114 



NATURE 



[Dec. 9, 1875 



On November i a Stenographic Exhibition was opened in a 

 room of the Pedagogic Museum of the College, Rome. Steno- 

 graphy at the present day occupies a very important part in the 

 requirements of public life, and we believe the effort to encou- 

 rage its study by a public exhibition will lead to useful results. 

 On the walls of the room were a list of the Italian towns that 

 had a school or society for stenography. The only method fol- 

 lowed is that of Gabelsberg-Noe. On a table in the centre of 

 the room were stenographic attempts of every kind, from large 

 plates for elementary study to the smallest and most minute 

 works. In one case, Dante's " Divine Comedy " was copied out 

 into a book of Lilliputian dimensions. On a post-card one 

 stenographer had written 3,660 words. The committee who 

 aiTanged the exhibition wish to reproduce on the historical wax 

 tablet the stenographic marks with which Tiro wrote the speeches 

 of Cicero. 



On November 2 took place the opening ceremony of the scho- 

 lastic year of the University of Rome. Prof. Scalzi read a 

 critico-historical exposition of a collection of surgical apparatus 

 belonging to lithotomists and oculists of the sixteenth and 

 eighteenth centuries, which he found among families of the 

 province of Umbria. Prof. Scalzi gave some very interesting 

 details, showing that these instruments were invented in Italy, 

 and not by foreigners, as has been supposed. He showed also 

 that the study of the original instruments was of great interest in 

 connection with the history of the progress of the surgical art. 

 On two tables were arranged eighty instruments which had 

 belonged to surgeons of Novicia and Delle Preci in Umbria. 

 Many of these instruments, it was interesting to observe, re- 

 sembled those found at Pompeii and others found at Ravenna. 



A REPORT by Mr. Fi-ank Buckland, on the fisheries of Nor- 

 folk, recently issued, states as a remarkable fact that large 

 numbers of sea trout are annually caught off the coasts of that 

 county, though the rivers which flow through it are naturally 

 incapable of producing Salmonida. The fish thus caught are 

 visitors from the salmon rivers in the north, viz., the Tyne, the 

 Tees, the Coquet, and the Tweed. The object of this visit to 

 the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk is to find food, which exists 

 in abundance in the shape of the spawn and fry of the many 

 varieties of fish which abound in those waters. The report con- 

 tains much interesting matter relative to the crab, lobster, and 

 other sea-coast fisheries, and to the fisheries in the fresh-waters 

 of Norfolk and Suffolk. 



The Comptes Rendus for October 4 last contains a paper on 

 the interpretation of the sphygmograph trace, by M. Bouillaud. 

 The author gives reasons, which we think peculiarly unsatis- 

 factory, in favour of the sphygmograph trace — a curve now fairly 

 understood — supporting an assumption of his that each cardiac 

 revolution consists of two periods of action and two of repose, 

 instead of one systole and its associated secondary consequences. 



Our readers will find, in the current number of the Ibis a 

 short account of the late veteran Swedish ornithologist, Carl J. 

 Sundevall, whose excellent investigations, especially with refer- 

 ence to the Passerine birds, have done much towards the deve- 

 lopment of sound classificational principles. 



We would direct the special attention of our zoological and 

 geological readers to a paper by Prof. Owen in the current 

 number of the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, on a 

 fossil Sirenian animal from Jamaica, previously described by 

 him, and named Prorastomus sirenoides. In this animal the pre- 

 maxilla of each side gives indications of having supported three 

 not large teeth, at the same time that there were eight teeth of 

 the molar series above and below, on each side. The species 

 was considerably smaller than the Manatee ; the skull and 

 atlas vertebra are the only parts kjiown ; in conjungtion with 



Felsinotherium forrestii it fills an important gap in our knowledge 

 of the pedigree of the Sirenia. 



The Geographical Magazine for December contains a paper 

 of great value on the Amu Darya region, by N. P. Barbot de 

 Maruz, who in the summer of 1874 made a journey from Fort 

 Alexandrovski, in the Caspian, to the foot of the Thian-shan. 

 He describes the principal geological features observed along 

 the route, and promises a full report of his researches when he 

 has been able to arrange his abundant materials. Another 

 paper, by Mr. Ravenstein, describes Mr. Stanley's recent dis- 

 coveries, and Is illustrated by two good maps, one of the Victoria 

 Nyanza, principally according to Mr. Stanley, and another of 

 the regions of the Upper Nile, embodying the results of the ex- 

 plorations of Burton, Speke, Grant, Stanley, Baker, Long, and 

 others. 



Parts 10, 11, and 12 (in one), of the well-conducted Italian 

 geographical journal, Cosmos, are to hand. The following are 

 the principal papers : — A letter from F. Giordano, giving some 

 account of the condition of New Guinea, in reference to a pro- 

 posal to make use of some part of it as an Italian penal settle- 

 ment. Another letter, from Dr. Beccari, describes some results 

 of his investigations into Papuan ethnology. The first of a 

 series of papers on Arctic Geography gives the results of recent 

 Arctic exploration in the Baffin's Bay and Spitzbergen directions. 



We learn from the American Naturalist that State Associa- 

 tions of Archaeology have been formed in Indiana and Tennessee, 

 sittiilar to that already existing in the State of Ohio. Their field 

 of work is most extensive and important. 



On Thursday, November 26, at 6.35 p.m., an earthquake 

 shock was distinctly felt at Lyons. The commotion, which 

 travelled northwards, lasted from fifteen to twenty seconds. 



A SHOCK of earthquake was felt at Naples on Dec. 6, and 

 also throughout the provinces of the Basilicata, Terra di Lavoro, 

 and Salerno. 



Thi additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a male Prince Alfred's Deer {Cervus alfredi), 

 bom in the Gardens ; a Green Monkey ( Cercopithecus calli- 

 trichus) from West Africa, presented by Mr. C. F. Wood ; a 

 Macaque Monkey (Macacus cynotttolgus) from India, presented 

 by Miss Kate Symonds ; two Alligators {Alligator viississippi- 

 ensis) from North America, deposited; twenty- nine Basse {Labrax 

 lupus); a Grey Mullet [Mugil capito), and six Coitus (Cf//«j 

 bubalis) from home seas, purchased. 



THE DIFFERENCE OF THERMAL ENERGY 

 TRANSMITTED TO THE EARTH BY RADI- 

 ATION FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE 

 SOLAR SURFACE 

 'T'HE observations relating to the temperature of the polar 

 -^ regions, referred to in the article (vol. xii. p. 5I7)> at first led 

 to the supposition that the rays projected from the north pole of 

 the sun transmit a perceptibly greater energy to the actinometers 

 than the rays from the opposite pole. Subsequent observations 

 having positively established the fact that the polar and equa- 

 torial zones transmit equal intensities, it became evident that 

 some other cause than difference of temperature within the polar 

 regions influenced the actinometers. The only valid reason that 

 could be assigned in explanation of the anomaly being the con- 

 siderable angle subtended, and the consequent difference of 

 zenith distance of the opposite poles of the sun, my table of 

 maximum solar intensity for given zenith distances (prepared from 

 data collected during a series of years) was consulted, in order 

 to ascertain the influence of zenith distance. The observations 

 indicating a higher temperature at the north pole, it should be 

 mentioned, had been made while the sun's zenith distance 

 ranged between 32° and 33° at noon. Now the table referred to 

 shows that there is a difference of radiant intensity of 63° -63 - 

 63* -40 — o°'23 F. between the stated zenith distances. The 

 mean angle subtended by the sun being fully thirty-two minutes, 



