432 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Dr. Robert Akgus Smith, Inspector- 

 General of Alkali-Works for the United 

 Kingdom, died May 12th, aged sixty-seven 

 years. lie was the author of a " Life of 

 Dalton," of a work on "Air and Rain," 

 and of papers in the " Philosophical Trans- 

 actions, the " Journal of the Philosophical 

 Society," and the " Journal of the Society 

 of Arts." 



Mr. W. r. IIiLLEBRAND descHbcs, in the 

 " American Journal of Science," what he 

 regards as a new mineral which he has found 

 in connection with the sulpho-bismuthite of 

 copper and silver. It occurs in the form of 

 small, slender crystals, in cavities of the 

 bluish-gray sulpho-bismuthite, which are 

 generally bronzed by oxidation, and so deep- 

 ly striated as sometimes to present the ap- 

 pearance under the glass of bunches of 

 needles. Their habit is strikingly like that 

 of bismuthinite, for which the crystals were 

 at first taken. Analyses and the examina- 

 tion of their properties mark them as prob- 

 ably of a pure sulpho-bismuthite of copper, 

 in the more compact portions of which sil- 

 ver may replace a part of the copper, while 

 in some cases a further replacement of cop- 

 per by lead takes place. No name is as 

 yet proposed for the mineral. 



At a recent meeting of the Sociological 

 Section of the Birmingham Natural History 

 Society, it was decided to begin immediately 

 the preparation of an index to the study of 

 sociology. Letters were read from Mr. Spen- 

 cer, approving the system which the section 

 proposes to adopt, and saying that time and 

 the condition of his health alone had pre- 

 vented his beginning a similar work. 



M. Charles Adolph WiJRTZ, the dis- 

 tinguished French chemist, whose name is 

 particularly associated with the progress of 

 organic chemistry during the last half-cen- 

 tury, died very suddenly on the 12th of May 

 last. A portrait and a sketch of M. Wiirtz 

 were published in " The Popular Science 

 Monthly" for November, 18S2. 



The American frigate Pcnsacsla, passing 

 cm the 22d of December last by the Strait of 

 Sunda, crossed large fields of pumice-stone, 

 and continued to observe small quantities of 

 such matter till the 10th of January, when 

 it was in latitude 16" 7' south, and longitude 

 6C"8° east. The pumice was not seen every 

 day, but few days passed without observing 

 some ; and those cakes that were seen after 

 the 1st of January were covered with shells 

 and plants, while some held little crabs in 

 their pores. These pumices were derived 

 either from the May or the August eruption 

 of Krakatoa. 



M. L. Cruls, describing, in a note to the 

 French Academy of Sciences, the " red sun- 

 sets " as seen in Brazil, states that at first 

 the setting of the sun was preceded by a 



gradual darkening caused by the interposi- 

 tion between the eye of the observer and the 

 sun of a bed of absorbing vapors, having a 

 smoky aspect, like that of " dry fog." At a 

 later period the glow corresponded closely 

 in appearance with the phenomenon as de- 

 scribed in Europe. M. Cruls is of the opin- 

 ion that the glow is of the same charac- 

 ter as the twilight phenomena described in 

 the "^«p«ctf celeste " of M. Emm. Lias, which, 

 though possibly having a meteoric origin, 

 partook of the character of atmospheric 

 twilight. 



SiGNOR QuiKTiNO Sella, President of 

 the Accademia del Lyncei of Rome, died on 

 the 14th of ilarch. He was distinguished 

 for valuable researches and papers of great 

 excellence in crystallographic mineralogy, 

 and for his active interest in the geological 

 survey and the preparation of the geologic 

 map of Italy. He was President of the In- 

 ternational Geological Congress at Bologna, 

 in 1881. To scientific eminence he added 

 ability as a statesman ; and he was for many 

 years Minister of Finance in Italy. Men of 

 science are invited to contribute to the plac- 

 ing of a bronze wreath on his tomb. 



Professor Dana believes that the ex- 

 traordinary rise in the Ohio River, in Feb- 

 ruary last, was the result of the falling of 

 heavy rains at a time when the ground was 

 so solidly frozen as to be wholly destitute 

 of the power of absorption. Compared with 

 this, the extent of the forest region had 

 very little to do with the height the river 

 attained ; and the same conditions of frost 

 and heavy rain prevailing, the result would 

 not have been materially different had the 

 primitive forest been standing. 



It is reported that a cocoanut planta- 

 tion has been started on the southern coast 

 of Florida. One hundred thousand plants 

 have been set out on a tract of about one 

 thousand acres, at a cost of nearly $40,000, 

 and next winter the number is to be in- 

 creased. It requires six years for the trees 

 to begin to yield returns, but it is estimated 

 that in ten years the grove will pay ten per 

 cent on a valuation of $2,000,000. A full- 

 grown tree will mature about sixty nuts an- 

 nually. The Florida cocoanut-eulture is lim- 

 ited, however, as it is confined exclusively to 

 the sea-coast, and the trees can be grown only 

 to a small extent in southern Florida. 



Professor II. Schlegel, Director of the 

 Royal Museum of Natural History at Ley- 

 den, died in January last. Dr. Schlegel 

 was born in Altenburg, Saxony, in 1804, 

 and was appointed Director of the Museum 

 in 1858. Under his superintendence, this 

 institution became one of the richest of the 

 kind in existence. Dr. Schlegel was a high 

 authority in descriptive zoology, especially 

 in the department of the vertebrata. 



