206 



NA TURE 



[Dec. 30, 1886 



public stiljscription. A considerable portion of this amount has 

 already been raised. 



A LATE issue of the Batavia Daghlad contains a report of a 

 paper read by Dr. Cornelissen, of the Java Medical Service, 

 before the Society for the Advancement of Medical Science of 

 J-xva, on his researches in Acheen, in Sumatra, into the causes 

 of the dreaded disease beri-bcri, known ai kakke in Japan — a 

 species of elephantiasis. Dr. Cornelissen comes to the une.K- 

 pected conclusion that it is infectious, and is propagated by 

 bacilli. He accordingly recommends a thorough system of dis- 

 infection in hospitals and troop-ships where patients suffering 

 from this malady have been kept. The theory has caused much 

 excitement in Java and the neighbouring regions where the 

 disease prevails, for it has not hitherto been suspecte 1 that it 

 was infectious. Dr. Cornelissen's theory, however, does nut 

 appear to be generally accepted in Java and the Straits Settle- 

 ments. 



In the current number (27) of Excursions et Reconnaissances 

 of Saigon, M. Aymonier brings to a conclusion his notes on 

 Annam, the particular province dealt with being Khanh-Hoa. 

 ly The most interesting part of the paper is the sketch of the .so- 

 called savages, or Mois, inhabiting the mountains of the 

 province. These papers have now been running through many 

 numbers of the periodical, and are encyclopaedic in their nature. 

 M. Aymonier is, beyond question, the greatest living authority 

 on Cochin China generally, and he undertook prolonged journeys 

 into various parts of the country with a view to perfecting hi^ 

 information for this series. His original intention was to explore 

 the whole coast of Annam up to Tonquin, but the rebellion of 

 1885, which resulted in frightful missacres of missionaries and 

 native Christians, prevented him from carrying out this project. 

 Accordingly in his "Notes " he has been compelled to omit all 

 reference to the ancient kingdom of Ciampa, as well ai to a 

 gi-eat part of Annam, and to confine himself to the two great 

 southern provinces Binh Thuan and Khanh-Hoa, which stretch 

 from Ciampa on the coast across to Cambodia. Capt. Reveillere, 

 who has already twice navigated the Meikong rapids in a gun- 

 boat, describes a voyage on that river in a steam-launch. The 

 Meikong can scarcely be said to be a new river to geography, 

 inasmuch as the greater part of its course was described with 

 great minuteness in the work recounting the details of La Gree 

 and Garnier's expedition from Saigon along the Meikong to the 

 Yangtsze, published ten or twelve years ago. Father Azemar 

 describes the Stiengs, amongst whom he lived between 1861 and 

 1866, and gives a vocabulary of their language. The Stiengs 

 form one of those wild tribes which inhabit the mountains 

 between Cochin China and Tonquin on the east and Laos and 

 Siam on the west. The writer thinks they have no ethnic 

 affinity with the Mongol family, miinly basing his opinion on 

 differences in language and manners. 



Perhaps the most important point to be noticed about the 

 Perthshire Society of Natural Science, the Proceedings of which 

 for the past year we have received, is that the present method of 

 publication has been abandoned. For six years past the Pro- 

 ceedings have, for the most part, been reprinted from the reports 

 of the meetings which have appeared in a local newspaper. But 

 the selection and arrangement of matter most suited to a news- 

 paper were not always the best adapted for the Proceedings of a 

 scientific Society. The Council have, therefore decided to 

 commence a new series of Transations and Proceedings, which 

 will be specially printed for the Society, under the supervision of 

 a publishing Committee. An examination of the Proceedings 

 now before us certainly reveals so much activity in many de- 

 partments of research that the Council appear justified in this 

 resolution. It is especially noticeable that the papers 

 read refer, almost without exception, to local investigation 



— in our judgment the most valuable and instructive work in 

 which the members of such a Society could systematically 

 engage. Thus, we have some notes on a collection of nests 

 and eggs presented by a local landowner ; a thorough descrip- 

 tion, by several hands, of the natural history of Kinnoull Hill, 

 under the heads of Introductory, Geology, Flowering Plants, 

 Ferns, Mosses and Fungi, Insects, MoUusca, and Vertebrates, 

 and many others of the same kind. Dr. Buchanan White's 

 address this year, as last, urges the improvement of the museu n, 

 with a view to securing more space for the exhibition of the 

 collections. He dwells on the value of a properly selected and 

 arranged museum as an educational medium for the members o f 

 the Society, and, quoting the words we used last year in regard 

 to this subject, that a local museuai, to be of the fullest value, 

 should be made as complete as possible, he explains what degree 

 of completion he expects such a museum to attain. 



We have received the Proceedings of the Holmesdale Natural 

 History Club, with its home at Reigate, for 18S4 and 1885. 

 The papers are of a very general kind, ranging from the con- 

 tinuity of protoplasm to the wild animals of South Africa, and 

 from mahogany to the Yellowstone National Park. Students 

 will probably turn with most interest to two papers by Mr. W. 

 H. Beeby on recent additions to the flora of Surrey, Mr. 

 Tyndall's meteorological notes for the two years, and Mr. Cros- 

 field's paper on the geographical distribution of wild plants in 

 the British Isles. 



The Town Council of Bombay has unanimously resolved that 

 the municipality must bear its share, with the Gavernment and 

 other ijublic bodies, in the expenses of the establishment of a 

 technical school, and a sum of 5000 rupees was voted for the 

 purpose at a late meeting. The scheme is one drawn up by 

 Dr. Cooke, Principal of the Poona College of Science, and ex- 

 plained by him to the Council. The skilled artisans, he said, 

 turned out by the school would be a benefit to the country and 

 to the municipality alike. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include an Indian Rhinoceros {Rhinoceros unicornis <J ) 

 from India, presented by the Maharajah of Cooch Behar ; a 

 Tiger {Felis tigris i ) from India, presented by the Zoological 

 Gardens, Calcutta ; a Chanting Hawk (Mclierax miisiciii) from 

 South Africa, a Red-throated Diver {Colymbus septentrionalis), 

 European, presented by Lord Lilford, F.Z.S. ; a Short-eared 

 Owl {Asio brachyolus), British, presented by the Rev. Hubert 

 D. Astley, F.Z. S. ; ten Moorish Geckos {Tarentoia maiiri- 

 tanica) from the borders of the Mediterranean, presented by 

 Mr. J. C. Warburg ; three Zebus (Bos indicus i f. i) from 

 India, a Montagu's Harrier (Circus cineniceus), European, 

 deposited. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



The Spectroscopic Method of Determining the Dis- 

 tance OF A Double Star. — Mr. A. A. Rambaut, in a paper 

 communicated to the Royal Irish Academy on May 247 dis- 

 cusses at some length the possibility of determining the distance 

 of a double star by measures of the relative velocities of the 

 components in the line of sight by means of the spectroscope. 

 Of course, as soon as Dr. Huggins had demonstrated that it was 

 practicable to measure the rate of approach or recession of a star, 

 it was seen that it would be at least theoretically possible to 

 determine the distance of a star by this methoJ, but Mr. Ram- 

 baut does not merely repeat the suggestion, but examines the 

 conditions of the problem that he may ascertain what chance there 

 is of putting it into successful operation. His first step is to 

 find the value of n V for the satellite star of any binary system, 

 n being the parallax in seconds of arc, and V the velocity of 

 motion in the line of sight expressed in miles per second. The 

 resulting formula is — - 



