

Marcu 18, 1915| 

The earthquake is being investigated by Dr. Mario 
Baratta on behalf of the Italian Geographical Society. 
A preliminary notice by Dr. G. Martinelli will appear 
in the next number of the Bollettino of the Italian 
Seismological Society, and will include the map of 
the isoseismal lines reproduced here, and also a map 
prepared by Dr. Baratta to illustrate the seismic 
history of the district. From the latter, it is evident 
that the epicentral area of the recent earthquake, 
though not far distant from the important seismic 
zone of Aquila, is one in which only earthquakes of 
slight intensity have originated in the past. 
(Since the above was written, a short paper on the 
earthquake by Dr. G. Agamennone has appeared in 
the Rendiconti of the R. Accad. dei Lincei (vol. xxiv., 
1915, pp. 239-46). The author states that the most 
sensitive microseismometrograph at Rocca di Papa 
(about forty-three miles from the epicentre) recorded 
240 after-shocks from 8.37 a.m. to midnight (that is, 
from 7.37 a.m. to 11 p.m., G.M.T.) on January 13, 
and on éach of the four succeeding days 120, 88, 33, 
and 30, the total number of after-shocks until 
February 6 being nearly 750, of which only about 
thirty were felt at the observatory or in the surround- 
ing country.) CHARLES Davison. 

SANITATION IN EINDIA.1 
WE have before us four volumes of papers pre- 
sented to the All-India Sanitary Conference 
held at Lucknow in January of last year. Vol. ii. 
commences with an interesting account of the methods 
by which in Italy the silt of rivers is utilised for raising 
the level of the soil, while at the same time the level 
of the water is lowered by drainage. The system can 
be carried out with the primary object in view of 
reclaiming swampy land or the agricultural improve- 
ment can also be considered, an almost necessary 
procedure from the financial side. How far the 
method is applicable to India is a matter of great 
interest. One factor that has to be determined is 
the amount of silt in the particular river under con- 
sideration, and, secondly, if agricultural improvement 
is to be considered, whether the silt is of manurial 
value. The views of the agriculturist, the engineer, 
and the sanitarian all need consideration in a problem 
of this magnitude. How manifold and fundamental 
the problems are, a consideration of the papers deal- 
ing with malaria will show. It is indeed no little 
achievement that this immense malaria problem is 
now being studied in India in all its aspects, and that 
its solution has already progressed far from the facile 
position held not so long ago by many that the filling 
up of a few pools and ditches was the answer. 
An anti-fly campaign was carried out in Delhi with 
considerable success, the methods employed being :— 
(1) Either the burning of rubbish or covering it with 
one foot of earth; (2) the trenches of trenching grounds 
were cut 13 ft. deep and covered with a foot of earth 
well-rammed down; (3) the use of incineration at the 
latrines ; (4) the cleaning and sprinkling with pesterine 
of stables, cowsheds, backyards, etc.; (5) litter was 
removed daily or burned, bedding was changed at 
least once a week; (6) garden manure was not allowed 
to be exposed for more than four days—after this it 
must be dug into the ground and covered with a foot 
of earth; (7) butchers’ shops and vegetable shops were 
dealt with; and (8) in private latrines, pucca floors 
and drains were made compulsory. The result of this 
campaign was that flies were ‘‘enormously reduced” 
and apparently the infantile mortality statistics. It 
1 Supplement to the Indian Journal of Medical Research. Proceedings 
of the Third All-India Sanitary Conference held at Lucknow, January 19-27, 
1914. Vol. ii., Papers, pp. ii+186. Vol. iii., Papers, pp. iv+220. Vol. iv., 
Papers, pp. iv+2r2. Vol. v., Papers, pp. iv+226. (Calcutta: Thacker, 
Spink and Co., 1914.) 
NO. 2368, VOL. 95]| 

NATURE 77 

was not, however, until the breeding-grounds within 
the city—1.e. those comprised under headings (4) to (8) 
—were dealt with that progress was made. 
In England the essential points in the bionomics 
of the fly have been known for some years, but flies 
still infest our large towns. Is it the inadequacy of 
the powers possessed by the sanitary authorities that 
allows this insane condition to continue, or is it the 
apathy that allows us also almost without a murmur 
to permit foul smoke to be discharged from our 
chimneys ? 
The section on conservancy contains two interesting 
notes on the “pitting”? of night soil, a simple and 
effective method of solving under certain conditions 
this ever-recurring problem. The essence of the 
method consists in sealing the pits from access of 
flies, etc., with road sweepings. 
In vol. iii., the problems of tuberculosis and the very 
difficult one of a pure mill supply, water supply, 
notification of disease, and various questions in con- 
nection with sewage disposal, are discussed in 
several papers. An important one is the disposal of 
sewage sludge; the Grossman process in use in Old- 
ham, where the sludge is dried and freed of its fat by 
passing steam through, yielding a valuable manure, 
seems successfully to solve the problem under certain 
conditions, 
Vol. iv. The regulations for the control of malaria 
in Portuguese India are somewhat rigorous, e.g. all 
vessels intended to hold water will be closed and their 
contents changed at least every two days. Once a 
week at most is sufficient, as mosquitoes cannot 
develop from eggs in two days. Again, not only are 
ventilation outlets of drains to be furnished with wire 
gauze, but oil is to be poured into the openings to 
make assurance doubly sure, we suppose. A method 
for destroying larve that we do not remember to have 
seen mentioned before is contained in the following 
regulation. ‘Herds of animals will be introduced 
periodically (into ponds) to stir up the water, thus 
making it unsuitable for anopheline larvae” ! 
In another paper figures are given which suggest 
that one species of malaria parasite prevails at one 
season of the year, another at another. If this is 
really so, and apparently similar results have been 
observed elsewhere, it would be important to know 
the reason for this. 
A very interesting paper is that dealing with certain 
features of malaria in the island of Salsette. One 
main fact comes out, viz., that malaria increases as 
one approaches the hills. The study of the conditions 
in an island have always appeared to us especially 
interesting, and it is to be hoped that it can be 
repeated year after year. It shows clearly the great 
importance of an extended malaria survey of a district 
before houses are built anywhere and everywhere with- 
out consulting expert sanitary opinion. 
Another interesting point is the effect of sea breezes 
in reducing the endemic index of malaria; “villages 
exposed to the sea-breezes have no spleen rate at all.” 
Emphasis is also laid on that ubiquitous evil, the 
“borrow”? pits along the railway track. Under exist- 
ing conditions the only practical policy recommended is 
the abolition of these pits, the exposure of villages to 
sea breezes by the cutting down of grass and under- 
growth, the institution of travelling dispensaries, and 
the proper control of new building schemes. A general 
attack on breeding-grounds in rural districts seems 
impossible. Certain areas of the island are free from 
malaria, and development should be recommended in 
these. The question of rice fields and malaria is one 
of first-rate importance. It would appear that we can 
get in a rice cultivation area three conditions :—(1) 
Healthy: spleen rate, 4-3 per cent.; (2) malaria 
endemic: 24-1 per cent.; (3) malaria hyperendemic : 
