lib 



NA TURE 



[January 13, 19 10 



Dut the undertaking, and the ruins of the abandoned rail- 

 way remained an object of melancholy interest .'■o travellers 

 until in recent years the construction of the line was once 

 more put in hand. After a successful career, during which 

 he was engaged in advising on or carrying into execution 

 Important operations in different parts of the world, he 

 took up his residence in this country. He contributed 

 some suggestive papers to the Geographical Journal, in- 

 cluding one on the physical geography of South .\merica, 

 and as president of the Geographical Section of the British 

 .Association delivered an address on the ancient Pampean 

 Sea of the Argentine. He will best be remembered for his 

 contributions to the discussions of the Royal Geographical 

 Society, in which he entertained his audience from his 

 inexhaustible stores of personal reminiscences and historical 

 reading. He served on the council of the society, and held 

 at one time the position of vice-president. 



The first part of the fortieth volume of Gegenbaur's 

 Morfihologisrhes Jahrhuch- contains an exhaustive treatise, 

 by G. P. Frets, on the lumbo-sacral plexus of monotremes, 

 which will be indispensable to all future students of this 

 extremely variable part of the nervous system. By way 

 of comparison, the author also deals with certain other 

 forms, notably Sphenodon, giving a detailed account of 

 the myolog\^ of the hinder extremity in this important 

 type. 



The sixth part of the SammJung aimiomischer tiiid 

 physiologischcr Vortriige. tind Aufsatze, edited by. Profs. 

 Gaupp and Nagel, consists of an interesting memoir, by 

 Dr. H. Schridde, on " Die ortsfremden Epithelgewebe des 

 Menschen." The author deals with epithelial abnormali- 

 ties of various kinds, and endeavours to interpret them 

 in a philosophical spirit from the points of view of phylo- 

 geny and ontogeny. His observations have thus more 

 than a merely medical interest, although no doubt they 

 will be appreciated mainly by the student of cellular 

 pathology. 



The Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science for 

 December, igoq (vol. liv., part u\.), contains the third 

 part of Dr. Gordon Hewitt's important memoir on the 

 structure, development, and bionomics of the house-fly. 

 A short account is given of the part played by flies in the 

 dissemination of disease, which we could wish to see re- 

 published in a popular form and distributed broadcast. 

 It is difficult to exaggerate the danger to which human 

 beings expose themselves by uncleanly habits in relation 

 to filth, food, and flies, and it is equally difficult to com- 

 prehend the indifference which even " educated " people 

 show on this subject^except as the result of gross ignor- 

 ance and want of observation. The information which 

 Dr. Hewitt has collected with regard to the mutual rela- 

 tions of flies and soldiers in camp, and flies and typhoid 

 patients in hospitals, ought to be suflScient to convince 

 anybody who does not at once set it aside as too nasty 

 for consideration. Unfortunately, the study of nastiness 

 «s a necessary preliminary to its removal. 



In view of the renewed interest which has lately been 

 manifested in the difficult problem of the origin of verte- 

 brates, zoologists will welcome Prof. MacBride's contribu- 

 tion to the subject in the Quarterly Journal of Micro- 

 scopical Science (vol. liv., part iii.). Though dealing 

 primarily with the formation of the layers in Amphioxus, 

 this paper includes a discussion of the corresponding pro- 

 cesses in the higher vertebrates, with special reference to 

 the views recently expressed by Prof. Hubrecht, with 

 which Dr. MacBride by no means agrees. We must note 

 -•he addition of two new inmates to the zoological Noah's 

 NO. 2098, VOL. 82] 



Ark of imaginary animals, viz. tlie " Pleuronectid " 

 ancestor of .-\mphioxus, which, with a number of enormous 

 round holes on its flattened back to represent gill-slits, 

 appears none too well adapted to its environment, and 

 " the common ancestor of Vertebrata, Enteropneusta and 

 Echinodermata, " which looks like a mixture between 

 several well-known larval forms. Whatever reception they 

 may accord to th^se imaginary ancestors, however, most 

 zoologists will probably be grateful to Dr. MacBride for 

 his expressed opinion that, " in starting with Mammalia, 

 and reading their complicated processes into the develop- 

 ment of lower Vertebrata, Prof. Hubrecht has read the 

 book of vertebrate development upside down." 



A COPY of the Johns Hopkins University Circular, 

 Medical Department, has been sent to us. It corresponds 

 to our calendars or prospectuses, and contains full details 

 of the courses of instruction given, with fees and time- 

 table, and a list of graduates, endowments, publications 

 by graduates, &c. It is published by the University, and 

 can be obtained on application to the registrar. 



Bulletins Nos. ij and 12 of the Sleeping Sickness 

 Bureau have been issued, and contain full and useful 

 summaries of various papers 0/1 trypanosomes and trypano- 

 some diseases, and their agents of transmission. We 

 would suggest that it would be a convenience to readers 

 if the bulletins were issued with cut edges. The director 

 will be glad to receive early copies of authors' papers for 

 notice and for the library of the bureau. 



We have received a reprint of an article by .Arthur 

 Macdonald from the Journal of Inebriety, Boston, 1909, on 

 the statistics of alcoholism and inebriety, which gives a 

 useful summary for various countries. We are surprised 

 to see it stated that drunkenness in London has risen from 

 ^37 to 566 in 1890-5 to 89S in 1904 and S59 in 1905 per 

 TOO, 000 of population. Certainly the police-court records 

 show the reverse, viz. a decline in drunkenness. 



The Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulletin for December, 

 1909 (xx.. No. 225), contains another contribution on the 

 subject of the ancient medical writers, essays on which 

 have appeared in that journal from time to time. Prof. 

 Eugene Cordell writes on .\retaeus, the Cappadocian who 

 lived probably in the second century of the Christian era, 

 about the time of Galen. Many of his works are now 

 lost, but such as remain portray very exactly the symptoms 

 of disease, e.g. tetanus, epilepsy, and hysteria. He 

 recognised the " murmur " of heart disease, and treated 

 phthisis by life at sea. 



In a leaflet entitled "A Plan for the Study of Man," 

 by Mr. Arthur Macdonald (from the Proceedings of the 

 Imperial -Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg), an 

 apparatus for the measurement of pain is described. This 

 "temporal algometer"" consists of a brass cylinder with 

 a steel rod running through it. The rod is supported by 

 a spring, so that varying pressures from o to 4000 grams 

 may be applied, the amount being indicated by an attached 

 scale. The rod has a disc 15 mm. in diameter, and covered 

 with flannel at the end. It is applied over the temporal 

 muscle ; as soon as the subject feels the pressure to be 

 in the least disagreeable, the amount of pressure applied 

 is read on the scale. 



We have pleasure in directing attention to the artistic- 

 ally designed " Nature Calendar " published by Messrs. 

 George Philip and Son, Fleet Street, E.C., at the modest 

 price of sixpence. Horticultural notes, observations on the 

 movements of birds, and hints for the collection of Lepido- 

 ptera are the features of this year's issue. Special notes 



