Nov. 1, 1S67.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



263 



As Dead as a Herring.— The following extract 

 from "Anderson on the State of the Hebrides," 

 is quoted in "Selections from the Portfolio of the late 

 John Brady, Esq." (London, Whitakcr, 1826). 

 " The herring is a delicate fish, which is killed by a 

 very small degree of violence. Whenever it is taken 

 out of the water, even though it seems to have 

 received no hurt, it gives a squeak, and immediately 

 expires; and though it be thrown back instantly 

 into the water, it never recovers. Hence arises the 

 proverb 'as dead as a herring.' "— R. A. 



Coloured Labels.— I am glad of an opportunity 

 to endorse the remarks made by " B. W. S.," p. 239, 

 respecting the desirability of attaching coloured 

 labels to specimens in Museums, the colours being 

 intended to designate different portions of the 

 earth's surface. The plan is, I believe, in general 

 use in France, if not everywhere on the Continent, 

 and I have before now been struck by its great 

 utility. Each of the main divisions of the globe is 

 marked by a special colour ; say, yellow for Asia, 

 black for Africa, and so on. The principal countries 

 are made prominent by bars or squares, or some 

 analogous markings of a different colour; for ex- 

 ample, a red bar on a black ground might designate 

 Egypt. Tables of the colours, and of the lands 

 which they symbolise, are suspended in conspicuous 

 parts of the room. It is astonishing how much the 

 sight aids the memory in fixing the locality of any 

 given object ; for of course the eye, and through it 

 the brain, is much more quickly and deeply im- 

 pressed by a piece of bold colouring, than by a 

 single name printed or written in one corner of a 

 card. It frequently happens that students, either 

 for the sake of comparison, or some similar pur- 

 pose, wish to investigate the Eauna of a single 

 country or district only. To such the plan is in- 

 valuable, as the eye catches almost at a glance 

 the reds or blues, or whatever it is in search of, 

 passing by without an effort the colours in which 

 it is not interested. I think that curators of 

 museums would do well to turn their attention to 

 this simple, but very efficacious, aid to knowledge. 

 — W. W. S. 



The Harvest Moon. — The following considera- 

 tions may help your querist C. T. Richardson to 

 comprehend the phenomenon of the harvest moon. 

 The moon rises later and later every night, as is 

 perfectly well known, on account of her own proper 

 eastward motion among the stars. It is also familiar 

 to most people that in our latitudes objects on the 

 same hour circle rise sooner as their declination is 

 further north. Let us now, for simplicity of expla- 

 nation, suppose that the moon moves in the plane 

 of the ecliptic. If your correspondent will trace this 

 circle on a globe, he will find that the arc of it com- 

 prehended between the vernal and autumnal equi- 

 noxes is all to the north of the equator ; so that, 

 starting from the vernal equinox, our satellite is 

 acquiring more and more north declination on each 

 succeeding night. The sun, then, being in the 

 autumnal equinox, of course the full moon will be 

 directly opposite to it, or in the vernal equinox. As 

 she travels eastward from this, such motion must 

 evidently retard her rising ; but it will be seen that 

 she is also travelling northward, which accelerates 

 it, and it happens that these two effects almost 

 neutralize each other for two or three days, when the 

 moon is about the vernal equinox. She then of 

 course rises for these two or three nights at very 

 nearly the same hour. Now, the moon can only be 

 full in the vernal equinox — as I have said,, when 



the sun is in the autumnal equinox ; and this can 

 obviously only happen in our harvest month, Sep- 

 tember. Hence the term " harvest moon." Of course 

 this rising of the moon at nearly the same time for 

 two or three consecutive nights occurs at every 

 lunation, but as she is not at such other times nearly 

 full, it attracts no observation. In the foregoing 

 description I have assumed that the full moon occurs 

 at the instant of the equinox, which it very rarely 

 does ; and that the moon's path coincides with the 

 ecliptic, while she really moves in a curve inclined 

 some 5° to it ; but these suppositions, as will be 

 easily seen, in no way affect the principle on which 

 the phenomenon is explicable. — F. R. A. S. 



The Maelstrom. — In reply to your correspond- 

 ent's inquiry on the above head, so very various 

 are the accounts given by different travellers of the 

 Maelstrom (or grinding stream) that it is difficult 

 to arrive at any positive conclusion as to its real 

 magnitude. There is, however, no doubt of the 

 existence of this strange whirlpool, the dangers of 

 which have been perhaps much exaggerated. It 

 is probable that the many traditions of Norway 

 have lent their aid to throw a halo of mystery over 

 its dark waters. The Maelstrom is situated be- 

 tween two of the South Lofoden Islands, lat. 67° 68' 

 long. 16°. Lord Dufferin, in his "Letters from 

 High Latitudes," mentions his anxiety to visit this 

 far-famed phenomenon. He appears to have ap- 

 proached the Maelstrom, but owing to the fearful 

 height and raging of the waves, his little vessel had 

 to stand out to sea to prevent its being swallowed 

 up in the vortex. Bayard Taylor, in his " Northern 

 Travels," referring to the Maelstrom, says that " it 

 is the general opinion that some of the rocks, which 

 formerly made it so terrible, have been broken 

 away, or that some submarine convulsion has taken 

 place which has changed the action of the waters." 

 Weighing the various grains of information which 

 we can gather together, we may conclude that the 

 Maelstrom is a whirlpool of extraordinary violence 

 (produced by cross tidal currents and sunken rocks), 

 which in an agitated state is most dangerous to 

 small craft venturing in too close proximity ; but 

 the stories of ships not being able to venture nearer 

 than seven miles may be regarded as quite fabulous. 

 — H. Allingham. 



Crickets. — I have crickets in my house ; they 

 must leave it or I must. Can any of your readers 

 tell me how to get rid of them ? Two months ago 

 I had not one — now they are killed by the dozen, 

 and still their numbers increase. In the early 

 numbers of Science-Gossip, several of your cor- 

 respondents told us what they eat, and very interest- 

 ing was their information, particularly to those who 

 " hang them up in cages to sing " (page 84) ; but 

 they can imagine how much more interesting to me 

 would be the information I ask. — Geo. B. 



Eoraminifera from Shells. — A few days ago, 

 while looking at a Conch shell purchased from a 

 stall in Brighton market at least three years ago, 

 a few grains of a white substance dropped on my 

 hand from a small cavity in the shell, containing 

 about half a teaspoonful of what appeared to be 

 sand, which, on examination under the microscope, 

 proved to be nearly all various fo'rms of Forami- 

 nifera. An examination of the foreign shells in the 

 possession of the readers of Science-Gossip will 

 probably furnish them with similar treasures. — 

 J. Wheatley, Lewes. ; 



