August 



1910] 



NATURE 



241 



of a high subsoil water on the malaria rate, but it 

 was eventually agreed that " pulvka " surface drainage 

 irid the lowering of high subsoil water level were 

 inti-malarial measures of primary importance. 



It is clear, then, that although failures are on 

 record, and although finance may be a great difficulty, 

 the permanent policy which is adopted is to drain, 

 and, moreover, large drainage schemes may not 

 always be prohibitive from their expense, as the sale 

 of the land re-drained may defray the cost. Any par- 

 ticular scheme must, however, be well thought out, 

 ajter — and this, in our opinion, is essential — the extent 

 of inalaria in the particular area has, as far as possible, 

 been accurately estimated, and with the help of sani- 

 tary engineers the conditions determining the mor- 

 tality minutely investigated. Then, and then only, 

 can the effect of the scheme be accurately gauged in 

 all its bearings, and "the devastating flood of recom- 

 mendations " be checked by concrete facts. 



We are, perhaps, in the habit of regarding malaria 

 as an endemic rather than an epidemic disease, but 

 a studv of the conditions in India shows clearly that 

 it has indeed terrible epidemic manifestations, such as 

 occurred in the Punjab in 1908. We cannot discuss 

 here the cause of these epidemics, but refer those 

 interested to the report itself. We mention them 

 here because it was said that if we could check 

 epidemic "fulminant" malaria "we should have re- 

 moved the most urgent and distressing effect of this 

 disease, and those manifestations which the people 

 themselves are most impressed by." A study of this 

 question of epidemics impresses on us more than 

 anything the magnitude of the problem to be dealt 

 with, and the urgent need for re-study of the many 

 problems of endemic and epidemic malaria. With 

 regard to these epidemics, the opinion was expressed 

 that they could probablv be predicted, and that the 

 only possible way of dealing with them was by the 

 use of quinine. 



The importance of quinine as a prophylactic 

 measure cannot be overrated. We have the fact that 

 this is the main method adopted by the Italians; we 

 have the experience of Canada as related by Prof. 

 Osier; the "marked success" of this method on the 

 Panama Canal ; and, indeed, we have the striking fact 

 that the only successful prophylactic experiment pre- 

 sented to the conference was that carried out in the 

 Punjab jails, where, bv the administration of 15 grains 

 of Quinine once a week to each prisoner, the malaria 

 death-rate was, with one exception, reduced to the 

 lowest figure on record, and this during the great 

 epidemic of 1908. That the quinine question, like 

 the drainage question, requires very careful study, 

 the papers read at the conference show. We hope, 

 too, that the period of rivalry, if not of actual 

 animositv, between the advocates of drainage and 

 quinine has passed, though it must surely be admitted 

 by those who are impartial, that quinine has at least 

 one advantage, that it can be applied at once in many 

 cases where drainage is completely impossible. The 

 difficulties of the administration of quinine in India 

 cannot, however, be overlooked. 



We would conclude by pointing out the need also 

 for "minor" measures,' if we might call them so. 

 An extended study is necessary of the numerous 

 enemies of larvae — fish, and a variety of predaceous 

 insects, &c. — and of the complete inhibitory effect on 

 larva of weeds such as Lemna. We would venture 

 to suggest the appointment of one or more officers to 

 studv solelv the "bionomics" of the mosquito in all 

 its aspects. We would also urge the appointment of 

 officers for the study of the various malarial problems 

 already alluded to. We think, too, that officers 



NO. 2130, VOL. 84] 



should visit Italy to study quinine prophylaxis there ; 

 and that the methods advocated by Major Ross in 

 Mauritius, and those carried out in Panama, should 

 also be studied on the spot. 



Finally, there remains one method no less difficult, 

 but one essential to the success of all the others, and 

 that is the education of the people. That the 

 Government has a manj'-sided and difficult problem 

 before it is clear, but the problem has now been 

 systematically taken up, and we feel confident that 

 when the next malaria conference meets progress will 

 be reported. 



KENTISH BIRDS.' 

 T^HE latest book on the "Birds of Kent "—the third 

 ■'- to appear in recent years — is entitled, very appro- 

 priately, a history of the birds of the county. For the 

 author, who has been sixteen years preparing this 

 work, has given especial attention to the present and 

 past status of all those species the distribution of 

 which within the county is not quite general, and of 

 those which have become rarer or more common, or 

 have begun or ceased to breed within what we may 

 term historic times, that is, since Kentish birds were 

 first noticed by the older writers ; and he has most 

 carefully worked out chronologically the histories of 

 fading and vanished species, as, for instance, the 

 chough, raven, harrier, buzzard, kite, avocet, &c. 

 In this connection we may, however, point out that 

 too much iriiportance must not be attached to the 

 use of the word chough in Shakespeare's description 

 of the cliff at Dover, 



" The Crows and Choughs that wing the midway air," 



for there is evidence to show that the older writers 

 must have often meant jackdaws when they wrote 

 choughs. The name chough, indeed, seems to have 

 been originally as generic as pie ; and just as they 

 distinguished the mag-pie and the jay-pie, so in time 

 thev distinguished the less-known chough as the 

 Cornish chough. Happily, this history is not obliged 

 to confine itself to dealing with the decreases of all 

 the more interesting species, but can detail the in- 

 creases of some, and point out the gratifying fact 

 of some kinds of wild ducks and other birds breeding 

 in increasing numbers. Of that little wader which 

 has alwavs been associated with the county — and 

 mav be called the county bird — viz. the Kentish plover, 

 it is extremely satisfactory to read of the steady 

 increase in the number of breeding pairs of late years. 

 Here again we have an exhaustive and valuable 

 article. Very interesting details, too, are given of 

 the nesting of the golden oriole in four localities and 

 in some of them for several years in succession. The 

 present status of the Sandwich tern is set forth, and of 

 the Dartford warbler (the third bird the name of which 

 connects it with Kent) we learn with regret that it is 

 now extinct in the countv, its history therein being 

 admirably drawn up. Exact information on these 

 points has been wanting hitherto. 



In his accounts of the different species, the author 

 has found it necessary, in order to treat adequately 

 of their history, status, distribution, migratory move- 

 ment, and economic aspects, to confine his remarks 

 strictly to these questions, and to omit all references 

 to plumages, songs, general and nesting habits, and 

 anecdotes, except in so far as these affect the other 

 questions or offer peculiarities of themselves, or bear 

 some particular relation to the environment of the 

 species in the county. Even so the volume is bulky, 



1 " A History of the Birds of Kent." By Norman F. TicehursU 

 Pp. Ivi + 568. (London; Witherbyand Co., 1909.) Price ati. net. 



