72 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. Xo. 524. 



has written upon the subject, whose works we 

 had in hand, spoke definitely on the position 

 of Anopheles in actually biting. Nuttall and 

 Shipley describe the bending of the proboscis, 

 and in fact the entire mechanism of biting, 

 and other authors are almost as detailed as 

 they; but to the position, no one seems to 

 refer. 



In the hope of getting other information I 

 wrote to Dr. L. O. Howard, and received this 

 reply: "I never saw Anopheles bite but once, 

 and that was in the dusk while I was sitting 

 on the platform of a railroad station at Fresno, 

 Cal. My impression was that the beak was 

 not in the plane of the body ; but that the head 

 was bent downward. Mr. Pratt, when he was 

 living in Virginia, was frequently bitten by 

 Anopheles, and tells me that he has a positive 

 recollection that the head was bent downward 

 and that the hind legs were curved upward." 



I wish it distinctly understood that this is 

 not a contribution to knowledge. It is an 

 illustration of how many men may make ob- 

 servations in certain lines and absolutely ig- 

 nore the most obvious points. It is also in- 

 tended as a suggestion to those who may have 

 made and recorded direct observations on this 

 point, to publish their experiences. 



John B. Smith. 



Rutgers College, 

 New Brunswick, N. J. 

 December 22, 1904. 



SPECIAL ARTICLES. 

 THE DISCUSSION IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT ON 

 THE METRIC BILL. 



There lies before us a reprint from the 

 Parliamentary Debates in the House of Lords 

 on February 23, 1904. The order of the day 

 was the second reading of the bill for the com- 

 pulsory introduction of metric weights and 

 measures into the United Kingdom of Great 

 Britain and Ireland. We will make some ex- 

 tracts from the discussion which will show the 

 present conditions over there and which will 

 interest us because it is universally admitted 

 that the adoption of the metric system by one 

 branch of the English race will secure its 

 adoption by the other. The reading was 



moved by Lord Belhaven and Stenton, but the 

 principal advocate of the bill was Lord Kelvin. 

 In order to show how great change had taken 

 place in public opinion on the measure in 

 recent years, as compared with the time not 

 long ago when the chief argument of the op- 

 ponents of the bill was that public opinion was 

 not yet ripe for it, the noble lord presented 

 petitions from thirty town and city councils, 

 representing a population of over 8,000,000, 

 from fifty chambers of commerce, thirty retail 

 dealers' associations, forty-three trades uiiions 

 representative of 300,000 workers, sixty teach- 

 ers' associations, inspectors of weights and 

 measures in eighty districts and a large num- 

 ber of individual signatures, bringing the total 

 number of individuals I'epresented to 333,000. 

 A nearly equal number additional were prom- 

 ised within a week, the Liverpool Chamber of 

 Commerce sending theirs separately by Lord 

 Avebury, together with several chambers of 

 agriculture. The difficulties alleged to be 

 experienced by foreign countries in making 

 the change were declared non-existent. His 

 Majesty's representatives abroad at the time 

 stated the change was made without much 

 difficulty; though some countries were more 

 rapid than others, there never had been any 

 desire to return to the old system, and the 

 adoption of metric weights and measures had 

 assisted the development of trade. Switzer- 

 land commenced to use the metric system 

 eighteen months from the passing of the law. 

 There was no great difficulty found there in 

 the towns, but it was some time before it was 

 adopted in remote country places. In Ger- 

 naany it was adopted more quickly than any- 

 where else. Two years and one month were 

 allowed, and the intei-val thus granted was 

 sufficient to insure the adoption of the new 

 system in all details; it was an accomplished 

 fact by the day named. There is no desire 

 to go back to the old system, and the change 

 has contributed to a rise of German trade and 

 commerce, foreign trade deriving much bene- 

 fit. There are some persons who object from 

 a dislike to mental effort, and who prefer to 

 muddle on with the British system described 

 by the prime minister as ' arbitrary, perverse 

 and utterly irrational.' To these I reply that 



