November 4, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



263 



through the same region before, it is pretty certain that she had 

 never travelled just the same road. Coming back I gave her her 

 head, and she made every turn so as to keep the same road as on the 

 going trip, with one exception. In that case she made a short-cut 

 by a diagonal road across a quarter-section, striking the regular 

 road a mile further on, and saving about a quarter of a mile. In 

 going up I should have taken the same route, had I not had some 

 business which required me to go the longer way. At the point 

 where this road turned off, it led toward a hill which concealed 

 its junction with the regular road. I certainly did nothing to 

 guide the mare, and was astonished to see her take the short-cut. 



As Dr. Work has left considerable room for "accident,'' he may 

 be able to dispose of this circumstance in that way, though I can 

 scarcely accept such an explanation. J. M. Aldrich. 



BrooklDgB, S.D. 



That the sense of direction is feeble, if indeed present, in civ- 

 ilized man cannot be denied. I have had some experiences 

 which lead me to suspect that it may be obsolescent rather than 

 quite obsolete. It has frequently occurred that in coming into a 

 strange town or city at night, when compelled to abandon all 

 conscious effort to keep my direction, I have found that in some 

 way I had not lost the points of the compass. These may have 

 been happy accidents, but they may have been cases of uncon- 

 scious orientation. 



Again, upon visiting a cave of considerable dimensions, I pur- 

 posely refrained from any conscious effort in keeping the points 

 of the compass, .with the same result as in the preceding cases. 



To the foregoing I have added some inquiries, and a few obser- 

 vations upon others, and feel that there is some ground for think- 

 ing that there may be a feeble sense of direction still left to us, 

 though so feeble as to be easily overborne by suggestion from the 

 other senses. Charles E. Bessey. 



University of Nebraska, Lincoln. 



one would be bound to torture himself in trying to unravel its 

 vagaries. The careless writer should have no such rule, the care- 

 ful writer needs none. S. W. Wiluston. 

 University of Kansas, Oct. 18. 



On Biological Nomenclature. 



I AM glad to learn, from Dr. Coues's letter in l^cience, that the 

 code of rules promulgated by the American Ornithological Union 

 a few years ago has been rigidly enforced in that branch of biology, 

 and has been found to work admirably in practice. I studied 

 these rules at their appearance with much interest and attention, 

 and have since, so far as possible, endeavored to adhere to them 

 in my own writings, with one exception — that concerning the erec- 

 tion and definition of genera. As I see that the botanists are dig 

 posed to accept this same rule, I shall be glad if a wider discussion 

 may be called out before it becomes established. I refer to canon 

 xlii., which recognizes the validity of generic names unaccom- 

 panied by definition, if described species are pointed out as types. 



Among ornithologists, and perhaps among botanists, such a rule 

 may not be productive of as much confusion and annoyance as is 

 sure to be the case among entomologists. Generic characters are 

 not, and should not be, included in specific descriptions; how then 

 is it possible for the remote student to learn what nomina nuda 

 mean, when it is impossible for him to study the types? He who 

 studies only his own immediate fauna or flora, without a knowl- 

 edge of the allied forms throughout the world, can never be very 

 successful as a systematist, and, if we are to rely upon types, 

 what is the good of a scientific nomenclature? Furthermore, in 

 such a science as entomology, where there is still a tendency to 

 look upon the manufacture of species and genera as the ultimum 

 bonum of the systematist, the mere possibility of such a rule ob- 

 taining currency must have a tendency to foster superficiality, 

 incompetence, and ignorance. While I do not agree wholly with 

 those who look upon the genus as an abstract thing, over and 

 above types, I do protest strongly against the acceptance of a 

 rule that will relieve the namer from the necessity of knowing 

 anything about the things he names. 



The fear of evil results is not a groundless one. Some years 

 ago an Italian writer, with an assurance as boundless as his 

 ignorance, brought forth a new "system" of dipterological classi- 

 fication, with hundreds of new names. Not the slightest attention 

 has ever been paid to his "system;" but, with this rule in force. 



Solid Glycerine. 



Can you inform me, through your magazine, by what chemi- 

 cal, or by what process, glycerine may be solidified, retaining its 

 transparency? Can any reader answer? C. C. Smith. 



New York, Oct. 31. 



BOOK-EEVIEWS. 



Fourteenth Annual Report of the State Board of Health of the 

 State of Connecticut for the Year Ending November iiO,lS9\. 

 New Haven, 1893. 



This report presents fresh evidence that the work undertaken 

 by the various State boards of health is steadily increasing both 

 in scope and in value. This encouraging condition of things has 

 been brought about largely by the adherence of several States to 

 the policy of employing competent expert service. The authori- 

 ties of these States consider that scientific problems can be suc- 

 cessfully attacked only by the most advanced scientific methods, 

 and have in consequence availed themselves of the aid of highly 

 trained chemists, biologists and engineers. A great impetus has 

 been given in this way to the best kind of sanitary work. 



The Connecticut report contains, besides the usual reports from 

 local boards of health and the annual statistics of births and 

 deaths, several special features of more than ordinary importance 

 and interest. Dr. H. E. Smith presents a special report upon 

 "The Origin of Certain Cases of Typhoid Fever from Money 

 Island." Twenty-one cases of typhoid, one of which proved 

 fatal, were traced to the contaminated water used at a hotel on 

 Money Island. From . . . facts concerning the sources of the 

 water used, it appears that during the period August 11 to 14, at 

 which time all of those subsequently taken ill were at the inn 

 together, the drinking-water was obtained from the billiard-hall 

 cistern." Dr. Smith shows further that abundant opportunity 

 existed for the infection of this particular cistern water, and ad- 

 duces convincing evidence that the water was actually infected 

 by a case of " walking typhoid," and that the water thus infected 

 spread the disease. 



Dr. L. S. DeForest, in his article upon " Tuberculosis as a Lo- 

 cal and Contagious Disease in New Haven " discusses the inter- 

 esting question of infected dwellings. Dr. DeForest found from 

 the data of 1876-1890 three principal districts of concentration of 

 tuberculosis in New Haven. From a detailed study of house 

 cases he arrived at the conclusion that houses sometimes became 

 true foci of infection. " We think that the accompanying maps 

 and tables go far to show that consumption is endemic in certain 

 parts of the city; that in these parts there are many houses in 

 which it is distinctly dangerous to live." The value of Dr. De- 

 Forest's interesting paper would be considerably enhanced by 

 the addition of exact references to the writings of Flick, Cornet, 

 and the other workers in this same field. 



The report of the " Examination of Certain Connecticut Water 

 Supplies," by Drs. Samuel W. Williston, Herbert E. Smith, and 

 Thomas G. Lee, covers some two hundred pages and is illustrated 

 with a number of well-arranged charts showing the monthly va- 

 riations of the analyses. In some respects the report merely 

 confirms the previous work of the Massachusetts State Board of 

 Health, but in other respects it improves upon and extends the 

 latter. Fifteen different water supplies were selected for study, 

 and monthly examinations were made of most of these during a 

 period of twenty-three months. 



The special report on the chemical examinations is by Dr. 

 Smith, who in his methods follows closely the chemists of the 

 Massachusetts staff. He, however, expresses his results in milli- 

 grams per litre rather than in parts per hundred thousand, and 

 makes a few other minor clerical changes. The limited resources 

 at his command did not permit him to take up carefully the in- 

 teresting and important question of " normal chlorine;" but his 

 chlorine determinations, so far as they go, support the work of 



