July i6, 1896J 



NATURE 



255 



The publication of a special journal to care for the specific 

 interests of physical chemistry, will commence in October of 

 this year. This Journal of Physical Cliciitislry is to be issued 

 upon the first of every month, except that in July, August, and 

 September no number will appear. It will contain articles 

 embodying original research in all branches of experimental and 

 theoretical physical chemistry ; and this matter will be supple- 

 mented by reviews of the current literature of the subject. All 

 communications concerning articles should be addressed to the 

 Journal of Physual Chemistry, Ithaca, N.\'. The editors are 

 Wilder D. Bancroft and Joseph E. Trevor, assistant professors 

 of physical chemistry in Cornell University. 



In a recent number of the Coinples rcndus (June 22), MM. 

 Lortct and Oenoud give an interesting account of their experi- 

 ments on the effect of Rontgen rays on tuberculosis. Although 

 still incomplete, these experiments seem to indicate that we may 

 have in the new light a remedy for tuberculosis. Eight guinea- 

 pigs were inoculated with the virus of tuberculosis. Three of 

 these were exposed daily for at least an hour to the influence of 

 jxjwerful Rontgen radiations, from April 25 to June 18. The 

 other five were not so treated. In the latter, abscesses were 

 produced and the health deranged. In the three treated with 

 Rontgen rays no abscesses were formed, the health remained 

 good, and the animals increased in weight. 



Tlioijr.H examinations of the contents of stomachs of crows 

 have shown that these birds feed very largely upon noxious 

 insects and other injurious animals, the result apparently does 

 not prove that the crow is a friend to the farmer. A note in the 

 North British Agriculturist reports that much damage has 

 been committed in turnip fields in Annandale during the past 

 few days by crows. The crows, in their search for wire-worms, 

 pull up the young turnips, probably finding a worm at the root 

 of one out of 150 or 200 pulled up. The fact shows the 

 importance of avoiiling conclusions as to the usefulness of a bird 

 merely from determination of food habits. The farmers of 

 Annandale would probably have been better pleased if the crows 

 had fed upon the young turnips instead of wire-worms, for the 

 destruction would not then have been so great. 



TilK third part of Mr. John W. Taylor's valuable "Mono- 

 graph of the Land and Freshwater MoUusca of the British Isles " 

 has just been published by Messrs. Taylor Brothers, Leeds. It 

 deals with the morphology and anatomy of the animal inhabitants 

 of shells, and is illustrated just as clearly and liberally as the 

 previous parts, in which the shells and their auxiliary append- 

 ages were described, Conchologists should be grateful to Mr. 

 Taylor for the pains he is taking to provide them with a trust- 

 worthy and instructive work upon British Land and Freshwater 

 Molluscs. 



Mkssrs. Truslove and Hanson have in the press an 

 illustrated work on " The Natives of Sarawak and British North 

 Borneo," by Mr. Ling Roth. The work will be published in 

 two volumes, and the edition will be limited to seven hundred 

 copies. No complete work dealing with the natives of British 

 Borneo exists, though the history of that very interesting 

 colonial possession could furnish material for a dozen romances. 

 How very completely Sir James Brooke, and his nephew and 

 successor as Rajah (Sir Charles Brooke), have changed the 

 customs of the Dyaks, should be known to all who are 

 interested in methods of establishing British colonies, and of 

 improving the condition of the people who inhabit them. Mr. 

 Ling Roth's work will deal with the people of British Borneo 

 from many points of view, and it promises to be a \aluable 

 contribution to anthropology. 



The South London Entomological and Natural History 

 Society has sent us the abstract of the Proieedings for 1895, 

 NO. I 394, VOL. .54J 



together with the address of the President, Mr. T. W. Hall. 

 Though unpretentious in character, the Society has assisted in 

 the diffusion of biological knowledge by its meetings and 

 collections, and its publications always contain material of 

 interest to every one interested in natural history. Another 

 Society, which has just sent us its Report for 1895, is the 

 Manchester Microscopical Society. First among the contents 

 of this publication is an address by the President, Prof. F. E. 

 Weiss, on "The Influence of External Conditions on Repro- 

 ductive Processes in Plants." The subjects of other papers are : 

 some insect pests, by Mr. A. T. Gillanders ; the organs and 

 function of reproduction in insects, by Mr. F. Paulden ; notes 

 on Hydrozoaand Polyzoa, by Mr. J. Smith ; photo-micrography, 

 by Mr. E. H. Turner ; and the animal life of the Coal-measures, 

 by Mr. Herbert Bolton. May such Societies as these of South 

 London and Manchester long exist to stimulate and encourage 

 biological and microscopical research. 



We have on our table several new editions of scientific books. 

 First among these is the seventh edition of Dr. Benjamin 

 Williamson's " Elementary Treatise on the Integral Calculus " 

 (Longmans, Green, and Co.). The chapter on the calculus 

 of variations has been considerably enlarged, and a brief 

 discussion added on the application of that calculus to 

 double and multiple integrals. A short chapter on the sign of 

 substitution has also been introduced. Messrs. A. and C. 

 Black have published the second edition of " Rheumatism : its 

 Nature, its Pathology, and its successful Treatment," by Dr. T. 

 J. Maclagan. Twenty years ago the author introduced salicin 

 to the medical profession as a remedy in acute rheumatism. 

 In the first edition of this work, published in 188 1, he 

 expounded the miasmatic theory of rheumatism, and offered an 

 explanation of the manner in which the salicyl compounds 

 produce anti-rheumatic effects. In the present edition the 

 whole subject of the pathogenesis of rheumatism, and the 

 curative action of the salicyl compounds, is gone over again. 

 The book thus contains the history of a remarkable and 

 beneficial change in the treatment of a disease which was the 

 despair of a past generation of physicians. A fifth edition of a 

 "Coloured Vade-mecum to the Alpine Flora, for the use ot 

 Tourists in Switzerland," has been published by Albert Raustein, 

 Zurich. The book contains 170 coloured illustrations of Alpine 

 flowers, accompanied by descriptive text in English, French, 

 and German, by L. Schroter and Prof. C. Schroter. The book 

 should be in the hands of every lover of Alpine flowers ; and 

 it will be found a pleasant companion to the many tourists 

 who, during the next few months, will wander about the 

 Alps. The pleasing and elegant " Ros Rosarum, ex Horto 

 Poetarum," by E. V. B. , the second edition of which has been 

 published by Mr. Elliot Stock, contains a wealth of poetic 

 extracts having the rose for their theme. The quotations show 

 that the rose has been honoured and admired in almost all times 

 and places. The twenty-eighth edition of " Skertchly's 

 Physical Geography," revised by Mr. J. H. Howell, has been 

 published by Mr. Thomas Murby. Mr. Howell has made a 

 number of requisite alterations in the text, but the book is still 

 badly illustrated. 



The annual Report (1S94-95) of the Director of the Field 

 Columbian Museum, Chicago, has been received. A large 

 number of accessions to the collections have resulted from the 

 expeditions sent out by the Museum. In October 1894, Mr. 

 Allison V. Armour, of Chicago, invited Dr. Millspaugh, of the 

 Department of Botany, and Prof. Holmes, of the Department 

 of Anthropology, to accompany him on his yacht to Havana, 

 Progreso, the islands on the east coast of Yucatan, Laguna di 

 Terminos and Vera Cruz. On this expedition. Dr. Millspaugh's 

 work resulted in the acquisition of nearly eight hundred speci- 



