April 19, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



305 



month, and in a few weeks decimated all the towns in the south of 

 France. Although the Italian authorities on the boundaries be- 

 tween France and Switzerland attempted to stay the progress of 

 the epidemic by imposing the most rigid system of quarantine of 

 all persons and things from infected localities, the disease had 

 passed all sanitary cordons before the end of August, and was 

 numbering its victims daily by hundreds in various parts of Italy. 

 Despite every effort of the health authorities, it crossed the 

 Pyrenees early in 1855, and began the work of destruction in 

 Spain. Before the close of the year it had counted more than a 

 hundred thousand victims in that country. The year following 

 (1886), a passenger-steamer with Italian immigrants landed the 

 pestilence at Rosario, in South America. The cordon sanitaire 

 established in the passes of the Andes by the States of the west 

 coast of South America did not prevent the disease from reaching 

 and ravaging many of the great cities and towns on the western 

 coast. Sept. 23, 1887, and again in the month following, cholera 

 sought to invade our country through Italian immigrants, as it had 

 done in South America the year previous. The story of its advent, 

 arrest, and destruction at quarantine, has been told in my report 

 for 1887. In the five previous invasions of Europe by this disease 

 during the present century, it had succeeded in every instance in 

 reaching our shores, and developing into epidemic proportions. 

 The failure of the pestilence to secure a foothold in our country 

 last year was a triumph, but under difficulties such as the quaran- 

 tine officials at this port, it is hoped, may not again be called upon 

 to encounter." 



Extensive repairs and improvements are now in progress at the 

 quarantine establishment, which will, in the opinion of the health- 

 officer, supply all the conditions necessary to secure the country 

 from any possibility of an epidemic of infectious or contagious 

 disease which may approach from the sea. For this purpose the 

 Legislature has appropriated $121,843. The disinfecting-rooms are 

 thus described. The disinfecting-rooms are divided into three air- 

 tight compartments, with sides and ceilings made of four-inch oak 

 plank covered with felt and galvanized iron, with doors and levers 

 to each compartment ; the outer walls of brick being built hollow 

 so as to retain the heat. The floors are concrete and asphalt, on 

 iron beams and masonry arches. The size of the disinfecting- 

 rooms are two 14 by 19 feet, and one 12 by 19 feet, each 7 feet 

 high. Each disinfecting compartment will be supplied with wire 

 baskets supported on rollers, large enough to hold one immigrant's 

 baggage, arranged in tiers with sufficient interspace to insure the 

 admission of hot or moist steam with the least possible obstruc- 

 tion. The arrangement contemplates the use of moist steam for a 

 few moments before the introduction of superheated steam. The 

 introduction of moist steam first will secure the destruction of the 

 disease germs by superheated steam more certainly and at less 

 temperature, and thereby lessen the danger of injury of the fabrics 

 exposed to a high temperature. In the boiler-room underneath 

 will be placed exhaust-pumps with separate connections to each 

 room, that the air can be exhausted ; so that the articles to be 

 treated may be easily penetrated by the moist steam, as well as 

 other chemicals that may be used in the disinfecting process. The 

 rooms, after being used, will be ventilated into a shaft surrounding 

 the boiler-flue. The superheater will be located under the disin- 

 fecting-room, with all the necessary apparatus outside of the rooms, 

 showing pressure and temperature. 



In 1887 Dr. Smith recommended that a crematory be erected on 

 Swinburne Island, for the cremation of those who die of contagious 

 disease. This was deemed advisable on account of the unfavor- 

 able location of the burial-ground at Seguine's Point, near the ex- 

 treme southern portions of Staten Island, and ten miles from the 

 hospital. Twenty thousand dollars has been appropriated for the 

 purpose, and the quarantine commissioners have been empowered 

 to cause to be incinerated in such crematory the bodies of persons 

 dying at the quarantine hospital from contagious or infectious 

 diseases ; provided, however, that " they shall not incinerate the 

 bodies of any persons, dying as aforesaid, whose religious views as 

 communicated by them while living, or by their friends within 

 twenty-four hours after their decease, are opposed to cremation." 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



The Student's Atlas. By RICHARD A. PROCTOR. London and 

 New York, Longmans, Green, & Co. 8°. $1.50. 



The object of the present atlas is not to convey detailed infor- 

 mation on the geographical conditions of limited areas, but to teach 

 the relations between continents and ^oceans, — an important part 

 of geography-teaching, which has hitherto been sadly neglected. 

 The author. says in his introduction, "In studying the geography 

 of the earth as a whole, in considering the larger problems of geol- 

 ogy, in reading history ancient and modern, in discussing prob-> 

 lems relating to trade and commerce, and in dealing with many 

 other subjects of inquiry, occasion constantly arises for the means 

 of recognizing clearly and readily the relations of the different parts 

 of the earth to each other. An ordinary atlas shows us Europe 

 and it shows us North America, but it presents the two continents 

 on different scales, and, except in the imperfect maps of the two 

 hemispheres or the still more misleading Mercator's charts, it 

 does not show how the two continents are situated with regard to 

 each other. Of the Atlantic Ocean, which is almost as important 

 and interesting a region of our earth as any continent, the ordinary 

 atlas gives no map at all. Any one who wishes to note the nature 

 and relative directions of the tracks across the Atlantic between 

 different parts of the surrounding shores can learn nothing from 

 an ordinary atlas except what is false and misleading. It is the 

 same with all the oceans." For such reasons, which cannot be 

 remedied in an ordinary atlas, the author considers it desirable ta 

 have a companion atlas, treating the earth as a whole. The plan 

 the author has pursued is to divide the earth's surface on the twelve 

 faces of a dodecahedron, each map being made to include the 

 spherical surface circumscribing the pentagonal face of the dodeca- 

 hedron. Thus each map embraces a little more than one-tenth of 

 the earth's surface, and overlaps with the five neighboring maps,, 

 thus giving a good understanding of the relative position of the 

 parts of the earth's surface. The projection chosen is Postel's 

 equidistant projection, the centre of each pentagon being taken as 

 the centre of the projection. This results in comparatively small 

 distortion of scale and angle. The maps are well executed ; the 

 political divisions are designated by different colors. The topog- 

 raphy is very sketchy. The course of ocean-currents is indicated. 



The Eiffel Tower has now attained its full height of 984 feet. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 

 The Century Company have just completed their monumental 

 work on the " Battles and Leaders of the Civil War." An index tck 

 the four volumes is appended to the thirty-second and final part^ 

 In concluding this handsome and valuable work, the publishers 

 may justly feel proud of the achievement. 



— C. W. Bardeen, Syracuse, N.Y., will publish May 15 an inter- 

 teresting historical guide-book entitled " Carleton Island in the- 

 Revolution : the Old Fort and its Builders," with notes and brief 

 biographical sketches, and illustrations by Carleton. 



— Belford, Clarke, & Co. will publish shortly William H. Hern- 

 don's " Life of Abraham Lincoln." Mr. Herndon was for some 

 years the law-partner of Abraham Lincoln, and knew him perhaps 

 as intimately as any person apart from his immediate family. 



— The M. L. Holbrook Company have just ready " Studies of 

 the Outlying Fields of Psychic Science," a work by Hudson Tuttle^ 

 who aims to explain the vast array of facts in his field of research 

 by referring them to a common cause, and furnishes nearly fifty 

 pages of " personal experience and intelligence from the sphere of 

 light." 



— People who are interested in the prohibitory amendment 

 which is now before the State of Massachusetts for popular vote» 

 will find a concise statement of the entire legislation in recent years 

 in " Ten Years of Massachusetts," by Raymond L. Bridgman, 

 published by D. C. Heath & Co. of Boston. It includes the years 

 1878 to 1887 ; and among other important enactments of that 

 period, are the civil damage law, the screen law, the schoolhouse 

 law, and the temperance text-books law. Every new effort of the 

 State to repress liquor-selling is mentioned, and the text of the- 

 most important passages is given verbatim. 



