516 
NATURE 
[JuLty 8, 1915 

any kind of protection, the very sudden static depres- 
sion of the surrounding atmosphere comes into play, 
and many are killed without signs of wounds. The 
explanation put forward is that the air and carbonic 
acid in solution in the blood are disengaged in the 
shape of minute gaseous bubbles as soon as the pres- 
sure decreases too suddenly from any cause. These 
bubbles are driven into the small arteries under the 
influence of the pressure exerted by the heart. If 
their diameter is greater than that of the small arteries, 
they form so many gaseous plugs, which instan- 
taneously stop the blood circulation, and death occurs 
before there is time for them to dissolve back in the 
blood when the ambient atmospheric pressure returns 
to normal. The radius of action of high-explosive 
shells is less than the possible one of shrapnel for 
killing purposes, but they are more deadly than 
shrapnel, for in their radius of action no living being 
escapes, whilst the shrapnel is dangerous only when 
one of its balls or fragments strikes home. 
Tue report of the Marlborough College Natural 
History Society has just reached us. It contains one 
feature which the reports of other public schools might 
well follow. This is- the Anthropometrical Report, 
giving the height, weight, and chest measurements of 
boys weighed during February, May, and October, 
1914. This is an extremely useful piece of work, and 
might well be extended to include other details, such 
as the span of the arms, hair and eye colour, and the 
cephalic index. The sectional reports—zoological, 
botanical, and photographic—all give proof of keen- 
ness and shrewdness of observation. 
A prieF but excellent summary of the life-history of 
the woodlark, by Mr. W. Farren, appears in Wild 
Life for June. The author’s observations were made 
in the Breck district of Cambridgeshire, where this 
bird appears to be on the increase owing to the exten- 
sion of plantations. He makes some interesting com- 
parisons between this species and its ally, the skylark, 
more especially in regard to the method of feeding the 
young. The woodlark, it would seem, suffers an un- 
usually high infant mortality owing to the raids of 
mice on the eggs and very young nestlings. Some 
very beautiful photographs add much to the value of 
this short essay. 
In connection with the article in Nature of June 17 
on ‘Jamaica asa Centre for Botanical Research in the 
Tropics,” it is desirable that attention should be 
directed to the interesting descriptive account of the 
laboratory and garden at Cinchona, given by Prof. 
Duncan S. Johnson in the Popular Science Monthly, 
vol. Ixxxv., No. 6, 1914, and vol. Ixxxvi., No. 1, 1915. 
The history of Cinchona, which was established in 
1869, is given, and is followed by an excellent account 
of the laboratory and the magnificent tropical vegeta- 
tion by which it is surrounded. The articles are illus- 
trated by numerous photographic reproductions, in 
which the luxuriance of the tree-fern growth in par- 
ticular is well shown. 
Tue dire consequences of the reckless destruction of 
timber on the Victorian ‘‘ flood-plain”’ are convincingly 
shown by Mr. J. G. O’Donohue in the Victorian 
NO. 2384, VOL. 95] 

Naturalist for May. Barren, treeless wastes of huge 
extent now mark the sites of once flourishing: forests. 
No use is made of the clearings thus made, which have © 
become, indeed, a source of danger to the Murray 
River, rendering its navigation more difficult each 
year owing to the detritus carried into it by the storm 
and flood waters now that the vegetation no longer 
serves as a filter and to hold the soil. The observa- 
tions on the animal life and the botany of the area 
explored make profitable reading. Among other things 
he comments on the ravages caused among the 
aborigines by smallpox. Hundreds of bodies lay 
buried in one of the sand-dunes he traversed, and some 
of them were disinterred. In the course of his stay 
in this region he gathered conclusive evidence dis- 
posing of the oft-repeated statement that the doe 
kangaroo, when hard pressed, deliberately throws her 
young one from her pouch. The ejection invariably 
and unintentionally follows on a long pursuit. The 
young one is ‘‘sent spinning from the pouch as the 
mother, by her enormous leaps, imparts to it a more or 
less vertical motion.” 
In view of the number of deaths from anthrax that 
occur among those employed in the leather industry, 
especially in the handling of imported hides, a paper 
in the Journal of Agricultural Research, vol. iv., No. 1, 
on the disinfection of hides infected with anthrax 
spores, has more than ordinary interest. Mr. F. W. 
Tilley has investigated the efficiency of the Seymour- 
Jones and Schattenfroh methods which have been pro- 
posed during the last few years. The problem is 
difficult owing to the high resistance of anthrax spores 
and the necessity that the hides shall not be injuriously 
affected from the tanner’s point of view. The author 
finds that the strength of disinfectant originally recom- 
mended by Seymour-Jones (mercuric chloride 1 in 
5000 plus 1 per cent. formic acid) is not efficient, 
but 1 in 2500 is efficient if the hides are not subjected 
to a neutralising solution for a week or two after 
disinfection. If, however, the hides are immersed in 
sodium sulphide, as ordinarily used by tanners for 
dehairing, within three or four days of disinfection, 
even this higher strength is not sufficient to prevent 
fatal infection to guinea-pigs from disinfected material. 
For this reason the process is recommended only when 
the hides are treated at the port of shipment. The 
Schattenfroh method (2 per cent. hydrochloric acid 
plus 10 per cent. sodium chloride) proved entirely satis- 
factory from the bacteriological point of view, forty- 
eight hours’ exposure proving efficient in every in- 
stance. Sevtik, however, has reported that while with 
thin hides the results were good, thick, heavily infected 
hides were found to contain spores virulent to mice 
even after seven days’ exposure. The author never- 
theless thinks that the Schattenfroh method is so far 
superior to other methods as to be well worth a trial 
as a standard process of disinfection for hides. Pieces 
of hide treated by both methods were found to be 
uninjured affer passing through the usual tanning 
processes. 
In recent years German and Austrian anatomists 
have devoted much attention to the possibility of re- 
constructing the likeness of a person when merely 

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