January 6, 1910] 



NA TURE 



291 



must form the larger proportion of the birds' food. Mr. 

 A. K. Fisher writes on the economic value of predaceous 

 birds and mammals. He believes that coyotes, foxes, 

 weasels, and skunks arc, on the whole, beneficial, and 

 that the most dangerous enemies to poultry are domestic 

 cats. Mr. D. E. Lantz describes the various poisons used 

 for destroying noxious mammals such as wolves, gophers, 

 and prairie marmots, and recommends strychnia-sulphate 

 for general use. This poison is also advocated for cam- 

 paigns on a large scale against voles by Mr. S. E. Piper, 

 who contributes a paper on " mouse plagues," voles being 

 usually known as " meadow-mice " or " short-tailed field- 

 mice " by American farmers and naturalists. 



The Indian peasant, says the Pioneer Mail, usually looks 

 with suspicion upon any scientific innovation which the 

 Government may introduce for his benefit, and it speaks 

 much for the efficacy of the expedient if it eventually over- 

 comes his stubborn prejudices. Such success has attended 

 (he inoculation of cattle with rinderpest anti-serum pre- 

 pared at tha bacteriological laboratory of the Civil 

 Veterinary Department. At first great opposition was 

 experienced to the use of the serum, but since it has 

 curtailed outbreaks of a malady which probably creates 

 more havoc than any other cattle disease in India, and 

 has prevented heavy mortality amongst animals, it has 

 been much in demand, and it is now common for cattle 

 owners in infected localities to pay for inoculators to be 

 sent. It is expected that the demand for the serum will 

 increase each year, and the Ceylon Government and many 

 native States desire to be provided with it. The supply is, 

 however, limited. During the year 1908-9 every endeavour 

 was made at the bacteriological laboratory to prepare as 

 large an amount as possible, but about eighty thousand 

 more doses were required than were manufactured. 



The Selborne Society has just issued a new illustrated 

 leaflet entitled "How to .'\ttract Wild Birds." It is a 

 reprint of an article written by the honorary secretary, 

 Mr. Wilfred Mark Webb, for the Country Home, and 

 deals with the methods employed in the Brent Valley Bird 

 Sanctuary. A number of photographs which have been 

 used to embellish it were taken in the Bird Sanctuary, and 

 show the construction of the nesting-boxes, the ways of 

 fixing them, the heights at which they should be placed, 

 as well as the open tr.ays which have also been successfully 

 introduced. 



In Travel and Exploration for Januarv Mr. P. L. 

 Faulkner gives an account of the Khasia Hills, " a little- 

 known district of the Indian Empire." His description is 

 popular and interesting, but it is curious that he seems 

 to be unacquainted with the valuable official monograph 

 on the Khasi tribe by Major P. R. Gurdon. published by 

 the Government of Eastern Bengal in 1907. By its aid 

 he would have been able to explain the fact, to him 

 mysterious, why a flat stone is placed before the trilithons 

 which the Khasis erect in honour of deceased persons held 

 in respect by the tribe. 



In the December (1909) issue of Man Major P. M. Sykes 

 describes the sj'stem of tattooing in vogue in Persia. 

 Until the last generation the practice was universal. Now 

 it is rare among persons of rank, and is confined to the 

 lower classes, especially in southern Persia. It seems to 

 be partly ornamental, partly prophylactic. Women use it 

 to avert the evil eye, to hide a scar or other blemish, or 

 to cure disease. As usual, the trade is in the hands of 

 Gypsy women ; and though it prevails in Arabia, among 

 the better-class Mussulmans in Persia it is now regarded 

 as a relic of barbarism. I 



NO. 2097, VOL. 82] 



In Man for December (1909) Mr. W. J. Lewis .Abbott 

 discusses the so-called " Pygmy " flirt weapons. He gives 

 a graphic sketch of the race which erected the Kitchen 

 .Middens at Hastings, and is disposed to associate the 

 habit of making these implements with the Continental 

 troglodytes who, he supposes, migrated north to Britain 

 and southwards to the Mediterranean, Egypt, and India. 

 This theory of primitive race migrations obviously involves 

 many difficulties, and it is quite within the bounds of 

 probability that this type of implement may have been 

 independently evolved from more than one centre of origin. 

 The geological evidence collected by Dr. Colley March in 

 Lancashire is believed to show that they belong to an age 

 far more remote than any deposit in which polished stone 

 implements have been hitherto found. 



In the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts for 

 December 17, 1909 (vol. Iviii., pp. 101-29), ^f"". Hugh 

 Pearson gives a popular account of the diamond fields of 

 Brazil, including the history of the industry since the first 

 discovery of diamonds in 1729, brief descriptions of the 

 geology of the different areas, and the methods of work- 

 ing the deposits. Details are furnished of the curious 

 process of burning out the surface flaws by means of 

 potassium nitrate. The loss in weight is about 8 per cent. 

 There is an excellent general map showing the relative 

 positions of the diamond fields, as well as local maps on a 

 larger scale. 



The constant <r of Stefan's law — the energy radiated by 

 a black body at temperature T° absolute =(rT^ — has gener- 

 ally been assumed to have the value 5-32x10-'-, as 

 deduced by Dr. Kurlbaum from his observations. M. 

 Fury's recent observations give, however, 6-3x10-'". 

 Owing to this disagreement MM. Bauer and Moulin have 

 made a re-determination of the constant by heating a 

 platinum strip in vacuo until the radiation from it was 

 equal in amount to that from a perfectly bUick body at 

 the melting point of gold (1064°). The electrical energy 

 given to the strip was then measured. They deduce as 

 the value of j to within i per cent. 6-oxio-'', and are 

 disposed to question the accuracy of Prof. Planck's ex- 

 pression for the energy of each wave-length sent out by 

 a black body at any temperature. .•\n account of the work 

 is contained in the risumi of communications made to the 

 Soci^t<5 fran^aise de Physique at the meeting on December 

 3, 1909. 



The Physical lievicw for December (1909) contains an 

 abstract of a paper on a new modification of the cloud 

 method of measuring the elementary electrical charge, and 

 the most probable value of that charge, read by Prof. 

 R. A. Millikan to the American Physical Society at its 

 Princeton meeting in October. He observes single isolated 

 drops having multiple charges, first when gravity is 

 balanced by a vertical electric field and the drops are 

 stationary, then when the drops fall under gravity, the field 

 having been withdrawn. The mean value deduced from 

 observations of drops composed of water and of alcohol, 

 and having from two to six elementary charges, is 

 4-65x10-'°, with a possible error of 2 per cent. This 

 number is in close agreement with the values obtained 

 by Prof. Planck and by Prof. Rutherford and Dr. Geiger 

 by other methods, but differs widely from those obtained 

 previously bv Sir J. J. Thomson, Prof. Townsend, and 

 Prof. H. A. Wilson. 



In the U.S. Geological Survey's Bulletin No. 401, 1909, 

 Mr. George F. Becker discusses the origin of petroleum 

 and other natural hydrocarbons, with numerous references 

 to authorities. He considers it proved that some oils are 



