330 



SCIEJS^CE, 



[Vol. VI., No. 141. 



Mercuric chloride, in aqueous solution, in the 

 proportion of 1: 10,000, is a reliable agent for the 

 destruction of micrococci and bacilli in active 

 growth, not containing spores ; in the proportion 

 of 1:1,000 it destroys the spores of bacilli, when 

 they are fairly exposed to its action for a sufficient 

 length of time (two hours). 



Carbolic acid cannot be relied upon for the de- 

 struction of spores. This agent is recommended 

 by Koch for the disinfection of the excreta of 

 patients with cholera (5^ sol.). A two per cent 

 solution may be used for disinfecting clothing, etc. 



Sulphate of copper is largely used as a disinfec- 

 tant in France. It is efficient in the proportion of 

 one per cent for the destruction of micro-organ- 

 isms without spores ; for excreta, use a five per 

 cent solution. 



Sulphurous acid gas is the most useful gaseous 

 disinfectant, and is mainly relied upon for the dis- 

 infection of shiiDs, hospital wards, etc. It is impor- 

 tant for the destruction of spores, and exact 

 experiments show that its disinfecting power, as 

 determined by biological tests, has been very 

 much over-estimated. For details, with reference 

 to the germicide power of this and other disinfec- 

 tants mentioned, the reader is referred to the 

 preliminary reports of the committee on disinfec- 

 tants of the American pubUc health association, 

 published in the Medical news, Philadelphia 

 (Jan.-July, 1885). 



George M. Sternberg. 



LIFE OF AGASSIZ. 



It is nearly twelve years since Agassiz died. 

 Many tributes to his hfe have appeared in the 

 meantime, the best of them being a memou' by his 

 life-long friend, Guyot, which was communicated 

 to the National academy of sciences. Now come 

 his memoirs, edited (as the title page modestly 

 expresses it) by his widow. Mrs. Agassiz was the 

 person of aU others best quahfied for this work. 

 Her enth-e familiarity with the scientific pursuits 

 of her husband, her participation in his long 

 journeys, her excellent style as a writer, and her 

 calm and well controlled enthusiasm have enabled 

 her to produce a volume which must give satisfac- 

 tion to every one. She has avoided two obvious 

 dangers, that of describing too minutely the inci- 

 dents of domestic life, and that of leading the 

 uninformed into the depths of zoological learning. 

 She has drawn a portrait of the great naturalist, — 

 let us rather say she has drawn a series of por- 

 traits, taken at different periods of life and in 



1 Louis Agassiz, his life and correspondence. Edited by 

 Elizabeth C. Agassiz. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin <& Co., 

 885. 4 vols. lUustr., porfr. Vl°. 



different attitudes, so that the man himself is 

 before us, as the devoted student of nature, the 

 briUiant lecturer, the correspondent of eminent 

 men in every land, the good citizen, the bright 

 companion, the hearty friend, the wonderful 

 teacher. 



The first of the two volumes is devoted to the 

 European life of Agassiz, with which Americans 

 generally are less familiar, and the second to his 

 American career, which is not so well known in 

 Europe. The proportions of the narrative *are 

 well preserved, and upon those who knew Agassiz 

 well, and uiDon those who knew him only by 

 name the same effect will doubtless be produced. 

 As they read these pages they will see the man. 

 He will appear as a personal and, perhaps, as a 

 familiar acquaintance, returned once more to the 

 scenes from which he has departed, and ready ta 

 open the stores of his memory, of his correspond- 

 ence, and of his museums, to our eager attention. 

 We have rarely, if ever, read a biography which 

 brought the subject so vividly before the reader in 

 the lineaments of life. One of the most charming 

 chapters in the book is the first on the boyhood of 

 the naturalist : it gives the key to all that is sub- 

 sequent. We are here introduced to the parson- 

 age at Motier, with its view of the Oberland, its. 

 garden and orchard with unblemished apricots, 

 and its great stone basin into which a delicious 

 spring was always pouring the water for Agassiz's 

 first aquarium, and to the wise and discerning 

 mother who understood that her boy's unusual 

 love of nature was ' an intellectual tendency ' to be 

 developed by her aid, and who remained until her 

 death — only six years previous to that of her gifted 

 son — 'his most intimate friend.' 



From his earliest days onward, Agassiz's love of 

 natural history was manifested : birds, field mice, 

 hares, rabbits, guinea pigs and fishes were col- 

 lected and studied. AU sorts of handicrafts were 

 also practised, and the future naturalist was not a 

 bad tailor, cobbler, carpenter, and cooper. He 

 acknowledged through life that his dexterity was 

 largely due to these half sportive and half earnest 

 pursuits of his childhood. At ten years of age he 

 began, his school life at Bienne, twenty miles from 

 home, and there, during a period of four years, he 

 received good training in Greek, Latin, French 

 and German, and in various branches of natural 

 science. A letter which he wrote at fourteen, 

 showing what books he feels in need of, is a re- 

 markable sign of his intellectual aspirations. 

 During the next two years at Lausanne, he found 

 a sympathetic teacher in Chavannes, who pos- 

 sessed the only collection of natural history in the 

 Canton de Vaud, and a good counsellor in his 

 uncle, Dr. Mayor, a physician of note, who 



