American Association for the Advancement of Physical Education how important it was to make a study of "fatigue" in its relation to training and education,

to find out the conditions under which our work has its maximum beneficial effect, and the limits to the exercise of our muscles favouring the performance of intellectual work. From data worthy of credence, he was of opinion that brain work influenced favourably bodily development, as well as vice versa.

The basis of these and similar observations requires to be broad, and it was interesting to note at the Cambridge meeting how the want of the proposed survey was evident to nearly every speaker. Prof. Cunningham has pointed out how changed conditions of life are palpably attended by changes of physical standard, but we have no clear knowledge of these changes, the best facts concerning our country being still those collected five-and-twenty years ago by the anthropometric committee of the British Association. The racial substitution of a dark element for a fair in the population of London, noted by Dr. Shrubsall as an outcome of his investigations on hospital inmates and healthy individuals, demands a survey to determine its extent and nature.

In the remarks upon deterioration, made at the Cambridge meeting by the president, Mr. Balfour, this requirement stands out quite plainly again in his expression of opinion that fresh air has so large an influence upon the physique of the race.

That a knowledge of the conditions of respiration in towns is at the present day of eminent importance is also patent to everyone who may read, in a recent report of the Registrar General, that in the urban districts of England the death rate from respiratory system diseases is no less than double that of the rural districts.

Now while much attention has been paid to the air of schools and buildings, we have no knowledge whether the lung movement-the chest expansionof the town dweller is much less than the countryman's, and the answer of a survey to this question is highly desirable. It may be that want of exercise | of lung is a deteriorating influence like bad quality of

air.

Now that a practical scheme of anthropometry with a responsible recommendation of such a scheme lies before our legislators, concerning a matter absolutely beyond the reach of private effort, surely the nation cannot afford to despise such knowledge, nor is the day past when this country can give a lead in the organisation of information to aid the public | health.

Unlike Sweden, Germany, and Italy, we have no conscripts to form a source of similar information. The methods proposed are simple :-height, weight, chest girth; head-length, breadth, and height; breadth of shoulders and hips; vision and degree of pigmentation are to be measured. Economy and efficiency will be observed by the provision of whole time surveyors instructed at a single centre, and 80,000 adults and 800,000 children should be measured annually, re-visiting each district every ten years.

The eugenics of Mr. Galton are not at present practical politics, though, as an analogous subject, it is interesting to note that the stud books of hunters, shires, and hackneys have not only improved the breed, but raised the standard of health and improved the average of health in horses exhibited.

As to expense, the sum required is less than that spent on stud books, and similar to that of the Geological Survey. Provision is made, though not too liberally, for the survey of the land on which we live; surely it is not too much to ask that a scheme for the survey of the people should be established upon a national basis.

down.

laid Small mammals, birds, reptiles, Amphibia, fishes, and insects are each, in turn, made to furnish illustrations. Finally, some very valuable hints are given on the photography of botanical subjects.

There are tricks, it is said, in every trade! This is notoriously true of photography. Some of the more harmless sort are lucidly described in this volume. The methods, for example, employed in the photography of mice and rats, snakes, and young birds will come as a surprise to many. Many of us, probably, have been amazed at the apparent skill and patience displayed by many "nature-photographers in securing pictures of field-mice climbing wheat stalks, or rows of nestlings sitting peacefully along a bough. Such pictures, it now appears, may be

1 "The Camera in the Fields." By F. C. Snell. Pp. 256. (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1905.) Price 5s.

the West Indies, and the hope is expressed by the editor that the facts recorded in the work before us "may be instrumental, if only in a small degree, in causing the Bahama Islands to share" in this prosperity. Commentary on this statement is superfluous. The picture presented by the islands is well described in the following passage by the editor:

"No words can describe the beauty of Nassau as one approaches the harbour from the sea. The ocean of deep sapphire suddenly changes to a lagoon of emerald green surrounded by shores of snow-white coral sand. Beyond, the white limestone houses of the town, intermingled with groves of graceful palms, and half-concealed by gorgeous poincianas, rise in a gentle slope against a sky of purest blue. The green transparent water; the intense blue of the sky; the blotches of blood-red poincianas; the snow-white drifts of coral-sand; the vivid green of the foliage all these unexpected and yet harmonious contrasts strike the eye together, and stamp on the memory a picture of rugged beauty which nothing can efface. The impression thus received does not suffer when later the tourist wanders about the quaint old town to examine at leisure the details of the picture."

Our limits of space allow of only a brief reference to the details of the work of the expedition. An interesting and important feature connected with the geology of the Bahamas is that they are composed almost entirely of débris derived from corals and other calcareous organisms, and rest on a shallow, submerged platform, separated by deep ocean-troughs from the adjacent land-masses of North America and the West Indies. Few of the Bahama animals appear to be distinct from those of the mainland, although some of the mammals have been described (in earlier publications) as separate local races. Of some of these latter the skulls are now for the first time figured. An attractive feature of the volume is formed by the numerous coloured plates of marine Bahama fishes, which convey an excellent idea of the brilliant hues characteristic of all fishes which haunt coral-banks. Of especial interest is the plate of the "mouse-fish" or Sargasso-fish, the remarkable shape and coloration of which are doubtless developed to harmonise with its surroundings of floating seaweed.

This notice may be fitly brought to a close by the expression of our opinion as to the high value and importance of the work initiated by the Baltimore Geographical Society, and by the tendering of our congratulations to all those by whom it has been so successfully and faultlessly executed. R. L.

NOTES.

accurate

THE Council of the Society of Arts has awarded the Albert medal of the society for the present year to Lord Rayleigh, "In recognition of the influence which his researches, directed to the increase of scientific knowledge, have had upon industrial progress, by facilitating, amongst other scientific applications, the provision of electrical standards, the production of improved lenses, and the development of apparatus for sound signalling at sea." THE De Morgan medal of the London Mathematical Society has this year been awarded to Dr. H. F. Baker, F.R.S., for his researches in pure mathematics.

THE annual conversazione of the Institution of Electrical Engineers will be held at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, on Thursday, June 29.

THE annual general meeting of the Society of Chemical Industry will be opened on Monday morning, July 10, at University College, Gower Street, when the president, Dr. Wm. H. Nichols, will deliver an address.

THE fourth International Ornithological Congress was opened by Prof. Oustalet at the Imperial Institute on Tuesday. Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, the new president of the congress, delivered an address.

THE death is announced of M. Edouard Simon, the eminent French engineer. He took an active part in the management of the Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie nationale, and contributed twenty-four papers to its proceedings.

Ar the National Museum at Washington a series of specimens has been arranged to illustrate the associations and mode of occurrence of gold in nature, and Mr. George P. Merrill, the curator, has published in the Engineering and Mining Journal a useful list of associations represented in the collection. In the forty-eight cases enumerated, the gold occurs native, and in particles of sufficient size to be recognised by the unaided eye.

WITH the view of lessening the danger of lead-poisoning now encountered by diamond-cutters, the Dutch Government has offered a prize of 6000 florins for the most satisfactory substitute for the tin-lead alloy now used for holding the diamonds during the process of cutting. Applications, which may be written in English, should be sent before January 1, 1906, to Dr. L. Aronstein, Polytechnic School, Delft, Holland.

IN the Free Library at Hampstead there is displayed at present a selection from the collection of flint implements made by the late Mr. Henry Stopes. The exhibit gives a sample, not only of the whole collection, but of that part which deals with the ancient inhabitants of the Thames Valley, and it has been selected to interest the passer-by and educate his eye what to look for in his walks abroad.

Science announces that Dr. Franz Boas has resigned the curatorship of the anthropological department of the American Museum of Natural History. He will continue his connection with the museum, conducting the researches and publications of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition and of the East Asiatic Committee.

A REUTER message from Fort de France (Martinique) dated June 12 reports that Mont Pelée in the past few days has been displaying some renewal of activity. It is reported that on Saturday night, June 10, "the dome suddenly became illuminated. The dome collapsed on Sunday morning, and a mass of mud overflowed into the valley below, while a cloud of smoke rose to a height of 1000 yards."

THE departmental committee appointed by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries to inquire into the nature and causes of grouse disease has made the following appointments :-Dr. C. G. Seligmann as bacteriologist to the commission, Mr. A. E. Shipley, F.R.S., as expert on the subject of internal parasites, Dr. H. Hammond Smith as assistant bacteriologist and additional field observer, and Mr. G. C. Muirhead as field observer.

THE Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland has arranged with Mr. J. J. Harrison to publish a full scientific report upon the physical and psychophysical characteristics of the pygmies whom the latter has brought to this country. For this purpose the council of the institute has appointed a select committee consisting of the following anthropologists and medical men, who, with the assistance of Mr. Harrison, will carry on the necessary investigations :-Sir Harry Johnston (chairman),

Prof. Arthur Thomson, Dr. A. Keith, Dr. W. H. R. Rivers, Dr. R. Murray Leslie, Prof. W. Gowland, Mr. J. Gray, and Mr. T. Athol Joyce.

The

THE Committee of the Privy Council appointed to consider and determine certain points in connection with the establishment of a National Museum and National Library in Wales has decided that the two institutions should be separate, the National Museum to be established at Cardiff and the National Library at Aberystwyth. support, local and otherwise, offered by Cardiff for the foundation and maintenance of the museum and library included :-(1) four acres at Cathays Park (20,000l.); (2) collections in municipal museum and art gallery (38,000l.); (3) a capital sum of (7500l.); (4) public subscriptions amounting at present to (32,500l.); (5) a d. rate under Museums and Gymnasiums Act, 1891 (1940l.); and (6) collections of books in municipal library (81,766 volumes and 9118 prints, drawings, &c.) (30,000l.).

DR. HENRY DE ROTHSCHILD (says the Paris correspondent of the Chemist and Druggist) has recently offered two prizes for competition which will be awarded next year. The first one is a prize of 200l. for the best work on the subject of the best alimentary rations of a child from its birth until the age of two years. The second one is a prize of 120l. for the best study on the supply of milk to a big city (hygiene, technology, transport, legislation, sale, &c.). These prizes may be divided should the jury of award consider it advisable. The competition is open to foreigners, and papers should be sent in before June 1, 1906. The secretary is M. C. Nourry, 49 rue des SaintsPères, Paris.

IT was mentioned last week that the U.S. Weather Bureau is taking up the discussion of meteorological observations from the point of view of their relations to solar physics. The programme of the bureau with regard to the coordination of solar and terrestrial observations is, it may be noted, on the lines of the resolution of the Southport meeting of the International Meteorological Committee, which constituted a commission for the express purpose of that coordination. The commission held its first meeting at Cambridge last year, and will meet again at Innsbruck in September. Prof. Bigelow is one of the members, and there is no doubt that the work in this direction of the Washington Weather Bureau will be carried out in cooperation with the commission.

THE provisional programme drawn up and circulated by Prof. Hildebrandsson for the meeting of the International Meteorological Committee, referred to in the preceding paragraph, is mentioned in Symons's Meteorological Magazine (May). Among the subjects put forward for discussion are suggestions for improving observations which may be used for the comparison of phenomena over wide areas, especially with regard to noting the exact time of observing each instrument, reducing observations to standard conditions, and the like. Attention is to be directed to the very important question of the causes and the prognostics of widespread heavy rains, the importance of which as affecting floods is naturally felt much more on the Continent than in our country of mild extremes. Prof. Pernter is to suggest a more precise classification of meteorological stations according to the equipment and the nature of the observations carried on. The question of the possibility of extending the use of wireless telegraphy for obtaining reports from the eastern Atlantic, and many others on which an international understanding is desirable, will be taken up.

A LARGE portion of the March issue of the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy is occupied by the first portion of a paper by Mr. H. A. Pilsbry on the terrestrial molluscs of the south-western United States.

IN the American Geologist for April Mr. L. M. Lambe describes in detail, with an excellent figure, the structure of the cheek-teeth of a Canadian representative of the genus Mesohippus, one of the forerunners of the horse.

THE Perthshire Museum, which from the very beginning of its existence has devoted its energies to the illustration of the biology and physiography of the district, has just published an illustrated hand-book to the collection, which forms a short but excellent guide to the animals, plants, and rocks of the county. This is as it should be, and the museum is to be heartily congratulated on the line it has taken up.

IN the Johns Hopkins University Circular, No. 5, Mr. E. A. Andrews discusses the so-called annulus ventralis of the crayfishes of the genus Cambarus, and confirms the view that its function is to serve as a sperm-receptacle. It is, however, further shown that this structure, which is common to all the members of the genus in question, and is unknown in other crayfishes, is essential to reproduction, and if eliminated would lead to the extinction of the group. In the same issue Mr. R. E. Coker discusses Dr. H. Gadow's theory of orthogenetic variation among tortoises and turtles, and comes to the conclusion (from the examination of a very large number of specimens) that it is not confirmed by the evidence available.

FISHERMEN and fishmongers in Illinois appear to have been aware for some time of the existence of a shovelEight specimens of this white sturgeon, as it is called by beaked sturgeon belonging to a species unknown to science. the local fishermen, have, however, recently come under the observation of Messrs. Forbes and Robinson, by whom the species is described as the representative of a new genus, under the title of Parascaphirhynchus albus, in the Bulletin of the Illinois Laboratory of Natural History (vol. vii., art. 4). Its uniformly light colour, long small eye, long and narrow snout, bare under-parts, small and numerous plates, and superior number of ribs differentiate it sharply from the common shovel-beak or switch-tail (Scaphirhynchus platyrhynchus). About one specimen in 500 of the sturgeons taken at Grafton, Illinois, belongs to the new species.

THE Occurrence of a layer of mesodermic tissue in the anterior part of the head of embryos of the laughinggull forms the subject of an elaborate article by Mr. H. Rex in parts ii. and iii. of vol. xxxiii. of Gegenbaur's Morphologisches Jahrbuch. The occurrence of mesoderm in this part of the head of sauropsidan embryos is, it appears, a comparatively new discovery, and the laughinggull was selected as a good subject for further investigations concerning this feature. Three articles, two by Mr. G. Ruge and one by Mr. P. Bascho, in the same issue are devoted to the discussion of the nature of certain alleged vestiges in man of the panniculus carnosus of the lower mammals, such as the musculus sternalis, and the socalled achselbogen. Much turns on whether the former of these muscles constitutes a superficial branch from the upper layer of the pectoral muscles, or whether it has no genetic connection therewith. The view that the structures in question are really functionless representatives of a skin-muscle is supported. In a fifth article Mr. E. Goppert discusses the last part of Dr. Fleischmann's studies on the cranial skeleton of the Amniota.

WE have received the year-book for 1905 of the Livingstone College, which gives interesting details of the past year's work, experiences of past students from the mission fields in all parts of the world, and a few hints on risks to health in the tropics and how to avoid them.

THE Journal of the Royal Sanitary Institute (vol. xxvi., No. 5, June) contains notes on minimum sanitary requirements for building bye laws by Mr. Searles Wood, on isolation hospitals by Dr. Davies, a lecture on canned foods by Prof. Kenwood, and other interesting papers, reviews, and notes.

THE Sitzungsberichte der kaiserl. Akad. der Wissenschaften (Wien, Bd. cxiii., Heft viii. and ix., Abt. iii.) contains a paper by V. L. Neumeyer on intraperitoneal cholera infection in the salamander; this animal he shows is fifty to sixty times less susceptible than the guinea-pig, an extremely active phagocytosis taking place on injection of the microbe. Prof. M. Löwit contributes an exhaustive study of intravascular bacteriolysis.

LIEUT. CHRISTOPHERS, I.M.S., in a third report (Scientific Mem. Gov. of India, No. 15), details experiments on the cultivation of the Leishman-Donovan body of kalaazar, a disease of Assam. Rogers and Leishman have obtained flagellated protozoa in cultivations of the parasite. Christophers corroborates this, and although the flagellated forms are very like Trypanosomata, he does not commit himself as to their exact nature.

A FOURTH fascicle of Mexican and Central American plants, described by Dr. J. N. Rose, and forming vol. viii., part iv., of the Contributions from the United States National Herbarium, contains several revisions of genera in addition to the enumeration of many new species. Synopses are provided for Mexican species of Ribes, Parosela, otherwise known as Dalea, and Heterocentron ; the opinion that Enothera is a polymorphic combination leads to the formation of a new genus Raimannia, concurrent with Hartmannia and Lavauxia, and several species of Ternstroemia are collated under the name of Taonabo.

THE Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West Indies has published the full report by Dr. F. Watts on sugar cane experiments in the Leeward Islands during the year 1903-4, and the results are presented in an abridged form in the pamphlet series Nos. 33 and 36. Reference has previously been made to the experiments with different varieties of canes, in addition to which manurial experiments have again been carried out. As the result of trials for four years the conclusion is arrived at that when, as is the custom, pen manure is worked into the soil, no advantage attends the addition of other artificial manures, and that phosphates may even tend to decrease the yield of plant canes. It has, however, been found advantageous to add nitrogenous manures to land planted with ratoon canes. The importance of nitrogenous manures is also affirmed by Prof. J. B. Harrison in his report referred to in the Agricultural News, May 6, which relates to sugar cane experiments in British Guiana.

WE have recently received three circulars, Nos. 21, 22, and 23, also a bulletin, No. 55, from the Forestry Bureau of the United States Department of Agriculture. Circular No. 33, entitled "What Forestry means to Representative Men," contains extracts embodying the opinions of fifty experts, including President Roosevelt, regarding the value of scientific forestry. They all agree without exception that proper forest conservation is of vital importance to

the welfare of the country. That the Department of Agriculture thoroughly realises this fact is shown by circulars Nos. 21 and 22, wherein is set forth the very liberal conditions under which practical assistance is given to farmers, lumbermen, and others in handling their forest lands, as well as the practical assistance offered to all' tree planters. Bulletin No. 55, entitled "Forest Conditions of Northern New Hampshire," gives a detailed account of the condition, composition, and stand of timber in this region, with valuable suggestions as to the possibility of extended afforestation and the seemingly much needed forest organisation and conservation in New Hampshire.

THE Century Magazine for June contains an interesting article by Mr. Gilbert H. Grosvenor entitled "Our Heralds of Storm and Flood," and gives a graphic description of the work of the U.S. Weather Bureau. The author rapidly reviews the whole of the useful operations of this service, but deals more especially with the predictions of floods, cold waves, and storm warnings. The cost of the Weather Bureau and its numerous branches is set down at one million and a half dollars yearly, while the amount of saving to property is estimated at thirty millions. One of the most remarkable cases of flood prediction cited was that of 1903, which was announced twenty-eight days in advance, after torrential rains extending over some 300,000 square miles. This flood caused terrible damage to property, but the public was prepared for it, and the loss was many millions of dollars less than it otherwise would have been. Much care is given to warnings of cold waves in early spring and autumn; the bureau aims at giving at least twenty-four hours' notice of their occurrence, and occasionally issues many thousand telegrams within a few hours. These blighting frosts sometimes destroy in one night the prospects of the agriculturist for the year. The storm warnings issued to the seafaring community form, perhaps, the greatest success of the efforts of the bureau. It is estimated that on the Great Lakes alone, the loss to shipping caused by storms has been reduced by 50 per cent. The article is beautifully illustrated with photographic reproductions of damage by floods, representations of clouds, and the freaks tornados; the fact of straws, &c., being driven into trees can, fortunately, scarcely be realised in this country.

of

MESSRS. ARMBRECHT, NELSON AND Co. have issued a special price-list of the rare elements and their salts; a noticeable feature is the quotation for 16 oz. bars of metallic calcium. This metal, which for so long has been sold at a prohibitive price, is now obtained by a simple electrolytic process, and has become a comparatively cheap commercial article.

THE influence of a magnetic field on luminous radiation forms the subject of the Nobel lecture which was delivered by Prof. Zeeman before the Swedish Academy of Science in 1903, and has recently been printed (Stockholm: P. A. Norstedt & Fils). It deals with the history of the dis"Zeeman covery and the theoretical significance of the effect."

THE fourth volume of Ostwald's "Annalen der Naturphilosophie" contains a brief sketch, by B. N. Menschutkin, of the life and work of M. W. Lomonossoff. Reference has already been made in these columns (NATURE, vol. 1xxii. p. 42) to Prof. Menschutkin's more complete study in the Russian language of the work of this eighteenth century philosopher; the present abstract being written in German deserves notice, as it will serve