4,<^4 



NA TURE 



[Sei'tembkk I 7, li 



means is adopted for bringing the balloon to earth. A stout pole, 

 lo feet long, is laid on the wire, and a couple of sappers take 

 hold of each side, and double along, pressing on the pole all the 

 time. The balloon is then made to come to earth in about two 

 minutes ; of course, some distance from the waggon. To let it up 

 again, they double back, keeping the pole of the waggon horizontal; 

 this system naturally saves much time and winding. To move 

 the balloon from place to place, it is pulled down until it is on 

 the top of the waggon, where it is held while the waggon is being 

 driven along. The value of a balloon, the correspondent says, 

 can hardly be over-estimated, both for reconnoitring the enemy 

 and also as a means of keeping a General informed of the posi- 

 tions reached by his own troops. Sketches showing accurately 

 all the enemy's dispositions can be thus easily obtained, which 

 would otherwise have to be done by mounted troops, and, 

 perhaps, not so thoroughly. 



Considerable danger appears to attend the consumption of 

 the popular Norwegian cheese known as " Pult-ost" or " Knad- 

 ost," in consequence of the vigorous kneading which it under- 

 goes in process of manufacture. Several authentic instances of 

 severe attacks of intestinal catarrh having followed the eating of 

 this particular variety of cheese, attention has at last been 

 directed to the subject, and an elaborate investigation has lately 

 been carried out by Dr. Axel Hoist, of Christiania. The 

 bacteriology of the cheese in question has been specially studied, 

 and elaborate examinations were made of those cheeses to which 

 the above epidemic was attributed. The results obtained are of 

 considerable interest ; for not only has Dr. Hoist isolated out the 

 responsible microbe, but he has identified it as being a virulent 

 variety of the B. coli communis. Thus fresh evidence is to hand 

 in support of the now frequently expressed view that this 

 microbe, so extensively present in our surroundings, and normally 

 present in the animal system as a harmlesss saprophyte, may by 

 some process, at present unknown to us, become endowed with 

 highly toxic properties. Dr. Hoist suggests that the original 

 infection of the milk may have been brought about by want of 

 cleanliness in milking, coupled with an unhealthy condition of 

 the cow itself — circumstances which have already been proved to 

 have induced di.irrhrea in the case of persons who consumed 

 such contaminated milk. 



Dr. C. Hart Merriam, of the U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture, has prepared a synopsis of the weasels of North 

 America, which has just been issued from the Government 

 printing office. Dr. Merriam recognises one ferret and twenty- 

 two weasels, as being at present known in North America, and 

 refers the former to the sub-genus Ptitorius, and the latter to the 

 sub-genus Ictis of the same genus. Eleven species of North 

 American weasels are now described as new for the first time. 

 Five plates are added to this excellent memoir to illustrate the 

 skulls and dentition of the various species. 



From a memoir lately presented to the Imperial Academy 

 of Sciences of St. Petersburg by Herr Eug. Buchner, it would 

 appear that the European bison, in spite of the stringent efforts 

 made by the Czars since the beginning of the present century 

 for its protection, is likely to share the fate of its American 

 relative, and to become extinct as a wild animal. The cele- 

 brated herd of the forest of Bjelowjesha, in Lithuania, which 

 in 1856 was nearly 1900 in number, has of late years become 

 reduced to under 500, and shows no signs of increase. The 

 chief cause of this failing is attributed, by Herr Biichner, to 

 " breeding in," in consequence of the confined area to which 

 these huge animals are now restricted. Another reason is, no 

 doubt, the fact that the male bisons considerably exceed the 

 females in number. We venture to suggest that it would be 

 wise to remove a large number of bisons of the male sex from 

 the forest, and, if possible, to introduce a change of blood from 

 NO. 1403, VOL. 54] 



the second herd of the same animal which still exists on the 

 northern slopes of the Caucasus. 



A VERY interesting feature of primary education in Russia is 

 the establishment and rapid development of small farms, 

 orchards, and kitchen-gardens in connection with many primary 

 schools, especially in the villages. The land for such model 

 gardens, or farms on a small scale, was mostly obtained through 

 free grants from the village communes and, occasionally, from 

 the neighbouring landlords ; while the expenses are covered by 

 very small money grants from the country and district Councils 

 (zeinstvos). To take one province in South Russia, namely 

 Ekaterinoslav, we see from the biennial report, just issued, that 

 not only has almost every school an orchard and kitchen-garden 

 for the use of the schoolmaster, but that nearly one-half of the 

 schools in the province (227 out of 504) are already in possession 

 of small model kitchen-gardens, orchards, tree-plantations, or 

 farms, at which gardening, sylviculture, and sericulture are 

 regularly taught. The teaching is mostly given by the school- 

 masters, who themselves receive instruction in these respective 

 branches at courses voluntarily attended in the summer, or 

 occasionally by some practical specialist of the neighbourhood. 

 The province of Ekaterinoslav being mostly treeless, special 

 attention is given to tree plantations and, next, to silkworm 

 culture. The aggregate area of the 227 school-farms or gardens 

 attains 283 acres, and they contained, in 1895, 111,000 fruit 

 trees and 238,300 planted forest trees; nearly 14,000 of the 

 former and 42,000 of the latter having been distributed free 

 among the pupils during the same year. The money grants for 

 these 227 gardens were very small — i.e. a little over three hundred 

 pounds (^^314). Besides, over a thousand beehives are kept, 

 partly by the schoolmasters and partly by the children ; and 

 some schools had vineyards in connection with them. This 

 movement has widely spread over difi'erent provinces of Central 

 Russia, where the culture of cereals dominates at the school 

 farms ; while in Caucasia attention is especially given to the 

 silkworm culture and the culture of the vine. 



The following particulars of munificent gifts and bequests to 

 libraries of America are gathered from Science : — The New 

 York Free Library, from members of the Astor family, about 

 ;^330,ooo ; from James Lennox, ;^i47,ooo, in addition to books 

 and land ; from the Tilden estate, ^400,000 ; the John Crerar 

 Library, of Chicago, from the founder, about ^540,000 ; the 

 Newberry Library, of Chicago, from the founder, about 

 ;£'50o,ooo ; the Carnegie Library, of Pittsburg, from the 

 founder, ^^420,000 ; the Enoch Pratt Free Library, of Baltimore, 

 from the founder, about ^216,000; the Library Company, of 

 Philadelphia, from the founder. Dr. Rush, about ^212,000 ; the 

 Library of Columbia University, from President Low, ;^20O,ooo. 



The first article in the September part of the Geological 

 Magazine is devoted to an historical account of the Palajonto- 

 graphical Society of London, the jubilee of which was celebrated 

 on June 19 last. The origin of the Society was mainly due to 

 the prior issue of Sowerby's " Mineral Conchology,'' of which 

 the first part appeared in June 1812, and was followed by other 

 parts for over thirty years. The portions of this work w-ere 

 brought out slowly and irregularly, and rarely illustrated more 

 than ten species at one time, and it was thought that as 

 the " Mineral Conchology," at its then rate of issue, could 

 not possibly depict all the British fossils within a moderate 

 period, it would be well to have recourse to another method. 

 The outcome of the suggestion made was the calling together 

 of a meeting on March 23, 1847, at the apartments of the 

 Geological Society, with Sir Henry De la Beche in the chair, 

 when it was resolved that a Society be constituted, the object 

 of which should be "to figure and describe as completely as 

 possible a stratigraphical series of British fossils." The meeting 



