494 



NATURE 



[October 12, 1911 



Mr. R. Campbi 1 1 I hompson, in The Times of October 9, 

 has issued a furthei report on the excavations al 



Mii-.li, which were started in the early part of the 

 present year by Mr. D. G. Hogarth. The mound presents 

 a record of continuous human occupation, beginning with 

 that of a primitive race using flint knives, obsidian flakes, 

 and hand-made pottery. These people were succeed.d by 

 the Hittites, who were enabled by the use of bronze 

 weapons to overcome the primitive occupants of the site. 

 Finally, in B.C. 717, the Assyrians captured the place, and 

 bricks have been found inscribed with the title of " Palace 

 of Sargon, King of Nations, King of Assyria." A remark- 

 able result of these excavations is the discovery of numerous 

 small pottery horses, which served some religious purpose 

 or were used in some game. The Hittite sculptures already 

 unearthed add considerably to our knowledge of the beliefs 

 of that people, consisting of guardian door figures, winged 

 lions, and protecting demons, like those of Assyria. A 

 remarkable bas relief depicts the overthrow of an Assyrian, 

 and proves that the latter race practised circumcision. 



Prof. Boyd Dawkins, in The Times of October 6, re- 

 marks that the discovery of an ancient canoe on the edge 

 of the Baddiley Mere, used for the water supply of Nant- 

 wich, reminds us that the recent drought offers an excep- 

 tional opportunity for the examination of the desiccated 

 margins of all sheets of water in Great Britain. A similar 

 protracted failure of rain in 1853—4 led to the discovery 

 of numerous pile dwellings in Switzerland. Similar erec- 

 tions are found in considerable numbers in Ireland and in 

 Scotland ; but, so far, the discoveries of this kind in 

 England and Wales are singularly poor. In the Lake 

 District only one settlement of the Neolithic age, that on 

 Ehenside Tarn, has been discovered. Wales has yielded 

 one of doubtful age in the lake of Llangorse, Breconshire. 

 There is one in the Vale of Pickering and the Marshes of 

 Holderness, and in Norfolk one in Barton Mere and two 

 near Thetford, all three of the Bronze age. If we add to 

 these the three lake settlements at Glastonbury and Mere, 

 the total amounts only to eight. Prof. Boyd Dawkins 

 believes that careful search during this exceptional season, 

 before the lake margins are covered by the autumn rains, 

 would reveal prehistoric settlements in almost every 

 county, and throw as much light on the daily life of the 

 early inhabitants as the discoveries made elsewhere have 

 done. It is not yet too late to seize the present unusually 

 favourable opportunity for making these investigations. 



The August issue of The National Geographic Magazine 

 is largely and appropriately devoted to Morocco and Tunis. 

 It includes an interesting article by Mr. G. E. Holt, 

 American Vice-Consul General, describing two religious 

 dances performed at Tangier. These displays are provided 

 by two separate sects which have widespread influence, not 

 only over Morocco, but in Algeria, Tunis, and even so far 

 eastward as Egypt. One of these is the Aisawa, followers 

 of the saint M' Hammed Bin Aisa ; the second the 

 Hamadsha, founded by Sidi Ali Bel Hamdush, a later and 

 less influential body than the former. Each motion in 

 these dances is a symbol of some phase of the Mohammedan 

 religion or of one of the sectarian beliefs. One position, 

 for instance, represents Islam on the defensive against 

 Christianity ; another the final triumph of the faith of the 

 Prophet. Women share in these performances ; and in one 

 movement a male and female dancer bend down and tear 

 the earth with their teeth, symbolising the Creation, when 

 Adam and Eve lived on the fruits of the soil, an ideal of 

 the simple life recommended to their descendants. These 

 dances, well illustrated by photographs, describe an 

 interesting phase of that active sectarian fanaticism which, 

 NO. 2189, VOL. 87] 



in the ' is likely to be a serious embarrassment 



to those European Powers which are at present engaged in 

 adv. inures in North Africa. 



Wi havi received the September number (vol. i., No. 12) 



of The I nthly journal devoted to child welfare, 



which completes the first year's issue. This number, 

 which is will printed and illustrated, contains, among 

 others, an excellent article by Dr. Mary Scharlieb on 

 adolescent girls from the viewpoint of the physician. 

 Valuable advice is given on diet, exercise, dress, and moral 

 training for the adolescent girl. 



Messrs. E. Leitz, Oxford House, London, W., have 

 issued a circular respecting dark-ground illumination and 

 ultra-microscopic vision. They direct attention to th< 

 that these methods of microscopical investigation, while 

 often rendering visible objects which by ordinary illumina- 

 tion cannot be seen, do not enhance resolving power. The 

 methods depend on the principle that brightly illuminated 

 objects can be better seen on a black background than on 

 one which is itself bright. 



The Bulletin de la Societf d' Encouragement pour 

 I'Industrie Rationale for July (T. 115, No. 7) contains a 

 report by M. F. Grenet on porous porcelain filters, par- 

 ticularly the form known as the Pasteur-Chamberland. 

 By osmotic pressure determinations, it is calculated that 

 the pores vary in size from 108/i to 2-16 ju (/* = oooi mm.) 

 as minima and maxima. Collodion tubes also form 

 extremely fine-pored filters, capable of retaining ultra- 

 microscopic particles. By using a porous porcelain filter 

 tube as a support for the collodion tube, the " life " of the 

 latter may be much prolonged ; M. Grenet has had one in 

 use for a year, and it is still perfect. 



The variation of micro-organisms, particularly bacteria, 

 is at the present time attracting considerable attention. 

 Mr. Cecil Revis describes the artificial production of a 

 permanent variety of Bacillus coli (Centr. f. Bakt., 2te 

 Abt., Bd. xxxi.. 1911). It was obtained by growing a 

 strain of B. coli in broth containing 005 per cent, of 

 malachite-green. After fifteen subcultivations, at intervals 

 of about three days, its power to produce gas (formerly 

 active) in lactose, dulcitol, mannitol, and glucose was com- 

 pletely lost, but the capacity to produce acid was retained. 

 Willi salicin, at first acid was formed, but after the treat- 

 ment this substance was no longer attacked. Acid-forma- 

 tion and curdling in milk remained practically unaltered, 

 as well as the characters of the growth on gelatin. The 

 new physiological condition of the organism is quite per- 

 manent, and all attempts to reproduce the power of gas- 

 formation have been unavailing. 



A form of paralysis, particularly attacking certain 

 muscles of the lower limbs in children, and known as 

 infantile paralysis, has been the subject of much research 

 by Flexner, Levaditi, Landsteiner, and others during the 

 last two or three years. The disease is sudden in onset, 

 and sometimes occurs in epidemics, and is due to an in- 

 flammatory condition of the large motor cells in the 

 anterior horns of the grey matter of the spinal cord. In 

 the Revue gt'ncrale des Sciences for September 15 Dr. 

 Levaditi gives a good summary of our present knowledge 

 of the causation, &c, of the disease. It is infective, i.e. 

 is due to a micro-parasite, which is so minute that it 

 passes through the pores of a porcelain filter, and is hence 

 beyond the limit of visibility with the microscope. The 

 disease can be transmitted to apes, injection of material 

 from a human case reproducing the disease in these 

 animals. 



