THIS memoir, published under the auspices of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, is of a type with which we are becoming increasingly familiar--a publication, in fact, which, it may be argued, the institution was created largely to undertake. None of the regularly constituted scientific societies would probably charge themselves with the issue of such a work, and it is very unlikely that it would see the light if left to private enterprise. Nevertheless, it is an eminently useful work, and will be welcomed by chemists, meteorologists, and physiologists alike.

The work is divided into two parts. Part i. is wholly concerned with an historical account of the development of the methods for determining oxygen, in which practically everything contained in the literature has been put together and collated, from the days of Scheele and Priestley to those of Regnault and Bunsen, von Jolly and Morley, down to the methods of our own time depending upon purely absorptiometric processes. Naturally there is nothing very original in this section, and it is well-trodden ground to all who are familiar with the development of eudiometry. It is, however, an interesting and useful compilation, and will be of service to those who are concerned with accurate gasometric analysis, especially in relation to the atmosphere, or who desire to know all there is to know relating to its history.

The second and more immediately important part deals with the experimental work of the nutrition laboratory of the Carnegie Institution, Washington, of which Prof. Benedict is the director.

For some time past the nutrition laboratory has been engaged, among other things, in an elaborate inquiry into the nature of respiratory exchange in relation to metabolic processes, and the necessary instrumental equipment has now been brought to a very high degree of precision. After a careful investigation into the merits of the various types of modern absorptiometric apparatus, it was decided that the arrangement devised by Dr. Klas Sondén, of Stockholm, a development of the apparatus originally contrived some years ago by

The Composition of the Atmosphere, with Special Reference to its Oxygen Content." By F. G. Benedict. Pp. iii+115. (Washington, D.C.: arnegie Institution of Washington, 1912-)

Prof. Pettersson, more fully tulfided the es conditions of expedition, convenience and : than any other existing form; and ; is practically made up of a description Sondén air-analysis apparatus, illustr photographs and woodcuts, together account of the plan and methods of rese be undertaken by it, with the results w been obtained up to the date of pubar the report.

The principle of the apparatus is essentia of the original Pettersson instrument, in ' absorption and determination of the carbon : and oxygen are made, as in the Hempel and Haldane arrangments, by means of potash and alkaline pyrogallate, but with of water-jackets and compensating pipettes to ensure much greater accuracy of revi

The plan of the research involved (1) the tion of the comparative oxygen-content contaminated outdoor air under all cone. to wind direction and strength, temperature formation, barometer and weather, including snow, fog and mist; (2) a study of the n of the temperature of the reagent upon its s tive power; (3) an examination of the the North Atlantic Ocean; (4) on the s Pike's Peak; (5) in the crowded streets of and in the subways of New York and Bost

Such a programme necessitated a very amount of experimental work and the an many hundred samples of air. In add large volume of work was needed in com verification, and especially in tracking down eliminating sources of possible error. Ever a routine method was established, and from series of determinations it would appear t regards oxygen content of outdoor air, no matt fluctuation could be detected over a period exec ing from April, 1911, to January, 1912. This stancy was maintained in spite of all po alteration in weather conditions, barometr thermometric changes, or changes in hurt wind direction, and strength; furthermore experiments were made before, during, and the vegetative season. The average result of analyses showed o'031 per cent. of carbon di and 20952 per cent (corrected) of oxygen. F. Dr. Benedict concludes "that air is a phys mixture with the definiteness of composition chemical compound." We have, in fact, got b to the position maintained by Cavendis 1783 and by de Marli in 1787, that is, n uniform constancy of the composition of n atmospheric air, so far as regards its ove

content.

Prof. Benedict further concludes that-While the combustion of fuel and the vital pr of men and animals result in a local increase mor dioxide and decrease in oxygen on the one bini, vegetable growth results in a decrease in dioxide and increase in oxygen on the other extraordinary rapidity with which the local vari in the composition of the air are equalised is tuated by the observations on street air, which s but the slightest trace of an oxygen deficit,

was built in 1906 at Seddin, about 12 kilometres south-west of Potsdam. Magnetographs are now in operation there as well as at Potsdam under the Potsdam staff. A description of the Seddin buildings and instruments is thus included.

The volume contains much of interest to all meteorologists and magneticians, and is admirably suited for the purpose for which it was primarily intended. A previous study of it will double the advantages of a visit, while subsequent consultation will recall memories of a most pleasant and profitable experience. C. CHREE.

RECENT SEA-LEVEL VARIATIONS IN JAPAN AND ITALY.1

IN

N a valuable memoir, Prof. Omori deals with the variations in the height of the sea-level at nine mareograph stations in Japan from 1898 (in a few cases from 1894) to 1910, referred to in a note in NATURE of December 26, 1912 (vol. xc., p. 471). They are greatly in excess of any changes that might be due to variations of barometric pressure or air-temperature, and the effects of wind are probably negligible. These variations being allowed for, there remain considerable changes in the mean annual height of the sea-level

the

at all nine stations, the greatest being a decrease in height of 227 mm. per year at Ayukama. In the accompanying sketch-m a p, shaded areas represent the parts of Japan which are now subsiding, the boundaries inland being 'determined by interpolation. The figures at the different stations denote the mean annual rise or fall of the sea-level in millimetres per year. It is on the east side, to which the present depressions are chiefly confined, that the great est depths of ocean lie and the most violent earthquakes originate.

Prof. Omori also compares the variations in the average height of the sea-level in the whole of Japan (the barometric and temperature corrections being made) with the variations in the latitude of Tokyo and Mizusawa for each year from 1895 to 1910. The curves curves representing both variations show a remarkable correspondence.

1 F. Omori: (1) "On the Recent Sea-level Variation at the Different Japanese Mareograph Stations (Bull. Imp. Earthq. Inv. Com., vol. v., 1913, pp. 39 86). (2)" Note on the Recent Sea-level Variation at the Italian and Austrian Mareograph Stations, and on the Cause of the Messina-Reggio Earthquake of 1908" (ibid, pp. 87-100).

The average height of the sea-level was greate in 1899 and 1905-06, and least in 1897 and is the latitude was a maximum about 1899-1900 in 1906, and a minimum in 1897 and 1902. Com sponding to a variation of o'1" in the latitac there was a change of 40 mm. in the height of " sea-level.

The examination of the records at sever

mareograph stations in Italy and Austria 1900-08 shows that in all parts of Italy the h of the sea-level was decreasing by amounts r. ing from 10'5 mm. per year in the neighbour: of Pola and Ancona, to between 4 and 5 mm p year at Naples and Messina and less than 2 T per year at Palermo. In 1908 the mean sea-1 reached a well-defined minimum, and Prof. On suggests that this may have been a secondar cause of the Messina earthquake at the clos that year.

NOTES.

C. D

A STATUE of Lord Kelvin, which has been subscr for mainly by the public of Belfast, is to be um to-day (Thursday) in the Botanic Gardens, Bell The Chancellor of the Queen's University, Belfast Earl of Shaftesbury, K.P.), will preside, and Joseph Larmor, M.P., F.R.S., will perform the veiling ceremony, and deliver an address. The sti is the work of Mr. Bruce Joy. Invitations to ceremony have been issued to the Lord Mayor a Corporation of Belfast, to the Senate and profess of the Queen's University, Belfast, and to a mur'. of leading men of science.-The statue of Lord Ky erected by the contributions of his fellow-citins Glasgow and the west of Scotland has been place position by the side of the new Kelvin Avenue, «*** traverses the Kelvingrove Park beneath Gilmor close to the University of Glasgow. The statu be unveiled on October 8 next, by the Right Hoa A Birrell, Lord Rector of the University, and an addon Kelvin will be subsequently delivered by the R Hon. A. J. Balfour, Gifford lecturer in the Univers The Kelvin memorial window in Westminste. 1 will be unveiled on July 15.

It is with deep regret that we have to annou the death, from spleno-medullary leucæmia, of Py N. H. Alcock. Joseph Morley Drake professor i physiology in McGill University, Montreal. Pre Alcock was born in 1871, and received his mes education at Trinity College, Dublin, and Sir Par L Dun's Hospital. He graduated as B.A. and M.D. Dublin University in 1896, taking senior moders ship and gold medal in natural science. He shortly afterwards appointed demonstrator of amo at Victoria University, Manchester. In the follos year he was appointed assistant professor of physlogy in Dublin University. In 1903 he becare demo strator of physiology at London University, iru the following year he succeed 4 Dr. Waller as lo in physiology in St. Mary's Hospital Medical Scho Paddington. In 1909 he obtained the degne of D.S of London University in consideration of his resear

in the influence of anaesthetics on nervous phenomena. 1911 he was appointed to the chair of physiology McGill University, Montreal. By his early death itish science has lost a valuable worker. His exerimental work was always most scrupulously veried by every possible control, and he took extrardinary care to reduce experimental error to a mininum. Among his numerous scientific publications Kert papers concerning "Irish Bats," "The E.M.F. at the Negative Variation of Various Nerves, especiall the Vagus," "The Velocity of the Nervous Imalse in Tall and Short Individuals," "The Relations tween the Physical, Chemical, and Electrical Prorties of the Nerves," "A Text-book of Experimental Physiology (conjointly with Dr. F. O'B. Ellison), Accurate Dosage of Chloroform by Means of a Reguhting Inhaler," and many others. Prof. Alcock marrid, in 1905, Norah Lilian Lepard, daughter of Sir John Scott, K.C.M.G., and leaves his widow, one son, nd three daughters to mourn his loss.

MR. A. R. HINKS, F.R.S., chief assistant at the {ambridge Observatory, and University lecturer in arveying and cartography, has been appointed assistant secretary of the Royal Geographical Society. THE new wing of the laboratories of the Rothamsted Experiment Station, Harpenden, will be opened by the Right Hon. W. Runciman, President of the Board of Agriculture, on Friday, June 27, at 3.30

3.m.

THE death is announced, in his sixty-fifth year, of Ir. F. A. Ober, one of the best known of American Ornithologists. In the interests of his favourite pursuit he had travelled extensively in South America, Mexico, and the West Indies. In the Lesser Antilles, in particular, he discovered twenty-two new species of birds, and added many types to the collections of the Smithsonian Institution. Mr. Ober wrote largely for the newspaper press, and was the author of forty books.

Ox June 5 the faculty of science of the University of Geneva erected a bust to the memory of Pierre Prevost (1751-1839), the Geneva man of science whose ame is remembered by Prevost's theory of exanges. Prof. C. E. Guye presided at the ceremony, and most of the learned societies with which Prevost was associated sent delegates, or addresses of con„ratulation. M. G. Lippmann represented the Paris Academy of Sciences, and delivered an oration. The Royal Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh cere represented by Dr. W. H. Young, F.R.S., and Mr. Mitchell respectively, who presented addresses English. The Berlin Royal Academy of Sciences snt a letter of congratulation signed by Prof. Planck. A TIDAL observatory has recently been constructed by the Ordnance Survey at the foot of the Castle Rock at Dunbar, and is now fitted with a self-recording gauge and other instruments. The main object is to obtain an accurate value for a mean sea-level datum in the open North Sea coast to which the network of geodetic levelling in Great Britain can be very precisely connected. Such an accurate determination i- required for the measurement of relative movements

of land and sea along our coasts, an object recommended some years ago by the Tidal Commission on Coast Erosion. Incidentally light may be thrown upon slow vertical movements of the earth's crust, periodic coastal movements due to tidal load, and upon the tidal phenomena of the North Sea generally, with their relations to hydrological and meteorological changes taking place in and over the neighbouring oceans. In this country the existing tide-gauges fulfil comparatively rough requirements in harbours not truly representative of open ocean conditions, and there can be no doubt of the importance for scientific purposes of having well-placed observatories on open coasts and capable of being rigorously connected with the network of geodetic levelling.

The Cape Times of May 7 contains an interesting article strongly advocating the founding of a national botanic garden at the Cape. Matters have already gone some distance in this direction, and the Kirstenbosch estate, which is Government property, has been mentioned as an appropriate site. In the interest of South Africa, no less than of scientific botany, it is sincerely to be hoped that this project may be successfully carried through. A view which has been put forward by certain influential people in South Africa is that the garden should be placed under the control of the Agricultural Department rather than that it should be more directly attached to the South African College, and through it to the scientific botanical staff. This view, however, is one which demands, and doubtless will receive, very careful consideration. A botanic garden which is not under scientific direction can have very little value, and it is to be hoped that, in the interests of South Africa generally, this principle will not be lost sight of in determining the nature of the body which is to be responsible for its proper administration. The problems to be solved are mainly scientific, but from their successful solution there may be expected to accrue results of value not only to science but also of great economic importance to the community at large.

A LARGE number of distinguished physiologists, biologists, and medical men have signed a letter addressed to the Home Secretary directing attention to the scientific aspects of the administration of the Mental Deficiency Bill. The signatories desire to secure the continuous prosecution of research into the conditions on which mental deficiency depends, and into the means by which it might be remedied or prevented. They point out that it may be said, in a general way, that the conditions in question must be due either to defective formation and development of the active structures of some portion or portions of the brain, or to defective formation or supply of the fluids by which these structures are surrounded, and by which they are stimulated to activity. For example, one common form of idiocy is consequent upon the absence from the blood of the secretion which should be furnished by the thyroid gland, and may be remedied by the administration of thyroid extract derived from lower animals. The Mental Deficiency Bill will probably bring together many of its subjects into institutions controlled by the State, and supported by

the public. It is therefore urged that the facilities for scientific study which such institutions would afford should be fully utilised for the general benefit of the community, and that the duty of so utilising them should be committed to men of science, fully conversant with all that is already known in relation to the subject, and able to point out the directions in which further inquiry should be pursued. It is suggested that the objects in view could scarcely be obtained except by an adequate representation of biological science upon any Commission to which the administration of the law may be entrusted.

In an interesting paper published in the Biologische Centralblatt (vol. xxxiii., No. 3), under the title "The

Occurrence of Dextro-rotatory Albumins in Organic Nature," Dr. John Beard has developed the idea, published in 1907, that the albumins of cancer and of malignant tumours in general must be dextro-bodies because of the destructive action, ending in liquefaction, of active pancreatic ferments, especially trypsin, upon them. He now shows that asexual generations of animals such as Hydra, Cordylophora, Trichodina, Vorticella, Carchesium, Amoeba, Actinosphærium, and Stentor are rapidly killed and digested by pancreatic ferments (trypsin and amylopsin), and hence concludes that such asexual forms are built up of dextroproteins; on the other hand, sexual generations such as Daphnia, Nauplii, Planaria, Nais, and Melicerta are not in the least affected by these enzymes, and are therefore probably built up of lævo-albumins. In a striking generalisation, Dr. Beard contends that "the micro-organisms, bacilli, &c., of disease are of necessity composed of compounds which are stereochemical antitheses of those making up the normal human body, and that when compared similarly with the pancreatic ferments, the like is true of the ferments by means of which they effect their ends. Only by means of such antithetic or opposite characters of compounds and of ferments produced by them could such disease-inducing organisms bring about their ravages." The natural method of treatment is therefore to employ against them the ferments produced by the organisms, such as mankind, which are their victims, and of these by far the most potent are the pancreatic enzymes, trypsin and amylopsin.

THE transference of the Northern Territory of Australia from South Australia to the Commonwealth has been followed by the more active investigation of the country and its resources. Fresh effort is recognised as necessary, for the total population, exclusive of aborigines, has fallen from 4788 in 1891 to 3005 in 1910. An expedition, consisting of Prof. Spencer, Prof. Gilruth (who has since been appointed Administrator of the territory), Prof. Woolnough, and Dr. Breinl (director of the Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine), visited the country in 1911, and their preliminary reports have been published as Nos. I and ia of the Bulletin of the Northern Territory. Prof. Woolnough reports that he was much impressed with the mineral wealth of the country, but as the deepest mine is under 400 ft. in depth he recommends that a shaft should be sunk further in order to determine the extension of the deposits in depth. Prof. Gilruth

reports on the domestic animals in the territory, a discusses the source of the two prevalent car diseases, red water or tick fever, and worm nodul He concludes that they were introduced from }.. in 1872. The red-water fever has spread from t Northern Territory to Queensland. He concludes ** under the conditions that have hitherto prevailed " satisfactory development of the country could no expected, but with a better system of administra and more reasonable land tenure the country possess unlimited possibilities. Dr. Breinl describes t diseases prevalent amongst both the Europeans m aborigines. He gives full tables of the health statis. available. Malaria is widely spread, and was pro ably introduced from New Guinea; it is distribu: Dr. Brain by a mosquito, Nyssorhynchus annulipes. believes that malaria could be controlled by prope methods. He finds that the white people living und active conditions have good health, and the har globin content of the blood in children is norm The population is, however, too small for its evideto show whether the country can be developed by white labour.

The Museum Journal, of Philadelphia, in its be issue, records the purchase from members of punitive expedition to Benin of a fine series of braw and ivory carvings. Of the former class the m important specimens are two bronze heads, said to portraits, with remarkable head-dresses and a ha neck ornament, in one case rising as high as the lore lip. On heads like these the carved ivory tusks which were apparently objects of veneration, are si to have been placed. A large bronze plaque reje sents a high official, wearing the same type of me.. let, and standing surrounded by his attendants an slaves. Another fine exhibit is a pair of bronze cockabout life-size, with chiselled feathers and the eyes inlaid with iron.

WE have to acknowledge the receipt of No. vi Dr. Koningsberger's "Java," which is chiefly devot to the fauna of the Bouwland.

To the author, Mr. H. Schmidt-Jensen, we ar indebted for a copy of a paper, from Vidensk. Medde fra Dansk. naturh. Foren, vol. 1xv., on regeneration in the antennæ in larvæ of a phasmid insect, Carausin (Dixippus) morosus, as the result of both natural and artificial injuries.

No. 2 of the tenth volume of the University c Colorado Studies is devoted to an illustrated synopsis, by Messrs. M. M. Ellis and J. Henderson, of th amphibians and reptiles of Colorado.

Despite the varied physical conditions of the country, which i several other groups of animals is correlated with large and diversified fauna, the species of the groupunder review are not remarkably numerous. No ne species are recorded.

THE existence of a close relationship between the faunas of India and Africa, which was so strong urged by the late Dr. W. T. Blanford and subquently by Mr. Lydekker, is emphasised in an article by Mr. Ernst Schwarz on Indian Viverridæ, publisher in vol. lxxviii., part 11, of Archiv für Naturgeschichte.