HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



65 



from 800 to 1200 feet high. This volcano is still in 

 active operation, and our atmosphere has very likely 

 received a contribution of volcanic dust from it, as 

 well as from Krakatoa. 



Dr. Clevenger writes in the "American 

 Naturalist" to show the disadvantages of the up- 

 right position in man. He shows that nothing but 

 the original "all fours" position, from which he 

 sprang, will account for the occurrence of valves in 

 the intercostal veins', &c., the absence of valves from 

 parts where they are needed, such as the venje 

 cavae, &c., and the exposed and dangerous position 

 of the femoral artery. All of these facts are fraught 

 ■with a certain amount of danger to man in the 

 upright position ; but they are beautifully adapted to 

 the quadrupedal. With so many drawbacks to the 

 upiight position, it is singular that man ever assumed 

 it. But perhaps he thought it worth risking a little 

 to obtain it ! 



Another discovery of coal has been made in the 

 Canadian North-West. It is a six-feet seam of hard 

 coal, and has been found in the Cascade Range of 

 the Rocky Mountains, near the line of the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway. 



In the February number of the " Gentleman's 

 Magazine," Mr. Mathieu Williams has some very 

 interesting " Science Notes " relating to the 

 Wonderful Twilights and their Causes, and he 

 there discusses the several theories advanced as to 

 their causes, but personally he appears to advocate 

 that of meteoric dust. 



Messrs. Christy & Co. are issuing, in parts, 

 accounts of " New Commercial Plants and Drugs." 

 No. 7 is just out, dealing with the Calisaya Verde, 

 the Pahu Cabbage, the Siam Benzoin Tree, the 

 Menthol plant, the New Fibre plant, &c., as well as 

 giving the latest particulars as to results obtained 

 from new drugs, &c. 



The Geologists' Association held their annual 

 Conversazione at University College on the 1st of 

 February, when short addresses were given by the 

 following geologists : on " Pre-historic Man, and 

 recently extinct Mammalia," by Dr. Henry Wood- 

 ward, F.R.S. ; on " Fossil Plants from various For- 

 mations," by Mr. William Carruthers, F.R.S. ; on 

 " Rocks and Rock Sections," by Mr. Hudleston, and 

 on "The Volcanic Eruption at Krakatoa," by Pro- 

 fessor Judd. 



Mr. a. D. Michael, in a paper read before the 

 .Linnean Society, concludes, from a careful series of 

 experiments and observations, that the " Hypopi " 

 are not adult animals, but only a stage, or hetero- 

 morphous nymphre, of Tyroglyphus and allied genera. 

 All individuals do not become " Hypopi," the latter 

 stage occurs during the second nymphal skin-casting. 

 It seems a provision for the distribution of the species. 



irrespective of adverse conditions. "Hypopi" are 

 not truly parasitic. 



Dr. M. C. Cooke has recently shown from micro- 

 scopical examination that Spharia pocida is a 

 hymenomycetal, and not an ascomycetal fungus, 

 being allied to the genus Polyporus or Porothelium. 



An interesting paper by Mr. J. Gilbert Bowick 

 has come under our notice. The writer thinks the 

 peculiar richness and melody of the Italian voice 

 is due to meteorological causes — in fact to the 

 abundance of hydrogen pet oxide, or volcanic 

 ammonia, present in the atmosphere of Italy. 



Dr. Carter Moffat, who has been for long 

 resident in Italy, has, as the result of a series of 

 experiments, constructed an instrument which he 

 calls the " Ammoniaphone," by whose means a 

 person may inspire air charged with an artificial 

 mixture of the above-named gases. 



Experiments with the Ammoniaphone appear to 

 have proved satisfactoiy. Dr. Moffat's own voice 

 has much improved, and is now a light tenor of 

 large compass. Similar results with other people are 

 also detailed. The use of hydrogen peroxide in 

 throat or lung affections appears to be of no recent 

 date, and the ammoniaphone promises to be useful in 

 such cases. 



In a late number of the " Botanische Zeitung," 

 Biisgen gives an account of some experiments he has 

 been performing at Strassburg for two seasons in the 

 feeding of Drosera rotundifolia. The results confirm 

 the conclusions of Darwin and others ; and the plants 

 fed with animal matter through their leaves were 

 stronger and more vigorous in every ' way, than 

 those that were not thus fed, but equally favoured 

 in every other respect. 



Mr. Halsted in " Science," describes and 

 figures a " Combiuation 7i<almit,''' being a nut which 

 is covered partly by a walnut hull, and partly by a 

 shellbark hull, as if Carya and Juglans had been 

 cross-fertilised. Within the hull it seems that the 

 nut was entirely walnut. The specimen is worth a 

 careful examination. 



Professor Bessey, in the "American Natural- 

 ist " for December, describes a new species of insect- 

 destroying fungus, under the name Entomophthara 

 Caloptcni. It occurs as a clay-coloured mass in the 

 body cavity and femora of the common locust 

 ( Caloptcnis diffcrcntialis), 



Mr. Ruskin has been lecturing at the Royal 

 Institution on "The Storm-cloud of the Nineteenth 

 Century." He thinks this form of cloud is pecul ar 

 to our time, and has been sent as a punishment for 

 our sins ! If so, the greatest sinners ought to suffer 

 most by it ; but do they ? 



