January g, 19 13] 



NATURE 



^^0 



with and without light filters. Dr. H. H. Hoffert 

 has four sets of prints showing the effect produced 

 when a heavy single discharge from a Leyden jar 

 is allowed to pass over the surface of a photographic 

 dry plate. This and the previous exhibit have both 

 been awarded honourable mention. Messrs. G. R. 

 Makin and J. W. Watkinson show autochrome photo- 

 micrographs of the various colour plate screens now 

 on the market, and how the autochrome plate trans- 

 lates patches of single colours. 



We have received the annual report of Livingstone 

 College for the year 1911-12, which shows that there 

 is a deficiency on the ordinary funds of 700L at the 

 end of the financial year. The college is doing excel- 

 lent work in training missionaries in the elements 

 of medicine, and an earnest appeal is made for funds 

 to further this object. 



The South African Journal of Science for November 

 (vol ix., No. 4, 1912) contains a summary by Mr. 

 John MuUer on the practical medico-legal use in 

 South Africa of the "precipitin" test for the recog- 

 nition of bloodstains and of what animal's blood they 

 consist. In a number of criminal cases the test has 

 proved, of the greatest value. 



In The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physio- 

 logy (vol v., No. 4), Mr. A. J. Clark describes experi- 

 ments on the destruction of alkaloids by the body 

 tissues. He finds that the livers of the frog and 

 rabbit possess the power of destroying atropine, and 

 that this power persists when all living cells are 

 destroyed, and is due to a soluble substance resembling 

 a ferment in its action. In the frog the heart and 

 kidneys, and in the rabbit the blood, have a similar 

 but less marked power, but no other tissues have 

 any such power. In the cat, rat, and dog none of 

 the tissues has any such power. 



The Selborne Society is to be congratulated on a 

 marked increase in its membership during the past 

 year. According to an editorial note in The Selborne 

 Magazine for January, it has been decided to divide 

 the society into sections, an arrangement which it is 

 expected will increase the output of special work. 



To the wet summer of 1912 is attributed a falling 

 off in the number of persons attending the excursions 

 of the Clifton College Scientific Society, the report of 

 which for 1911-12 is to hand. This, however, forms 

 no sufficient excuse for the small competition for the 

 Joshua Saunders prize, which was awarded for an 

 essay on the local distribution of newts. 



In the Report of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, for 

 1911-12, reference is made to the opening of the art 

 galleries during the visit of their Majesties the King 

 and Queen, and also to the temporary housing of the 

 \'ictoria Memorial Exhibition within the building. A 

 considerable falling off in the number of visitors during 

 the year under review is tentatively attributed to the 

 closing of the museum on several occasions. 



Vol. viii., part 31, of Spolia Zeylanica is devoted 

 to the first part of "A Guide to the Collections of the 

 Colombo Museum," this section dealing with 

 NO. 2254, VOL. go] 



archaeology and ethnology. It is illustrated with forty- 

 four well-executed plates of objects of special interest. 

 Among these attention may be directed to sculptures 

 (plate i.) and designs on flags (plate xx.), which 

 appear undoubtedly to represent lions, some of the 

 former dating from about 320 B.C. (p. 167). As most 

 if not all of the other animals represented in native 

 Sinhalese art are indigenous to the island, the ques- 

 tion naturally arises as to the source of the concept of 

 the lion. In former times lions were found over 

 central and north-western India, but there appears to 

 be no record of their occurrence further to the south 

 on the mainland, let alone in Ceylon. No allusion to 

 this interesting point is made by Dr. J. Pearson, the 

 author of the guide. 



The current number of The Quarterly Journal of 

 Microscopical Science contains no fewer than three 

 papers on the experimental hybridisation of Echino- 

 derms, by Prof. Macbride, Dr. G. Debaisieux, and 

 Dr. Cresswell Shearer, Mr. W. de Morgan and Mr. 

 H. M. Fuchs. Many memoirs have appeared on this 

 subject during the past few years, and perhaps the 

 most remarkable thing about them is the startling 

 want of harmony between the results obtained by 

 different observers, and even by the same observer at 

 different times. It is evident that as yet we. know 

 very little of the factors which determine in what 

 proportion maternal and paternal characters will be 

 transmitted to the hybrid offspring. Careful and 

 accurate observations, such as those recorded by the 

 workers above mentioned, can scarcely fail, howevfer, 

 in the long run, to throw much light upon this ex- 

 tremely difficult problem. 



A TIMELV paper on foot-and-mouth disease has been 

 published by Prof. Bang, of Copenhagen, in the 

 Journal of the Board of Agriculture (No. 8). This 

 disease affects ruminants and pigs, and occasionally 

 also man ; it is characterised by the forrnation of 

 vesicles in the mouth and occasionally on the lips, 

 snout, and nostrils, and on the skin round the hoofs. 

 These are very painful, so that the animal is un- 

 willing either to walk or to eat. Whatever the 

 causative agent, it is very minute, it exists in the 

 matter contained in the vesicles, and it passes through 

 the pores of a filter ; a very small amount, even 

 1/5000 c.c. of the contents of a vesicle, is sufficient to 

 cause the disease. To young animals the 4jsease is 

 generally fatal, but adult animals often recover; the 

 loss, however, is so serious that even the most drastic 

 action is justified in coping with it. Prof. Bang looks 

 forward with some uncertainty to the immediate 

 future, but thinks that the situation is tolerably well 

 in hand. 



The composition of buffalo milk in India has been 

 investigated by Messrs. Meggltt and Mann, and the 

 results are published in No. 4 of the Chemical 

 Memoirs of the Pusa Research Institute. The per- 

 centage of fat is remarkably high, being S per cent, 

 in place of the 3 per cent, found in cow's milk; the 

 percentage of total solids is also high, rising to iS 

 or even 20 per cent., an amount higher than is found 

 in some of our fruits and vegetables. The effect of 

 changes of conditions on the composition of the milk 



