!24 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Sept. 7, li 



instituted an experimental inquiry into the probability 

 of the transmission of zymotic disease by the medium 

 of library-books. A number of volumes from the town 

 library which had been in frequent use were taken for 

 experiment. The dust from the leaves and covers was 

 sown in nutrient solutions, and cultivations were reared. 

 But there appeared no disease germs, the dust being of 

 a non-organised character. Next some of the dirtiest 

 leaves were rubbed first with a dry, and then with a wet 

 finger. On the dry finger scarcely any microbia were 

 found ; on the wet finger there were many, but all of a 

 non-infectious character. In particular the bacilli of 

 tubercle were absent. The conclusion drawn was that 

 the danger of infection through books from circulating 

 libraries is very slight, but it is recommended to dust 

 such volumes well before reading, and never to wet the 

 finger in the mouth in order to turn over the leaves. 



. An " In Memoriam " Tablet to Charles Darwin, 

 at Edinburgh. — A report was published in a recent 

 issue of this paper, stating that it was the intention of 

 some people to put up an "In memoriam " tablet at n, 

 Lothian Street, Edinburgh, where Charles Darwin re- 

 sided with his brother during some part, or mayhap the 

 whole of the session 1825-6. This is certainly a praise- 

 worthy object, but it should be pointed out that it would 

 probably have been accomplished nearly three months 

 ago by another set of people than those at present inte- 

 rested, had they not been directly asked by Mr. Francis 

 Darwin, the son of the late Charles Darwin, not to pro- 

 ceed in the matter until further investigations had been 

 made ; the reason of postponement being to allow Mr. 

 Darwin to find out whether his father had remained any 

 length of time at Lothian Street or had removed else- 

 where, and until this point had been settled those for- 

 merly interested in the matter determined to do nothing. 

 It may therefore be as well to wait until Mr. Francis 

 Darwin has settled this point, as he is likely soon to do, 

 having lately heard of some early letters of his father 

 which may throw light on the Edinburgh life. 



Lead-poisoning by Home-made Wines. — The Sanitary 

 Record has drawn attention to the danger of lead- 

 poisoning by wines made in the ordinary glazed earthen- 

 ware pans, such glaze containing sometimes 50 or 60 

 per cent, of red or white lead. In his last report 

 on the Alcester rural sanitary district, Dr. Fosbroke, 

 the medical officer of health, records some cases that 

 came under his notice. Members of two families 

 residing at Inkberrow were attacked by unmistakable 

 symptoms of lead-poisoning. On inquiring Dr. Fos- 

 broke ascertained that the persons affected had par- 

 taken of some home-made wine, though not by any 

 means in large quantities. This wine, he learnt, was 

 made from black currants and plums, which in the course 

 of preparation were allowed to ferment in a glazed 

 earthenware washing pan. This pan showed signs of 

 corrosion, and there seems no doubt that the lead which 

 is used in the "glaze " had been taken up by the wine 

 and imbibed by the sufferers. As the manufacture of 

 home-made wine is more common among the labouring 

 classes than it used to be, it should be borne in mind 

 that the fermentative process required for its manufacture 

 should be carried out in wooden vessels, and the ordinary 

 glazed earthenware pans be specially avoided. 



A Destroyed Island.— Dr. Treub, the director of the 



Botanical Garden at Buitenzorg, Java, has published his 

 experience with regard to the reappearance of vegetation 

 upon the Island of Kraketoa, which partly sank, and 

 was wholly overwhelmed by the ashes and pumice- 

 stone from its volcano during the violent outbreak of 

 1883. Three years after this day, Dr. Treub (on 26th 

 June, 1886) visited the island, and as he approached it 

 he found that it was covered with vegetation to the very 

 summit of the mountain. The plants could not have 

 grown from the roots or seeds of those existing before 

 the great eruption, for the toughest organism must have 

 been destroyed by the excessive volcanic heat. The 

 whole island was covered with a layer of ashes and 

 pumice-stone from 3 ft. to 240 ft. thick. Nor could the 

 vegetation, Dr. Treub thinks, have been introduced by 

 man, for the island is uninhabited and difficult of access. 

 It must have been by means of seeds carried thither by 

 birds, the wind, or the currents of the sea that the new 

 vegetation arose. It consists for the most part of ferns, 

 of which eleven different varieties were found, and of 

 single specimens of blossoming herbs, such as are found 

 on coral reefs that have lately risen above the level of 

 the sea. Dr. Treub has, however, found that the ferns 

 were not the first living plants that had found nourish- 

 ment on the destroyed island. Almost everywhere 

 there were signs that the ashes and pumice-stone had 

 been covered by a thin layer of algae, which rendered 

 the surface of the soil soft and capable of absorbing 

 water. These microscopic algae prepared the way for 

 the ferns, and the latter, in their turn, for the blossoming 

 herbs. — Daily Neivs. 



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

 for the week ending August 25th shows that the deaths 

 registered during that period in 28 great towns of 

 England and Wales corresponded to an annual rate of 

 i8'i per 1,000 of their aggregate population, which is 

 estimated at 9,398,273 persons in the middle of this 

 year. The five healthiest places were Bristol, Brighton, 

 Derby, Sunderland, and Birmingham. In London 2,401 

 births and 1,438 deaths were registered. Allowance 

 made for increase of population, the births were 300 and 

 the deaths 115 below the average numbers in the corre- 

 sponding weeks of the last ten years. The annual 

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

 1 5 '9, i8'o, and 16 -2 in the three preceding weeks, rose 

 again last week to 17-5. During the first eight weeks of 

 the current quarter the death-rate averaged i6'2 per 

 1,000, and was 47 below the mean rate in the corre- 

 sponding periods of the ten years 1878-87. The 1,438 

 deaths included 47 from measles, 21 from scarlet fever, 

 17 from diphtheria, 28 from whooping-cough, 7 from 

 enteric fever, 192 from diarrhoea and dysentery, 7 from 

 cholera and choleraic diarrhcea, and not one from small- 

 pox, typhus, or ill-defined forms of continued fever ; 

 thus, 319 deaths were referred to these diseases, being 

 36 below the corrected average weekly number. In 

 Greater London 3,167 births and 1,821 deaths were 

 registered, corresponding to annual rates of 29^9 and 

 17-2 per 1,000 of the population. In the outer ring 58 

 deaths from diarrhcea, 13 from measles, and 8 from 

 diphtheria were registered. The fatal cases of diarrhcea 

 included 15 in Tottenham, 9 in West Ham, and 6 in 

 Enfield sub-districts. Three deaths from measles were 

 returned in Croydon, in Willesden, and in Tottenham 

 sub-districts ; and the fatal cases of diphtheria included 

 2 in Edmonton and 2 in Walthamstow sub-districts. 



