374 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VI., No. 143 



the middle Atlantic coast, and when ' windrows of 

 dead fish ' were reported by numerous vessels at 

 various points between Capes Cod and Hatteras. 

 At this time occurred the extermination of the tile- 

 fish (Lopholatilus chamseleonticeps), discovered by 

 the fish commission in 1879. Tens of thousands of 

 these remarkable fishes, brilliant-hued, and as large 

 as salmon, were reported floating dead at the sur- 

 face ; and dihgent explorations made in 1883 and 

 1884, and during the present season, by the Alba- 

 tross, show that it, together with many species of 

 invertebrated animals with which it was associated, 

 has entirely disappeared from the grounds where, 

 at the depth of 80 to 150 fathoms, it was formerly 

 very numerous. 



Strangely enough no adequate theory has been 

 advanced for the explanation of these ijhenomena. 

 The ' poisoned water,' as it is called, in which the 

 dead fish are seen, seems to be limited in its areas, 

 and chemical analysis fails to reveal any thing 

 peculiar in its composition. Extreme cold, which 

 in severe winters has produced similar destruction 

 among shore species, like the -tautog in New Eng- 

 land, can scarcely have been a factor in the ' fish 

 pestilences ' in the Gulf. Some of the most careful 

 students of the problem have resorted to the hy- 

 pothesis of earthquake shocks and the eruption of 

 volcanic gases under the sea. The question de- 

 serves careful study at the hands of both physiolo- 

 gist and physicist. 



That Montreal, as the educational centre of 

 Canada, is likely to become more conspicuous in 

 the near future, and that Canadian science is to 

 take a higher position before long, are both indi- 

 cated by the recent important changes which have 

 occurred at the leading university of the domin- 

 ion. The medical faculty have just completed 

 additions to their building, which give most im- 

 portant advantages, especially in laboratory work, 

 hitherto beyond the reach of the Canadian student. 

 One of the most important of these changes is the 

 provision of a special pathological laboratory and 

 culture rooms, where investigations concerning 

 the pathogenic importance of bacteria and allied 

 forms will be prosecuted. The work is in charge 

 of Dr. Johnson, a zealous student of pathology, 

 fresh from the laboratory of Koch. In the arts 

 faculty, also, an additional course in vegetable his- 

 tology, under Prof. Penhallow, has been provided. 

 Altogether, the future promises well for increased 

 activity in biological research in the dominion. 



Under the heading, ' A boat that hopes to go 

 to Newport and back, at a cost of eighty cents for 

 fuel,' we have recently seen a description of a 

 boat said to be 100 feet long, 12 feet beam, and 75 

 tons burden, now in process of construction at the 

 ship-yard of Mr. Poillon in New York City, It is 

 presumed that the ' going to Newport and back ' 

 means that the craft is to be propelled through the 

 waters of Long Island Sound from New York City 

 to Newport and back again ; and when we are 

 told that this is to be accomplished at great speed, 

 and at a cost of only eighty cents in fuel, by 

 employing a method of propulsion which consists 

 in firing blank cartridges from stern-ports under 

 water, the absurdity of the whole thing renders 

 it undeserving of notice. But this, like some 

 other remarkable inventions for saving fuel, seems 

 destined to re-appear at intervals, with the usual 

 result, — somebody made wiser by dearly-bought 

 experience. Not only is the proposed mode of 

 propulsion radically d<'fective, and inefficient in 

 theory, but it has been experimentally demon- 

 strated to be utterly unavailable for any useful 

 purpose whatever in connection with navigation. 



TYPHOID FEVER AND ITS PREVALENCE 

 IN AUTUMN. 



The causation of typhoid or enteric fever is in- 

 volved in great obscm-ity. Some of the best 

 authorities beheve that it may originate de novo ; 

 in other words, as the great exponent of this 

 theory. Dr. Murchison, states it, ' ' the poison of 

 enteric fever is cpntained in the emanations from 

 certain forms of putrefying organic matter," and 

 "is often geiaerated by faecal fermentation." 

 Other authorities, equally good, hold that the 

 appearance of typhoid fever cases necessarily pre- 

 supposes the existence of a case which stands to 

 the later ones in the relation of cause to effect, 

 and that, if this case is not discovered, it is simply 

 because the evidence is obscure, or the investigator 

 inexj)erienced. Unfortunately the identification of 

 the typhoid germ has not yet been satisfactorily de- 

 termined, and until it is we can hardly expect the 

 mystery now surrounding the production of the 

 disease to be cleared away. 



In regard to the means by which the fever 

 spreads, there is more unanimity of opinion. The 

 water of wells which has become impure from the 

 leaking of vaults and cesspools has been shown 

 over and over again to have caused typhoid 

 epidemics. Notable instances of this have oc- 

 curred in our own country, as in Syracuse in 1876, 

 and the more recent epidemic at Plymouth, Penn. 



