396 



NATURE 



{March i6, 1876 



range, brought to the close a day which the fortunate 

 Fellows of the Chemical Society will certainly remember 

 as one of the most instructive and enjoyable in their 

 varied experiences. 



NOTES 



It is with the greatest regret that we announce the death of 

 Col. Strange, the Inspector of Instruments to the Indian Govern- 

 ment, who died on the 9th instant. We shall give an obituary 

 notice next week. 



An impression has become general, through the statements of 

 our contemporaries, that the Sub-Wealden boring has been per- 

 manently stopped. This is not the case ; for at the last meeting 

 of the committee it was determined to carry it on to a depth of 

 2,000 feet, and if funds continue to flow in with the success 

 which has previously characterised this movement, the boring, 

 it is hoped, will be carried to the greatest depth attainable. 

 The boring has now reached a depth of more than 1,900 feet, 

 and was to be recommenced this week ; should, however, a 

 greater depth than 2,000 feet be determined on, it will be neces- 

 sary to enlarge and reline the hole, which will cost from 600/. to 

 700/. Arrangements are being made by which it is hoped that 

 a continuous core may be obtained from the present depth to 

 that of 2,000 feet. We believe the Government grant of a 

 pound a foot for each foot bored ceases at 2,000 feet, and, look- 

 ing to the important light the prosecution of this boring will 

 throw, not only on many theoretical questions of modern science, 

 but on so many doubtful points of practical interest to Eng- 

 land, it is sincerely to be hoped that the advisabiUty of 

 continuing the grant will be seriously considered by her Majesty's 

 Ministers. 



We have received from Messrs. AUsopp and from Dr. Hassall 

 letters referring to the statement noticed in our review of the 

 work of the latter on Food (vol. xiii. p. 345), that the water used 

 by the former in the brewing of their ales contains 7 '65 grains of 

 sulphate of zinc. Dr. Hassall expresses great annoyance that 

 through some inadvertence on his part this unfortunate error, as 

 it obviously is, should have been allowed to get into his book. 

 He points out, what no doubt would be evident to most readers, 

 that sulphate of zinc is a mistake for sulphate of polask. He 

 assures us that no trace of so deleterious a substance as sulphate 

 of zinc has been found in the water used by Messrs. Allsopp, 

 and that their celebrated bitter beer consists solely of the pro- 

 ducts of malt and hops, and the constituents of pure spring- 

 water. A further letter from Dr. Hassall, for which we have 

 not space, will be found in our advertisement columns. 



We are informed that Mr. J. E. Harting is engaged in editing 

 for the "Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' 

 Society" ten unpubHshed letters of Gilbert White, which have 

 recently come to light. The originals are in the possession of 

 the Rev. H. P. Marsham, of Rippon Hall, near Norwich, and 

 are addressed to his great grandfather, Mr. Robert Marsham, 

 F.R. S., of Stratton Strawless, Norfolk. It is expected that this 

 interesting publication will appear about the end of this month 

 or early in April. 



Mr. Stanford has sent us specimens of some veiy fine maps 

 recently published by him. Two of these are Orographical 

 maps of Europe and of England, and the public in general and 

 educationists in particular ought to be grateful to Mr. Stanford 

 for thus putting within their reach a style of map which has 

 hitherto been peculiar to Germany. The maps are really admir- 

 able specimens of a very difficult kind of cartography, and we 

 have only one fault to find witli them. Unfortunately, the 

 midland levels are coloured green, while the sea is coloured 



blue, so that' by gaslight the boundary cannot be distinguished. 

 Why not 1 have the nearest approximation to sea-level coloured 

 white, the various higher levels of the land graduated shades 

 of brown, and those of the sea by various shades of blue or green ? 

 This would be a simple and, we think, most intelligible plan. If 

 the slight defect we mention — and it is only noticed under arti- 

 ficial light — were remedied, the maps would be nearly all that 

 could be desired. The third map is a large-scale one, in four 

 sheets, of British Guiana. The map is compiled from the sur- 

 veys executed under H.M.'s Commission for 1841-44, and under 

 the direction of the Geographical Society, for 1835-39, by Sir R. 

 H. Schomburgk, revised and corrected to the present time by 

 Mr. Cathcart Chalmers, Crown Surveyor of the Colony, and 

 Mr. J. Gay Sawkins, Director of the Geological Survey of the 

 West Indies and British Guiana, with additions by Mr. C. B. 

 Brown. It will thus be seen that the map has been constructed 

 on the latest and most trustworthy authorities. It is a curious 

 fact that the boundaries between British Guiana and Venezuela 

 on the one hand and Brazil on the other have never been 

 properly adjusted. 



We have received a very important letter by Mr. Russell 

 Government Astronomer at Sydney, which we regret that we 

 have not space to reproduce in extenso. The letter refers to the 

 excessively dry weather of Australia, which, indeed, has been so 

 dry as to be really alarming, and reviews the results of rainfall 

 observations made at Sydney during the last thirty-six years. 

 This letter suggests to us that the unusual wet weather we have 

 had here may be more than compensated by the excessively dry 

 weather which has prevailed in Australia. 



The Duke of Richmond and Gordon stated in the House of 

 Lords no Tuesday that the Vivisection question was under the 

 consideration of the Government, but he could not say when any 

 legislation would take place upon it. 



A FEW days ago a meeting was held in Birmingham for the 

 purpose of establishing a Philosophical Society, and it was 

 found that the proposal met with very warm support. Some 

 difference of opinion was expressed as to the propriety of inclul- 

 ing literary subjects in its programme, but the general feeling 

 was in favour of keeping to a purely scientific course. A society 

 of this kind is greatly wanted in this important centre, for 

 science is represented there only by the Natural History Society, 

 which, though it has done some good work, is found to have 

 too limited a scope. With the prospect held out by the munifi- 

 cent founder of Mason's College for advanced scientific culture, 

 there can be little doubt that such a society would do great good, 

 and we wish it every success. A proposal for amalgamating the 

 Natural History Society with the new Society has been made, 

 and has been favourably entertained. 



Mr. R. W. Cheadle is announced as having been successful 

 in excavating from the well-known brick earth pit at Cray ford a 

 bone which was identified by Prof. Morris as the thigh-bone of 

 a British species of lion. Mr. Cheadle found at the same time 

 several rhinoceros' teeth in this cemetery of ancient life among 

 the hop gardens of Kent. 



Petermann's Mittheilungen for March contains several im- 

 portant papers. H. Habenicht contributes a brief description 

 to accompany a carefully, and notwithstanding its size, remark- 

 ably clear map of Europe, showing the distribution of the sedi- 

 mentary rocks on that continent. A map of South New Guinea 

 between 142" and 143° E. long, shows the course of the recently 

 discovered Baxter River, accompanying which are accounts of 

 the Macleay expedition and of Macfarlane and Stone's explora- 

 tion of the Baxter River or Mai-Kassa. Lieut. Weyprecht con- 

 tinues his •' Sketches from the Far North," in this part treating 

 of the ice-pressure. The account of Lieut. -Col. Przewalsky's 



