SCIENCE NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6861, 3 July 1909, Page 5

SCIENCE NOTES.

By W. G. P. in "Sydney Morning Herald.' DARWIXAXD HIS PUBLISHER. By way of contribution to the Darw.i, Centenary, Mr. Jonn Murray writes 10. "Science Progress," a readable account o. tne great naturalist's business relations with his fatner. Darwin's business letters from 1846 lo 188:.' havo been carcfull.\ preserved by the linn, and it is said o. them that they do not contain a querulous or ill-natured remark. Darwin wu* introduced to .Murray by Sir Charles Lyell, and the first work undertaken war. tne separate issue of tiie "Journal an,.. Researches" which had already appeaieu, iu ISIU, in conjunction with tho narrativt of the voyage.of the Beagle, by Admira, i'itzroy and Captain Philip Ring. Aboiu 7UWJ copies were (-old in tiiree years, li j was uoc until March, 1859, that Darwin again consulted Murray—about the issue of the "Origin of Species." The i.uthor's corrections proved extraordinarily heavy, but Mr. Murray refused to charge lor tliem. The book was ofiered at the

"Sale Dhiner"i» .November, and the first editiou of 1250 copies was at once disposed of. In July, 18oii, appeared the famous "Quarterly Review" criticism by Wilbeiforcc. The "Descent of Alan" was ready in March, 1871, and some 701)0 copies wensold before the eud of the year. These sales astonished Darwin, as well tlu-y might. Olio of his most popular books is that on "Earthworms," and the present Air. Murray tells us that iu provincial towns where evolution and. Darwinism have never been heard of,—miracle* still happen in England—the "author who writes about earthworms" has a high v rcputation ! As regards business, Darwin was a careful man. He liked to be paid the present worth of prospective | profits, and always entered into minute details as to costs, but always with frankness and courtesy.

THE. CHEMISTRY OF INDIGO. Indigo owes its dye quality mainly to a substance called lndigutin, a translormation product ot the indigo plant. The leaves are steeped m water, and when tho solution is tun oil and exposed to ..tiii air an insoluble blue precipitate forms, which. is dried and scid as indigo. Indigo is mentioned by i'liny, and tne name "indicurn" suggests tnat the product in his day came- iiom India. In Europe, however,- it only became a serious rival to wocut (which niso contains indigotin) iu the seventeenth century. It is now threatened by artincial indigotin, produced Iroin coal-tar product* in Germany. Benzene, toluene, and naphthalene may all he used as the starting point of the synthesis; but as the last named is a cneap oy-product of gas Works, it is the readiest available commercial tource, and some artihcal indigo was put on tho market as long as ten years ago. Tim synthesis is rat-nar complicate, uut the difficulties were slowly overcome, and in 1906 of 46,683 cwtof indigo imported into Great Britain, only 7frtl cwt. wero from the indigo plant. The artificial product thus threatens to wipe out the natural substance, and during tho last year or two extensive investigations have been, in progress with a view to increasing the yield of the plant, for the industry was worth iE3,000,1i00 to ,£4,0u0,000 a. year to the Indian indigo planters. So far, however, no very notable result seeing to have been obtained.

THE SLEEPING SICKNESS. Mr ti. D. .farker writes an interesting summary of our knowitdgo oi Sleeping sickness. The first record of it sterns to <tatc back to ISO 3, and several papers on the disease are found about laUd. Ca.->es, however, remained relatively rare. Tne disease is epidemic only in parts of equatorial Africa, but it has iatterly been, epidemic on tne upper ana Lower. Congo. . It was discovered in Uganda in l!M0, but its ravages arc in the main common to the iase shores. The causo of tne disease, has been in high dispute. Tne theory tnat it was duo to parasites, as suggested by Mansou,' was soon ralner at a discount, iuasuuien as it proved possible to km the suspected parasitus without disturbing tue course, of tne' disease. i\o «o-aut, honever, these parasites weakened resistance and thus acted as a, pre-dispos-i;.g course. Various bacteria nave been held to ..bo associated with' the disease, but in I!W2 Casteliani isolated a trypanosome .from 'the 'ce'rebio-spinal. fluid of victims. . Tne disease, is aiways fatal. Many drugs have. been tried, but none witn any permanent benefit. There is evidence that the. so-called trypanosome fever is merely the first stage of sleeping sickness, while ilie trypuiiosomes are in tho biood, but have, not yet got into tue ccrebto-spinal fluid. It is said that in Uganda at the present time up to 'la per cent, of the inhabitants are so many Human rcsenoirs or tne disease;, Tne connection of the fly- "Glossina paipalis" with the scourge appears to. be demonstrated; and the possibility of stamping it out .gives the only chance, of coping' with the complaint. , ORIGIN OF THE BUSHMEN. ~ Continuing his., papers on paleolithic man, I'ruisuor ooiias connects ute i»usnmen of fciouth Africa with, a race inhabiting Europe, in tipper . paleolithic time—tne Souitrian age. The lubrication of Hint instruments uad at , tws time reacned a hign state of development, and use .ha« been found' for bone, which could be ground to a fine point—an. operation nor undertaken with stone until tne neoucnic. period. teolutriau man hunted tho horse and the mammoth, -two thousand of whose teeth have been found in a mass bi' debris unearthtd in Moravia. The lino arts were making progress, for whole picture gal•leries oi tue ooiutrian age nave been brought •to light in the caves of Soutnern Europe, and even the red oxide of iron, used as a pigment, and the pestles 'for grinding it up. These discoveries, it is true, met with general lncredujiy, but the more-recent work.lias set the matter beyond "dispute. The drawings of animals -ire- very remarivable. They depict bisons, deer, wiiu boar, a home -and colt, mammoths, and the woolly rhinoceros. Unluckily there is no «i;etcn of ftoiutrian man himself, though there are some caricatures seemingly meant'for demons, which the Babvlonians : in their day .made as unprepossessing as possible, m oixler hat they might be frightened at tneu own image. Professor- Boilas asks, Has this cifted race completely disappeared? Ihe answer s to be found by searching tor something that closely corresponds ■to soiutfrian arvond tms is tounu among t& Bushmen. It is known that-the* once spread over a great part of Africa. Identity of art is no safer guide to race thin is* identity of language,. lntt it is certainly a. useful index, .lgain,. though TolulriaTi man did not, paint h.mseii, he made little statues ot himself, and these reveal some of the striking anatomical peculiarities of the Bushmen. The distribution of the actual remains or Soiutrian man has now been carefully traced, and existing skeletons P ro?o' that he belonged to a "Miioid race of low stature, and apparentlj it pushed its way into Europe until it met resistance from another P^l" 1 ' 3 * 10 ";.• it was forced southward, and event-ual-ir driven out of Europe. Unfortunatey the Bushmen, who still retain an almost primitively paleolithic civilisation ha>e 'been practically exterminated by the savage Boers; only a. miserable remnant lingers on in tho.ltalian desert The Bushmen brain is still paleoithic. in cubic content. Traces of thenmigration from the north are said to have been found, but the evidonce is not Utogether conclusive.