found in the compound formed by their union; therefore the result of their combining together must be a loss of energy: the value of this energy is estimated by the heat evolved. The heat recognisable on the combination of 4500 grains of carbon with the required equivalent of oxygen amounts to 118 units, and represents in foot-pounds the raising of 40 tons one foot high.

Such, then, is the enormous supply of solar energy obtained by a man when he compels the elementary atoms of carbon and oxygen to enter into a combination of greater stability and less energy, and to surrender their surplus energy that he may live.

But the converse of this is also true, viz. that when a plant proceeds to utilise this carbonic acid for the reproduction of 4500 grains of carbon, it can do so only by obtaining from some external source energy equivalent to the raising of 40 tons one foot high and adding this to the rates of vibration already exist ing in the carbonic acid. Thus the condition of energy of the carbonic acid is altered till finally the oxygen and carbon atoms are compelled to dissociate themselves and to resume their elementary forms of less stability and greater energy. They then become available for plant assimilation, and fix in its tissues the energy which forced them apart.

If, then, the union of oxygen and carbon in the human body sacrifices such energy that man can live thereby, is it not obvious that under whatever circumstances that union takes place the same energy must appear? If that be so, the question must arise whether in estimating the effect of vegetable decomposition upon the health of man too much notice has not heretofore been taken

of the carbonic acid and kindred stable products given out, and too little attention paid to the energy evolved, -in fact, whether from the surface of every seething swamp there be not poured forth streams of that powerful energy which originally fed the growing plants, and which when eliminated within the body of man is known by the name of Life. To assume that such energy is powerless is to assert that the mother's heat is not the force that hatches out the egg.

That the theory which attributed all noxious influence to the gaseous resultants of decomposition did not satisfy the requirements of science is shown by the greedy acceptance of the germ theory which now prevails. But this, after all, is but coming one step nearer to the action of that universal energy which is the inseparable concomitant of all material interchange. For has not Dr. Burdon Sanderson well said, "Bacterial life is a middle term between chemical antecedents and consequents"? They reduce all unstable compounds in the world to final stable products, and live with vigour or in apathy in proportion to the effect upon themselves of the energy evolved from the medium they destroy. Thus, too, is produced much of that form of secondary energy recognised as heat of decomposition, and while this heat is known to possess marvellous influence over vegetable germination it has up to the present been credited with but little action on the life of man.

The gaseous consequents and the bacterial agents have borne the blame of every human ill, while that energy which ruled the universe before the first vegetable cell had varied towards animal functions is allowed to go unchallenged.

If, then, suspicion can be legitimately directed towards this heat as a factor in physiological change hitherto overlooked, it be comes necessary to pursue the subject of heat in all its latest developments.

Dr. Doherty, in his "Organic Philosophy," says: "Light is nothing but the veloci y of a force which in slow motion i called heat." From the facts that are known in relation to light it may be possible to deduce by analogy much that is yet unproven with regard to heat.

It has been shown that light consists of certain colours which, when taken together, produce the sensation of light; each of these colours acts upon certain specialised molecules of the optic nerve and not upon the remainder, just as Professor Tyndall has shown that the invisible heat rays, "powerful as they are, and sufficient to fuse many metals, can be permitted to enter the eye and to break upon the retina without producing the least luminous impression."

May it not therefore be inferred that heat consists of a series of velocities of force which when taken together produce the sensation of heat, yet each of which is capable of acting upon certain specialised molecules of the nerves of sensation, while being unperceived by the remainder?

Light has been proved by Captain Abney to be the visible velocities of wave-lengths from 38,000 to the inch to 60,000, and within this range from 38,000 to 60,000 to the inch all the varied

sensations of colour are produced; nevertheless, by the higher velocities, from 60,000 to 120,000 wave-lengths to the inch, the great chemical actions of the world are performed. Is it not evident, then, that if the recognition of wave-lengths from 38,000 to the inch and upwards depended solely upon the subjective sensation of light all appreciation of them must cease at the 60,000 wave-lengths, and that the great powers of the ultra-violet wave-lengths must have remained in darkness for ever?

But Captain Abney has also shown that there are measurable wave-lengths extending downwards from 38,000 to 10,000 to the inch; if, therefore, these are credited with such action only as is recognisable by the subjective sensation of heat, is it not equally possible that powerful influences which change for good or ill the configuration of the molecules of the nerves of sensation may be left unregistered?

It is therefore allowable to infer from this analogy that in the dark region descending from the fading red to the cold of zero there may be many rates of velocity, some of which, harmonising with some phase of life, produce the most potent physiological effects without at the same time exciting the molecular resistance which corresponds to the sensation of heat.

In other words, is it not probable that in estimating the actions of the forces of Nature upon the animal system some most subtle influences have been overlooked because unrecorded by the index of the thermometer ?

Professor Tait says: "The energy of vibrational radiations is a transformation of the heat of a hot body, and can be again frittered down into heat, but in the interval of its passage through space devoid of tangible matter, or even while passing unabsorbed through tangible matter, it is not necessarily heat." And Mr. Pattison Muir in his work on "Thermal Chemistry" asks: "Must all energy which is lost by a changing chemical system during a definite operation make its appearance in the form of heat? Energy appears in chemical operations in forms other than that of heat, electrical energy for instance; we must distinguish in chemical processes between that part of chemical energy which is freely changeable into other forms, and that which can leave the system only in the form of heat."

The most recent researches thus point to the probability that while the bacterium carries on through Nature its never-ending work of reducing chemical antecedents to chemical consequents it must as continuously set free energy in forms other than that of heat.

One of the most pregnant discoveries made of late is that which demonstrates that, even in the case of the powerful friction requisite for boring iron, heat ceases to be recognisable as heat when the iron operated on is strongly magnetised; that is, that heat developed by friction in a magnetic field disappears in some form other than heat. By this the idea is suggested that heat energy impinging upon the sentient extremity of a nerve in action may be taken up and carried in a form other than heat to the central brain, just as sound is conveyed in a form other than sound across the interval between the telephone and the receiver; and if the multiple wave-lengths which produce the subjective sensation of heat can be thus transferred from the surface to the centre, why not fractions of that multiple which when taken together make the whole?

Since, then, science cannot specify the difference between the energy contained in dead carbonic acid and that of the living hydrocarbon, neither can it draw a line more definite than the equator between those series of decompositions which on the one side are termed life, and on the other are designated death. In each and all the compound descends from instability towards stability, and in every degradation is energy evolved.

Yet that energy, no matter in what companionship it may be found, or through how many existences it may have transmigrated, has still but one original source, and consequently it is impossible to conceive a condition in which that energy, primarily possessed of such phenomenal modes of action," can be regarded as absolutely inert.

So far, then, it is claimed that grounds have been established for asserting that from the surface of every decomposing swamp forms of energy must be momentarily poured forth, the potency of which is as yet unknown.

Again, while it is at present impossible to isolate the fractions of energy the sum of which make heat, still it would contribute vastly to the proof of their independent existence if it could be shown that the nerves of sensation are specialised in sections, each reacting separately, to different gradations of heat. This has been apparently accomplished.

"Dr. Goldscheider at a meeting on April 9 of the Physiological Society of Berlin discussed the action of menthol on the sensory nerves; he therefore concluded that the sensations in some places of cold and in other places of heat, produced by menthol, were purely subjective, and consequent on the direct stimulation of the special nerves of temperature, those usually cognisant of cold being far more sensitive to its influence than were those adapted to receive impressions of higher temperatures." Brit. Med. Fourn., August 21, 1886.

Here, then, is strong evidence that the sentient nerve-endings over the surface of the body are graduated to respond to the various rates of energy that may impinge thereon; and if so, how can it be admitted that the varieties of energy by which these nerve-endings are stimulated must be limited to those already identified?

That some such idea has shaped itself in the minds of observers may be gathered from the independent opinions expressed by several of the members of the Cholera Commission of 1885.

Prof. Aitken sums up his valuable contribution in these words :

"Some influence (as yet unknown, and therefore so far mysterious) seems to create in cholera times and places an epidemic activity. It is probable that this may be due rather to some meteorological condition some peculiar state of the atmosphere, electrical or other-combined with unwholesome conditions of surroundings, and conditions of life; a co-existence of physical phenomena rather than anything in the individual. It is well known that electrical conditions such as prevail in a thunderstorm will cause milk to become sour, the formation of the acid being associated with, or due to, the formation of the bacterium lactis, and thus confined to very definite areas."

In the last paragraph lies the key to some of the foregoing mystery.

The mode in which to use it can be learned from the marvellous researches of Pasteur.

It is obvious that if the cause of sourness be the bacterium, the cause of greater sourness will be the bacterium still, and that the reason for the increased reduction by the bacterium of chemical antecedents to chemical consequents, which produces the additional sourness, must lie in some condition affecting the life of the bacterium too.

Pasteur has shown that a fundamental difference exists in the mode of action of the beer and grape ferments when "the introduction of the free oxygen of the atmosphere is permitted and when such introduction is prevented." When free oxygen is admitted, "the ferment shows an activity even more extraordinary than it did in the deep vats; the life of the ferment is singularly enhanced, but the proportion of the weight of the decomposed sugar to that of the yeast formed is absolutely different in the two cases: while, for example, in the deep kilogramme of

vats a

upon the most complex being, who, after all, is but a larger multiple of the original protoplasmic element ?

Thus it becomes possible that energy existing in forms other than those of light or heat exerts a power which has up to the present been ignored.

By this reasoning too, based on the altered mode of nutrition of the bacterium lactis during a thunderstorm, much that has been hitherto obscure in the history of the diseases, or blights, of the vegetable world becomes intelligible.

When it is found that all the bacteria lactis over a considerable area at the same moment change their mode of existence, and, from leading a comparatively sluggish life in the milk substance, suddenly break up almost the whole of that substance at a time when electrical disturbances are present, it is easily conceivable that in the case of potato-blight, which is almost invariably accompanied by obvious atmospheric changes, like conditions may arise; in fact, that the universally present bacteria, which, under ordinary circumstances, continue to exist without apparent injury to the tuber and leaves with which they are in contact, may, when driven by the stress of altered atmospheric conditions, turn upon the tissues of the plant for nutrition as the bacterium lactis upon the milk.

If, then, these effects of certain unrecognised forms of energy be established, it will go far to help the elucidation of the mysterious subject of cholera.

Dr. Bryden, from prolonged study of the cholera statistics of India, arrived at the following conclusions: "That the disease was endemic in the Soonderbunds, and that its cause was earthborn and air-borne; " -to repeat the words of Prof. Aitken, "due rather to some meteorological condition, some peculiar state of the atmosphere, to a co-existence of physical phenomena;" and Deputy-Surgeon-General Marston has added: "Cholera spreads along rivers, but against their current in Bengal. It invariably advances from Bengal proper to the Himalayas, and never the reverse."

Here, then, are the conclusions arrived at by some of the most skilled observers on this subject.

It is thus admitted that cholera is endemic in the Soonderbunds, and that its track from thence lies in a north-westerly direction; that is, that its home is a surface of 12,000 square miles of decomposing tropical vegetation, and its direction that from whence the Ganges and its tributaries flow.

From this it may be inferred that its cause is such that it can be carried atmospherically, and that its course is the line of the least resistance.

Were the cause of cholera solid or liquid, it would doubtless long ere this have been demonstrated. Were it gaseous, it must follow the law of the diffusion of gases. What, then, remains to be sought for over the surface of the Soonderbunds? Naught but some form of that universal energy which fell as a sunbeam upon the growing plant, but which, when filtered

grammes of sugar; in the shallow troughs I kilogramme of the ferment will be found to correspond to only 5 or 6 kilogrammes of decomposed sugar. In other words, the more free oxygen the yeast ferment consumes the less is its power as a ferment; the more, on the contrary, the life of the ferment is carried on without the presence of free oxygen the greater is its power of decomposing and of fermenting the saccharine matter."

Here, then, is the clue to the cause of the increased sourness of milk during electrical conditions such as prevail in a thunderstorm. The bacterium lactis evidently finds itself in a situation in which the free oxygen of the atmosphere has, owing to some atomic disturbance in its molecules, become less available as an energy-provider.

The organism is consequently compelled to revert to the con

form from its decaying structure.

That such returned energy has the power of incorporating itself with water, till it passes upward as a vapour, every steaming dung-heap shows; and in what prodigious force it can be again eliminated may be understood from the calculation of Prof. Haughton, that the condensation of vapour sufficient to afford one gallon of rainfall gives out sufficient heat to melt 45 pounds of cast iron.

From this may be estimated the enormous output of bottom heat which must day and night pass from a decomposing surface of 12,000 square miles to the vapour-carrying air above.

To comprehend the distance to which this energy may be transported before doing visible work it is only necessary to consider the Gulf Stream, which is described by Prof. Tait

decomposition of the constituents of the milk that energy which is necessary for its existence.

Further, it is known that electricity does affect the condition of oxygen, that the conversion of its molecules from the di-atomic to the tri-atomic state can be brought about by its influence, and that this latter state has been recognised as ozone.

If, then, it can be thus proved that the presence or absence of oxygen so materially alters the mode of existence of microscopic organisms, is it not reasonable to accept changes in the lives of the organisms as evidence of the altered condition of oxygen? and since certain conditions of free energy are thus found to interfere with the mode of nutrition of the minutest forms of life, can it be doubted that similar forces may exercise a material influence

the nerves of the animal body of the chemical affinity evolved as electricity from a few square inches of decomposing zinc, it may well be contended that the energy of chemical affinity evolved from so great an area of decomposing organic substances cannot be innocuous, and that the fact of its action not being acknowledged by the subjective sense of feeling is no proof that it is non-existent.

Thus it becomes conceivable how the energy evolved in the Soonderbunds may, when vapour-borne across the interval, affect the inhabitants of Oude, and so alter the individual condition as to admit of local causes producing foreign effects.

Many of the most careful observers have asserted that malarious fevers arose from chill; yet, while this did not solve the question, it at least established one fact, that malarious fevers arose under circumstances which necessitated vapour condensation, one gallon of which would set free energy sufficient to melt 45 pounds

of cast iron.

Familiarity with malaria will furnish many arguments in support of the contention that fever infection is at least coincident with vapour condensation. A boat's crew ashore at night on a West African station will often be affected, while those but a few miles seaward will remain exempt.

In the deep valleys of Zululand leading from the St. Lucia swamp, fever is contracted at a distance of many miles inland, while high ground much nearer to the swamp may be occupied with impunity. In the Terai, at the foot of the Himalayas, a night's sojourn brings to the unseasoned traveller certain fever, while a day journey is almost free from risk.

Since, then, the search for a material cause of cholera and of malaria has been as unsuccessful as if one sought a material cause for sunstroke, it may legitimately be suggested that, as the more rapidly fatal affection is the result of the action of direct solar energy upon the sentient nerve-endings, so the less rapid maladies may result from subordinate rates of the same energy acting upon subdivisions of the nerve-endings, which, as Dr. Goldscheider has shown, are specialised to respond to lower velocities of that force, and that the chill to which so many attribute the origin of fever is really the acknowledgment, by what Dr. Goldscheider terms "the special nerves of temperature usually cognisant of cold," of that obscure energy hitherto unregarded as a factor in the production of disease, but which the investigations of thermo-electricity may one day bring within the ken of man. NATHL. ALCOCK

Military Prison, Dublin

THE CRUISE OF THE “MARCHESA" 1

THIS is one of the most interesting books of trave that it has been our good fortune to meet with for several years. Apart from its excellent maps and wealth of illustration, it commends itself by a charm of style not usually to be met with in works of this nature, and by the judgment shown in the narrative. Many countries were visited which lie in the well-beaten track of every tourist round the world, but these have not even been alluded to. The attention is riveted to the

details of discoveries among little-known scenes, and sometimes in quite unexplored regions.

The Marchesa, an auxiliary screw schooner of 420 tons, Mr. C. T. Kettlewell, captain and owner, was commissioned in the Clyde in November 1881, and left Cowes on the 8th of the January following. She reached Colombo on April 24, having touched at Socotra and Oolegaum Island, one of the Maldive group, on her way from Aden. From Ceylon she proceeded via Singapore to Formosa; and, coasting along the south-eastern side of Formosa, she visited the small Island of Samasana. While she was running nearer to the coast at Chock-e-day, the stupendous cliffs of this part of Formosa were seen rising, to a height of some 5000 feet, upright from the water's edge.

The little-known islands of the Liu-Kiu group were next visited. These lie some 250 miles to the east-north-east of Formosa; they are partially volcanic, and lie just north of the tropic. The account of the short sojourn at Napha,

"The Cruise of the Marchesa to Kamschatka and New Guinea; with Notices of Formosa. Liu-Kiu, and various Islands of the Malay Archipelago." By F. H. H. Guillemard. M.A.. M.D. (Cantab.), &c. With Maps and numerous Illustrations. Two Volumes. (London: John Murray, 1886.)

and of the wonderfully successful visit to Shiuri, the capital, where are the ancient palaces of the Liu-Kiu kings, will be found in Chapters II. and III. Some time was spent at Japan, then the yacht's head was turned northwards for Kamschatka, and on the morning of August 13, when the fog lifted, the sharp peak of Vilutchinska Volcano enabled them to steer for Avatcha Bay, within which lies the once well-known little harbour of Petropaulovsky.

"Avatcha Bay is one of the finest harbours in the world, if not actually the finest. Rio and Sydney have no mean claims for this position of honour, but those of us who had seen both were unanimous in awarding the palm to their Kamschatkan rival. A nearly circular basin of some nine miles in diameter, and within a narrow entrance opening to the south-south-east, it is roomy enough to accommodate the navies of the world. It is entirely free from dangers, has an even depth of ten or twelve fathoms, and owing to its affording excellent holding ground and being well protected from all winds it is perfectly safe in all weathers. But the ordinary traveller will be struck not so much with its nautical excellences as with the superb scenery with which it is surrounded. To the south rises the Vilutchinska Volcano, now quiescent, a graceful cone of about 7000 feet; and a little farther eastwards a huge flat-topped mass exceeding it in height by a thousand feet or more obtrudes itself, as a rare exception to the rule of cone-shaped mountains which seems to obtain throughout the country. It is nameless in the charts, for we are in the land of volcanoes and it is only 8000 feet in height! On either hand on entering are the two secondary harbours, Rakova and Tareinska-the latter nearly five miles in length-and within them again are others on a still smaller scale. Nature here at least has treated the mariner right royally. The iron-bound coast without may be as bad a lee shore as any skipper need wish to see, and the Pacific Ocean may too often belie its name, but here he can rest quietly, and sleep sur les deux oreilles, until such time as he weighs anchor for the homeward voyage" (vol. i. p. 67).

In spite of its imposing name, it did not take the explorers long to see all the sights of Petropaulovsky, and a plan was soon formed to make an expedition into the interior. Travelling northwards from Avatcha Bay, they soon struck the head waters of the great Kamschatka River, on which they floated down to the sea. The well-known naturalist Dr. Dybowski gave them great assistance in their undertaking. The yacht was to remain in harbour for some six weeks, and then to proceed, as it did, to the mouth of the river to await their arrival. Of this delightful river journey our space will permit us to give no details. As far as Narchiki, where they met the river, they journeyed on ponies, and then they floated down its stream, sometimes in boats, sometimes on rafts, until, after many an adventure, and, indeed, many a trial, they reached Ust Kamschatka in safety. In places, the river swarmed with salmon; bears were in abundance; the weather, though not always of the best, was generally bright and clear; but the natives were very difficult to deal with-always exorbitar. in their charges, and often placing the travellers in saa dilemmas; and constant rows took place about the hire of the canoes. One morning, after a harder fight than usual with the Mashura men, with much time and some temper lost, they came in sight of the magnificent range of volcanoes on the lower reach of the great river. The five already-known volcanoes have elevations of from 11,700 to nearly 19,000 feet, and there were two much lower cones, now first described, which they called after Gordon and Herbert Stewart. The account of the travellers' first view of these mighty peaks must be told in their own words.

"We floated silently down stream for a couple of hours or more, thinking over the discussions that we knew only too well would be renewed at the earliest opportunity,

Andes and the Alps, and had watched the sun rise on Cotopaxi, on Etna, on Fujiyama, and a dozen other mountains of equal note. But here all questions of comparisons would have been a sacrilege; and floating noiseless over the unruffled surface of the river, we sat spellbound drinking in the view. The sun sank slowly as we crept along, and slope and peak, at first a dazzling white, turned slowly to a glowing gold. On either hand the fastapproaching night had changed the glories of the autumn tints to a sombre shade of violet, and behind us the river was a mere streak of light. The glow of the fire upon the other raft lit up the bearded faces of our Russian guides around it; and when the daylight had fairly waned, the head of Kluchefskaya stood out a pale greenish white-a spectral mountain against the fast-darkening sky. Come what might, even if we were never again to get a glimpse of them, we had seen the great volcanoes, and we felt that the sight was one that we should not easily forget for many years to come (vol. i. p. 149).

After rejoining the yacht the party visited the wellknown breeding-places of the fur seal at Bering Island; fron thence back to Kamschatka, and then to Yokohama to refit and repair. A brief history of Russian discovery in these seas, and a record of a little-known defeat of the allied forces of England and France in 1854 at Avatcha, will also be found in this volume.

In Volume II. the scene changes from the snowy north to the tropics, where for a long time the Marchesa wandered from one island of the Indian Ocean to another. The little-known Island of Cagayan Sulu is described as perhaps the most beautiful of all tropical islands. A revised chart of the island is given; and its three crater-lakes, one of the most interesting phenomena to be met with in the Eastern seas, were visited and described. The third lake had escaped the notice not only of Admiral Keppel, who had twice visited this island, but also of Captain Chimmo, who had in 1871 surveyed Cagayan Sulu. This lake was of rather smaller size than the others, being two

fifths instead of three-fifths of a mile in diameter; but the basin was perfectly circular, and filled with water to about the level of the second lake. Thick jungle clothed its precipitous sides, but the latter, instead of running sheer down into the water, left room for a small beach on which wild bananas were growing.

The islands of the Sulu Archipelago are described in Chapters II. to IV. of this volume. Natural history rambles were made over Sulu; and the Sultan, with and without his wives, visited the yacht. Some day's were spent with the Spaniards at Jolo, a fortress on the northern side of the island. The fauna and flora of the Philippines and Borneo are contrasted with those of Sulu, and the Sulu Archipelago is determined to be, zoographically, purely Philippine, the Sibutu Passage forming the boundary line. The newly-acquired territories of the British North Borneo Company were next visited, and some details are given of the existing state of things in this new colony. The colony at Labuan was found to be retrogressing. The

Sultan was interviewed; and Brunei, the Venice of the East, in which, except its market, there is little of interest, was explored. The great dexterity of the boatmen in the use of their paddles is noted. "From a rapid and beautifully clean stroke of forty or more to the minute, they would drop instantaneously to a long steady swing of twenty, without any apparent signal having been given, and without a hair's-breadth of deviation from the perfect time."

We pass over the chapter on Sumbawa, and next find the yacht at Celebes. Macassar is the Hong Kong of the Dutch, and is not attractive from the sea.

"The town is much as other Dutch Malayan towns. A row of white shops and merchants' offices lines the sea; and dust of a lightness and powderiness that is not excelled even in California or the Diamond Fields covers the streets to the depth of an inch or more. These are otherwise clean enough, and the spare time of the native servants, and they appear to have plenty of it, is occupied