504 



NATURE 



[March 27, 1884 



Ever since the establishment of Girton College, student^; in 

 residence have valned their prospective right to have a voice in 

 the management more ilearly tlian would generally be credited, 

 and have held that Girlon stood lir>t am >ng c illeges for women 

 partly because it conferred this dignity upon its students. 



But the dignity conferred by the actual enjoyment of a privilege 

 exceeds that conferred by a prospective right to the same 

 privilege. Another Certificated Student 



OK Girton College 



" Suicide " of Black Snakes 



In Nature, M.irch 13, p. 452, Mr. Edward HarJmnn, 

 Government Geologist of lerth. West Au-tralia, mentions an in- 

 stance of the suicide, by its own venom, of a blick snake. The 

 snake had been wounded, and, the wounded part having been 

 attacked by black ants, " it instantly turned short round and hit 

 itself twice on the neck with seeming determination; in less than 

 one minute it was dead." Mr. Ilardman believed the death to 

 be due to its own venom. 



He record* further instances, zi'hich, though he had not wit- 

 msstd himself, had been related to him by those who had wit- 

 ne sed the facts. 



I believe it to be a generally accepted opinion anong Ihanato- 

 phidiolo^ists that, from what is known of the virulent properties of 

 snake-poison, though fat.il to man and other living beings, it is 

 innoxious in its effects to serpents of like nattire. Sir Joseph 

 Fayrer, a great authority upon this question, has said : "Strange 

 to say — and this to me is one of its greatest mysteries — i snake 

 cannot poison itself or one of its own specie-, scarcely its own 

 congeners, anl only slightly any other genus of venomous 

 snake, but it kills innocent snakes quickly " (address on "The 

 Xature of Snake-Poisjn," delivereil at a meeting of the Medical 

 Society of London, J.-»nuary 28). 



The glands which secrete such venom draw their secretion 

 r ;'om the blood ; that blood, therefore, must have within itself, 

 i> part of itself, the elements which constitute its virulence, and 

 lannot therefore be injuriously alT;cted by a further inlrodnction 

 of these ele iients. Their presence in the blood gives to this 

 vital tluid a power whereby an immunity is obtainevl, somewhat 

 similar to that which vaccination and syphilisation give to human 

 beings, and which the vaccination of the cultivated virus of 

 anthrax, of rinderpest, of foot and-mouth disease, gives to 

 animals. 



It m.-iy, however, happen that the climate of Australia has a 

 special action producing effects different from those observed in 

 India, and, if so, revjuiring close investigati m and study. 



The question becomes an interesting one, and, if philosophi- 

 cally prosecuted, may elicit facts which would give to this 

 instance of venom envenoming itself a significance and an 

 establishetl position in the history of natural science. 



James Donnet 



Unconscious Bias in Walking 

 Thirty or more tests in walking, with closed eyes, on a 

 nearly level lawn lightly covered with newly-fallen snow, gave 

 the following results : — My na'ural gait, in which I step a half 

 to three-quaiters of an inch further with my right foot than with 

 my left, always produced a sharp curve to the right Whenever 

 the step made by either foot was about three inches greater than 

 that made by the other my course w as substantially straight. A 

 curve to the left always resnlteit « hen either foot stepped more 

 than three inches further than the other. Unnatural toeing out of 

 either foot did n it change the result. My right arm is three- 

 quarters of an inch longer than my left, but my legs are of equal 

 length. Both limbs on my right side are stronger and more 

 skilful than those on the left. When but a single action is 

 required, it is my right arm or my right leg that prefers to perform 

 it. When two actions are necessary, the right side chooses that 

 requiring the greater skill, leaving to the left the plainer work, 

 regardless of the power demanded by it. Thu^, in mounting a 

 horse, or leaping across a ditch in the ordinary manner, I spring 

 from the left foot ; yet if I am to land on the foot from which 1 

 start, I can hop higher and farther with my right leg. I can 

 also lift a greater weight wiih it ; and can lower myself to, and 

 raise myself from, a kneeling position with the tight leg alone — 

 a feat impo?sible for me to perform with the left. In my case, 

 at least, the division of labour is decided by skill, and not by 

 strength. The e fact-, considered in connection « ilh the further 



oliservation that in walking the foot which for the time being 

 supports the person does not rock into a pushing position until 

 the other foot has completed its forward motion and is ready to 

 drop to the ground, incline me to the opinion that walking i; n 

 reaching rather than a pushing proce-s. I'erhapi photography 

 may help to decide this point. J. E. Smith 



New York, March 10 



Recent Weather in North America 



The ice-storm, as we call it, which we have lately e.\i>erienced, 

 seems to call for a permanent record. It began at about 4 p.m. 

 on the 7th inst., and until 1 2 noon of the following day there was 

 a constant drizzle or rain, the thermometer bein^ a few degrees 

 below the freezing-pnnt. The amount of the rainfall at the 

 surface of the ground W.1S I 'lo inches. As the rain fell upon 

 the trees it soon formed a coating of ice upon every exposed 

 brancli and twig, and this grew thicker and heavier until sap- 

 tin^^s were bent to the ground and large branches « ere broken 

 from many trees over a wide area of country. The wind blowing 

 gently from the north, the coatin; of ice was much thicker on 

 that side of each twig or branch. Fences were decorate<i with 

 long icicles hanging at a decided angle tow aids the smth. 

 Telegraph wires were so heavily loaded that many fell, and 

 some of them, besides the coating of ice, had a most curious 

 decoration in the shape of little icicles hanging about two inches 

 apart, some of them appearing horizontal, and some (it is .said) ' 

 actuilly p linting upwards. The storm is reported as having 

 extended over an area of some 20,coo square miles. It was not 

 immediately f llo«ed by a thaw, which might have relieved the 

 trees of their load ; a gentle precipitation, partly of snow and partly 

 of sleet, took place at intervals from 5 p.m. on the Sih till early 

 in the morning of the loth, the temperature remaining below 

 freezing. The view on the lo:h, when the clouils broke away 

 and the sun shone on the trees, was beautiful beyond de-cription, 

 but the most remarkable effect was that produced by the moon- 

 light on the evening of that day. 



In order to gain something like an accurate idea of the amount 

 of ice which had frozen on the trees, I made measurements of a 

 numlier of twigs taken froai the extremities of branches. In order 

 to comp.are their diameter in their natural state with that they 

 had when covered with ice. Some of the figures may be of 

 interest. One twig "II of an inch in diameter was enlarged to 

 •73 ; another of the same size to 84 ; one of '12 inch diameter 

 measured "84 with its ice-covering, and another of '12 inch 

 measured i"o3 ; one of 'iS diameter had become f2i, an 1 one 

 of '21 had beco'ne I 07. The largest ratio of increase which I 

 found on a tree was in the case of a twig "09 of an inch in 

 diameter, which had attained to "97, having gained nearly nine 

 times its original diameter. But some upright stalks of weeds 

 standing about eighteen inches above the ground gave still larger 

 proportiinal measurements. One 5/100 of an inch in diameter 

 now measured '87, and another of 4/100 of an inch mea- 

 sured "85, having increased its diameter by more than twenty 

 times. 



I made another estimate of the quantity of ice on the trees by 

 breaking the ends of some branches from an apple-tree and 

 weighing them with and svithout the ice that coated them. It 

 appeared that w ood which weighed ten ounces was carrying ice 

 which weighed sixty-nine ounces. 



Perhaps it should be noted that the ice did not freeze on the 

 twigs or stalks so that the cross-sections would be exactly 

 circular, and that the measurements made were those of the 

 largest diameters in the several instances. 



Prof. Brocklesby writes to the papers of a similar storm many 

 years ago, when a piece of branch weighing four ounces carried 

 four pounds of ice. Samuel Hart 



Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., March 1 1 



EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES ' 



A SUCCESSFUL effort made to meet a strong desire 

 that this Report should be brought out sooner enables 

 us to call attention to it in less than twelve months after 

 the last, but, as in material food so in the case of the 

 many reports embodied here, thorough digestion has been 

 essential. 



» *' L'niled States Report of the Commissioner of Education for ()ie Ycir 

 iSSi." (Wasliinston : Gowrnment Printing OtTice. 1S83.) 



I 



