680 

would be welcome. One of the most recent additions 
is a Holmes magneto-electric generator, which has 
worked the lamps at the Sowter Point lighthouse 
continuously since 1870 until only two or three years 
ago, and the Gramme dynamo which lighted the Daily 
Telegraph offices in 1882 is also in the possession of 
the institution. Another relic, but of more recent 
historic interest, is the set of telephones employed on 
the Scott Antarctic Expedition. 
Tue Board of Education has issued a circular stat- 
ing that an urgent request has been received for books 
for the use of the British civilian prisoners at present 
interned in the concentration camp formed on the 
racecourse at Ruthleben, Germany. The books are 
needed by the educational classes in connection with 
the Camp Education Department, which has recently 
been formed for the benefit of the prisoners in ques- 
tion. The Board of Education has sanctioned the 
issue of an appeal for books of the kind specified in 
the circular above referred to. As the number of 
books which can be sent to Ruthleben is limited, it 
will be well for intending donors to apply for a copy 
of the circular (which gives the titles of the works 
needed) to Mr. Alfred T. Davies, Board of Education, 
Whitehall, S.W., writing in the left-hand corner of 
the envelope ‘‘ Books for Ruthleben."” We may men- 
tion that lectures have been delivered by the Arts and 
Science Union of the camp on the following among 
other subjects :—Conic sections, differential and inte- 
gral calculus, inorganic and organic chemistry, 
human _ physiology, psychology, electro-chemistry, 
agricultural chemistry, genetics and eugenics, 
mechanics and hydrostatics, physics, radio-chemistry, 
technical chemistry, general technology (popular), 
archeology, photography. The lecturers will be 
grateful for reference works in these subjects. Dic- 
tionaries and scientific periodicals would also be most 
valuable. 
Tue war has stimulated research in preventive and 
curative medicine, and announcements of the discovery 
of various new remedies and methods of treatment 
appear from time to time in the public Press. Thus 
the preparation of a new ‘polyvalent’ serum, pre- 
sumably made with a mixture of microbes, for the 
treatment of infected wounds is recorded, and for 
which extraordinary powers are claimed. The dis- 
covery is due to the labours of Profs. Leclainche and 
Vallée, of the Veterinary College of Alfort. It is also 
stated that Dr. Bull, of Melbourne, has found in 
eucalyptus a cure for cerebro-spinal fever. Details of 
a “new” antiseptic mixture for the treatment of 
wounds similarly found a place in the daily papers 
last week. This consists of a mixture of chlorinated 
lime (bleaching powder), boric acid, and chalk, but, as 
the Lancet points out. the claims to novelty for this 
antiseptic are ill-founded. 
Or all manuals of good advice to the soldier, ‘‘ Health 
in the Camp: A Talk to Soldiers,” by Col. H. R. 
Kenwood, is one of the best. It is published by H. K. 
Lewis and Co., Ltd., London, and it costs threepence. 
Col. Kenwood, being professor of hygiene and public 
health in the University of London, and an officer of 
the Royal Army Medical Corps, writes with authority. 
NO. 2390, VOL. 95| 
NATURE 


[AUGUST 19, 1915 

Moreover, he writes well, with perfect simplicity, and 
with some distinction of style; and he takes, as it were 
for a text, the plain fact that “the obedient and intelli- 
gent co-operation of every single soldier is demanded, 
if the sanitation of the camp is to be what it ought 
to be."’ We wish the little book were twice as long 
as it is. What he says of camp sanitation, and of 
the vital importance of clean food, pure water, and 
fresh air, is admirably well said. There is a good 
short account of the protective treatment against 
typhoid fever; and there is a very valuable note on the 
venereal diseases. Of course, sixty small pages are 
not enough; but he makes every word tell, and seems 
to have a word or two for every subject of chief in- 
terest. He avoids the mistake of throwing a list of 
names of things at the reader’s head; and he does not 
let diagrams take up room, where every inch is needed 
for print. In brief, here is an excellent little tract for 
the soldier, whether in training or at the front. 
“Practica Advice on the Fly Question” has been 
issued by the Zoological Society of London at the 
price of one penny. It is apparently an “‘official”’ 
summary of advice based on the inquiries conducted 
under the society’s auspices, and intended to have 
the authority of the society. The pamphlet is devoted 
entirely to practical advice on how to deal with flies, 
how to keep them from food, how to keep them out 
of the house, how to catch them; it deals with the 
breeding of flies, the treatment of stable manure and 
refuse; it ends with a summary of measures recom- 
mended for private houses, for the country, for refuse 
tips, for stable manure, for hospitals, camps, shops, 
and food factories. Flies are undoubtedly important, 
both to the nation at large and to the miltary authori- 
ties; it is characteristic of this nation that such advice 
should issue from a private society, rather than from 
either of the Government departments the business of 
which this should be. The pamphlet is clearly based 
upon experience of dealing with flies and upon 
elaborate investigation on new points; the advice is 
given in a clear and practical manner. To those who 
visit the Fly Exhibition, as to all who are interested 
in the house-fly, this little publication should be of 
use. 
In the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, vol. 
viii., part i., Mr. A. Russell publishes a useful 
glossary of Scoto-Romani and Tinklers’ Cant. Early 
collections of this dialect are wanting, and even the 
interpretation of some words found in Scottish docu- 
ments of the sixteenth century is doubtful. At an 
early period the Scottish Romani was amalgamated 
with that of the Tinklers, a nomad class whose origin 
is still a puzzle. The most interesting words in the 
collection are those which have survived in the 
Scottish-Gypsy dialect, but have been lost in the 
English. There is also a difference in word forms, 
which has been explained by the supposition that the 
majority of English Gypsies of the present day are 
descended from a later immigration than that of those 
who left their mark on the Tinklers’ Cant of Scot- 
land, though the variation in vowel sounds may be 
partially due to the influence of local English 
dialects. 

