HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



ica 



American NaturaU&t under tlie above bead, from 

 tlie pen of Dr. Abbott, have been reprinted. Dr. 

 .Abbott has classifled the various implements found 

 in his ueiglibourhood, and compared them with 

 those published in Nilsson's " Stone Age." One 

 peculiar feature about them is that they are mostly 

 composed of material not found in the district. The 

 pamphlet is ably and clearly written, and indicates 

 extended and careful observation. 



The Geology op Ohio. — The State of Ohio 

 has just published a handsome volume, abundantly 

 illustrated with maps, sections, &c., of the Geo- 

 logical, Eeport of the State for 1870. The Intro- 

 duction, by Professor Newberry, chief geologist, is 

 of a very interesting character. The entire survey, 

 stratigraphical as well as pala3ontological, seems to 

 have been most exhaustively carried out. Other 

 reports are to follow this, of a more detailed and 

 elaborate character. Among other incidents, Pro- 

 fessor Newberry mentions the finding of a large 

 boulder of quartzite, half imbedded in the coal at 

 Nelsonville. Evidently this stone had settled into 

 the coal whilst it was in a comparatively soft state ; 

 but how it got there is a puzzle. The professor 

 thinks it probable that shore ice may occasionally 

 have formed, and thus the boulder might have been 

 brought. Is it not more probable, considering the 

 general character of the carboniferous vegetation, 

 that this stone might have been entangled among 

 the roots of a drifting tree, which, when stranded 

 and decomposed, left it in situ among the coal, of 

 which it has since formed a part ? 



Deep-sea Corals. — Count Pourtales has just 

 described the deep-sea corals, &c., collected during 

 his recent expeditions. The most interesting of 

 these is the Haplophijllia paradoxa, dredged off 

 Bahia Honda, at the depth of nearly two thousand 

 feet. It is referred to the Rugose corals, which 

 have hitherto been confined to strata below the 

 coal-measures. The nearest allied form to it is a 

 fossil species in the Permian, CcdophyUumprofundmi. 

 The species, therefore, is of great antiquity, and 

 may be regarded as a belated form, analogous to the 

 Trigonia, still living in Australian seas. It is a 

 significant fact that nearly all the rare species allied 

 to extinct forms inhabit the deeper parts of the 

 sea-bed. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



LtTNAK IiJELtTENCES.— Get Lardner''s Iluseum of 

 Science and Art, No. 2, price fivepence, and you 

 will find there a very interesting note on supposed 

 lunar influence in cases of mental derangement. 

 Dr. Lardner, however, while giving the popular no- 

 tions and opinions of others on the subject of lunar 

 influences in this and in other matters, clearly 

 thinks that few \\7.\efact for a foundation. Hippo- 

 crates and Galen bcLeved firmly in the influence of 



the moon ; they said that the critical days in various 

 diseases corresponded with the intervals between 

 the moon's chief phases ; namely, the 7th, 14th, and 

 21st of the sickness. Lunar eclipses always made 

 Bacon faint, but he was no lunatic; and Gall states 

 that he has observed patients who were of weak in- 

 tellect peculJMrlv excited at full and new moon. 

 Should " 11. P. tJ." fail to obtain the little work I 

 have mentioned (as I see it was published in ISSIO, 

 I will, with pleasure, lend him the book.— IT. E. 

 Watney. 



Canine Gyrations. — I heard a few years ago a 

 solution given to the question alluded to by Mr. 

 C. F. White. It was during a course of lectures 

 on science delivered by Mr. G. D. Wood, of Queen's 

 College, London. He remarked that the gyrations 

 made by the cat and dog were part of their natural 

 hereditary instinct, which cannot be eradicated. Wild 

 animals of the feline tribes, when in a wild state, 

 sleep in a sort of lair or bed, which they make for 

 themselves, among tall grass, weeds, rushes, &c., 

 and which is formed by these gyrations, the animals 

 turning themselves round and round, not to find the 

 head of the bed, but in order to prepare a bed where 

 to lay their heads. — Barbara Wallace F^fe, Notting- 

 ham. 



The Liver.— In this locality (Langport, Somer- 

 set) a large portion of the moors through which 

 the Parrett runs abounds with the Yellow Iris 

 (F sited- Acorns'). These plants are commonly called 

 by the " natives " livers, and the land where they 

 grow is designated liver-ground. Was not Liver- 

 pool, then, a tract of marshy ground in which these 

 livers flourished and on the margin of which the 

 germ of the now mighty commercial giant first took 

 xoQi?-W. B.Paul. 



Wasps' Nest. — Can any of your readers give 

 me a receipt for preserving a w asps' nest, which 

 was taken in a bush ? I have had it some time, in 

 the hope that the smell would gooff by the young 

 larvse drying up ; but such does not seem to be 

 the case. I should be glad to know of an effectual 

 cure for it. — J.L.C. 



Nemertes. — Will you allow me to ask in your 

 magazine some questions respecting a "Nemertes" 

 fished up at Hunstanton some days ago ? It came 

 up in a trawl-net from about three fathoms' depth, 

 ' and when first seen was knotted up round a bit 

 of sponge. We put him on the deck, and he 

 then unwound his coils to a length of three feet 

 each. There appeared to be five or six of these 

 slender snake-like feelers. Tlieir colour was a 

 deep brown, almost black, and velvet to the touch, 

 and their diameter did not exceed one-eighth of an 

 inch. We kept this Nemertes on shore in a bucket 

 of sea-water, while we searched for a description 

 of him ; but were obliged to throAV him away next 

 morning. We could find no description of any 

 nemertes possessing different feelers ; and I there- 

 fore venture to trouble you with these questions. 

 — Fred. Cresswell. 



Saefron.— Allow me to take exception to tw^o 

 paragraphs in Mrs. H. E. Watney's learned disqui- 

 sition on Saff'ron at p. 107, Science-Gossip, for 

 May. First, Mrs. Watney tells her readers that 

 "English saifron is considered the best. Tlie 

 Spanish Azafran is dipped in oil to preserve it, 

 and this is supposed to take from its value." 

 The truth is, that English saftrou is now seldom 



