312 



SCIENCE. 



I Vol. IX., No. 217 



the same privilege, but was forestalled by the 

 French delegates, owing to the perseverance of 

 MM. de Mouy and de Montholon. Whether 

 French or American workers do the work, mat- 

 ters little : the essential thing is, that it be well 

 done and profitable to archeology. 



A recent paper read at a meeting of the Bio- 

 logical society spoke at length of the possibility 

 of obtaining glass or crystal lenses thick enough to 

 resist a pressure of a thousand atmospheres. In 

 order to study de visit the influence exerted on 

 animals by high pressures, it was desired to fix 

 in an iron or steel apparatus a lens allowing a 

 constant supervision of what was going on inside. 

 Quartz was first used, but it could not withstand 

 more than four or five hundred atmospheres. 

 Then glass was used, and also a different manner 

 of securing it. The results were very good. By 

 means of the leather half-cylinder used in hy- 

 draulic presses, the glass lens was very well held 

 and made fast, and the lens itself (fifteen milli- 

 metres thick and forty in diameter) supported a 

 pressure of a thousand atmospheres without the 

 slightest inconvenience. 



The first two numbers of the Annates de Vin- 

 stitvt Pasteur have been published, under Pro- 

 fessor Duclaux's direction. They contain much 

 good material. In the first number there is an 

 interesting letter from Pasteur, concerning anti- 

 rabic inoculations in general. The second num- 

 ber contains a paper by M. Roux on culture- 

 methods for antirabic microbes, which will be of 

 nse to many. Dr. Gamaleia has contributed a 

 long and very interesting paper on paralytic rabies, 

 showing that this form of the disease, considered 

 uncommon, and believed by M. Peter to result 

 only from experimental rabies, is in fact common, 

 and has been frequently met with by himself and 

 others. 



The vine-growers of Algeria are now seriously 

 troubled by the destruction caused in their vine- 

 yards by an insect, Altica ampelophaga, which 

 threatens to become a curse, very troublesome, 

 but less dangerous than phylloxera has been to 

 continental vineyards. This insect is becoming 

 very numerous, and its effects are considerable 

 already. In some places more than a third part 

 of the whole production is destroyed by it. It 

 feeds on grape-vine leaves only, eating them as 

 fast as they appear, and ultimately killing the 

 vine. As it is a very prolific insect, giving over 

 five generations in a single summer, much is to be 

 feared fiom it. During the winter it hides in re- 

 cesses under the bark of trees, under dead leaves, 

 in the earth, etc. Many methods have been tested 

 to destroy it, but those that are good cost too 

 miuch. This plague has been long known in 



Spain. In mediaeval times public prayers were 

 ordered in Andalusia when the insects became 

 too numerous. It is unnecessary to say that no 

 results whatever were noticed, and even Catholic 

 Spain now deems it better policy to try and fight 

 the plague without asking for supernatural aid. 



At a recent meeting of the Biological society, 

 M. Ch. Ozanam presented a paper on the use of 

 carbonic acid as an anaesthetic. The carbonic 

 acid, mixed with air, is inhaled. The anaesthesia 

 so induced is a very complete one, without danger, 

 and may last a long time. M. Ozanam has used 

 this method in operations on man, and is quite 

 satisfied with the result. These facts have been 

 confirmed by M. Grihant. It must be noticed 

 that the anaesthetic properties of carbonic acid 

 have long been known. Carbonic acid was most 

 likely the first anaesthetic used, as it has been 

 surmised that the anaesthesia induced by the phy- 

 sicians of ancient Egypt and Greece was due to 

 the carbonic acid evolved by the contact of vine- 

 gar and marble. 



M. E. Berillon has recently published an excel- 

 lent little book giving an accurate account of 

 Paul Bert's work in physiology. It is equally 

 readable for scientists and the general public. 

 The principal results of M. Bert's work in the vari- 

 ous branches of physiology are analyzed and ex- 

 plained in a very clear and correct mann'^r, and a 

 list of his principal contributions is appended. 



A new medical paper has just been started by 

 Professor Grancher of the Paris medical school. It 

 is the Butletin medical, and is expected to prove a 

 success. Medical papers are generally of little 

 value in France, save, of course, those which con- 

 tain only original matter. The papers intended to 

 keep practitioners well posted upon the progress 

 of medical science are very incomplete. None 

 can compare with the Lancet or British medical 

 journal, or with the best American papers. Many 

 of them are worth nothing, and it is a wonder 

 they contrive to live. The Bulletin medical has 

 correspondents abroad in great number, and con- 

 tains a great deal of matter in the shape of origi- 

 nal contributions, chemical lectures, reviews of 

 books and scientific papers, society transactions, 

 etc. It is published twice a week. V. 



Paris, Marcli 9. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 

 Asia. 

 The Russians and the English are equally ear- 

 nestly engaged in exploring central Asia. Mr. A. 

 D. Carey of the Bombay civil service is now mak- 

 ing a journey of considerable interest. Nature 

 says, "Mr. Carey left India in May, 1885, and 



