April 29, 1880] 



NATURE 



611 



possibly after they had come into contact with the Japanese, 

 though some of the other heaps I have seen were undoubtedly 

 raised by the Japanese themselves ; in a few cases they appeared 

 of quite recent accumulation. 



Great stress is laid by Prof. Morse upon the platycnemic 

 tibia; found in the heap. But platycnemic tibia?, as Prof. Milne 

 well points out, are characteristic of the Aino race, and, I 

 believe, though I cannot put my hand upon my authority, of 

 other low-type existing peoples. 



The "extraordinary blunder" the usual "Japanese gentle- 

 man " has with patriotic promptness reproved me for making I 

 cannot notice, for I have not hitherto seen any statement or 

 correction of it. But in saying that the eastern portion of the 

 main island was probably peopled by an Aino race up to the 

 fourteenth or fifteenth centuries, and in asserting that Yedo was 

 not founded until the close of the sixteenth century, I was not 

 strictly accurate. The most valuable information to be extracted 

 from native works is to be got at by reading between the lines, 

 and, following this system, I have for my own part arrived at 

 the conclusion that, up to the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries at 

 all events, the country east of the Rokugo River was peopled 

 by a mixed Aino and Japanese race, whom I believe to have been 

 the builders of the mounds. Ota Dokuwan erected a stronghold 

 upon the site of the present castle of Yedo about the middle of 

 the fifteenth century, but the Yedo Meisho (cited by Mr. 

 McClatchie, in his paper on the Castle of Yedo, Tr. Asiat. Soc. 

 Japan, vol. vi. part 1) tells us that up to the end of the sixteenth 

 century it "was merely a small fortification" overlooking, 

 doubtless, an inconsiderable town consisting of a mere aggrega- 

 tion of villages. Iyeyasu made it his capital about 1590, and 

 gave to the city the apt name of Yedo, or Door of the Rivers. 

 What Prof. Morse means by charging me and "so many of" my 

 " countrymen " with "the wilful blunder of calling the principal 

 city of the empire by its wrong name " I cannot imagine. Does 

 he find in the practice some covert "sneer" at things Japanese 

 on the part of the "ordinary Briton"? Then is the "extra- 

 ordinary American," who sheds upon Salem its due supply of 

 zoological light, guilty of the same offence, for in his memoir he 

 talks of "the bay of Yedo," "maps of Yedo," &c. The fact is 

 the expression " Tdkio," invented by the successful party after 

 the Revolution of 1868, would have been unrecognisable by 

 many readers of Nature. Again, Yedo is a Japanese word, 

 and is the name of the city ; Tdkio is a mispronounced Chinese 

 compound, meaning "eastern capital," and is, properly, a mere 

 official designation. So under the Shoguns Yedo was often 

 called by various Chinese styles, but never lost its name of Yedo. 



My belief that the mounds were swept away was founded upon 

 a statement to that effect I saw in a Japanese newspaper since 

 leaving Japan, after many years continuous residence, in January, 

 1879. But whether my belief was right or wrong, I fail to 

 understand how its expression could raise such ire in Salem. I 

 sincerely trust that my inadvertence in not recognising the last 

 plate of the memoir as a copper one will be forgiven. 



Lastly, Prof. Morse complains of my review, as he terms my 

 brief note on his memoir, being written in some "spirit" which 

 he does not "now heed." This is deplorable, for it was written 

 simply in the "spirit" of truth. 



The question of cannibalism is discussed in Prof. Milne's paper 

 in a most interesting manner. I would gladly give a resume of 

 his remarks on this portion of the subject, and answer some points 

 I have left unnoticed both in the memoir and Prof. Morse's letter, 

 but 1 fear that I have already trespassed terribly upon your 

 space. F. V. Dickins 



Arts Club, April, 1880 



The Destruction of Insect Pests by Application of Yeast 

 The article on the destruction of insect pests, &c, in 

 Nature, vol. xxi. p. 447, by Mr. E. R. Lankester, contains 

 statements upon which I beg to make some remarks : — 



" Prof. Hagen has called attention to the old practice of 

 destroying greenhouse pests by the application of yeast." 



It is very interesting to me to hear that this is an old practice. 

 I had never known it, and would be glad to receive any notice 

 where it is published. In the many letters which I received 

 since the publication of my pamphlet, nobody has mentioned 

 that the use of yeast against greenhouse pests is a well-known 

 remedy. Mr. Hovey, for fifty years the editor of the Magazine oj 

 Horticulture, assured me that he never heard of it. After it was 

 suggested by me last year, the application of yeast has proved to 

 be successful against Aphides. 



" He imagines that the yeast-fungus enters the body of the 

 insect on which it is sprinkled, and there produces a growth 

 which is fatal to the insect-life." 



For the experiment with potato-bugs, published in my paper, 

 100 beetles collected the same day and in the same place were 

 divided into two parcels, and both kept in the same room. One 

 parcel was sprinkled on three or four successive days, and most 

 of those beetles died on the eighth day, the last one on the 

 twelfth day. Of the other parcel all but three were alive and 

 bright six weeks later, and more than 50 per cent, lived through 

 the whole winter. I found in the dead ones, which had been 

 sprinkled with diluted yeast, in the large sinus of the wings, 

 spores of a fungus in quantity. The spores resembled those 

 figured by Dr.. M. Reess,' Plate I., Fig. 15, ed, and were so 

 numerous and so distinct that I could not have been deceived, 

 the more as I am familiar with the anatomy of insects and with 

 the blood-fluid and its contents. Not having studied, myself, 

 fungi, I can only state that, after the beetles having died in a 

 manner which showed manifestly an infection, I discovered cells 

 in the blood- fluid which certainly are not to be found in the 

 blood-fluid of unpoisoned insects, and which are similar to the 

 figured ones. 



It is a fact corroborated lately by Mr. A. Giard that a few 

 spores of a poisonous fungus in a comparatively large quantity 

 of water are sufficient to be propagated in caterpillars, which 

 are sprinkled with such water. There is no doubt that a mash- 

 tub into which a diseased insect has once fallen will keep up a 

 sufficient supply. Nevertheless w hen such spores are so common 

 in mash that Dr. Bail, in using brewers' yeast, succeeded in 

 numerous experiments, and that here the use of dry top-yeast, as 

 well as the use of compressed bottom-yeast, gave the same suc- 

 cessful results, I believe that it is of no particular avail to culti- 

 vate artificially Isaria spores in beer-mash. The recommendation 

 to use simply yeast would be sufficient, and so it was given by 

 myself: " The general result of the most accurate investigations 

 of the beer-yeast fungus is entirely opposed to the notion that 

 it can enter an insect's body and produce a disease." I am per- 

 fectly unable to find the publications alluded to, which, of 

 course, would settle the question at once. Nothing in the size 

 and the form of the spores would prevent them from entering 

 the body. 



The ingenious suggestion of a collection and cultivation of an 

 insect's disease-producing fungus was made and published in 

 1874 by Dr. John L. Leconte, from Philadelphia. 



Cambridge, Mass. H. A. Hagen 



Recall of Sights and Tastes 



I think the following two facts, from my own peisonal 

 experience, may be of some interest to Mr. Francis Galton. 



1. In 1S75 I was appointed by the Venezuelan Government to 

 organise the library of the University in this city. The collec- 

 tion contained then about 8,000 different works, which I 

 arranged and numbered on their backs, having no assistant but a 

 servant for the rough part of the labour. Since that time I have 

 been head librarian, it being my duty to be at the library on all 

 mornings, Sundays excepted. It is natural that I should there- 

 fore know the place of every book on the shelves ; but in the 

 case of the more important works, as soon as the title is 

 mentioned I am able to recall to my mind the exact appearance 

 of the books, with their corresponding numbers, the lettering 

 being however much less distinct. It is no case of memory ; for 

 I cannot say what book is to be found under a certain number ; 

 I must first have the image of the book, and afterwards I read 

 its number, as if it were actually before my eyes. A considerable 

 part of later additions to our library was numbered by the 

 assistant librarian, as amongst these books there are but few 

 which I can recall to my mind in the manner described. 



2. In Merida (a western state of Venezuela) the people use a 

 substance called chimd (pronounce checmo). It is made with the 

 juice of tobacco, inspissated to the consistency of syrup, and 

 mixed with powdered tirao, or sesquicarbonate of soda, from a 

 small lagoon near the village of Lagunilla, not far from the 

 town of Merida. The chimd is black, and kept in small boxes 

 made from the horns of cattle. When used a small quantity is 

 put into the mouth outside the gums, where it is slowly dissolved 

 by the saliva, and then swallowed down. Being myself pretty 

 well accustomed to smoking cigars, I once felt desirous to try 



' " Bolanische Untersuchungen fiber die AJcoholgahrungspilie," von Dr 

 Max Reess. (Leipzig, 1S70.) 



