July 6, 1876] 



NATURE 



219 



Chotts. The measures taken last year on the Algerian side 

 have been verified. The same level has been found for the 

 connecting station with an immaterial difference of 2 'So metres 

 in favour of the operation. The altitude at Gabes is only 46 

 metres, which is no obstacle to the channel being opened. 

 Every objection raised by an Italian Commission has been set 

 aside. MM. d'Abbadee and de Lesseps promised their help and 

 testified their satisfaction. 



The half-yearly general meeting of the Scottish Meteorological 

 Society will be held to-morrow. The business before the meet- 

 ing will be — I. Report from the Council of the Society. 2. No- 

 tice as to observations of the velocity of the wind at different 

 heights, by Thomas Stevenson, F.R.S.E., F.G.S. 3. Me- 

 teorological Register kept by James Hoy, at Gordon Castle 

 from 1781 to 1827, communicated to the Society by His Grace 

 the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, with remarks thereon by 

 Mr. Buchan, secretary. This, we believe, is a very valuable 

 r^;ister. 



Mr. E. F. Flower has published "A Sequel " to his much- 

 needed pamphlet on "Bits and Bearing Reins." We are glad 

 to see that his efforts to abolish the useless and cruel bearing- 

 rein, and to introduce a rational and humane, and therefore 

 scientific, way of managing horses has been largely successful. 

 We cannot see how any man who wishes to be "merciful to 

 his beast " can, after reading Mr. Flower's pamphlet, persist in 

 the use of the bearing-rein, which after all is quite unnecessary, 

 and no doubt tends to make a horse contract vices. 



Nos. 4 and 5 of the loiua Weather Revieiu give a very good 

 summary of the weather of the State of Iowa during December, 

 January, and February last, dividing the season into nine 

 decades. The winter was unusually mild, being 10° '5 above the 

 average of Iowa winters, while during the third decade of 

 December the excess rose to I9°'7. Less than an inch of rain 

 fell in the north-west of the State, but in the central countries 

 the fall was large, amounting to 9*60 inches at Davenport. 

 Several interesting practical tables are added showing the days 

 of thaw when the maximum exceeded 32°, days of frost when 

 the minimum fell below 32°, and days of cold when the tempe- 

 rature fell to zero or lower. Sudden colds following in the wake 

 of storms are also detailed, together with the barometric rise, 

 and the velocity and direction of the wind, accompanying these 

 great falls of temperature, which form so marked a feature in 

 the climate of America. The alleged change of climate from 

 the cultivation of the soil and the destruction of forests by which 

 the summers, as stated, are becoming warmer and the winters 

 colder, is a question which deserves to be carefully examined. 



We have received " Results of Meteorological Observations 

 made at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution during 

 the Ten Years ending February, 1875," by the Rev. Leonard 

 Blomefield. The pamphlet, which is an extract from the " Pro- 

 ceedings of the Bath Natural History and Antiquarian Field 

 Club," is a conscientious piece of work, evidently got up with 

 the greatest care. The instruments appear to be fairly placed, 

 except the rain-gauge, which is fixed in a faulty position, viz., at 

 the top of a building. The monthly and yearly mean tempera- 

 tures have been deduced from the 9 a. m. observations corrected 

 for diurnal range, though it may well be doubted whether 

 *' means" can be calculated from observations made at only one 

 hour of the day and whether any diurnal range corrections yet 

 exist applicable to Bath. Some very interesting comparisons 

 are drawn between the climate of Bath and other parts of 

 England, with on the whole a just apprehension on the part of 

 the author of the misleading nature of data when based on the 

 observations of different years. Some of the differences, how- 

 ever, pointed out by Mr. Blomefield, such as the higher tempera- 

 ture of Bath as compared with Exeter during January and 



February disappear when a comparison is made from observa- 

 tions taken during the same years at each place, or from results 

 obtained by the method of differentiation. Among the interest- 

 ing results arrived at is the higher temperature of the river as 

 compared with that of the air at Bath amounting to 2° -5 on a 

 mean of the year, rising in June to 4° "6, and falling in February 

 to d'-<,. In many respects the pamphlet is a valuable contribu- 

 tion to the meteorology of the south-west of England. 



Dr. H. Hamberg, Assistamt Professor of Meteorology at the 

 University of Upsal, has written in the " Proceedings of the 

 Royal Academy of Sciences," Stockholm, a very interesting 

 paper on the development of the barometric minimum accom- 

 panying the thimderstorms which occurred in Sweden and 

 Norway from July 14 to 20, 1872. From the data before 

 him. Dr. Hamberg concludes that the barometer fell most 

 where the sky was cloudless, and that the fall of heavy ra'n 

 was generally attended with a rise rather than a fall of the 

 barometer, much in the same way as Dr. Hann has shown to 

 take place within the tropics at Batavia. The question is as 

 difficult as it is important in meteorology, and the investigation 

 of the behaviour of the barometer during our summer thunder- 

 storms is likely to lead to most valuable results. 



The additions made to the Royal Aquarium, Westminster, 

 during the past week are as follows : — A large collection of 

 fresh-water fish, including Carp, Bream, Chub, Perch, Roach, 

 and Trout, presented by the Earl of Aylesford ; Sand-eels {Am- 

 modytes lancea), Gemmeous Dragonettes {Callionymus lyra\ 

 Lump-fish (Cy^/<7//^rMj lumpus). Five-bearded Rocklings {Motella 

 musiela), Sea Bream {Cantharus lineatus), a shoal of young 

 Lobsters {Homarus vulgaris), hatched in the tanks. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 last week include eleven Lineated Pheasants {Euplocamus line- 

 atus), nine Amherst Pheasants {Thaumalca amherstia:), nine 

 Gold Pheasants {T. picta) and two Peacock Pheasants {Poly- 

 plectron chinqtiis), bred in the Gardens ; a Cape Buffalo (Bubalus 

 caffer). 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The January number of Reichert and Du Bois-Reymond's 

 Archiv opens with the conclusion of L. Dittmer's lengthy com- 

 munication on double monsters. — Carl Sachs describes and 

 figures the terminations of nerve fibres in certain tendons. — In a 

 long controversial article. Prof. Hitzig defends his own and 

 Fritsch's conclusions with respect to the functions of the cere- 

 bnim against Hermann, Braun, Carville, and Duret. — F. Boll's 

 article on the Savian vesicles found in the torpedo about the 

 nasal orifices and between the external edges of the electrical 

 organs and the limb-cartilages, is very interesting, because he 

 demonstrates the existence in their epithelium of spindle-shaped 

 cells corresponding in character to tho?e so commonly found in 

 special sense organs. — Dr. Colasanti, of Rome, gives an account 

 of the results of section of the olfactory nerve in the frog. He 

 finds that there is no consequent alteration in the nutrition or 

 appearance of the olfactory cells or of the peripheral ramifica- 

 tions of the pale nerve-fibres. — Dr. Colasanti, in another short 

 memoir shows that the fertilised hen's egg may be reduced in 

 temperature to from — 7° to - 10° C. without its vitality being 

 destroyed or in any way inteifcred with. — Rabl-Riickhard con- 

 tributes an elaborate account of the brain and cerebral nerves of 

 the black ant {Camponotus ligttiperdus). 



The March number of the Archiv contains a very interesting 

 account by P. Guttmann of his new experiments on respiration. 

 Investigating the respiratory pause following on inspiration, he 

 found that in vagotomised rabbits this pause does not occur. 

 The possible reasons for this are discussed. In rabbits, in whom 

 apnoea has been produced, it is always found that when the 

 apncea terminates, an inspiration, not an expiration, is the first 

 phenomenon. — Bernstein and Steiner contribute an important 

 paper on the transmission of contraction and the negative varia- 

 tion in the nni«cles of mammalia ; l)ut the i-itricacv of ilie sub. 



