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Wyville Thomson's excellent paper on "The Distribution of
Temperature in the North Atlantic." In it he justly remarks
that "what we expect of Dr. Carpenter before we are called
upon to accept to the full his magnificent generalisation is a
calculation and demonstration of the amount of the effect of the
causes upon which he depends, acting under the special circum-
stances. And he further adds, that he has several times put
the question to specialists in such physical inquiries, but they
have always said that it was a matter of the greatest difficulty, Lui
that their impression was that the effects would be infinitesimal.
I have examined this subject with great care, and may be per-
mitted to say that, in so far as the point at issue is concerned,
the problem, if properly treated, is by no means difficult, but on
the contrary is one of great simplicity.

Domestic Botany: an Exposition of the Structure and Classification of Plants, and of their Uses for Food, Clothing, Medicine, and Manufacturing Purposes. By John Smith, A.L.S., Ex-Curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. (London: L. Reeve and Co., 1871.) THE greater part of this thick volume consists of a brief description of the distinguishing characters of the most important orders of Flowering and Flowerless Plants, with a longer account of the more striking species belonging to each order which are cultivated in or imported into this country on account of their economical properties. The author's official connection with the Gardens at Kew gave him unusual opportunities for an acquaintance with plants of this class, and we do not know Taking Dr. Carpenter's own data, I have, in regard to the any work which contains so much useful and interesting Gibraltar Current and to his General Oceanic Circulation, determined the absolute amount of those effects on which his information on the subject. Under the head of the Palm circulation depends. Family, for instance, we find no less than forty species pound, placed under the most favourable circumstances, accordTaking a given quantity of water, say one mentioned, from which are obtained so large a proportioning to his theory, I have determined, first, the absolute force of of the articles of food, dress, domestic use, and commerce, gravity acting on the pound of water tending to produce motion, that supply the scanty needs of the inhabitants of tropical and, secondly, the absolute amount of work which gravity can countries, cocoa-nuts, dates, oil, wax, toddy, sago, betel perform upon the pound during its entire circuit. nuts, vegetable ivory, umbrellas, fans, &c. The book is, in fact, a repertory of information as to the history of articles derived from the vegetable kingdom. The work being evidently intended mainly for popular use, we doubt the wisdom of the word-coining so extensively adopted by the writer in structural definitions, especially as, in the preface, he refers to the deterrent influence on the study of botany, of the many technical terms with which other works on the subject abound. The following description, for example, of the habits of the Arum family, will convey but little idea to the general reader, even if the botanist can extract a definite meaning from it :-" Palmids, phyllacorms, epiphytal ampelids, or rhizocorm herbs, generally of a soft texture, destitute of pubescence."

We wish we could speak with equal praise of the earlier portion of the work, the "Explanation of the Parts, Structure, Life, Organism, and Classification of Plants." This has evidently been prepared too hastily, and not subjected, as it should have been, to a careful revision by some one familiar with at least the elements of Structural Botany, which would have prevented the use of such barbarous terms as "involucra " and "phylloda," or such a definition as that "an ovary, with its pistil, is termed a carpel." These chapters by no means answer to their title of an "Exposition of the Structure and Classification of Plants ;" a student trusting to them, instead of to one of the [many excellent manuals already in existence, for his knowledge of structural botany, would be wofully misled; and the author has made a grave mistake in attempting a treatise on this subject. This is the more to be regretted, as the inaccuracies in the earlier part may deter the reader from proceeding to the main portion of the work, which is really useful and trustworthy. The coloured illustrations with which the book is adorned are very well executed; the woodcuts are on too small a scale to be of much assistance. Notwithstanding the valuable features of this book which we have pointed out, an exhaustive work on Economic Botany is still a desideratum in our literature, and one that would repay the labour of any one who possessed the needful information, and the power of putting that information into scientific and yet easily intelligible language. A. W. B.

I can form, of course, no estimate of the amount of the work of the resistances to the motion of the water along its course. But, imperfect as our knowledge is on this point, we can nevertheless easily satisfy ourselves that the work of the resistances greatly exceeds the work of gravity, and that, consequently, there can be no such circulation as that for which Dr. Carpenter contends.

ject, the publication of which has been delayed, owing to cir
My results are embodied in a rather lengthy paper on the sub-

cumstances over which I have had no control; but I expect that
it will appear in the Philosophical Magazine for October next.
Edinburgh
JAMES CROLL

The August Meteors

HAVING been engaged during the past week in observations on the August Meteors, I thought a few of the results might be interesting to some of your numerous subscribers. My regular observations extended from Sunday night to Friday night; and, ception of one night, as favourable as could reasonably be deas the following table will show, the weather was, with the exsired. From over 120 meteors mapped down (out of about 330 seen) it is evident that the principal radiant point, or rather line, is a line drawn from a Persei to y Persei, and onwards towards n. One bright meteor was seen on the 8th, just below 7 Persei, which did not move more than in a second of time, and left a cloud behind it lasting about two seconds. A remarkable feature was the outlying radiants, as they appeared to be, one of which was situated at or near Cassiopeia, another near the star c of Camelopardalis. The radiant situated between & Cygni Draconis is very well marked; also a radiant near y Cephei (where another almost stationary meteor was observed): and one just belowe Pegasi, towards a Aquarii; associated apparently with the last is a radiant near the small lozenge in Delphinus, above a Aquile.

and

In the list below of 312 meteors observed here, 242, or about 77 per cent. were from the Perseus radiant or radiants:

Meteors seen August 1871, at York.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed by his Correspondents. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.]

Ocean Currents

I HAVE been watching with interest for some time past the discussions in your pages regarding Dr. Carpenter's theory. I have also read with much pleasure in your number for July 27 Prof.

10.30-11.30 Cloudy and hazy

but one.

9.55 -12. 5 Few clouds at
times, and very
slight haze.
do.

Generally two watching, sometimes three, and once or twice For the 10th I had a list of twenty-six others handed me, observed by a friend close at hand, of which nineteen were from Perseus.

20, Bootham, York, Aug. 14

J. EDMUND CLARK

Daylight Auroras

I HAVE frequently seen the appearances described by Mr. Winstanley in your issue of August 3, and I think I must have seen the one he mentions. I have on two occasions watched similar phenomena caused by the moon. These phenomena require the cloud or clouds, from which they are formed, to be of about the same azimuth as that of the sun (or moon), and vary with the form and motion of the cloud, being, I think, simply a deflection of the sun's rays from the more salient points of the cloud. The streamers I saw on June 27 (see NATURE of July 9) were of an entirely different nature, rising near the south horizon somewhat to the east of the meridian, and flashing towards the moon, which had recently passed the meridian, while the sun was near setting in the N.W.

I have had nearly thirty years' experience in observing, and have no doubt that what I described were true streamers of an aurora australis. JOHN LUCAS

Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford, Aug. 17

The Late Thunderstorm

THE thunderstorm which has just broken up the spell of hot weather for the past week presented some peculiar features as seen from this place. Commanding rather a wide horizon, I noticed about 8.30 last evening_two distinct centres of disturb ance, one S. W., the other N.E. It is impossible to estimate the distance by sound, as the thunder was inaudible. The electric spark, however, was visible enough, and I noticed that with one exception it went invariably from S. to W. in the one case, and from N. to E. in the other, and always horizontally from cloud to cloud. When I came out again at 10.15 I found the two centres had moved, so that one was slightly S. of E., and the other N. of W., but still directly opposite each other. It seems, too, that they had gone in the direction in which the electric spark had passed.

This seemed to me in'eresting, and I thought your readers

might find it so too.

Upton-on-Severn, Aug. 14

W. M. ROBERTS

Sir William Thomson and the Origin of Life

I AM sure that Sir William Thomson will feel gratified rather than annoyed to be informed that he has been anticipated in his remarkable hypothesis regarding the origin of life on our globe.

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In a very curious book called "A Visit to my Discontented Cousin," published some months ago, there is a portion of one chapter headed "The Aerolite." The "Discontented Cousin having seen and heard a discussion on a meteoric stone, went home and "dreamt a dream," in which he saw the surface of the mass undergo various changes, and organic dots appear, one of which began to wriggle, rose to its microscopic legs, and confronted "the dreamer with a bold and self-confident mien."

This microscopic man, after having enjoyed "a glass of something stiff and a pipe," told the story of his own planet, beginning with the not very complimentary remark, "We know all about you, old boy, and the British Association; and we don't. think much about you, either."

For the story itself I must refer to pp. 186-192 of the Look.
Torquay, Aug. 8
G. E. D.

Meteorology at Natal

IN your issue of November 10 last I was glad to see that you were alive to even humble efforts to assist science in so distant a place as Natal by your remark on the new Meteorological Observatory for the Durban Station.

As it may be interesting also to know what has been done, I append a list of the instruments ordered by the Natal Government. They are to supplement a few already on board. Unfor tunately for the furtherance of this object, the state of affairs at present will not admit of any large expenditure of public money in this direction, but I have been enabled to get the sum of 10%. in 1870 and 251. in 1871 for the purchase of instruments. The Government, at the same time, pay the observer 12/. per annum for the trouble of registering the results regularly.

At present the military authorities have an observatory at Fort Napier, in Pietermaritzburg, at a height of 2,200 feet above and forty-five miles from the sea. A station on the coast was required to complete the observations, and the Government liberally came

forward with the means. Hitherto a system of registration has been followed in which the instruments were suspended in wooden boxes against the sides of dwelling-houses. Though such a system, perhaps, is advisable as giving the temperature ordinarily felt by residents, it nevertheless is more or less uncertain for the purposes of comparison, from the fact of some of the dwellings being built of wood and others of stone, and again some roofed with slates and others with galvanised iron.

The present system is that pursued by the military authorities. The thermometers are placed under a Glaisher's stand in the open air. Whether the military authorities are right or wrong matters little so long as one universal system is pursued, so that exact comparison can be made between each station. The results will always be sent to the Meteorological Society of England, and published in the Colonial Blue Book for each year. VINCENT ERSKINE

Pietermaritzburg, Natal, May 16 P.S.-I expect the Observatory to be in thoroughly good order from the 1st of January, 1872.

On the Colours of the Sea

THE following is submitted on the above subject, referred to in NATURE of July 13, as showing that the colour of the sea is not altogether dependent on the purity and depth of the water. At Zante, and southward as far as I have seen, it is of a deep blue at midday, but in the evening it is that described by Homer as "wine-like. I have observed this particularly when passing Navarino and Cape Mataplan. At night, looking down upon it from the steamer, it is quite black, lighted up, where the waves are broken, with white phosphorescent light.

1861.

"

I had once the gratification of seeing the whole of the solar spectrum spread out upon the sea, at Zante, on December 26, The weather was very unsettled at the time. During an interval, when the rain had ceased, a little before 10 A. M., the light of the sun descended from behind a cloud, and was reflected up to the height on which I was standing. Purple was the most remote colour; red the nearest; the space between was occupied by the other colours, of which green, yellow, and blue were the most marked. JOHN J. LAKE

Origin of Cyclones

IN NATURE of 23rd of June, 1871, there is an account of a paper, by Mr. Meldrum, on the origin of storms in the Bay of Bengal, showing reason to believe that the cyclones of the Bay of Bengal and the Southern Indian Ocean originate in the meeting of the trade-winds of the northern and southern hemispheres at some distance north or south of the equator. I do not know of any equally complete evidence on the subject for the cyclones of other parts of the world, but there is very strong reason for thinking that they always so originate. The line along which the two trade-winds meet each other approximately coincides with the equator: when it actually or nearly coincides with the equator, no cyclones are formed, because the rotation of a cyclone depends on that of the earth, and the earth at the equator has no rotation round an axis drawn vertical to the horizon. Over the greater

part of the Pacific, cyclones do not appear to be formed: the reason of this probably is, that in consequence of the temperature of the sea changing but little with the seasons, the two tradewinds over the Pacific meet each other nearly on the equator all the year round; though I do not know how far this is confirmed by observations on the winds of that ocean. But we know that in the Indian Ocean the trade-winds cross the equator and are deflected into monsoons, so that in the summer of the northern hemisphere they meet to the north of the equator, and in the summer of the southern hemisphere they meet to the south. (This statement as to seasons will have to be qualified presently.)

We may consequently expect to find that the farther the sun is from the equator, the farther from the equator will be the meeting of the trade-winds, and consequently also the cyclones. This is the fact. In Dove's "Law of Storms," translated by Mr. Scott, at page 193, there is a chart of the tracks of the cyclones of the Chinese Sea, which shows that they occur in all months from June to November, and that the later in the season the nearer to the equator is usually their track. In the Chinese Sea, where they are called typhoons, they are most numerous in the summer months; in the Bay of Bengal they are most numerous after the equinoxes. This will appear

306

quite intelligible if we regard the cyclone region of the Chinese
Sea as an extension of that of the Bay of Bengal; it will then
This, however, must
be seen that the cyclones follow the sun.
be understood with the qualification that they follow the sun at
some distance; the number of cyclones in the Indian Ocean
appears to reach its maximum a month or two after the equinoxes.
This is for the same reason that the warmest period of the year
is not at but after Midsummer.

The distribution of cyclones in the West Indian Seas is to be
The two trade-winds meet in the
explained in the same way.
Atlantic a little to the north of the equator; for this reason
cyclones are frequent in the West In lies but unknown over the
South Atlantic, and they are most numerous at the end of
JOSEPH JOHN MURPHY

summer.

Old Forge, Dunmurry, Co. Antrim

Saturn's Rings

AN absence in the country prevented my seeing Lieut. Davies's letter in time for an earlier reply. I will ans ver him on all points, and have done with him, for he employs unfair arguments to impeach me.

i. I defy him to point out the smallest word or slightest expression in my remarks on his work that justifies him in asserting "that I commenced my notice very much under the impression that Prof. Clerk Maxwell having investigated the stability of Saturn's rings, no one else is to venture into any discussion on their nature and origin." I never for a moment entertained, much less expressed, such a thought. I simply pointed out that Prof. Maxwell had shown rings of satellites to be the only ones which could exist, and I said merely that Lieut. Davies, "having Lieut. espoused this theory, had sought an explanation" of it. Davies's allusion to a caveat is therefore an empty flourish.

2. Lieut. Davies says I "assert" that he has not seen Prof. Maxwell's work. This is an unpardonable misstatem nt. I said he "appears not to have seen the work; and I was driven to this assumption, since Lieut. Davies, while actually using MaxCertainly he is at well's labours, never mentions his name. liberty to choose his own starting point: but he should credit the well and not the bucket (Mr. Proctor will pardon me) for hi inspiring draught.

3. As to faith in figures. I take for granted that no rational man would publish numerical data unless he believed his figures really to mean what they stand for. Now, the rate of the solar motion is not known to within a thousand miles an hour, and the solar parallax is only certain to the first place of decimals. As Lieur. Davies prints the first of these data to a mile, and the second to four decimal places, he has clearly too great faith in "other observers" (why observers ?) figures. He may say that do the same; that does not excuse him. Further, a different rate of solar motion must alter his spirals; if there were no motion he would have no spiral.

4. I know that "very clever men" have held the meteoric theory of the sun, but I also know that "very clever men have held other theories. Lieut. Davie-, in denying my assertion that he is "blindly enraptured" with the me comic theory, actually supports me; for when he says that "none of the modern theories, 'cumbrous vagaries of the brain,' can compare with it," it is clear that he cannot see the fairness of any crow but his own, and this is blind infatuation,

5. Either we are not agreed upon the meaning of "cyclonic," I call such a spot as that or Lieut. Davies is sun-spot blind. reproduced on page 232 of Mr. Proctor's book "cyclonic," and I have seen m ny, both on the sun and in d awings, of his character. Lieut. Davies's range of observation must be limited Mr. Carring on's work is quire if he has not seen some also. beside the question; he did not delineate spots, he merely measured and counted them.

YOUR REVIEWER

Extinction of the Moa

THE very interesting article on the Moa in your issue of July 6th by Dr. Hector adds considerably to the facts already ascrtained as to its existence along with man, and al-o as to the Visuing in 1866 and probability of its recent disappearance. 1867 many of the places mentioned by the Doctor in the Middle Island, I had opportun ties of seeing portions of their remains in various conditions, either in caves, river sides, or in the open country where cultivation was going on, or on the sides of the hills in the interior, and certainly the impression produced was,

that not perhaps more than fifty years had elapsed since some of the remains had formed part of living birds.

On the Kourow range of hills in the north of Otago, I saw
Moa bones and those of a wild pig in close proximity; and,
though certainly those of the former were more weathered, taking
into consideration the greater density of the latter, it did appear
as if there had not been a great many years between the deaths
of each. I have also some bones in my possession, and there
are others in the Geological Society's Museum in Edinburgh,
found on the surface of the Carrick ranges, a place alluded to
by Dr. Hector, the unexposed portions of which do not seeM
very aged. While agreeing with Dr. Hector that there is reason
to believe that the last of the race have only of late disappeared,
viewing the question from the point of an agriculturist, I differ
He says that the facts he adduco
somewhat as to the causes.
"afford strong evidence that the bird has been exterminated by
human agency, though the race was expiring from natural causes.
It seems to me that in such a country as New Zea and their loss
has arisen from natural causes, though the Aborigines may have
that there are still portions of Otago where the foot of man has
assisted somewhat to diminish their number Dr. Hector a imits
scarcely trod, notwithstanding the search for gold, perhaps the
The Moa had these districts to
most eager which can exist.
In the Middle Island very few Maories dwelt,
retire to.
The pigs, supplied to
and their numbers were kept down by the forays of the more
the natives by Captain Cook, have spread over the island and
warlike inhabi ants of the North Island.
increased largely, and have only been prevented from still further
While the Kiwi still maintains is place.
increasing by the use of the musket and the occupation of the
country by the settlers.

it is hard to believe that man has exter uinated the Moa. The natural
causes, however, it seems to me, are quite sufficient. Dr. Hector
speaks of large fires having spread over the centre of Otago, It
would appear that the pine woods, which have covered so many
of the hill sides of the interior, had reached a cert in state of
decay, and, from the occurrence of droughts less severe than
those of Australia, perhaps, fires lighted by the natives had
spread to these woods, and though an under rowta of
fern and moss might re ard the progress when once the
pine timber, with its resin us qualities, thoroughly caught,
there was little chance of it going out save from breaks
caused by rivers or bare places. As these fires spread over the
interior, destroying everything in the shape of bush or tree, the native
grasses took their place, none of which seemed to me to afford
fit ing food for such a bird, and with these grasses a plant cal ed
by the native Tutu occupies much of the country. The lewes of
this plant a e, under cerain co aditions, destructive to live stock;
while the berry which it pro luces may be eaten with impunity,
provided the stone it contains be not swallowed; the settlers
making a wholesome jelly of the pulp, and sometimes wine.
Here, then, we have a vast portion of the country cleared of its
food supplies, from the trees and shrubs which produced it being
destroyed, and we have a poisonous plant abounding, which does
not grow freely under wood. Dr. Hector speaks of counting thirty-
seven skeleton heaps of Mois on the side of the Wakatipu Lake,
and supposes that they had been driven there by fire.
be so, but I have seen a great many similar heaps, in the centre of
each of which two or three handfuls of quartz pebbles lay on the
flat alluvial lands on the sides of s reams and near the seashore,
where beds of gravel then were, to which the birds could have re-
tired, had they been pressed with fire, as no vegetation cou d have
existe there. It therefore seems to me that the reason why so
arises from the fact that these creatures, pressed by hunger, par-
many skeletons are found on the surface n-ar streams or water,
took of the Tutu berries, and that thirst, which so often accom-
panies poisoning, caused them to take to such places for drink.
I have heard it stated that in periods of drought the Emus of
Australia travel great distances for water. Though water is far
more abundant in New Zealand, it is often only in the streams
JAMES MELVIN
that it can be had.

NOTES

This my

THE following is the programme of the subjects to be submitted for discussion at the International ongress of Anthropo logy and Archaeol gy, to be held at Bologna from the Ist of October next:- The stone age in Italy; 2. The caverns of the shores of the Mediterranean, especially of Tuscany, compared with the caves of the south of France; 3. The lake habitations

and mounds of the north of Italy; 4. Analogies between the Terrawaris and the Kjoekenmoeddings; 5. The chronology of the first substitution of iron for bronze; 6. Craniological questions relative to the different races which have inhabited the various districts of Italy.

DR. BENJAMIN T. LOWNE has been elected Lecturer on Physiology at the Middlesex Hospital School of Medicine.

THE Society of Civil Engineers of Paris has just elected as its president for the coming year, M. Yvan de Villarceau, the chief astronomer of the Observatory, and has conferred the title of honorary president on M. Tresca, vice-director of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers, as a testimony of high admiration for his conduct during the siege of Paris, and under the reign of the Commune.

WB understand that it has been decided to erect a statue to Sir Humphrey Davy in his native place, Penzance. By the exertions of a working committee, a sum of 500/. has been raised in subscriptions. A very eligible site has been obtained from the Town Council immediately in front of the Market-house and facing the main entrance of the town. The Messrs. Wills, of 172, Euston Road, have been commissioned to execute the statue. The statue is designed after Sir Thomas Lawrence's portrait, painted for the Royal Society. The total cost of the statue and of erecting it on the site provided is estimated at 600/.

A PORTION of the surplus funds from the International Horticultural Exhibition of 1866 was invested in trustees and applied to the purchase of the botanical library of the late Prof. Lindley, to be called the Lindley Library, and to serve as a nucleus of a consulting library for the use of gardeners and others. Considerable additions were made to the library by gift, a catalogue was prepared, and the books deposited in the rooms of the Royal Horticultural Society at South Kensington, but here the matter was allowed to lie dormant for a considerable time. The trustees have now just issued a circular, stating that the library is now for the use of the public under certain regulations. Fellows open and officers of the Horticultural Society have access to the library at all times when it is open, gardeners and others not fellows or officers of the society by application to one of the trustees, or to the assistant-secretary of the society. Under certain restrictions those using the library can have the books out on loan; and, as it contains a very large number of standard botanical and horticultural works, it is hoped it may be of great practical service. The trustees will be very glad of assistance in completing imperfect sets of periodicals and works published in parts, and in adding recently published treatises, for which the funds at their disposal are quite inadequate.

THE American Naturalist states that among the signs of the scientific life of the present day in that country, one of the most encouraging is the increasing frequency and enthusiasm of those delightful occasions of scientific study, intercourse, and recreation, called field meetings.

AT a meeting of the Faculty of the Museum of Comparative Zoology of New York, held May 6, 1871, the Humboldt Scholarship was awarded to J. A. Allen, in consideration of his paper upon the "Mammals and Winter Birds of East Florida," and the proceeds of the Humboldt Fund for one year were granted to him in aid of his exploration of the Fauna of the Rocky Mountains.

HERE is a transatlantic hint to our scientific colleges and schools:-Mr. Albert H. Tuttle has been appointed instructor in the use of the microscope at Harvard University.

We find in the American Journal of Science for July a more detailed statement of the result of the Williams College expedi

tion than has heretofore been published. This consisted of five members of the present senior class, under the leadership of Mr. H. M. Myers, who gained much experience in the line of exploration in connection with the Venezuelan branch of Professor

Orton's expedition of some years back. We have already referred to the movements of this party, and it is only necessary to add that large numbers of birds were obtained by the expedition at Comayagua, as well as two statues, exhumed at Chorozal, south of Belize. The collections made by the party will go to enrich the Williams College Lyceum of Natural History, and will add much to its already extensive treasures.

THE late Mr. James Yates, M. A., F.R.S., has left 2007. to the Geological Society, and 50l. to the Linnean, and 100l. to Prof. Levi towards the adoption of a universal decimal system of weights, measures, and coins, in addition to the large sums of money devised to University College, London, towards the foundation or augmentation of professorships in mineralogy and geology and of archæology. To the same College he leaves all his books on mineralogy and geology, together with his specimens and his collection of ancient coins and other antiquities.

THE Sub-Committee appointed by the Asiatic Society of Bengal to consider the desirability of undertaking Deep Sea Dredging in Indian waters, have presented a memorandum on this subject, signed by Thomas Oldham, Ferd. Stoliczka, and James Wood-Mason. After recapitulating the important results which have accrued from European Dredging Expeditions, the SubCommittee state that they are confident that explorations of the Deep Sea in Indian waters will not only furnish data which will illustrate the modification of certain supposed laws regulating animal and vegetable life in countries geographically and climatologically different, but that they will undoubtedly supply much and most important material for the study and explanation of many yet obscure facts in zoology, geology, physics, and the collateral branches of science. They, therefore, earnestly hope that Government may be led to regard the undertaking of Deep Sea Dredging in Indian waters as the most important source whence great progress to natural history and physical science will result. The Committee suggest the examination of the Bay of Bengal by a line of dredging right across from new Juggurnath Black Temple to Cape Nagrais, to be followed by another transverse from near Madras to the Andamans or the Nicobars, and again by a line from Ceylon to the coast of Sumatra. It would be necessary that, say three persons acquainted with the mode of inquiry should accompany each expedition, and it is hoped that sufficient accommodation could readily be found for them on board. They then describe the apparatus that would be required, and state their belief that an annual grant of 2,000 Rs., placed at the disposal of the Dredging Committee, would be sufficient for the objects desired.

MR. THOMAS BLAND, who has long studied the land shells of the West Indies, is now endeavouring to elucidate their distribution by the help of the depth of the sea between the different islands. The materials are as yet imperfect, but in a paper read before the American Philosophical Society in March 1871, he announces that the depths so far as known agree with the distribution of the various groups of shells. He finds that the whole West Indies may be divided by a line south of Santa Cruz and St. Bartholomew, and north of St. Christopher and Barbuda, and that all islands south and east of the line show an affinity to Venezuela and Guiana in their shell fauna, while those to the north and west of it are similarly allied to Mexico. All the southern islands, as far as St. Vincent, are situated on a submerged bank of about 2,000 feet deep, extending from the main land of South America, and these all possess shells of a more especially continental character than any other part of the West Indies. Some very interesting results may be expected

when the sea bottom of the Gulf of Mexico shall have been more accurately surveyed.

THE last Report of the Juvenile Literary Society of the Friends' School, Croydon, shows that natural history is in no way neglected by the members. Twelve boys have been collecting British plants, two collections are being made to illustrate botanical terms, and two to exemplify the British natural orders. Nearly three hundred "varieties" (? species) of plants in flower have been exhibited in the school-room, and some additions to the flora of the district have been discovered. Observations on the weather and the recurrence of natural phenomena have been kept up; and collections illustrating the ornithology and conchology of the district are in progress. Additions to the library and museum are acknowledged, and the treasurer's report shows a balance in hand.

THE Transactions of the Maidstone and Mid-Kent Natural History and Philosophical Society for 1870 are chiefly remarkable for their total want of local matter. Papers are printed on "Sericiculture," "The Nervous System," "Skin and its Appendages," "

," "Natural Selection," "The Similarity of Various Forms of Crystallisation to Minute Organic Structure," and "The Geometrical Structure of the Hive-Bee's Cell," none of them containing anything new, although of average ability; but we look in vain for any information as to the fauna or flora of the district. Classes in connection with South Kensington in Mathematics, Electricity and Magnetism, and Inorganic Chemistry, have been established, and the number of members is on the increase.

WE learn from the Melbourne Argus that the past efforts of the Acclimatisation Society, and of private individuals working with similar objects, have been only too successful. Rabbits and sparrows are now so abundant that in many districts they are a complete nuisance, and vigorous efforts are being made to extirpate them, or at any rate to reduce their numbers. Hares are so numerous in the neighbourhoods of Melbourne and Geelong that it is proposed to modify the restrictions hitherto imposed upon their destruction, and to allow clubs, upon payment of a moderate licence fee, to course them.

THE account which has been published of the terrible ravages caused by the plague in Buenos Ayres, reads like so many pages from the description of the Great Plague in London. During the months of March and April last the city was almost entire'y deserted, everyone who could fleeing into the country. The deaths increased from the daily average of 120 in January to 640 on the 4th of April and 720 on the 5th, whilst on the 6.h of April 500 entries at the cemetery were registered up to noon. From this time, owing to the exodus of people, the ravages of the plague began to diminish, and there is every reason now to hope that it may soon be stamped out. In one cemetery alone 20,000 corpses were buried, and for this purpose large trenches were dug, in which the bodies, some coffined, but many merely swathed in their bed clothes, were shot out of carts and quickly covered with lime. Attempts of all sorts were made to stay the plague, but unavailingly, and whilst the native doctors fled the spot, to the credit of the few English medical men there, it is universally allowed that they worked most nobly and disinterestedly through all the terrible time. We read of "coffins being hawked about the streets, while empty carts touted for their silent passengers; of people stricken with fever deserted by their friends and relations and even their children, and left to die without medical attendance or even food and water; of the shrieks and cries of delirious patients that made night hideous; and of the corpses that were constantly found by passers-by in the early morning of people who had been seized with the death agony in the streets during the night time." The cause of all this horror and misery is described as purely local, and due to the total absence of drainage and the terrible overcrowding of

the houses and localities where the poor reside, and the long continued neglect of the most ordinary sanitary precautions. Surely this is a terrible lesson to those who wilfully and criminally neglect the reiterated teachings of science.

A SINGULAR instance of canine madness in a horse is recorded in a recent number of the "Zeitschrift für Parasitenkunde." A horse which had been some time before bitten by a dog supposed to be mad, was brought to the hospital of the Royal Veterinary College at Berlin, suffering from an uncontrollable propensity to bite, not only men and other animals but any hard substance, and even its own body, by which it had severely injured its mouth and broken several of its teeth. After its admission to the hospital, this propensity was violently manifested in fits, preceded by remars. able convulsive movements, after which it would fall suddenly. and remain for a time perfectly motionless, becoming gradually weaker after each attack. It had refused food for two days, and died without a struggle on the evening of the day on which it was admitted. An examination showed no organic disease, but considerable internal inflammation.

WE have received from Prof. Hinrichs, of the Iowa State University, U.S., the first two numbers of the School Laboratory of Physical Science edited by him. The object is to supply a defect stated in the prospectus to be as flagrant in America as it is in England, that their schools, while very excellent in regand to the literary branches, neglect nearly all departments of science. The numbers which have already reached us contain original articles on Physical Science, laboratory notes and news, chronicles of observations, and reviews of books. They are illustrated by lithographs, and published at a low figure. We commend the publication to all those interested in the progress of Physical Science in America, and anxious to further the same. We may add that the publication is maintained at a considerable loss to the editor, and it is doubtful whether it can be carried on unless it receives the extraneous support which it so well deserves.

A TERRIBLE and most disastrous tornado is reported from Dayton, Ohio, U.S., on the 9th of July, by which eight people were suddenly killed and more than fifty seriously injured. The damage done to property was immense, hundreds of houses and churches were unroofed, bridges were carried away, trees were lifted up by their roots, and locomotion of all kinds was stopped, and in the country very large quantities of wheat and grain were completely ruined.

SINCE we noticed the appearance of the first part of Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser's "History of the Birds of Europe" (NATURE, April 27), three more parts have appeared, each containing eight or nine beautiful plates, and the usual copious letterpress. Among the former we may notice those of the pigmy owl (Glaucidium passerinum), the white-tailed lapwing (Chettusia leucura), the great black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius), and the red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio), as being especially admirable pictures of bird life; while the fact that twelve pages of letterpress are devoted to the bearded reedling (Calamophilus biarmicus), fourteen to the great black woodpecker, and the same to the hobby and eider duck, will give some notion of the labour and research devoted to bringing together all the reliable evidence on the habits, distribution, structure, and affinities of the several species. Instead of making the pictures everything, as has sometimes been done in illus trated works on natural history, we have here really a "history" of all the more important known facts relating to each European bird. We sincerely hope that a work which the authors evidently spare no pains to make as good as possible, may meet with the liberal support it deserves.

WE understand that the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which has been more or less continuous during the past six months, and which has lately increased considerably in violence, is

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