SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



The London Ijranchof the Concholog'ical Society 

 will hold meetings at 7 p.m. on the third Friday 

 in each winter month at Room 22, 1 1 Queen Victoria 

 Street, E.G. Members are requested to bring- 

 specimens for exhibition and for exchange. 



We have received the recently issued edition of 

 the " remainder " catalogue published by Mr. H. J. 

 Glaisher, of Wigmore Street, London, which con- 

 tains a number of good modern scientific works. 

 This catalogue is sent free on application by 

 naturalists. 



We regret to note that the unfortunate explo- 

 sion which occurred at the beginning of October in 

 the Chemical Laboratory of Cambridge University 

 has caused the death of' Mr. W. T. N. Spivey, M.A. 

 one of the most promising of University lecturers, 

 who died on the 22nd of the month in Adden- 

 brooke's Hospital from septic pneumonia. 



There have been so many rumours witir re- 

 gard to the discovery of the cancer microbe that 

 one looks with suspicion upon any statement to 

 that etJect. We hope, however, the latest, that it 

 has been identified, crrltured, and stained in the 

 bacteriological department of the Government of 

 India, may lie true. If it is once identified there 

 will be a basis for the study of its extermination. 



In his address at the commencement of the 

 Session at University College, Prof. R. Russell 

 urged on his audience the necessity for cultivating 

 a spirit of scientific inquiry. Every scientific 

 investigation, if properly conducted, might be ex- 

 pected to disclose some new fact, and it was to 

 men of science that every real advance in medicine 

 was due. The so-called ]5ractical man could really 

 only apply and utilise the discoveries of the in- 

 vestigator. 



The Ashmoleau Natural History Society of 

 Oxfordshire has received a handsome gift from 

 Mr. Henry Willett, of Brighton. It consists of 

 five acres of wild ground near Abingdon, which 

 contains several local and scarce forms of native 

 flora and fauna. The site is intended to perpetuate 

 the memory of John Euskin, and is to be used 

 rather for observation of nature than as a collecting 

 ground. Such gifts, to preserve wild animals or 

 plants in this country in a state of nature, cannot 

 be too much commended. 



The Rev. E. A. Woodruffe-Peacock, of Cadney, 

 near Brigg, records an outbreak of bird enteritis 

 in that part of Lincolnshire. He states that 

 thousands of partridges have died. The disease 

 appears to be endemic in the district, and has been 

 noticed for some few years joast. Death usually 

 occurs within twenty-four hours to forty-eight' 

 hours after the disease is manifested ; and Mr. 

 Peacock quotes a case of 4,800 pheasants perishing 

 in less than a week out of 5,000 of these birds. It 

 has extended also to the smaller species in the 

 local a^'ifauna. 



A5IONC4 the recent publications of the U.S. 

 Department of Agriculture! Division of Ento- 

 mology, is a monograph on the •• Insect Enemies 

 of the Spruce in the Xorth-West." It is copiously 

 illustrated, and forms an interesting contribution 

 to the science of arboriculture. 



We are informed that an expedition is shortly to 

 be sent to Christmas Island by the London School 

 of Tropical Medicine for the purpose of investi- 

 gating " beri-beri.'' The leadership has been 

 accepted by Dr. H. E. Durham, who will join 

 the steamship -Islander" at Port Said about 

 October 16th. 



The winter season of the Croydon branch of the 

 Selborne Society has commenced. At the first 

 meeting a lecture on " Porriwiggles, and other 

 Freshwater Creatures," was given by Mr. Edward 

 A. Martin, F.G.S., the local honorary secretary. 

 The subjects included in the lecture were various 

 animals which ar-e met with in almost every i^ond 

 and stream in the neighbourhood. 



Dr. Ghassi has contributed an important paper 

 to the " Atti dei Lincei," x. 6. on the district 

 Massarosa, which is situated about eight kilometres 

 from Viareggio. He has written to point out its 

 freedom from malaria, although the species of 

 Anojjheles which disseminates this disease is 

 abundant, and the conditions are all favourable to 

 the occurrence of the fever. 



The enterprise exhibited in the Jlanchester 

 Museum at Owens College is to be commended. 

 We have received another of the Museum Hand- 

 books, that is numbered 3i, and entitled "Correla- 

 tion Table of British Strata," by Bernard Hobson, 

 M.Sc, F.G.S., Lecturer in Petrology and Geology 

 in the Victoria University. The size of the book 

 is 15 in. X 10 in., with large folding tables dealing 

 with the various geological systems. This work is 

 of considerable importance. 



It is not generally known that after the collision 

 which sank the French mail steamer •■ Bourgogne " 

 a fund was instituted by the heirs of the victims 

 entitled the Pollock Prize for inventions of appa- 

 ratus for saving life at sea. A preliminary trial of 

 such an appliance, invented by Lieutenant De 

 Issay, has taken place in Vienna. It is founded 

 upon the insertion of calcium carbide in a portion 

 of the wearer's dress, so that, on becoming wet. 

 acetylene gas is generated in a gas-tight bag, which 

 keeps afloat the person immersed. 



The public at large are apt to make fun of some 

 of the attempts of municipal bodies in their efforts 

 for the betterment of the social condition. After 

 a course of London fogs such as have this autumn 

 already afflicted those who are obliged to stay 

 within its area, the announcement will be welcomed 

 that a substantial grant is to be applied by the 

 London County Council for their study. The matter 

 will be placed in the hands of a comp)etent gentle- 

 man, under the supervision of the Meteorological 

 Council, to formulate instructions for observations 

 and to conduct investigations. The Metropolitan 

 Fire Brigade stations, with their staft' of firemen, 

 will be available to assist in obtaining data, which 

 will be collated and studied at the Meteorological 

 Oflice in "\'ictoria Street, Westminster. Other 

 observations in and outside London will be added ; 

 so we may expect valuable results, as a really 

 scientific tone seems at present to be pervading 

 the plan. 



