o/- 



NA TURE 



[August 20. 1896 



of the Wisconsin Academy, is given in the American Naturalist. 

 The evidence offered by the authors is based upon a study of 

 twenty species of Attidi^. This study extended over eight suc- 

 cessive summers, during which notes were made of many 

 hundreds of observations. The movements and attitudes of the 

 spiders of the group chosen are wonderfully vivid and expressive. 

 The males, in the mating season, throw themselves into one 

 position when they catch sight of a female, and into quite 

 another at the appearance of another male. This power of 

 expression through different attitudes and movements was of 

 great assistance in determining not only its range of sight, but 

 also its power of distinct vi.sion. The results of these experi- 

 ments are summed up as follows : — " The Attidie see their prey 

 (which consists of small insects) when it is motionless, at the 

 distance of five inches ; they see insects in motion at much 

 greater distances ; they see each other distinctly up to at least 

 twelve inches. The observations on blinded spiders, and the 

 numerous instances in which spiders were close together, and 

 yet out of sight of each other, showing that they were un- 

 conscious of each othei's presence, render any other explanation 

 of their action unsatisfactory. Sight guides them, not smell." 



We learn from Science that the U. S. Weather Bureau has 

 issued what it calls a " souvenir" map of the St. Louis tornado 

 of May 27. On one side there is a map showing the weather 

 conditions over the United States on the evening of that day, 

 with the tornado districts indicated by red crosses, and with a 

 brief descriptive text beneath. On the reverse side is an 

 explanation of the wind, weather, and temperature signals of the 

 Bureau. 



The Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean for the month 

 of .August shows the probable routes followed by eighty-two 

 bottle-papers thrown from vessels and returned to the U.S. 

 Hydrographic Office between December I, 1895, and June i, 

 1896. Some of the individual drifts are very noteworthy, 

 but the general course of the bottles clearly illustrates the 

 two main features of the general surface circulation of the waters 

 of the North Atlantic : (l) a vast but gentle eddy extending from 

 the equator to the parallel of 48^ N., and completely enclosing 

 that portion of the ocean lying between the trades and the anti- 

 trades, in which the currents are feeble in force and variable in 

 direction; and (2) the so-called extension of the Gulf Stream, 

 which proceeds north-eastward and skirts the shores of Iceland 

 on the one hand, and Scotland and Norway on the other. The 

 principal meteorological feature during July was the large areas 

 of fog reported. Several westward-bound vessels met the fog 

 near 25° W. , and, with the exception of short intervals, did not 

 have clear weather again till reaching the American coast. 



Referring to M. Marmier's paper on the action of currents 

 of high frequency on microbic poisons (noticed in Nature for 

 July 30), Dr. d'Arsonval writes to the Socidte Francaise de 

 Physiijne pointing out, in the first place, that he has succeeded 

 in attenuating poisons when frozen, and, in the second place, 

 that he has destroyed the virulence of the venom of the cobra 

 snake by means of currents of high frequency at a temperature 

 nut exceeding 40', although, according to MM. Phisalix and 

 Bertrand, this venom does not ordinarily lose its virulence till it 

 has been heated to 150° in sealed tubes. Dr. d'Arsonval has 

 been led to the conclusion that the action is not due to any 

 heating effects, but is rather of an electrolytic nature. It is not 

 here a matter of ordinary electrolysis with liberation of chemical 

 constituents in the neighbourhood of the electrodes, but rather a 

 series of alternating decompositions and recombinations follow- 

 ing each other in rapid succession from molecule to molecule 

 without giving rise to any free products. 

 NO. 1399, VOL. 54] 



The goats of Anatolia seem to be remarkable for their 

 susceptibility to a particular form of pneumonia which, although 

 in some respects resembling the pleuro-pneumonia to which 

 calves are addicted, is yet quite distinct in its microbic origin. 

 M. Nicole, formerly assistant at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, 

 and now director of the Imperial Bacteriological Institute in 

 Constantinople, has made a careful study of this disease, in con- 

 junction with one of his assistants, Kefik-Bey. Constantly 

 associated with the disease the authors have found a bacillo- 

 coccus which, as its name indicates, is polymorphic in appear- 

 ance, and might by some be regarded as belonging to a group 

 of micro-organisms known under the collective title of the 

 "bacteria of hajmorrhagic septicemia,"' of which the fowl- 

 cholera microbe is usually taken as the type. This group owes 

 its origin to a hypothesis of MM. Nocarde and Leclainche, 

 who regard the various organisms associated with hemorrhagic 

 septicaemia as mere variations from one parent form, the ovoid 

 bacterium. This hypothesis, although attractive, requires further 

 experimental confirmation before it can be unhesitatingly 

 accepted ; and M. Nicole considers that he has shown by his 

 investigations that the organism which he has discovered to be 

 the pathological agent in this pneumonia affection of Anatolian 

 goats, is entirely distinct from that associated with the closely- 

 allied pneumonic disease to which calves are subject. 



A great deal has been written about the difficulties surround- 

 ing the production of diphtheria toxines of efficient strength in 

 a reasonable space of time. Some investigators have stated 

 that an abundant supply of air is essential in the culture flasks, 

 and specially constructed vessels admitting a current of air have 

 been devised ; others, again, assert that meat which has almost 

 commenced to putrify is far more effective than fresh meat. 

 M. Nicole, however, now tells us, in a recent number of the 

 Anna/es de C Inslitnt Pasteur, that he can procure a powerful 

 toxine in the simplest and briefest possible manner by employing 

 the juice of beef only a few hours after it has been killed, with 

 addition of peptone and salt, the whole being brought to the 

 boiling-point, then filtered, rendered strongly alkaline, and 

 heated for ten minutes at 120° C. After being again filtered, 

 it is distributed in any sort of vessel which may be to 

 hand, and sterilised by being subjected for a quarter of an 

 hour to a temperature of 115" C. The diphtheria nucrobe is 

 introduced, and the cultures are kept for five days at 37° C, 

 when a toxine of high toxic quality is ready for use. This 

 simple process ought to recommend itself to all who have the 

 preparation of diphtheria toxines to superintend, for M. Nicole 

 tells us that the results he has obtained have never failed, but, 

 on the contrary, have been absolutely constant. 



A LETTER from Messrs. P. and F. Sarasin to the Freiherr von 

 Richthofen, announcing their return from an exploration of the 

 south-east arm of Celebes, is published in the Verhandltmgcn 

 der Gesellschaft fi<r Erdkundc zu Berlin. The explorers 

 report the examination of two lakes hitherto almost unknown 

 to Europeans, the Lakes Matanna and Towuti. These lakes 

 lie in an S-shaped depression between two ranges of mountains. 

 Lake Matanna is of great depth, a sounding in the middle giving 

 480 metres without bottom. Remains of a prehistoric village 

 built on piles, and now submerged, were discovered, many of 

 the bronze and pottery articles found being very similar to those 

 obtained in such villages in Europe. The surface of Lake 

 Matanna is about 400 metres above sealcvel, that of Lake 

 Towuti about 350 metres. 



ProI''. Dr. Karl Futterer contributes to the J'erlianJ- 

 lungen der Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde zn Berlin an extremely 

 interesting paper containing a detailed comparison of the Ural 

 and Caucasus Mountains. Discussing the similar origin of the 



