SCIENCE 



FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, i{ 



It is understood that General Greely has decided to discon- 

 tinue the collection of marine data from masters of vessels, rely- 

 ing upon the Hydrographic Office to furnish whatever information 

 may be needed in the work of his office. This change went into 

 effect Oct. I ; and at the close of this year the Signal Service will dis- 

 continue also all work in connection with the international simul- 

 taneous meteorological observations, e.xcepting so far as may be 

 necessary to complete the publication of the results up to Jan. i, 

 1888, thus bringing to a close a period of ten years' continuous 

 observation. It is greatly to be hoped that the Hydrographic 

 Office will make every effort to continue this very important work, 

 and that Congress will authorize the further publication of the re- 

 sults in some such form as has been hitherto done, and so well 

 done, by the Signal Service. The importance of this comparatively 

 modern and only really scientific method of studying marine mete- 

 orology can hardly be overestimated. Indeed, if the vessels of all 

 nations traversing the North Atlantic could be induced by the Hy- 

 drographic Office to take not merely one observation, but three 

 simultaneous observations daily, corresponding in time to those 

 taken at all our Signal Service stations, it could not fail to result in 

 such an increase in the safety and certainty of navigation, in this 

 the most important ocean on the globe to civilized man, as to make 

 the expense and trouble involved wholly insignificant. The marine 

 data collected by the Hydrographic Office are immediately utilized, 

 so far as possible, in preparing the Mascart cablegram, sent to Eu- 

 rope every night by the Signal Service for the benefit of west- 

 ward-bound vessels, and in compiling the ' Pilot Chart of the 

 North Atlantic Ocean,' issued the first day of each month by the 

 Hydrographic Office as a guide to navigation. In addition to this, 

 all such data have, of course, a further, though less immediate, value 

 as constituting the foundation upon which future progress in the 

 study of ocean meteorology must be largely based. Here, as in 

 every science, old observations and methods of work guide the 

 way to further advances ; so that, with improved instruments and 

 methods, still greater practical benefits can be looked for. The 

 results thus obtained can nowhere be of greater importance to 

 mankind than in the North Atlantic Ocean, the great highway be- 

 tween the Old World and the New. 



The attention of sanitarians throughout the country is 

 centred on New York City and Tampa, Fla. At the former there 

 arrived, Sept. 22, the steamship ' Alesia' from Naples, Italy, with 

 four cases of cholera on board. During the voyage eight deaths 

 had occurred from the same disease. The passengers were not per- 

 mitted to come to the city, but were at once taken to the quarantine 

 islands in the bay of New York. Since the debarkation other cases 

 have occurred among the passengers. The lateness of the season 

 will undoubtedly prevent any extension of the disease to the city this 

 year. The presence of this dreaded disease in the port of New 

 York, and the experience of past years in which the disease became 

 epidemic in this country, should be a timely warning to all sanitary 

 authorities. If cholera is to prevail in the United States during the 

 coming year, it can hardly be expected to appear before spring, be- 

 fore which time at least six months will be available for purposes of 

 a thorough cleansing and purifying of filthy spots in both city and 

 country ; and that community which neglects to take the necessary 

 preparatory measures to cope with the disease must expect to reap 

 the consequences. In connection with this subject it will not be 



amiss to recall public attention to the recommendations which were 

 adopted by the sanitary conference which met at Washington in 

 1884 in anticipation of the arrival of cholera during the following 

 summer, from which we quote, under ' Health Matters,' in another 

 column. As cholera at New York is attracting the attention 

 of sanitarians, equally so is the possible existence of yellow-fever 

 at Tampa, Fla. A telegram from the deputy-collector of Tampa 

 to the Marine Hospital Bureau announces that there have been 

 twenty-six cases of yellow-fever in that place ; and the additional 

 information is given that the doctors disagree as to whether the 

 disease is dengue or yellow-fever. That doctors disagree is not a 

 strange occurrence, and that this disagreement is in reference to the 

 existence of yellow-fever is also no new thing. When undoubted 

 yellow-fever appears in the South, its presence is always denied, and 

 strenuous efforts are made by the local physicians to conceal it ; so 

 that to the recognized sanitary authorities must we look for a true 

 statement of the nature of the disease which now prevails at Tampa. 

 Thus far, nothing authoritative has been made public. Dengue 

 prevailed in the West Indies in 1827, and in the following year 

 made its appearance in the South. In the city of Charleston alone 

 there were ten thousand cases, seven-tenths of the population being 

 attacked. It appeared again in Charleston in 1850, and along the 

 southern coast in 1880. It is commonly known as ' breakbone- 

 fever,' from the fact that one stage of the disease is characterized by 

 severe pains throughout the body. It commences with a feeling of 

 chilliness, followed by fever, during which these pains are felt. 

 Sometimes the joints in the hands and feet become swollen, as in 

 rheumatism. Usually there is an eruption resembling measles. The 

 affection lasts eight days, but a considerable time elapses before the 

 strength of the patient is fully recovered. Some authorities regard the 

 disease as contagious, while others deny it. A micrococcus has 

 been described as being the germ of the disease, but this lacks con- 

 firmation. Fortunately dengue is not often fatal. In this respect it 

 exhibits a marked contrast to yellow-fever, in which the mortality 

 varies between ten and seventy-five per cent. La Roche states the 

 average mortality to be i in 2.32. 



Nothing is attracting more attention in agricultural circles 

 just now than the great sorghum-sugar industry. The late results 

 obtained at the experimental sorghum station at Fort Scott, Kan., 

 are most encouraging, and have induced sanguine views of the 

 future of the industry, which can only be compared with the 

 dreams of the average land-speculator. As these views are some- 

 what amusing, we quote below liberally from one of our correspond- 

 ents. " This is a great boon for Kansas and Missouri. There are 

 enough acres of farm-land that will produce sorghum in Missouri 

 and Kansas to make millionnaires of every man owning any quan- 

 tity of land. It is said that the soil will produce from ten to fifteen 

 tons per acre. One man can farm 50 acres of sorghum very com- 

 fortably. Fifty acres, yielding 10 tons per acre, is 500 tons 

 of cane. From this the farmer gets $250 worth of seed. The 

 last run made at Fort Scott yielded 1 1 5 pounds of sugar to each 

 ton of cane, which is 1,150 pounds per acre, or, for the 50 acres, 

 57,500 pounds. This, at the lowest figure possible, 5 cents per 

 pound, is the snug sum of $2,875. Besides this, there is a yield of 

 15 gallons of sirup to each ton of cane, making 150 gallons per 

 acre, or 7,500 gallons for the 50 acres. This should sell for 20 

 cents per gallon, which is $1,500 more, making the sum total of 

 $4,625 received from the 50 acres. After deducting the sum of 

 $1 per ton, the cost of milling, which is $10 per acre, or $500 for 



