jVA ture 



[July 9, 1S96 



not only a new pathogenic micro-organism, but one which 

 belongs to the class of pigment-producing bacteria, the latter 

 being Vmt rarely associated with disease. In consequence of the 

 splendid rod colour it elaborates in artificial culture media, he 

 has called it Erilro haKerio. In its microscopic ajipearance, and 

 indeed in many other respects, it resembles the well-known 

 B. proiligiosiis, but it differs from the latter in its extreme 

 virulence when subcutaneously inoculated in very small quantities 

 into white rats, guinea-pigs, rabbits and fowls, death ensuing 

 in from twelve to eighteen hours when liquefied gelatine- 

 cultures are employed. When introduced f'cr as, death is 

 postponed for sometimes two months ; but during the last ten or 

 twenty days of the animal's existence, its extremities are com- 

 pletely paralysed. In both cases the microbe is found in the blood 

 and all the organs of the body, but more especially in the fluids of 

 the peritoneal cavity. It fails to elaborate its pigment in the 

 absence of air, or when exposed to a temperature of 37 5'' C. , 

 although it grows abundantly, and its virulence is not in the least 

 diminished. Its pathogenic properties rapidly disappear in 

 artificial cultures, often after a week ; and the best method of 

 preserving its virulence was found to be soaking silk threads in 

 cultures, and letting them dry. Under these conditions, its 

 virulence was preserved for three or four months. No im- 

 munity was induced in animals by administering gradually 

 increa.sing doses of the toxine elaborated by it in broth. When 

 exposed to the direct rays of the sun, in drops of broth enclosed 

 in a Petri dish, it was destroyed in from eleven to thirteen hours. 



" Lei-t-handedness in North American Aboriginal Art" is 

 the subject of a short essay, by Dr. D. G. Brinton, in the May 

 number of T/w American Aitthropoloi^isl. He finds that a 

 preference for the right hand and side has existed in the 

 majority of mankind from earliest times, though not always in 

 the same degree, and concludes that the ultimate reason for it is 

 to be found in the erect posture of man. "The Anthropoids 

 and other primates closest to men are ambidextrous, display- 

 ing no preference for either hand. But the erect posture 

 introduces a new distribution of force in the economy ; it 

 opposes the povverfiU retardation of gravity to the distribution 

 of the arterial blood above the level of the heart. The great 

 arteries arising from the aorta carry the blood in an appreciably 

 shorter course, and in less time, to the left brain than to the 

 right. Its nutrition, therefore, is the more abundant, and its 

 vitality the more active of the two hemispheres. Hence the 

 right side of the body, which it controls, is more ready to 

 respond to a stimulus on account of its higher innervation." 

 There is also a short note on this subject, by O. T. Mason, in the 

 June number of the same journal. 



Prof. Frank N. Cushinc's expedition to explore the 

 neighbourhood of Pine Island, of which mention was made 

 in Nature several months ago, proved extremely success- 

 ful. Prof. Gushing has just returned laden with rare and inter- 

 esting archieological specimens, and bringing the story of dis- 

 coveries which demonstrate the existence of a prehistoric people 

 in South-western Florida and the neighbourhood, who have 

 left a multitude of mounds and other .structures of couch shells, 

 and whose works seem to furnish the key to much that was in- 

 explicable in American archa;ology. He says that this ancient 

 people difl'ered in many ways from any others hitherto known ; 

 but that they somewhat resembled the .Swiss lake-dwellers in 

 their mode of life, and that their slate of culiure was ([iiite 

 similar and equal to that of the mound-builders and the Mayas 

 and other builders of the ruined cities of Yucatan and Central 

 America. Innumerable islands were found covered with shell 

 foundations, and some with structures covering hundreds of acres, 

 and rising fifty to -sixty feet above the sea. A; low mound, 

 sixty feet in diameter, near Tarpon Springs, was thoroughly 

 NO. 1393, \OL. 54J 



explored; more than six hvindred skeletons were found, besides 

 a large quantity of pottery, stone and other objects of art. 

 At Marco, near the southern end of the Florida Peninsula, 

 extraordinary painted tablets were found ; also many carved 

 wooden vessels, and implements and utensils of shell and 

 bcme. .Sections of the .shell islands made below the gulf 

 level showed them to be entirely artificial, and the result 

 of slow and long-continued building. The civilisation developed 

 on these islands is supposed to have extended .southward to 

 Yucatan, and northward to the abode of the mound-builders. 

 A notable collection of masks was found, put away in sets, each 

 with an appropriate animal figure-head, designed foruse by priests 

 performing the myth drama. The shell structures of the Ten 

 Thousand Islands, as well as those on the mainland, are covered 

 with peat and dense growth.? of mangrove, cactus and other 

 tropical vegetation. The general plan is .similar in all. There 

 is a network of enclo.sures of various sizes, or ridges lead- 

 ing up to terraces crowned by gigantic mounds. A series of 

 level-topped pyramids surround two or three lakes, from which 

 channels lead out to the sea. The resemblance to the ancient 

 cities of Yucatan is striking and instructive. The explorations 

 made lead to the inference that the Ten Thousand Islands are 

 nearly all atlificial. 



The publication of the Annals of the Russian Gentral 

 Physical Observatory for the year 1S93 ''^s enabled Dr. Hann 

 to collate the mean temperature conditions of \'erchoyansk, in 

 Russian Siberia, from observations extending from nine to 

 eleven years. The position of this place, which from the 

 extraordinary lowness of the winter temperatures has become 

 classical from a climatic point of view, is 67° 34' N. lat. and 

 133" 51' E. long. We extract the following remarkable records 

 from the Meleorologische Zeilschrift for June. The figures refer 

 to the lowest monthly means, and the absolute minima, respec- 

 tively : November -47°'6, -72°'4 ; December -63°'0, 

 -82''-8; January -7i°'i, - 90° 'O ; February - 72°-o, -93°'6; 

 March -43' '2, -77° '4. The extraordinary minimum for 

 Februar)- has been quoted previously ; it occurred in 1S92, and 

 is supposed to be the lowest reading recorded in any part of the 

 globe. The mean yearly temperature, corrected for diurnal 

 range, from values calculated by Dr. II. Wild, is i"'o F. 



At the meeting of the French Meteorological Society on the 

 2ndult., M. -Vngot communicated a summary of five years' 

 observations on the velocity of the wmd at the top of the Eiffel 

 Tower and at the Gentral Meteorological Office. These observa- 

 tions fully confirm results previously obtained, and .show that the 

 diurnal variation of the wind on the tower is quite dilVerent 

 from that observed near the ground. The velocity is nearly 

 constant during the night, slackens during the early morning, and 

 reaches its minimum in the afternoon. Near the ground, on 

 the contrary, it is known that it freshens soon after sunrise 

 until early in the afternoon, and then decreases regularly during 

 the night. These results show that this variation is only a 

 phenomenon peculiar to the lowest .strata of the atmosphere. It 

 is interesting to note that it is only necessary to ascend about 

 1000 feet to meet with the conditions known to exist on moun- 

 tains, viz. maximum and constant velocity during the nighl, and 

 decrease of velocity during the day, under the influence of the 

 vertical motion of the air due tu the heating of the soil. 



We are glad to call attention to the publication of Part iv. 

 (vol. iv.) of the Transactions of the Leicester Literary and Philo- 

 sophical Society. Among the contents we notice : " Notes on 

 the Swiss Flora," by Mr. G. G. Turner ; " Note on a Dermoid 

 Tumour from a Frog," by .Mr. F. K. Rowley ; and "• .V 

 Comjiarison between the Lepidoptera of Japan and reat 

 Britain," by Mr. W. j. Kaye. 



