SCIENCE. 



Editorial Committee : S. Newcomb, Mathematics ; R. S. Woodward, Mechanics ; E. C. Pickering, As- 

 tronomy ; T. C. Mendenhall, Physics ; R. H. Thiteston, Engineering ; Ira Remsen, Chemistry ; 

 Joseph Le Conte, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography; O. C. SIaesh, Paleontology; W. K. 

 Brooks, Invertebrate Zoology ; C. Hart Merriam, Vertebrate Zoology ; N. L. Britton, 

 Botany ; Henky F. Osborn, General Biology ; H. P. Bowditch, Physiology ; 

 J. S. Billings, Hygiene ; J. McKeen Cattell, Psychology ; 

 Daniel G. Brinton, J. W. Powell, Anthropology. 



Friday, February 15, 1895. 



CONTENTS: 



The Influence of Certain Agents in Destroying the 

 Vitality of the Typhoid and of the Colon Sacillm: 

 John S. Billings and Adelaide Ward Peck- 

 ham 169 



Current Notes on Physiography (/.).' W. M. 

 Davis 174 



TTie Needs of Meteorology : CLEVELAND Abbe . . . 181 



CorrCKpondcnee : — 182 



A Card Catalogue of Scientific Literature : H. 

 P. Bowditch. 



Sdentifie Literature : — 186 



Organic Coloring Matters: lEA REMSEN. 

 Thompmn^n Electricity and Magnetism: T. C. 

 M. The Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania; Birds 

 in the Museum of Natural History, Netc I'oiA" 

 City: C. Haet Merriam. BusseIVs Dairy 

 Bacteriology : H. W. C. Botanical : Albert 

 Schneider. 



Notes and Neies : — 190 



The Thompson Prize ; Entomology ; Cooling of 

 Hospitals ; Pithecanthropus Erectus. 



Societies and Academies : — 193 



New York Academy of Sciences, Section of Geol- 

 ogy and Mineralogy. 



Scientific Journals 195 



New Books 196 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 

 for review sliould be sent to the responsible editor, Prof. J. 

 McKeen Cattell, Garrison on Hudson, N. Y. 



Subscriptions ( five dollars imnually) and advertisements 

 should be sent to the Publisher of Science, 41 East 49th St., 

 New York, or Lancaster, Pa. 



THEINFLUENCB OF CERTAIN AGENTS IN DE- 

 STROYING THE VITALITY OF THE TY- 

 PHOID AND OF THE COLON BACILLI'S. 

 During the last year a series of re- 

 searche.s upon tlie influence of liglit, of 

 deeiccation. and of the products of certain 

 micro-organ i.sm.s upon the vitality of some 



of the pathogenic bacteria has been car- 

 ried on in the Laboratory of Hygiene of the 

 University of Pennsylvania, bj- Dr. Ade- 

 laide W. Peckham, in accordance with a 

 general scheme for such investigation pre- 

 pared by Dr. AVeir Mitchell and Dr. Bil- 

 lings, the Director of the Laboratory, and 

 with the aid of a grant from the Bache fund. 

 A portion of the results obtained in this re- 

 search has been communicated to the Na- 

 tional Academy of Sciences at its meetings 

 in April and in October, 1894 ; but as the 

 volume of the Transactions of the Academj- 

 which will contain these papers will not be 

 issued before next year, it has been thouglit 

 best to publish some account of tliese ex- 

 periments without further delay. 



That direct sunlight kills or stops the 

 growth of certain bacteria has been known 

 since 1877, when Downes and Blunt pre- 

 sented to the Koyal Society a report on 

 " Researches on the effects of light upon 

 bacteria and other organisms."* Since 

 that date a number of papers on this subject 

 liave been published, the most imjiortant 

 one in relation to the typhoid bacillus being 

 that of Janowski in 1 SOO.f The fii-st series 

 of experiments bj- Dr. Peckham was made 

 with the daphijlococeus pyogenes aureus, the 

 object being mainly to determine the best 

 methods of investigation. 



* Proc. Roy. Soc. 1877, vol. 26, p. 488. 

 t Zur Biologic der Typhn.s Bacillen, Centralbl. f 

 Bakteriol, etc., VIII., 1690, pp. 167, 193, 230, 262. 



