584 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 203 



of the medical oflficer of the local government 

 board presents the entire question of the destruc- 

 tion of germ-life in a ne^v aspect, including, as it 

 does, a memoir on disinfection by heat, from the 

 pen of Dr. Parsons. The degree of dry heat 

 necessary to kill the germs of diseases well known 

 to be infectious was first investigated. The 

 bacilli of splenic-fever, for example, were killed by 

 exposure for five minutes in a dry heat varying 

 from 212° to 218° F. but their spores did not yield 

 to two hours at 220*. One hour at 245", and four 

 hours at 220'^, achieved the result. Some very re- 

 markable practical instances are given of the diffi- 

 culty with which dry heat penetrates such articles 

 as bedding, blankets, and pillows. - For example : 

 a thermometer enveloped in a roll of flannel, 

 placed in a hot-air bath at 212", only registered 

 130" at the end of one hour ! Dr. Parsons demon- 

 strated by numerous experiments that steam at 

 or above 212° possesses a very much greater 

 power of penetration and disinfection than dry 

 heat, and that, where actual steam cannot be em- 

 ployed, moistening the air of the heated chamber 

 materially reduces the time required for efficient 

 disinfection. Apparatus for thus treating the 

 clothes, etc., of the sick poor ought to be a feature 

 of the municipal arrangements of every city. 



The sewage discussion (started by Dr. Meymolt 

 Tidy's paper, alluded to in this correspondence 

 in the summer) was continued, but not concluded, 

 last night. Dr. Alfred Carpenter made a very 

 strong speech in favor of irrigation, pointing out 

 that the milk obtained from the sewage farm at 

 Croydon was consumed with perfect safety. On 

 the question of standards, a decided opinion was 

 expressed, that these constant discussions of 

 chemists would before long lead to a complicated 

 formula, which would become a standard in a 

 particular case. 



A curious discussion, which attracts a good 

 deal of attention, is now going on upon the use 

 of boracic (or boric) acid for the curing of fish. It 

 is being largely employed by the Norwegians ; and 

 the result is, that Scandinavian herrings are to 

 some extent superseding the Scotch produce in 

 the English market. Opinion is largely divided 

 upon its toxic properties, in repeated small doses, 

 and the whole matter is so new, that experientia 

 (^cet will hardly avail. The first observation of 

 the preservative power of alkaline borates is said 

 to have been made in the case of a dead horse in 

 southern California. W. 



London, Dec. 2. 



Hubert Herkomer, Slade professor of art at 

 Oxford university, proposes to paint before his 

 classes as a means of instruction. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 In referring to the work of the appropriation 

 committee recently on the floor of congress, Mr. 

 Long from Massachusetts remarked that "it 

 ought to be said in justice that the coast survey 

 is in a condition of suspension, owing to the un- 

 accountable, and, I think, culpable neglect of the 

 President to appoint a man of scientific attain- 

 ment at its head. The committee on appropri- 

 ations have some reason for saying that they do 

 not feel like giving full weight to the recom- 

 mendation of a superintendent, unless that super- 

 intendent be a man of scientific acquirements. 

 The gentleman who is at the head of it — an 

 estimable man, who is doing the best he can, and is 

 to be credited for what he has done — is not and 

 does not pretend to be a man of any fitness or any 

 training for the place. He would frankly say, I 

 have no doubt, that he regards himself merely as 

 a locum ten ens, and is ready to give it up when- 

 ever the President will select the proper man. 

 And yet for nearly two years the President of the 

 United States, turning a deaf ear to the demands 

 of science and commerce, refuses to fill this post, 

 for which there is no lack of worthy material, 

 and is making this coast survey the sport almost 

 of public opinion." 



— The recent death of Paul Bert, and the pub- 

 lication of a new edition (Philadelphia, Lippincott) 

 of his ' First steps in scientific knowledge,' are 

 amply sufficient reasons for calling further atten- 

 tion to that admirable little book. Its phenome- 

 nal sale in France, and the large sale of the Eng- 

 lish edition, apart from the intrinsic excellence of 

 the book itself, warrant us in predicting the 

 great success of the edition prepared for American 

 schools by Prof. William H. Greene of Philadel- 

 phia. Though embracing the elementary facts 

 of natural history, geology, physics, chemistry, 

 anatomy, and physiology in some four hundred 

 and fifty duodecimo pages, M. Bert's book is at 

 once thorough, simple, and exact. It is a book 

 which should find its way into every school in the 

 country pretending to give a sound mental train- 

 ing ; and the mastery of it, or its equivalent, 

 should be required for admission to every high 

 school and college in the land. 



— Professor Heinrich von Treitschke of the 

 University of Berlin has been appointed royal 

 historiographer of Prussia, in succession to the 

 late Leopold von Ranke. 



— The steamer A. D. Bache, of the coast sur- 

 vey, will leave New York this week for the coast 

 of Florida, where Assistant Hergesheimer is al- 

 ready at work. Assistant Perkins will commence 

 work on the south coast of Florida about Jan. 1. 



