KISTNA or KRISHNA, a river of southern India. It rises near Mahabaleshwar in the Western Ghats, only about 4o m. from the Arabian sea, and flows across almost the entire peninsula from west to east for a distance of Boo m. before discharging into the Bay of Bengal. Its source is held sacred, and is frequented by pil grims. From Mahabaleshwar the Kistna runs southward in a rapid course into the nizam's dominions, then turns to the east, and falls into the sea by two principal mouths, carrying with it the waters of the Bhima from the north and the Tungabadhra from the south-west. Along this part of the coast runs an extensive strip of land which has been entirely formed by the detritus washed down by the Kistna and Godavari. The river channel is through out too rocky and the stream too rapid to allow navigation even by small native craft. In utility for irrigation the Kistna is also infe rior to its two sister streams, the Godavari and Cauvery. By far the greatest of its irrigation works is the anicut at Bezwada, where the river bursts through the Eastern Ghats and spreads over the alluvial plain. The channel there is 1,300 yd. wide. During the dry season the depth of water is barely 6 ft., but sometimes it rises to as much as 36 ft. Of the two main canals connected with the dam, that on the left bank breaks into two branches, the one running 39 m. to Ellore, the other 49 m. to Masulipatam. The canal on the right bank proceeds nearly parallel to the river, and also sends off two principal branches, to Nizampatam and Co mamur. The total length of the main channels is 349 m. and the
total area irrigated in 1919-20 was 716,500 acres. A project for the building of a further dam was under consideration in 1928.
The river is crossed by a fine railway bridge near Wadi junction. KITASATO, SHIBASABURO (1856-1931), Japanese doctor of medicine, was born at Kumamoto and studied in Ger many under Koch from 1885 to 1891. In 1892 he became director of the Imperial Japanese Institute for Study of Infectious Dis eases. He worked with Bering on the tetanus and diphtheria bacilli, and discovered (1894) the bubonic plague bacillus, and that of dysentery. In 190o he discovered a second plague bacillus and prepared a new serum for that disease. At various times he investigated outbreaks of plague at Kobe, Osaka and in Manchuria and issued reports on his observations. He also studied the mode of infection in tuberculosis and read a paper on this subject at the International Congress of Medicine at Budapest in 1909. Kitasato was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society in 1908. In 1915 he resigned his directorship and founded a private institute where he was joined by his former colleagues. Kitasato was created a baron by the emperor of Japan in and in the following year obtained the Harben gold medal of the Royal Institute of Public Health.