542 



NATURE 



[October 27, 1910 



At the Royal Society of Medicine on October 21 Dr. 

 Franz Nagelschmidt gave a demonstration on " The 

 Thermal Effects produced by High-frequency Currents." 

 D'Arsonval directed attention, twenty-five years ago, to 

 the " disagreeable burning sensation " that invariably 

 accompanies the application of high-frequency currents. 

 In the apparatus now shown this thermal effect is specially 

 encouraged. Instead of the very high voltage (upwards of 

 100,000 volts) used in the ordinary forms of high-frequency 

 application, the apparatus for diathermy gives about 800 

 volts, but the current which actually traverses the body 

 reaches as much as 2J amperes. Stronger currents have 

 been employed, but are not, in Dr. Nagelschmidt 's opinion, 

 free from danger. The demonstrator placed two circular 

 electrodes at opposite sides of a piece of raw liver, and 

 showed how the passage of the current produced a solid 

 ■column of coagulated liver, the borders of which were 

 strictly limited by the diameter of the electrodes, the por- 

 tions of liver immediately outside the cylindrical coagu- 

 lated block remaining quite unaffected. The sharply 

 limited action of the current was demonstrated even more 

 graphically by means of a solution of white-of-egg con- 

 tained in a glass trough. In this case, when the elec- 

 trodes were placed near opposite ends of the trough, a 

 column of coagulated albumin could be seen to form 

 between them, and if a small current (0'5 ampere) were 

 used the coagulation commenced, not at the electrodes, but 

 at a point midway between them, and extended thence to 

 the electrodes. The practical applications of this current 

 were described, and it was shown how masses of diseased 

 tissue (such as cancers) could be removed without loss of 

 blood and without fear of damaging contiguous parts. 

 .Vpart from this, many forms of localised pain could be 

 relieved in a few minutes by applying an electrode to the 

 area of skin overlying the painful region. Several other 

 possible therapeutic uses of the diathermal currents were 

 mentioned, including the power of these currents to 

 strengthen and accelerate the heart's action. The high- 

 tension current is obtained by a motor generator giving 

 alternating current. The current to be applied to the 

 patient is easily regulated from a switch table. 



LiEUT.-CoLONEL L. A. Waddell, One of the leading 

 authorities on the literature of Tibet, has deposited in the 

 library of the India Office about one thousand books and 

 manuscripts collected by him during the last e.xpedition 

 to Lhasa. These include a remarkable collection of 

 ancient anatomical drawings from the Temple of Medicine 

 at Lhasa, which preserve in pictorial form the old-world 

 Indian beliefs regarding the structure and functions of 

 the internal organs of the body. Much of this Indian 

 surgical lore is probably of Greek origin, but the routes 

 by which it may have reached India have not been 

 clearly traced. This Tibetan series of drawings is 

 believed to have reached Lhasa in the eighth century a.d. 

 The collection will prove of much interest to students of 

 Oriental surgery. 



The prehistoric boat discovered at Brigg, Lincolnshire, 

 in 1886, formed the subject of a law-suit, the result of 

 which was that it was awarded to Mr. Cary-EIwes, Lord 

 of the Manor, who has now presented it to the Hull 

 Museum. It is in a rather dilapidated condition, but has 

 teen repaired, so far as possible, under the supervision 

 of the curator, Mr. T. Shepherd. In his useful series of 

 museum manuals he has now given full details of the 

 'discovery, with various drawings and photographs illus- 

 :trating this remarkable exhibit. To this is appended a 

 ■bibliography, which shows that few objects of antiquity 

 NO. 2139, VOL. 84] 



discovered in this country have given birth to a more 

 extensive literature. 



In a supplement to the Annals of the Transvaal Museun 

 Messrs. Gunning and Haagner have published a check-list 

 of the birds of South Africa, based on Reichenow's 

 " Vogel .^frikas," but bringing the subject up to date. 

 The Zambezi-Cuneni line (lat. 16° S.) is taken as the 

 boundary of the area, in which 919 species are recognised. 



To the Annals of the Transvaal Museum for February 

 Mr. J. Hewitt contributes an article on the zoological 

 region of South Africa as deduced from the composition 

 of its Lacertilia. After mentioning that the Zambe.^i- 

 Cuneni line does not form a natural zoological boundary, 

 as there is an extensive overlap of the southern and 

 tropical faunas, the author expresses the opinion that the 

 southern districts of Africa possess a fauna sufficiently 

 peculiar to entitle this area to be regarded as a distinct 

 zoological region, divisible into several subregions. " .\s 

 regards the entity of the South African region as a 

 zoological area, there can be no doubt but that the distinc- 

 tion between the peculiar endemic fauna of southern .Africa 

 and tropical Africa is too pronounced to permit of our 

 regarding the .South African region as merely a province 

 of the large Ethiopian area, and, indeed, but for the 

 infiltration of tropical forms, no one would hesitate to 

 unite South Africa with Madagascar as a region quite 

 distinct from the more northern parts of .Africa. But the 

 question of the- northern boundary of our area is quite 

 another matter." The author's conclusions seem to be 

 entirely based on reptilian and amphibian evidence. 



Great interest attaches to a paper by Mr. G. E. Pilgrim 

 in vol. xl., part i., of the Records of the Geological Survey 

 of India on new genera and species of mammals from 

 the Indian Siwaliks, chiefly, it seems, those of the Punjab 

 and Bugti Hills. Among numerous other forms, special 

 reference may be made to Sivapitheciis indiciis, a new 

 generic type based on the last lower molar of an anthro- 

 poid, which agrees in size and general form with the 

 corresponding tooth of the gorilla, but has lower cusps 

 and no cingulum. Upper and lower jaws indicate a 

 second new anthropoid, referred to the European genus 

 Dryopithecus. If rightly assigned to Moeritherium — and 

 the reference is only provisional — a small and primitive 

 proboscidean molar from the Bugti Hills apparently 

 indicates a migration of the ancestors of the elephant- 

 group from northern Africa to north-western India. From 

 a phylogenetic point of view, perhaps the most interesting 

 of all the new " finds " is the genus and species described 

 as Dorcabune anthracotheroides. This species, according 

 to Mr. Pilgrim, " shows the most extraordinary mingling 

 of traguloid and anthracotheroid characters. Its upper 

 molars may be described as like those of a Dorcatherium, 

 only of an extreme bunodont and brachyodont type. . . . 

 The same type of structure is displayed in the lower teeth, 

 which, however, differ less, qualitatively, from Dorca- 

 therium than the upper ones. . . . On the whole, the 

 genus may be appropriately placed in the TragulidiE." 



The determinations of a small collection of plants 

 gathered by Dr. Th. Derbeck on the shores of the Gulf of 

 Tartary, near the mouth of the Amur, are communicated 

 by Mr. V. L. Komarov to the Bulletin du Jardin imperial 

 botanique, St. Petersburg (vol. x., part iv.). A character- 

 istic littoral formation was prevalent, in which Elymiis 

 mollis,. Rosa rugosa, and Poa ghimaris were conspicuous. 

 Two new species are created in Leontopodium tatariciim 

 and Saussurea D'erbecki. The list of 158 plants affords an 

 interesting comparison with the flora of Saghalien. 



