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NATURE 



[April io, 19 13 



ran never really teach them histology. The specimens 

 they prepare themselves may not exhibit the same 

 technique, the rough drawings they themselves 

 execute may not be highly artistic, but the educational 

 value of such far transcends that of purchased speci- 

 mens or highly coloured diagrams. 



We have received from Messrs. Charles Griffin the 

 first number of the sixth volume of The Quarterly 

 Journal of Experimental Physiology, which was 

 brought out under the editorship of Prof. Schafer five 

 years ago. When this new periodical first appeared 

 doubt was. expressed in some quarters whether there 

 was room for a new physiological journal. But 

 nothing succeeds like success, and we heartily con- 

 gratulate its distinguished editor on having justified 

 his expectations in relation to the life and vigour of 

 the journal. The present number contains a note- 

 worthy paper by Prof. Herring on the comparative 

 anatomy and physiology of the pituitary body, a sub- 

 ject which he has made his own ; Prof. Schafer and 

 Mr. Gavin contribute articles on one of the functions 

 of this remarkable gland, namely its influence on the 

 secretion of. milk. Dr. Graham Brown continues his 

 studies on the physiology of reflex action. Drs. Cramer 

 and Pringle deal with the much-vexed question of 

 blood-coagulation, pointing out the importance of the 

 platelets in the process, and, finally, Mr. Miller, of 

 Montreal, treats of the nerve centres concerned in the 

 secretion of saliva, and Dr. Grube, of Kansas, on the 

 blocking of nerve impulses. The journal thus deals 

 with many important aspects of physiological pro- 

 gress, and should be on the bookshelves of all work- 

 ing physiologists and others interested in the subject. 



Parts i. and ii. of the ninth volume of Biometrika 

 are given up mainly to the consideration of statistical 

 methods. Thus 150 pages are occupied by an article 

 of Prof. Karl Pearson's and Dr. David Heron's on 

 theories of association, which would be more interest- 

 ing and valuable if it were not merely one stage in a 

 controversy between the authors and Mr. Yule. Four 

 papers treat of methods for obtaining the "probable 

 error " of statistical constants of various kinds, and 

 one on the influence of " broad categories" on correla- 

 tion. Among those contributions which deal rather with 

 practical results than with statistical theory is a study 

 by Mr. A. B. Emmons, of Harvard, on variations in the 

 pelvis of American Indian squaws. His observations 

 are in conformity with the statement of Engelman 

 that labour is as a rule short and easy among North 

 American Indians who marry within their tribe. He 

 finds that in almost three-quarters of the specimens 

 examined the dimensions of the nelvis would have 

 allowed an easy delivery where the head of the foetus 

 was about the normal size. Another paper dealing 

 with a subject of considerable importance is that of 

 Mr. E. C. Snow on the intensity of natural selection 

 in man. This is a supplement to his original memoir, 

 which has already been noticed in Nature. 



The January issue of Science Progress (No. 27, 

 1913) contains an article by Dr. R. R. Armstrong on 

 the mechanism of infection in tuberculosis. Dr. Arm- 

 strong expresses the opinion that infection of children 

 NO. 226/, VOL. 91] 



from tuberculous milk is of minor importance, and 

 that in their case, as with adults, infection is mainly 

 with the human type of tubercle bacillus by way of 

 the respiratory tract. 



A pamphlet on the house-fly as a danger to health : 

 its life-history and how to deal with it, by Mr. Ernest 

 Austen, has been issued by the trustees of the British 

 Museum at the price of id. It gives in simple 

 language the life-history of the house-fly and describes 

 its breeding habits and its dangers to health. The 

 pamphlet is illustrated with two full-page half-tone 

 plates of the house-fly and lesser house-fly and of the 

 house-fly maggots. 



We have received a small volume entitled "Anleit- 

 ung zur Kultur der Mikroorganismen," by Dr. Ernst 

 Kiister (B. G. Teubner, second edition, 1913). It 

 contains a very complete account of the methods and 

 media employed for the cultivation of the protozoa, 

 bacteria, myxomycetes, algas, and fungi. The matter 

 has been brought well up to date, including, for 

 instance, the work of Bass on the cultivation of the 

 malaria parasite. The price is 8 marks. 



To the March number of The Zoologist Prof. Stan- 

 ley Gardiner contributes a highly appreciative and 

 sympathetic memoir of the late Prof. Adam Sedgwick, 

 with special reference to his early work and associates 

 at Cambridge, and the gradual building up of the 

 modern school of morphology at that University. 



In the Boletin de la Sociedad Physis, vol. i., No. 3, 

 Mr. A. Gallardo gives an account of a plague of ants 

 which made their appearance in certain parts of the 

 province of Buenos Aires during 1904-5. The species 

 is the so-called Argentine or New Orleans ant, Irodo- 

 mvrmex humilis, an exceedingly prolific insect, of 

 which colonies have made their appearance during the 

 present century in New Orleans, Madeira, Portugal, 

 and elsewhere. In the opinion of the author this 

 aggressively colonising ant is probably an immigrant 

 into Buenos Aires, and its real home some part of 

 tropica! America. / 



To the Smithsonian Institution we are indebted for 

 a notice of a complete skeleton of an armoured dino- 

 saur, Stegosaurus stenops, which, although discovered 

 near Canyon City, Colorado, so long ago as 1885, 

 has only just been placed on public exhibition in the 

 U.S. National Museum. Alongside is placed a restora- 

 tion of the reptile as it probably appeared in life. 

 When discovered, the skeleton was lying on its back, 

 in such a manner as to suggest that the reptile had 

 met its death by violence, and the remains have been 

 mounted in the same position, the conformation of the 

 back being displayed by means of mirrors arranged 

 beneath. 



In reference to the recommendation in the " First, 

 Second, and Third Reports from the Committee of 

 Public Accounts " that a periodical stocktaking should 

 be instituted in national museums and galleries, and 

 also that the results of such surveys should be subject 

 to review by the Controller and Auditor-General, it 

 is pointed out in the March number of The Museums 

 Journal that in the British Museum alone a small 



