318 



SCIENCE. 



[N.S. VoL.XVIir. No. 453. 



among' the following sections: sanitary assist- 

 ance; public hygiene; clinico-scientific and 

 therapeutic; medical jurisprudence and acci- 

 dents to workmen; professional interests. 



At the instance of the German minister of 

 commerce several high mining officials will 

 shortly be sent to England to make a thor- 

 ough study of the hygienic and sanitary ar- 

 rangements in mining districts. 



According to Terrestrial Magnetism the 

 Dutch government has granted the means for 

 a new magnetic survey of the Dutch archi- 

 pelago during the years 1904r-1907. During 

 each of these years the field work is to cover 

 two to four months, only a general survey 

 being possible with the present means. A 

 beginning has already been made, observa- 

 tions having been made on the ' tin island,' 

 Billiton, and at some points in the neighbor- 

 hood of Batavia, and it is also hoped to secure 

 values at different stations in Java partly to 

 obtain early information regarding the secular 

 variation. 



A DAILY medical journal, edited by Dr. M. 

 W. Curran, is announced for publication, be- 

 ginning in October. 



Major Penton, principal medical officer of 

 the Soudan, has written a letter to Major 

 Eonald Eoss, which the latter communicates 

 to the London Times. Major Penton writes: 

 As the iprevention of malarial fever is of the 

 utmost importance to us in the Soudan, I 

 have recently paid two visits to Ismailia to 

 study on the spot the measures , which, on 

 your recommendation, are now being enforced 

 for the destruction of mosquitoes. The re- 

 sults have been remarkably successful. The 

 town is practically free from mosquitoes, 

 which only a short time ago were very abun- 

 dant. Mosquito-nets can almost be dispensed 

 with, for one can now sleep without being 

 bitten, as I found from personal experience. 

 The operations you recommended are in full 

 swing. Two marshy swamps to the north- 

 east of the town have been filled up with 

 sand, and a third, the largest, will shortly be 

 dealt with. It will be drained by a pipe twenty- 

 two centimeters in diameter, to convey away 

 the water. Other marshes to the south of 



the town have been filled up. At my last 

 visit I saw a gang of 180 workmen busily em- 

 ployed in filling up pools, mowing the coarse 

 grass and undergrowth and clearing the nu- 

 merous small channels or branches in connec- 

 tion with the main canal. The foreman of 

 works informed me that when the men first 

 commenced operations they were much wor- 

 ried with swarms of mosquitoes towards even- 

 ing, but that now they scarcely saw any. 

 Coincident with the destruction of mosquitoes 

 and other larvae, malarial fever at Ismailia 

 this year shows a most striking improvement. 

 All medical officers employed there are agreed 

 upon this. Statistics show that up to the 

 present it is the healthiest year on record. 

 Dr. Pressat informed me that from January 

 1 to June 30 of this year there were only three 

 cases of malarial fever in hospital, against 

 52 for the same period last year, and that 

 throughout Ismailia there were 569 cases of 

 fever from January 1 to May 30, 1902 (an 

 average year), against 72 for the same period 

 this year. It is more than probable, more- 

 over, that many of the cases were relapses from 

 previous infection. Bearing in view the re- 

 markable diminution in malarial fevers that 

 has attended the present operations against 

 mosquitoes, it is more than probable that when 

 they are completed, malarial fevers will have 

 practically disappeared. 



In his report to the United States Geological 

 Survey on the production of petroleum in 

 1902, now in press, Mr. F. H. Oliphant notes 

 the following points as the most conspicuous 

 features in the production, sale and export of 

 crude petroleum and its products for the year 

 1902 : The production of crude petroleum was 

 greater than that of any previous year; there 

 was a slight decrease in production of the Ap- 

 palachian field, and a slight increase in the 

 Lima-Indiana field; the general average price 

 for crude petroleum was less than in any year 

 since 1898 ; stocks held in the Appalachian and 

 Lima-Indiana fields showed a considerable de- 

 crease, principally in the Appalachian field; 

 the- exports of petroleum in 1902 were less 

 than in 1901 ; no new pools were discovered in 

 1902. The total production in the United 



