62 



NATURE 



[March 20. 1913 



tests might be dispensed with and crude sewage 

 discharged, subject to such conditions as to the 

 provision of screens or detritus tanks as might- 

 appear necessary to the central authority. 



In arriving at the proposed lea"al standard and 

 modifications, the limit of the amount of dissolved 

 oxygen absorbed by river water without creating 

 a nuisance has been taken as a basis. The report 

 contains data in regard to this point, and the 

 method of determining the standard so far as 

 regards the permissible amount of dissolved 

 oxygen absorption is given. Tables are also 

 given showing the amount of oxygen absorbed by 

 typical sewage liquors and effluents, together 

 with the theoretical amount of dilution necessary 

 to prevent de-oxvg;enation bevond a certain limit. 



E. A. 



BIRTHMARKS AS A TEST OF RACE. 



A SUGGESTION was recently made by Herr 

 Bealz that blue patches in the sacral region 

 furnished a valuable test of race. Such marks are 

 found among the children of Chinese, Koreans, 

 Japanese, and Malays. Mr. Gait, Census Com- 

 missioner for India, directed that during the 191 1 

 census inquiries should toe made into the question. 

 Much information on the subject will be found in 

 Mr. C. M. Webb's Census Report of Burma for 

 191 1, recently issued (vol. i., pp. 281 et seq.). The. 

 results are not decisive, and there are at present 

 no means of giving statistics showing the pre- 

 valence of these marks. But they are found 

 extensively in Burma, and seem to indicate the 

 existence of a Mongoloid strain in the population. 



The question of Melanoglossia was also raised 

 by Surgeon-Captain Maynard, I. M.S., and the 

 prevalence of these black marks on the tongue was 

 also investigated by Mr. Webb (ibid., i. 286), 

 They are very infrequent among Aryan immigrants 

 to Burma, but are found to a large extent among 

 • Dravidians, and the pigmentation of the tongue 

 seems to vary with the pigmentation of the skin. 

 It may be hoped that the question will receive 

 further attention in India, and that inquiries will 

 be made on a wider scale to determine the statis- 

 tical incidence of these marks. 



COLONEL ]. S. BILLINGS, M.D. 



THE world of letters, as well as that of science, 

 has sustained a very sjreat loss in the death 

 of Col. J. S. Billings, M.D., who died in New 

 York on March n, at the age of seventy-six. 

 Although born in Indiana, and not in New 

 England, he was nevertheless a typical example of 

 what Oliver Wendell Holmes in "Elsie Vernier" 

 calls "the Brahmin caste of New England." In 

 person he was tall and powerfully built. He had 

 a well-poised and shapely head, clear-cut features 

 and a very quiet, unassuming and courtly manner. 

 In spite of his quiet appearance and manner, 

 Dr. Billings was a man of extraordinary energy. 

 He joined the army of the Northern States_ in 

 ls assistant surgeon, but he was medical 

 inspector of the army' of the Potomac when the 

 NO. 2264, VOL. 91] 



war finished. During the war he designed most 

 of the hospitals of the northern army. In t88i 

 he took charge of the Surgeon-General's Library 

 at Washington, a small collection of about two 

 hundred books. During the twenty-two years in 

 which he held the office of director he raised this 

 collection to be one of the finest medical libraries 

 in the world. The catalogue of the library is a 

 stupendous work, giving references not only to 

 medical books, but to pamphlets and extracts, so 

 that it is now indispensable to every worker in 

 medical literature. 



From 1891 to 1896 Dr. Billings was professor 

 of hygiene in the University of Pennsylvania, and 

 in 1896 he became director of the New York 

 Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden founda- 

 tions. This he determined to make one of tin- 

 seven or eight great libraries of the world, com- 

 parable with the British Museum and the Vatican 

 Libraries. He had the satisfaction during his 

 lifetime of seeing- a new building- provided for 

 the library and the number and value of the books 

 greatly increased. In addition, he arranged for 

 branch libraries to which books could be sent out 

 and consulted apart from the library itself. 



Probably no other single man ever did so much 

 for libraries as Dr. Billings. His work was 

 recognised during- his lifetime by various universi- 

 ties. He received the honorary decree of LL.D. 

 from five universities — Edinburgh, Harvard, 

 Buda-Pesth, Yale and Johns Hopkins — the 

 D.C.L. from Oxford and the M.D. from Munich 

 and Dublin. But his labours in founding a com- 

 plete bibliography of medicine by the Surgeon- 

 General's Catalogue and the "Index Medicus," 

 in devising a new method of library cataloguing-, 

 and in extending: and amplifying the work of the 

 New York Public Library so as to make it a 

 great national institution, will only be fully 

 appreciated by posterity. His kindness of heart. 

 his affectionate disposition and his charm ^ of 

 manner made him beloved by all who knew hirn, 

 and it will be long indeed before we see his like 

 again. Lauder Brunton. 



NOTES. 



The Geological Society of France has awarded the 

 Gaudry medal, the highest honour it can bestow, to 

 Prof. Edward Suess, of the University of Vienna. 

 The Fontannes prize for the best work in strati- 

 graphical geology during the last five years has been 

 awarded to M. Jean Boussac. 



WE are asked to state that the Committee on Re- 

 search Institute, Chicago, is collecting information 

 about bibliographical material and indexes kept in 

 manuscript by libraries or individuals. Those who 

 have such material in their possession, or know of 

 tli, whereabouts of any, are desired to communicate 

 with Mr. A. G. S. Josephson, care of the John Crerar 

 Library, Chicago. 



In accordance with the recommendation of the 

 Royal Commission on Vivisection, the Home Secretary 

 has appointed an Advisory Committee to assist him 



