Aug. 17, 1876] 



NATURE 



333 



SCIENCE IN ITALY ^ 



I 



N reviewing a number of scientific pamphlets, &c., 

 from Italy, we took occasion to remark (NATURE, 

 vol, xiii., p. 1 10) that " the restoration of political unity and 

 freedom in Italy has also brought about a revival of that 

 intellectual vigour which we are accustomed to associate 

 with the names of Dante and Tasso, of Galileo and 

 Torricelli. When Italy was divided and each state politi- 

 cally oppressed, her best men were in exile, and their 

 best scientific work was expressed in a foreign tongue." 



In forwarding to us a copy of the handsome volume, 

 the title of which is given above, the editors have written 

 to us, quoting the foregoing passage with approval, while 

 the introduction to the volume is written in the spirit of 

 those remarks. It is gratifying to learn what progress Italy 

 has made during the last ten or fifteen years in education, 

 literature, science, commerce, and industry. "An air more 

 propitious to study is now breathed by united Italy." New 

 scientific schools, institutions, and societies have sprung 

 up, and the old have been renovated. The best men, 

 returned from exile, have resumed their place among the 

 explorers of nature ; and the present state of intellectual 

 activity only renders more evident the condition of mis- 

 rule and division which so long afflicted that noble 

 country, when all free inquiry, whether in nature or 

 in politics, was forbidden, or at least discouraged. In 

 singular contrast to all this, her best minds have at length 

 found that intellectual repose and encouragement at 

 home which are so essential to the carrying on of grave 

 studies. 



As an exponent of this new state of things, the editors 

 conceived the idea of publishing a half-yearly report of 

 the scientific progress of Italy ; and taking advantage of 

 that wide spirit of tolerant liberality which pervades all 

 true science, they appealed for support to such of their 

 countrymen as were distinguished in the various depart- 

 ments of physics, chemistry, mineralogy, geology, botany, 

 zoology, physiology, anthropology, and geography. This 

 appeal was most liberally and heartily responded to, and 

 the result is a large octavo volume of about 450 pages, 

 well written and carefully edited, very few mistakes 

 occurring, even in the spelling of well-known names, al- 

 though we find at p. i5,"Poulliet,"atp.68, "Bences Jones," 

 at p. 84, " Edvard Hull," and this odd mode of division at 

 p. 15, " Hel-mholtz." The contributors to these various 

 departments have performed their respective tasks nobly 

 and well. They have not only contributed voluminous 

 abstracts of papers, notes and memoirs, but in many 

 cases have furnished more or less elaborate reports on the 

 state of their respective branches of science, and have also 

 given, in some cases, reviews of the best books by Italian 

 authors. For example, the reporter on mineralogy, in 

 addition to some sensible remarks on the backward state 

 of science in Italy, devotes thirty full pages to a review of 

 Bambicci's " Corso di Mineralogia" (second edition, 1875), 

 and refers to it again and again in terms of such high 

 praise as would seem scarcely to belong to a compilation 

 from standard writers in other languages. Indeed the 

 superlative terms of laudation which occur in many parts 

 of the volume strike our colder northern temperament as 

 being at least exaggerated. "Why refer to the chiarissinio 

 Signer Professore, So-and-So, while foreign savans, 

 whether living or departed, are simply and properly men- 

 tioned, as Ampere, Faraday, Helmholtz, &c. When 

 Lord Castlereagh appeared in plain evening dress at a 

 brilliant party at Vienna, amidst a crowd of highly- 

 decorated gentlemen, a lady, asking Mettemich who he 

 was, said, " Mais il n'est pas distingu^ ! " that statesman 

 replied, " Ma foi ! c'est etre bien distingu^." 



Although we are bound to bestow cordial praise 

 on this volume, yet we should not perform our duty 



' Half-yearly Review of the Physico-Natural Sciences in Italy. Edited 

 and published by Drs. G. Cavaona and G. PapasoglL Anno 1., 1875, vol. i. 

 Florence, 1875. {Rassegna Semestrale, &.c.) 



honestly if we omitted to point out a certain back- 

 wardness on the part of some investigators in read- 

 ing up their subjects before they attempted to make 

 what to them appear to be new researches. For ex- 

 ample, at p. 66 is an abstract of a memoir by Pelloggio, 

 entitled " Contribution to the Phenomena of Supersatu- 

 ration," in which the author appears to have no more, 

 recent information of his subject than that derived from 

 Lowel. He points out that salts isomeric with the 

 one in solution act as nuclei to it. This was shown 

 to be the case many years ago by Violette. He also 

 insists that porous bodies, such as sponge, charcoal, &c., 

 are powerful nuclei ; whereas it has been shown by 

 Tomlinson that such bodies, boiled with the solution 

 which is then left to cool, are purely passive. So also 

 when MM. Mercadante and Colosi affirm (p. 47) that 

 carbonic acid is not emitted by the roots of plants, they 

 are evidently unacquainted with Broughton's researches. 

 We may also point out what seems to be an inaccurate 

 observation on the part of PoUacci (p. 50), namely, that 

 sulphur moistened and exposed to the air absorbs oxygen 

 and becomes converted into sulphuric acid. 



At p. 126 there is an interesting account of the fall of a 

 meteor at Supino in the district of Frosinone on Sept. 14, 

 1875. It was accompanied by a trail of fire and smoke ; 

 and after reaching the earth it took a horizontal direction, 

 passed through a house without striking it, thanks to an 

 open passage, and so disappeared. A number of frag- 

 ments were found in the passage, the heaviest of which 

 weighed 364-2 grammes. The fragments were warm. 

 At p. 1 34 is a paper on red chalk, which would deserve 

 attention did our space permit. 



Anthropology and ethnology are comparatively new to 

 Italy, but they have begun a life of apparent vigour under 

 the auspices of a new society, a museum, and a journal. 



There are some interesting details respecting the skulls 

 of Dante, Petrarch, Ugo Foscolo, and Volta, the last being 

 of extraordinary capacity. In the skull of Petrarch the 

 Etruscan type is said to be evident, namely, a voluminous 

 brain, strongly developed in all its parts, and of superior 

 psychological power ; but the posterior predominates 

 over the anterior portion, leading to the conclusion that 

 the sentiments and the instincts prevailed over the intel- 

 lect, although this is of the highest order. 



We look out with much interest for the second part of 

 this volume, which the editors promise shall appear 

 shortly. C, TOMLINSON 



THE VOLCANO OF REUNION^ 



THE volcano of the Island of Reunion, surrounded and 

 defended as it were by great circular walls perpen- 

 dicular for more than 100 metres, forming what is known 

 as the inclosure, is hardly accessible except on two sides, 

 by the high plain of the interior or by the Grand-Brul^ ; 

 that is, setting out from the coast to climb directly the 

 slopes of the crater itself. 



Far from becoming extinct, as has been supposed, this 

 volcano is on the contrary in great activity, and almost 

 every year torrents of lava overflow in that western part 

 of the island known as the great burnt country; its 

 streams sometimes reach the sea, and there form, at a 

 height of more than 2,000 metres, a regular cascade of 

 fire, which may reach a length, as in 1844, of from 900 to 

 1,000 metres. But these great eruptions are happily very 

 rare ; they are only seen at intervals of six or eight years, 

 and very often the lava is arrested 1,000 or 1,500 metres 

 from the mouth of the crater. Towards the end of 

 August, 1874, loud detonations, sudden tremblings of the 

 ground presaged an eruption of great violence ; but the 

 flow lasted only two days ; directed towards the rampart 

 of the Tremblet, it was happily arrested at 1,500 metres 

 without causing much damage. It was then that I arrived 



' From an article in La Nature, No. 160, by M. Ch. Ve'ain. 



K2 



