November 22, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



727 



following from the log of our Dutch Harbor Sta- 

 tion, received this morning, may interest you: 

 " The U. S. S. McGuUoch left Unalaska at 6 a.m. 

 (Oct. 15) for a cruise to Bogoslof Island. She 

 returned to Unalaska at 6 p.m. Bogoslof was 

 found very much changed. McOuUock Peak had 

 disappeared, also half of Berry Peak. It is now 

 thought that the eruption of September 1st was at 

 this island." 



A NUMBER of Italian physicians and pro- 

 fessors met at Perugia last montli and organ- 

 ized a society for the study of the history of 

 medicine. 



An institute for cancer research has been 

 established in Japan, and a journal has been 

 established exclusively for the publication of 

 research work on cancer. 



A SPECUL correspondent of the Berlin Lohal- 

 anzeiger has had a conversation with Dr. Koch 

 on board the Prinz Regent en route from East 

 Africa. According to an abstract in the Lon- 

 don Times, Dr. Koch, who is in the best of 

 health, told the interviewer that he had been 

 living for the past eighteen months on a deso- 

 late island belonging to the Sesse group, in the 

 middle of Lake Victoria Nyanza, with an army 

 medical sergeant as his sole white companion. 

 They dwelt in a straw hut similar to those oc- 

 cupied by the natives, and saw only three 

 Europeans throughout their stay. Sleeping 

 sickness is particularly prevalent in the Sesse 

 Islands, the inhabitants of which are gradually 

 dying off through the ravages of the disease. 

 Dr. Koch discovered that the insect known 

 as the Glossina Palpalis, which conveys the 

 germs of the disease (trypanosomse), breeds not 

 only on the banks of the lakes, but also along 

 the streams up to their source. Dr. Koch's 

 remedy, consisting of subcutaneous injections 

 of arsenic, has proved efficacious ; and the chief 

 means of fighting the disease lie in constant 

 medical attendance and in preventing patients 

 from going into hitherto uninfected districts. 

 Professor Koch has ascertained that there is a 

 distinct connection between crocodiles and 

 sleeping sickness. Wherever crocodiles are 

 found the disease may be discovered, but only 

 in places near the banks. The blood of croco- 

 diles forms the chief nourishment of the 

 glossina, which sucks the blood between the 



plates of the animal's hide. The extermina- 

 tion of the glossina is impossible, but the same 

 end may be reached by destroying the croco- 

 diles or by the removal of the bushes and 

 undergrowth where the animals lurk. 



According to a press bulletin of the U. S. 

 Geological Survey the production of platinum 

 in the United States in 1904 was 200 ounces, 

 valued at $4,160 ; in 1905 the production was ' 

 318 ounces, valued at $5,320; in 1906 the 

 platinum production of the country amounted 

 to 1,439 ounces, valued at $45,189, a fourfold 

 increase in quantity and more than eightfold 

 increase in value over the figures for 1905. 

 The principal feature of interest in the plati- 

 num industry during the year was the phe- 

 nomenal rise in prices for ingot platinum, 

 which, beginning with $20.50 per troy ounce 

 on January 6, 1906, had on November 17 

 reached $38, remaining at this figure until the 

 end of the year, after which there was an- 

 other slight rise in price. In February, 1907, 

 for the first time, a distinction was made be- 

 tween ordinary platinum and hard platinum, 

 that is, platinum rich in iridium and osmium, 

 considerable iridium being allowed to remain 

 alloyed in the platinum of the ingots. Such 

 hard platinum was quoted at $41 per ounce 

 on February 23, and this price held until April 

 6, 1907, when the placing on the market of 

 more than 100 pounds of platinum by a new 

 producer interested in American developments 

 checked the advance, and on May 4, 1907, 

 ordinary platinum was quoted at $32 and hard 

 platinum at $35. Then a gradual decline set 

 in and the price in October was $23 for ordi- 

 nary and $25 for hard platinum. 



According to the Journal of the New York 

 Botanical Garden an interesting fungus was 

 recently presented to the garden by the China 

 and Japan Trading Company of the city. 

 A bale of cotton cloth, made in this country, 

 stored for a year in Shanghai, China, and 

 lately returned to New York by a Suez 

 steamer, was wet on the voyage home, and, 

 standing in the warehouse of the company 

 here, developed the fungus. The fruit-body is 

 about ten inches broad, six inches long, and 

 four inches high. It consists of a mass of 



