December 16, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



869 



enforced was three weeks, and the longest three 

 months. Dr. Haflfkine was next examined. 

 He described the constituents of his plague pro- 

 phylactic, the method of its application, and 

 the general result. After the sittings at Bom- 

 bay the Commission will proceed to Calcutta, 

 which will be reached about Christmas. Hav- 

 ing taken evidence in the Northwestern Prov- 

 inces and the Punjab as to the outbreaks, 

 the Commissioners will visit Sind, ultimately 

 returning to the Bombay Presidency, where the 

 proceedings are likely to be protracted, as 

 this has been the principal seat of the epi- 

 demic. 



President McKinlby's message to Congress 

 contains almost no reference to the scientific 

 work under the government. It is said in re- 

 gard to forest reservations that at the close 

 of the year thirty forest reservations, not in- 

 cluding those of the Afognac forest and the fish- 

 culture reserve in Alaska, had been created by 

 Executive proclamations under Section 24 of the 

 Act of March 3, 1891, embracing an estimated 

 area of 40,719,474 acres. The Department of 

 the Interior has inaugurated a forest system, 

 made possible by the Act of July, 1898, for a 

 graded force of officers in control of the re- 

 serves. This system has only been in full 

 operation since August, but good results have 

 already been secured in many sections. The 

 reports received indicate that the system of 

 patrol has not only prevented destructive fires 

 from gaiuing headway, but has diminished the 

 number of fires. 



Dr. Eewin F. Smith, of the Department of 

 Agriculture, has been investigating the peach 

 orchards of southwestern Michigan which are 

 suffering from a damaging disease known as 

 ' little peach.' The symptoms of the disease are: 

 (1) dwarfing of the fruit ; (2) retarded ripening 

 of the fruit, or at least absence of any prema- 

 ture ripening; (3) absence of any red spotting 

 of skin or flesh ; (4) dwarfing or yellowing of 

 the foliage from start ; (5) absence of the sprout- 

 ing winter buds. Dr. Smith concludes that the 

 disease is due to a shutting-ofF of the water sup- 

 ply, but whether this is brought about by some 

 parasite, or by droughts combined with over- 

 bearing and with unsatisfactory soil or subsoil 



conditions, can only be determined by long and 

 careful study. 



Mr. Frederick W. Christian, after an ab- 

 sence of nearly nine years, has recently re- 

 turned from his explorations in the Caroline 

 Islands. We learn from the London Times that 

 Mr. Christian stayed nearly three years in 

 Samoa, studying the language and customs of 

 the peoples, especially those who are farthest 

 removed from the settlements of the white man. 

 In Tahiti and the Marquesas he spent two years, 

 carefully and minutely studying and noting 

 down the language, the genealogies, folklore and 

 traditions of the inhabitants. He visited single- 

 handed Spanish Micronesia, in order to obtain 

 some further and minuter information upon 

 certain mysterious ruins reported to exist upon 

 Bonate, or Ponape, and Lele, two islands lying 

 farther to the eastward of the extensive Caro- 

 line chain. The results of Mr. Christian's 

 explorations were as follows : A Pampanga 

 native, since executed by the Spanish for 

 joining the late Philippine rebellion, took 

 some 150 photographs in the districts of Kiti, 

 U, Metalanim, Not and Chokach (wrongly 

 styled Jekoits and Jokoits in the present charts). 

 The walled islets of Nan-Matal, the mysterious 

 Venice of Micronesia, were explored and 

 mapped out fairly accurately. The phonesis of 

 very many native names and their spelling were 

 changed from a meaningless jargon to their cor- 

 rect native renderings and accompanying signifi- 

 cations. He also made excavations in the cen- 

 tral vault of the sanctuary of Nan-Tanach, 

 bringing to light a considerable number of 

 curious tools, implements and shell ornaments 

 of an ancient date. Many of the old native 

 legends and fairy tales were rescued from ob- 

 livion. Some new information was obtained 

 about the flora and marine life of the archi- 

 pelago. The former presence of an early Neg- 

 rito race, conquered and absorbed or overlapped 

 by later waves of Polynesian, Malayan and 

 Melanesian immigrants was fairly established. 

 Also evidence was collected as to the obtru- 

 sion of many Japanese words upon the Micro- 

 nesian area. This was elaborately demonstra- 

 ted by an exhaustive list of 450 English key- 

 words — nouns, verbs and adjectives — in the 

 various Micronesian dialects. Mr. Christian 



