444 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 331 



be successful in opening Central Africa to the influence of Euro- 

 pean civilization, to the benefit of both the African and the needs 

 of our culture. 



A SANDY SIMOOM IN THE NORTH-WEST.i 



May 6 and 7, 1889, will long be remembered by the residents of 

 the North-west. On those days culminated the violence of the dry, 

 south-easterly wind which had prevailed in some portions of the 

 North-west, particularly in central and eastern Dakota, for several 

 days previous. The wind itself, while not specially violent, varying 

 from twenty to forty miles an hour, and perhaps in some places 

 fifty miles an hour, was remarkable for carrying with it clouds of 

 dust andisand, which filled the air and penetrated into houses, and 

 blinded the traveller who happened to be caught in the roads, and 

 compelled the cessation of nearly all outside labor. The wind 

 prevailed over a large area. It seems to have reached farthest 

 east, and been most violent, on the 6th and 7th of the month. The 

 newspapers gave telegraphic accounts of it in Nebraska, South 

 and North Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota. It probably also af- 

 fected western Wisconsin and considerable portions of Missouri. 



A strong south-easterly parching wind, prevailing for several 

 days, about that time in the spring, is a familiar fact to old resi- 

 dents who have taken note of the peculiarities of the north-western 

 climate. It more frequently comes after spring vegetation is more 

 advanced than it was this season on the days mentioned ; and its 

 effect on small, tender twigs is disastrous. It is enervating to all 

 animals, and merciless on the wilting vegetation. But prior to this 

 wind, which was followed everywhere by copious rains, the spring 

 of 1889 in the North-west had been dry ; and this was intensified 

 in its effect on young vegetation by the preceding dry and open win- 

 ter. All springs and streams were unwontedly low : hence the 

 soil was loose, and exposed to the attack of this wind. Grass was 

 not so large as usual, and did not shield the soil. Extensive prai- 

 rie and forest fires had recently denuded large tracts of much of 

 the protection which vegetation otherwise would have furnished. 

 Circumstances were favorable, therefore, for the air to become 

 filled with flying particles, caught up from the ploughed fields, from 

 the blackened prairies, from the public roads, and from all sandy 

 plains. These particles formed dense clouds, and rendered it as 

 impossible to withstand the blast as it is to resist the blizzard 

 which carries snow in the winter over the same region. The soil 

 to the depth of four or five inches in some places was torn up, and 

 scattered in all directions. Drifts of sand were formed, in favora- 

 ble places, several feet deep, packed precisely as snow-drifts are 

 under a blizzard. It seemed as if there were great sheets of dust 

 and dirt blown recklessly in mid-air ; and when the wind died 

 down for a few moments, the dirt, fine and white, almost seemed 

 to lie in layers in the atmosphere, clouding the sun, and hiding it 

 entirely from sight for an hour or more at a time. It was so 

 fine, and penetrated the clothing so, that life was burdensome to 

 those who must face the storm. Mr. C. W. Fink of Woolsley, 

 near Huron, Dak., stated that it was almost impossible to live out 

 of doors at some periods of the storm, and that he would " much 

 rather take his chances in the big blizzard of two years ago." 

 While on his way to St. Paul over the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and 

 Manitoba Railroad, Mr. Fink said the train passed through what 

 was apparently a storm of fine dust which seemed to be almost 

 white. It looked much like a snow-storm, and the sun was hid. 

 It was impossible to distinguish obstacles at a distance of more 

 than a few feet away. These phenomena in their intensity did not 

 appear at Minneapolis; but they were witnessed in the more open 

 or originally prairie tracts, and are given on the authority of others. 

 During a residence of seventeen years at Minneapolis, the writer 

 has not before witnessed any thing that would compare with this 

 simoom-like storm. 



The occurrence of this storm has a bearing on theories of the 

 origin of the loess. Its area is that over which the loess is abun- 

 dant. It would not take long for any beholder to be convinced 

 that there was enough material being transported in the wind to 

 constitute, when deposited in water, or even piled up as dunes and 

 spread as surface sheets, after a few years, a stratum as thick as. 



Geologist. 



and constituted like, that of the Missouri-Mississippi Valley. 

 Given such a wind over the same region, periodically, under the 

 same parched condition of the surface, it would only require an ex- 

 panse of water in which this dust could settle, to form a loess clay, 

 or loam. With the accompanying and following rains, other par- 

 ticles would be washed down from the lands, mingling with some 

 strata of sand or of gravel, and a transition from loess to drift- 

 sand would be built up such as has been described in several 

 places. 



THE SPIDER-BITE QUESTION. 



The following item appeared in the Evening Star (Washing- 

 ton) for March 12, 1889, and is a fair sample of the newspaper 

 reports in reference to spider-bites which are so common : " Mr. 

 Tileston F. Chambers, son of Mr. D. A. Chambers of this city, 

 came home from Princeton with several fellow-students to spend 

 the inauguration holidays. On Saturday, March 2, he was bitten 

 twice on the arm by what the doctor said must have been a black 

 spider, with the most alarming results. Blood-poisoning and jaun- 

 dice followed, but by careful treatment he is now rapidly recover- 

 ing. The physician said that another bite would undoubtedly have 

 proved fatal." 



Learning by correspondence from Mr. D. A. Chambers that the 

 physician in charge was Dr. Z. T. Sowers of Washington, a well- 

 known and prominent practitioner, a representative of the Entomo- 

 logical Bureau, Washington, called upon Dr. Sowers, who stated 

 that he knew little more than was given in the newspaper state- 

 ment. He said that he had had several such cases in his practice, 

 and that he was accustomed to attribute these bites to black 

 spiders, for the reason that he knew of no other insect found in 

 such localities which could produce the effect. The room in which 

 young Mr. Chambers was bitten was one which had long been dis- 

 used, and he occupied it on the night of March 2, for the reason 

 that the rest of the house was full of inauguration visitors. Thus 

 there is nothing special connected with this instance. 



Professor Riley, United States entomologist, is under the im- 

 pression that certain of these cases result from the bite of the 

 blood-sucking cone-nose {Conorrhinus sanguzsuga), — an insect 

 which is occasionally found in houses, and which is able to inflict 

 a very severe wound with its beak. 



Evidence in regard to fatal bites is very weak, with the exception 

 of the genus Latrodectus, and this genus is never found in out- 

 houses or disused rooms. Dr. Elliott Coues calls attention to the 

 fact, that, if the Latrodecttis stories are true, we have a case in 

 this creature of the most powerful poison known. With the most 

 poisonous snakes an appreciable quantity of poison, say one or two 

 drops, is injected into the wound, but with the Latrodectus an in- 

 finitely smaller quantity seems to produce as strong an effect. 



In this connection the editor of Insect Life quotes an item for 

 the reliability of which the Scientific American is responsible : 

 " Professor Breeger has recently investigated the poisons of spiders. 

 He found that the Russian varieties of spider, Phalanchiiim and 

 Trochosa {Tarantula), are non-poisonous, but that a third, Cara- 

 curt, or ' black wolf,' secretes a powerful poison, forming twenty- 

 five per cent of its whole weight. This substance is a peculiar un- 

 stable alkaloid, destroyed at 60' C. or by alcohol. Introduced into 

 the circulation of warm-blooded animals, one-thirtieth of a milli- 

 gram per kilogram of the animal treated was sufficient to cause 

 death. It exceeds in power all known vegetable principles and 

 prussic acid, being comparable in toxicity with the poison of 

 snakes." 



The following letter from Mr. R. Allan Wight of New Zealand, 

 also bearing on the subject, is appended : " What Dr. Wright 

 told you about the Katipo is perfectly correct. I was then living 

 close by, and knew all the parties and all the circumstances, and 

 my sons also remember it all. It was as clear a case of Katipo 

 poisoning as possible ; and the man said he saw the spider bite 

 him, and minutely described the spider, which description tallied 

 exactly with its proper one. A case occurred at Whangarei a few 

 weeks ago, where a man was bitten and suffered a good deal, and 

 I have written to the medical man who attended him, and will let 

 you know the result. I am also going soon on another long tour 



