36 



NATUkE 



\_Nov. II, 1875 



The letters are said to contain valuable geographical data in 

 illustration of the map already forwarded, including soundings 

 of the Victoria Nyanza and an exploration of the Wliitc Nile 

 above Ripon P'alls. 



In reference to the Renter's telegram (vol. xii., p. 562) rela- 

 tive to the mission to Italy of Major Festing and Mr. Lockyer, 

 we should state that the instruments which it was sought to collect 

 for the forthcoming Government Exhibition of Scientific Instru- 

 ments at South Kensington Museum are not instruments used in 

 recent astronomical observations, but rather such as will be 

 historically interesting as illustrating those sciences in the early 

 development of which Italian philosophers such as Galileo, 

 Toricelli, Volta, and Galvani took such a large share. 



On Saturday evening, [Captain Adams, of the whaler ^rc/zV, 

 arrived in Dundee from the Davies Straits fishing. From the 

 condition of the wind and sea at Carey Island, Captain Adams 

 believes that there must have been a vast extent of open water 

 towards the north, and he is convinced that the Government 

 ships must have reached a higher latitude than they possibly 

 could have attained for many years past. Captain Adams has 

 an intimate knowledge of the Polar regions, and has already 

 made several valuable contributions to Arctic discoveries. 



A SERIES of Popular Scientific Lectures was commenced at the 

 Town Hall, West Bromwich, on Tuesday week, when Prof. 

 Williamson, F.R.S., lectured on " Coal and Coal Plants." The 

 following remain to be given : — On Nov, 16, " The Age of Ice in 

 Britain," by Rev. H. W. Crosskey, F.G.S. On Nov. 30, " Coal 

 Gas," by F.Jones, F,R.S.E., F.C.S. On Dec. 14, "Nerve 

 Cells and Nerve Fibres," by Prof. A. Gamgee, M.D., F.R.S. 

 On Jan. 10, " The Mariner's Compass," by J. Hopkinson, 

 D.Sc, M.A. 



We have received the Report of the "Botanical Locality 

 Record Club " for 1874. It forms a valuable addition to our 

 topographical knowledge of British plants ; and m the list of 

 " New County Records," care seems to have been taken not to 

 give those of the rarer plants so precisely that the publication 

 will be likely to result in their extinction. A suggestion has 

 been made to extend the area of the records to Cellular Crypto- 

 gams (Vascular Cryptogams being already included). This 

 might probably be done with advantage as far as Mosses, Lichens, 

 and Hepaticce, and possibly also Fungi, are concerned ; but with 

 regard to Algae, it is more doubtful whether much* would be 

 gained by a record of their geographical distribution. 



MM. Reess and Will, of Erlangen, record in the Botanische 

 Zeitung No. 44 for the current year, a series of observations 'on 

 the carnivorous habits of Dionaa and Drosera. I\Iade quite 

 independently of Mr. Darwin's researches, and partly before their 

 publication, they abundantly confirm his conclusions as to the 

 power possessed by the sundew of absorbing and digesting 

 nitrogenous substances. Similar experiments on other plants 

 with glandular hairs produced, like Mr. Darwin's, negative 

 results. 



The Argonaut is to be doubled in size at the commence- 

 ment of a new volume in January. A new feature will be a 

 monthly report , suited for general readers, on the progress of 

 science, specially prepared for the magazine "by professioual 

 gentlemen of acknowledged standing in their respectives spheres 

 of study." 



It is gratifying to see that the value of experimental obser- 

 vation is coming to be more and more recognised in Medicine. 

 We would draw attention, in reference to this, to a summary of '\ 

 an excellent address on the subject, by Dr. McKendrick, of I 

 Edinburgh, which appears in last Saturday's British Medical i 

 Journal, j 



Prof. W. R. M'Nab reprints from the Quarterly Journal of 

 Microscopical Science his translation of Brefeld's most important 

 researches on the life-history of one of the common blue moulds, 

 Penicillinm glaucttm. A very close research succeeded in detect- 

 ing the hitherto unknown sexual mode of reproduction of this 

 fungus. Brefeld terms the second generation a sclerotlum or 

 sporocarp, from which are developed — as the result of the union 

 of the true sexual organs, the carpogonium and antheridium— 

 asci and ascospores, the formation of which shows that Penicii- 

 liuni must be placed in the group of Ascomycetes ; and he con- 

 siders that, from the striking resemblance of the minute structure 

 of the sclerotia to those of the truiHe, a position must be assigned 

 it close to the Tuberaceo2. 



The second part of Bentley and Trimen's " Medicinal Plants " 

 fully maintains the character of the first. It contains seven 

 plates : Theobroma Cacao (the cocoa- plant), Rhamnus cal/iarticjis, 

 Prunus Amygdalus (the almond), Pyrus Cydonia (the quince), 

 Lobelia injlata, Gaultheria procumbens, and Cvmamoimim ziy- 

 lanicum (the cinnamon). The letter-press is amply descriptive 

 of the various species and their officinal preparations. The work 

 will be completed in about forty parts. 



MM. Wiegandt, llempel, and Parey, of Berlin, are publishing 

 a large number of wall-maps or diagrams for instruction in 

 natural history, with especial reference to agriculture. Five 

 series have been issued up to the present time ; the first relating 

 to the breeding of stock ; the second to the production of 

 wool ; the third to the minute structure of plants ; the fourth 

 to the cultivation of root and other crops ; and the fifth to 

 physical geography. 



Mr. J. J. Harris Teall, B.A., First Class in the Natural 

 Sciences Tripos 1872 and Sedgwick Prizeman 1873, has been j 

 elected a Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. Mr. Teall 

 is at present one of the lecturers engaged on behalf of the Uni- 

 versity in the larger tovvrs. 



The unfortunate explosion of the Magenta at Toulouse has 

 involved a loss of some consequence to science. Eighteen 

 Phoenician inscriptions, recently discovered and on their way to 

 the Louvre Museum, were on board the ill-fated steamer. Great 

 efforts will be made to raise the hull, and the inscriptions may 

 possibly be recovered by divers. 



The Crystal Palace Company's School of Practical Engineer- 

 ing is to be further developed this season by the addition of a 

 Colonial Section. This section is designed particularly for 

 gentlemen who intend to proceed to the colonies or abroad, as 

 explorers or settlers. The object proposed is to afford them so 

 much practical knowledge of scientific and mechanical work and 

 expedients as shall enable them best to utilise the means with 

 which they may have to deal, especially when entirely dependent 

 on their own resources. The Colonial Section will be opened 

 on January 5, 1876. 



A retriever dog, whose owner was working in the garden 

 of the Bath Institution, lately killed a favourite cat, a frequenter 

 of the same grounds. Having committed this unprovoked mur- 

 der, the dog deliberately took the cat in his mouth, carried it 

 some distance, dug a deep hole behind some bushes, and after 

 depositing the cat therein, carefully replaced the earth, and had 

 he not been observed there would have been no evidence of the 

 crime. Shortly after, the dog lost his life by poison, probably a 

 penalty for the offence. 



In the neighbourhood of Bath a gentleman possesses a pair of 

 carriage horses, one of which evinces more than ordinary intelli- 

 gence when his own ends have to be served. If the horse hears, 

 even in the distance, the very first movement of a mowing- 

 machine, he connects the sound with fresh grass, and at once 

 taps with his hoof at the boarding of the stall to summon the 



