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SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Aug. 3, if 



partly so, and falls in the condenser. A portion of the 

 sea water is evaporated and is carried into a second coil, 

 in which it is also condensed, and this water is of excel- 

 lent quality. The first vessel is fitted with blow-off and 

 brine cocks, and occupies very much less floor space than 

 a donkey boiler of the necessary capacity would do. A 

 test made with one of these arrangements, having 52 

 square feet heating surface in the evaporator, maintained 

 a pressure of 51 lbs., and had a capacity of 900 gallons 

 of water per day. — Industries. 



Burmese Diet. — A correspondent of the Rangoon 

 Times gives a curious account of the Burmese cuisine. 

 They utterly reject milk — which in hot climates is 

 admittedly questionable — as also butter and cheese. On 

 the other hand, they have a fondness for putrid fish. 

 Theblood of amonkeyis thought to be a very strengthening 

 draught. Frogs, lizards, snakes and their eggs figure 

 largely in the Burmese bill of fare. A monkey, roasted 

 whole, is considered a certain cure for dysentery. The 

 greatest peculiarity of these people is insect-eating. 

 A large red ant {Myrmicd) is caught in great numbers 

 and pounded up as an ingredient of chutney, to which 

 they give a peculiar acidity. The writer had set before 

 him at tiffin a small basin nearly full of honey, in which 

 were large white grains, like oversoaked grains of rice. 

 He found the mixture delicious, " tasting like very deli- 

 cate bits of marrow, cooked in honey. It consisted 

 of bee-grubs stewed in honey." Some of their 

 insect delicacies are much more questionable, 

 such as the larvae of a beetle (Scarabaeus) that 

 rolls up balls of cow-dung. A mole-cricket {Schisodactylus 

 monstrosus), called in the native tongue jhingur is con- 

 sumed, as are also the larvae of a palm-weevil (Calandrd). 



Electrical and Allied Trades. — A preliminary meet- 

 ing was held on July 27th at the offices of the London 

 Chamber of Commerce, Botolph House, Eastcheap, to 

 consider the desirability of forming a section, or Com- 

 mittee, in connection with the Chamber to represent the 

 electrical and allied trades. Mr. R. E. Compton presided. 

 In a circular convening the meeting, issued by Mr. K. B. 

 Murray, the Secretary to the Chamber, it was stated that 

 the proposed section, if formed, would not interfere with 

 the work of existing associations, but would only deal 

 with matters that were purely commercial. The section, 

 it was added, would be an integral part of the London 

 Chamber of Commerce. Among the matters with which it 

 was suggested that the section might deal were mentioned 

 Bills before Parliament, foreign tariffs, treaties of com- 

 merce, customs classification, arbitrations, business ex- 

 tensions in India and the colonies, electric lighting legisla- 

 tion, fire insurance rules, and telephone and telegraphic 

 matters. The Chairman of the section, or Committee, 

 would possess a seat on the Council of the Chamber. In 

 opening the proceedings the Chairman stated that two 

 meetings had already been held recently on the subject. 

 Previous efforts had been made to form a Committee for 

 the electrical trades, but they had not been successful, as 

 they had not represented the entire trade. After some 

 discussion a resolution was passed appointing an organi- 

 sing committee for forming the section, the Committee to 

 report to a future meeting of the Electrical Trades Com- 

 mittee. 



Death of Professor Carvell Lewis. — Scientific men 

 in general, and especially geologists, will hear with regret 



of the death of Dr. H. Carvell Lewis, Professor of 

 Geology, Philadelphia, U.S.A., which occurred on Satur- 

 day last at Manchester. Professor Lewis arrived at 

 Liverpool on the nth inst. by the steamer Alaska from 

 New York, being accompanied by his wife and a party of 

 friends, among whom were Dr. G. H. Williams, Pro- 

 fessor of Geology at the John Hopkins University, 

 Baltimore, and Professor H. Langden Mitchell, son of 

 Dr. Weir Mitchell, of Philadelphia. The main object of 

 their visit was to attend the annual meetings of the 

 British Association and the British Archaeological Society, 

 and in the intervening time it was intended to make 

 visits of geological investigation to the mountains of 

 Westmoreland and Cumberland and to Norway, and Pro- 

 fessors Lewis and Williams were pursuing studies in 

 microscopical geology at Manchester in connection with 

 the latter of these projected expeditions. It seems that 

 Professor Lewis had contracted an illness, now believed 

 to have been due to drinking impure water before leav- 

 ing New York, and that what was subsequently thought 

 to be ordinary sea-sickness was probably a continuation 

 of the same malady. He appeared to improve towards 

 the end of the voyage, but some time after reaching 

 Manchester symptoms of typhoid fever supervened, 

 which terminated fatally on Saturday. Dr. Lewis was 

 only thirty-five years of age, and leaves a widow and one 

 child. English geological readers will remember his con- 

 tributions to glacial geology which gave rise to consider- 

 able discussion at the British Association meeting last 

 year, and will join their American brethren in regretting 

 his untimely decease. 



The Public Health. — The Registrar-General's return 

 for the week ending July 21st shows that the deaths 

 registered during that period in 28 great towns of Eng- 

 land and Wales corresponded to an annual rate of i6'o 

 per 1,000 of their aggregate population, which is esti- 

 mated at 9,398,273 persons in the middle of this year. 

 The six healthiest places were Brighton, Nottingham, 

 Hull, Derby, Blackburn, and Cardiff. In London 2,385 

 births and 1,297 deaths were registered. Allowance 

 made for increase of population, the births were 374, 

 and the deaths 539, below the average numbers in the 

 corresponding weeks of the last ten years. The annual 

 death-rate per 1,000 from all causes, which had slowly 

 increased in the five preceding weeks from 14^2 to 15 '7 

 further rose last week to i5'8. During the first three 

 weeks of the current, quarter the death-rate averaged 

 15-4 per 1,000, and was 57 below the mean rate in the 

 corresponding periods of the ten 3'ears 1878-87. The 

 1,297 deaths included one from small-pox, 25 from 

 measles, 14 from scarlet fever, 15 from diphtheria, 33 

 from whooping-cough, eight from enteric fever, 62 from 

 diarrhaea and dysentery, two from choleraic diarrhoea, 

 and not one either from typhus or ill-defined forms of 

 continued fever ; thus, 160 deaths were referred to these 

 diseases, being 388 below the corrected average weekly 

 number. In Greater London 3,127 births and 1,589 

 deaths were registered, corresponding to annual rates of 

 29'5 and i5'o per 1,000 of the estimated population. In 

 the Outer Ring n deaths were referred to whooping- 

 cough, 10 to diarrhoea, and 7 to diphtheria. The fatal 

 case of diphtheria included three in Croydon and two in 

 Walthamstow subdistricts. In our abstract of the 

 Registrar-General's previous report Bristol should have 

 been placed first among the six healthiest places for the 

 week ending July 14. 



