 

 dition. Two-thirds of the Report is devoted to the description, 

 with many illustrations, of the types of generators tested. 

 This is valuable as a summary of the catalogues of various 

 makers, but we wish the Committee had seen its way to 

 make some criticisms upon these various types, as was done 

 some time ago by those responsible for the exhibition of gene- 

 rators which was held at the Imperial Institute. 



An advance proof of a Parliamentary paper, received from the 

 Home Office, shows that the total output of coal of the United 

 Kingdom in the year 1901 amounted to 219,037,240 tons, as 

 compared with 225,170,163 tons in the preceding year. The 

 outputs of some other minerals were as follows, the numbers 

 representing tons : — copper ore and copper precipitate, 6792 ; 

 iron ore, 1,671,025 ; ironstone (worked under Coal Mines 

 Regulation Acts), 6,849,926; lead ore, 32,552; rock salt, 

 151,348; tin ore (dressed), 6542 ; zinc ore, 23,582. 



Prof. Herd.ma.n has written to Mr. I. C. Thompson to say 

 that his investigation of the pearl fisheries of the Gulf of 

 Man.iar is being greatly facilitated by everyone interested in it at 

 Ceylon. A steamer — the Lady Havelock, of three hundred tons 

 — has been chartered, and a start was made at the end of January. 

 Dr. A. J. Chalmers has given Prof. Herdman the use of a room in 

 his laboratory at Colombo, and Mr. J. C. Willis has offered a 

 work place in his laboratory at the magnificent Botanic Gardens 

 at Peradeniya. Prof Herdman adds : — " I found upcountryat 

 Anurhadapura (one of the ' buried cities ' of Ceylon) the two 

 Germans, Dr. Paul and Dr. Fritz Sarasin, who have been 

 exploring for years in Ceylon, and were the only people who 

 could give me information about Trincomiilee, where I wish 

 to dredge. Finally, I met Prof. Alex. Agassiz, just returned 

 from his expedition to the Maldive archipelago, and he kindly 

 lent me 6oo fathom; of especially stronj; and fiaxible steel rope, 

 which will be a valuable addition to our tackle. Prof Agassiz, 

 you will be interested to hear, says he has had a most successful 

 trip, and has secured all the information, photographs and 

 specimens of the coral reefs that he desired. He says the 

 Maldives are the last of the great coral archipelagoes which he had 

 set before himself to examine, and that now he is prepared to 

 write his book on the general subject, ' Coral Reefs and Islands.' 

 There can be no doubt that he has a much more extended 

 personal knowledge of the reefs of the world than Darwin, 

 Murray, or any other previous writer." 



An interesting description of an experimental locomotive 

 appears in the Times of March 12. The boiler is an entire 

 departure from ordinary practice ; in fact, it may be called a 

 water-tube boiler applied to the locomotive. To Mr. Dugald 

 Drummond, of the London and South-Western Railway, is due 

 the credit for this innovation, and it will be interesting to watch 

 its development. Mr. Drummond has long experimented with 

 water-tubes in the fire-box of the ordinary locomotive with much 

 success, a system originally patented by Mr. W. S. Smith, of 

 the North-Eastern Railway. The modified boiler consists of 

 an ordinary locomotive boiler shell and an ordinary shaped fire- 

 box, but in place of the large number of tubes usually used, one 

 large flue-tube is fitted and this contains many water-tubes ; 

 there are also water-tubes in the fire-box. It will, therefore, be 

 seen that the products of combustion on their way from the fire- 

 box to the smoke-box must pass through the large flue-tube and 

 encounter the many water-tubes in it. The locomotive fitted 

 with this boiler has been working the west country expresses 

 between Waterloo and Salisbury with gratifying results. Steam 

 NO. 1690, VOL. 65] 



is stated to be maintained with ease. The coal consumption 

 recorded with a train of twelve carriages was under 29 lbs. per 

 mile ; it would have been more satisfactory, however, had the 

 weight of the train been stated, because the consumption is de- 

 cidedly low. This type of boiler should be of much use on 

 locomotives of the ten-wheeled description. The excessive 

 length of ordinary tubes required in this class is out of all pro- 

 portion, from a heating-surface point of view, such engines 

 having tubes nearly 16 feet long and only 2 inches in diameter, 

 whereas with Mr. Drummond's new boiler a long barrel would be 

 a decided advantage. It is evident that very perfect combustion 

 is possible ; the gases are well mixed in the large flue and the 

 flame is less likely to be extinguished on its way to the smoke- 

 box. 



A PATER by Mr. T. R. Rao on the Yanadis of the Nellore 

 district, Madras Presidency, appears in the Bulletin (vol. iv. 

 No. 2) of the Madras Government Museum, from which the 

 accompanying illustration of a method of making fire has been 

 reproduced. To produce fire by friction in this way, the Adivi 

 or forest Yan.-idis prepare two sticks — one short, the other long. 

 In the former a square cavity is made, and it is held firmly on 

 the ground, while the long stick is twirled rapidly to and fro in 

 the hole. No charcoal powder is used, but a rag, or even dried 

 leaves, are ignited. The Yanadis possess the characteristic's 

 of jungle tribes, and are little removed from savagery, their 





ft>^'? 



Fig. I. — Yanadis making Fire. 



culture being that of the Pdljeolithic stage. This is indicated 

 by the absence of implemental or monumental material, the 

 animistic, and to some extent zoo-theistic, nature of the religion, 

 the primitive hunting and fishing methods followed by many of 

 the tribe, and the habit of eating the almost raw flesh of the 

 game they kill, after slightly heating or scorching it. The 

 Yanadis are fearless in catching cobras, which they draw out of 

 their holes without any fear of their fangs. They appear to 

 protect themselves against the eflects of snake-bite by swallowing 

 the poison sacs of snakes; 



In a paper entitled "Environment in Relation to Sex in 

 Human Culture" in the Popular Science Monthly for January, 

 Dr. Otis T. Mason gives a series of notes on the main charac- 

 teristics of the chief cultural areas of America which will be 

 useful to those who desire to obtain a general survey of 

 aboriginal American sociology. 



In the American Anthropologist (n.s. vol. iii. p. 737), Dr. 

 G. A. Dorsey describes the recent progress in anthropology at 

 the Field Columbian Museum in Chicago. Thanks to an 

 energetic and eflicient staff and the enlightened liberality of 

 Chicago merchants, this museum is fast assuming a place in the 



