40 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 210. 



adopted. The burning process was found sat- 

 isfactory as a means of destroying the plague. 

 Mr. Stevens, Deputy-Commissioner, said that 

 68 villages in Haidarabad territory had been 

 attacked during 1898. Disinfection by burning 

 in kilns had absolutely destroyed all germs. 

 No bacteria were found in the ashes ; the 

 plague never reappeared, and the villages were 

 completely disinfected by the kilns. The 

 plague fugitives were sent back in charge of the 

 police. The classes most affected were low- 

 caste Hindus. Mohammedans were not so liable 

 to infection, nor were the herdsmen, who lived 

 in the open air. Age and sex made no apparent 

 difference. Captain Johnson, on December 20th, 

 described experiments which had been made to 

 determine whether living organisms were found 

 in Haflfkine's fluid. Out of six bottles five 

 showed a distinct growth; the other was doubt- 

 ful. Mazhar Husain, a native practitioner, 

 stated that in the villages in the Naldrug dis- 

 trict corpses and theil' appendages were burnt 

 where such a course was not forbidden by re- 

 ligion ; in other cases the dead bodies were 

 buried eight feet deep. The kiln process was 

 adopted with all houses irrespective of individ- 

 ual infection. After the evacuation the fall in 

 mortality was striking. The villages were re- 

 occupied two mouths after the cessation of 

 deaths. No case occurred among infants. Fair 

 success was obtained by treatment with red 

 iodide of mercury pills. Colonel Lawrle, re- 

 called, expressed his willingness to use Haff- 

 kine's fluid if it were rendered sterile, provided 

 it was proved to retain its prophylactic power 

 under those conditions. He admitted that the 

 fluid as now used afforded considerable protec- 

 tion, but denied that it gave immunity. Sterili- 

 zation, he thought, might render it useless. 

 The plague returns for the second week in De- 

 cember showed a further rise for Bombay city 

 and district, and also for Madras and the Cen- 

 tral Provinces. There was a considerable fall 

 in the returns from Mysore. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



In addition to the million dollars given by 

 Lord Strathcona for the endowment of the 

 Eoyal Victoria College for "Women, McGill Uni- 



versity and the endowment of a chair of history 

 by Sir William MacDonald, already announced 

 in this Journal, we are informed that at the 

 same time Lady Strathcona and the Hon. Mrs. 

 Howard each gave $50,000 for the Faculty of 

 Medicine and that the Board of Governors of the 

 University gave $200,000 for general endow- 

 ment. 



At a recent conference on secondary educa- 

 tion convened by Victoria University at Owens 

 College, Manchester, on December 3d, a resolu- 

 tion was passed recommending that the educa- 

 tion department should be represented by a 

 Minister of Education of Cabinet rank. 



GovEENOE Roosevelt will, it is understood, 

 serve actively on the Board of Regents of the 

 University of the State of New York, of which 

 he is ex- officio a member, and will accept the 

 Chairmanship of the Committee on the State 

 Library. Recent Governors of the State have 

 neglected this duty. 



At Trinity College, Cambridge, the Coutts 

 Trotter studentship of the value of £250 for 

 the promotion of original research in natural 

 science, open to graduates of the College not 

 being Fellows, has been divided between H. H. 

 Dale, B.A. (zoology and physiology), and the 

 Hon. R. J. Strutt, B.A. (physics), both scholars 

 of the College. 



De. Eugen Dubois has been called to a pro- 

 fessorship in geology in the University of Am- 

 sterdam. Dr. Kippenberger has been ap- 

 pointed professor of chemistry in the University 

 of Breslau. Dr. Wagner has qualified as do- 

 cent in physical chemistry in the University of 

 Leipzig and Dr. Weiuschenk in mineralogy 

 and geology in the Polytechnic Institute at 

 Munich. In the University of Paris, M. Vidal 

 de la Blache has been appointed professor of 

 geography and M. Seailles has been made pro- 

 fessor of philosophy. M. Lacour has been made 

 associate professor in the Faculty of Science at 

 Nancy. In University College, London, Mr. 

 W. G. Savage has huen appointed as assistant 

 in the department of bacteriology and Mr. G. 

 Bertram Hunt, M.D., has been appointed as- 

 sistant in the department of pathological his- 

 tology. 



