252 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VI., No. 137. 



off; but, in spite of her efforts, it kept coming back. 

 Finally she drew it to the bank. Three days after- 

 ward she had a vision, in which she heard a human 

 voice complaining, and demanding to be released 

 from the trunk of a tree in which it was enclosed. 

 The woman told her husband of her dream, and 

 tliey concluded that the dream must refer to the tree 

 which the woman had drawn to the bank. They 

 brought it to the house, and cut it open, and found 

 within a puppet similar to that of the Wajang Kali- 

 tik, which they named Kjai Gandroung. Several 

 days after, in a dream, tlie woman again heard a voice 

 saying, " I am the wife of Kjai Gandroung, and I 

 desire passionately to be re-united to him." The 

 woman asked her where she was, and was told that 

 she was enclosed in one of the two trees before tlie 

 house. On cutting off a branch of one of the trees, 

 a very pretty puppet of the Wajang Kalitik was 

 found. It was placed beside the other, a!id given the 

 name of Njai Gandroung. The man put them into 

 a box, and then made a number of similar puppets 

 after these two models. This box descended from 

 father to son, and is at present in the possession of a 

 Dalang of Pagoung, regent of Kediri. The two pup- 

 pets are said to be in tlie same state as when found, 

 and many poor people come to make them offerings 

 in order to obtain the fulfilment of their wislies. 

 When an extraordinary representation is desired, 

 Dalang of Pagoung is invited to come with his cliest 

 containing the puppets. 



Besides the performances wliere puppets only are 

 on the stage, there is another kind of Wajang where 

 the parts are taken almost altogether by women. It 

 is called the Wajang Wong, or Ringgit Tijang; and 

 the actors are dressed and painted to resemble the 

 persons whom tliey are meant to represent. But 

 they do not speak: the Dalang always recites their 

 parts, while they only dance and sing. 



THE RECENT TORNADOES. 



The recent tornadoes, which the newspapers still 

 persist in calling * cyclones,' in Pennsylvania and ad- 

 jacent states, seem to liave had all the peculiarities of 

 the typical storms of the west. The whirling funnel, 

 or conical cloud, and the excessive destruction that 

 accompanies its rapid passage along a narrow path, 

 are clearly made out: the occurrence of several whirls 

 near one another in soutli-eastern Pennsylvania on 

 the afternoon of Aug. 3 is equally characteristic of 

 this class of storms. The tornado in Philadelphia 

 was well developed ; and, by reason of passing over a 

 thickly populated district, it proved especially destruc- 

 tive. A letter from Mr. S. E. Paschall of the Bucks 

 county (Penn.) Intelligencer, describes the passage of 

 three tornadoes in his neighborhood on tlie same day, 

 one of which he regards as a continuation of the 

 Philadelphia storm: when it reached the town of 

 Churchville, it wrecked nineteen large and twenty- 

 eight small buildings; it struck a cemetery, and scat- 

 tered the tombstones, and even tore tlie bark from 

 trees. Its course was a little east of north: the other 



two storms travelled north 35° east. It is with regret 

 that one notes the absence of discriminate observa- 

 tion concerning the immediate mechanism of the 

 tornado among the many newspaper columns given 

 to the description of its general appearance and de- 

 structive action. Few observers who speak of the 

 rotation of the conical cloud mention the direction 

 of its turning: no one seems to have watched the 

 downward extension of tlie cloud sharply enough to 

 say whether its 'plunging' toward the ground was 

 real or apparent, although it is probable that this im- 

 portant point might be directly determined by look- 

 ing closely to see if the wisps or fibres of cloud at the 

 base of the cloud rose into it or descended from it. 

 It can hardly be doubted that the ' plunging ' is only 

 an optical effect of the growth of the cloud-forming 

 space downward, faster than the cloud particles are 

 carried upward; for heavy objects are carried high 

 aloft in the centre of the whirl, and this could hardly 

 be if the wind descended there. The circulation of 

 the upper winds should also be determined by noting 

 the motion of the clouds overhead at different times 

 during the tornado's passage; for it is probable that 

 much of the working of the storm is well above the 

 ground, and that we feel only its most violent central 

 action; and, if an observer be found, with presence of 

 mind equal to doing all this while the tornado is 

 roaring past, it would be well to notice whether the 

 clouds above him are forming or dissolving. A tor- 

 nado is an elaborate experiment, and very critical 

 observation will be needed to follow all its action. 



W. M. D. 



THE BACILLI OF CHOLERA ASIATIC A 

 AND CHOLERA NOSTRAS. 



We have received within a few days a copy of 

 Finkler and Prior's latest work upon the curved 

 bacilli of cholera nostras, and of cholera asiatica. 

 {Erydnzungshefte zum centralblatt fur allgemeine 

 gesundheitspflege, 1885. ) It will be remembered that 

 these observers found in the discharges of patients, in 

 an epidemic of cholera nostras, bacilli which they at 

 first considered to be identical with the organisms 

 found by Koch in cholera asiatica. Various slight 

 differences in the behavior of tlie two organisms un- 

 der cultivation were observed, and the paper before 

 us contains the results of a great deal of work under- 

 taken to prove the exact nature of the relationship 

 between the two organisms. It contains chapters 

 upon the morphology and behavior under cultiva- 

 tion of each bacterium. The differences between 

 the two are well considered ; and a full account is 

 given of the inoculation experiments undertaken with 

 intestinal dejecta, and pure cultures of the two 

 bacilli. 



The conclusions of the authors are given in the 

 following resume : — 



1°. We have established the occurrence of Koch's 

 comma bacillus in the intestinal contents, and dejec- 

 tions of cases of cholera asiatica in the epidemic of 

 1884, at Genoa. 



2°. We have founi comma bacilli in the dejections 



