Ap7 il 20, 1876] 



NATURE 



495 



Ir. Giles, with the camels belongmg toMr. Elder, was to 



e Champion Bay, West Australia, early last month. He 



to examine the tributaries of the Murchison and other rivers 



ihe North Coast, and then push across to South Australia, 



lioping to reach Adelaide in December. 



Mr. Campbell de Morgan, F.R-S., died on the nth inst. 

 Mr. de Morjjan had contributed some valuable papers to the 

 '' .'osophical Transactions and to the medical journals. 



MR Willi .\M Jen.ner, Bart., will deliver the Harveian 

 ' 'ration OQ Midsummer Day. 



The Rhind Lectures on Archaeology, in connection with the 

 etyof Antiquaries of Scotland, will be given by Dr. Arthur 

 ;hell, commencing on Tuesday last, and continued on the 

 wing Fridays and Tuesdays. There will be six in all, and 

 ubject i<:, "Do we possess the means of determining scien- 

 Jly the condition of Primeval Man and his Age on the 

 Eirth?" 



A Botanic Gardex about twenty acres in extent has been 

 just opened at Southport. In connection with it a museum has 

 been erected containing collections in the various branches of 

 natural history, the entomology of the neighbourhood being well 

 represented in this branch of the museum. Geology has a 

 department assigned to it, and the usual local curiosiiies, with 

 coins, medals, &c, have a place. The whole of the collections 

 have been well arranged and classified. 



It is proposed to erect an aquarium and winter garden at 

 Clifton, and a committee has been appointed with a view of 

 obtaining a proper site. 



Mr. John Murray announces a new work by Mr. Charles 

 Darwin, F.R.S., on the results of cross and self-fertilisation in 

 [he vegetable kingdom. 



The Journal Officul of the French Republic has published an 

 ial document estimating the expenses of the International 

 i xbibilion of 1878 at 1,200,000/. 



An interesting notice has appeared by MM. Becqueral 

 md Edm. Becqueral of the temperatures observed at the 

 Museum, Paris, during 1875, wi h electric thermometers 

 ■liced at depths varying trom 37^ feet to 118 feet. The 

 nean temperature increases with the depth from 5<''3 at 

 :\ feet, to 54° '4 at 11 S feet. The seasonal range diminishes 

 vich the depth, the ditference between the two extreme seasons 

 t 3I feet being i3°-5 ; at igf feet 3'-o ; at 36 feet o''-5 ; at loi 

 ?et only C'-oj, and at 118 feet the temperature is constant 

 ugh the year. An interesting point is the disturbing in- 

 .ice on the varying annual and seasonal results according to 

 epth, arising from the different geological strata met with, but 

 articularly from two layers at depths of 49 and 79 feet, through 

 hich a constant flow of water percolates to the Seine. In these 

 lyers the minimum occurs towards the end of winter, and the 

 \aximum in summer, being thus assimilated as regards these 

 onual phases of their temperature to the surface layers. 



M. Crova, professor' in the Montpellier' Academy, has in- 

 ituted experiments to determine by calculation what is the value 

 f solar radiation at the limits of the atmosphere. The professor 

 lund that for a normal plane exposed to the sun's rays it amounts 

 • two calories per minute on each square centimetre, so that almost 

 rery hour a cubic centimetre of water could be heated to 100* C. 

 no heat were lost by evaporation, Pouillet found the number 

 eater by half, and equal to,23i,coo calories per year for each 

 luare centimetre. 



I On April i, at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, a partial 

 lar halo {46°) was observed at Paris. The arc (12°) was ver- 

 :al in the orient of the sun, and at the same distancej^from the 



horizon, and the colours were as vivid as an ordinary rainbow. 

 The partial halo was accompanied by a parhelion or triangular 

 mass of light. The interior part of the halo was obscure. The 

 phenomenon lasted for three-quarters of an hour. At 5h. 30m. a 

 vertical column of light going upwards to the zenith was 

 observed. 



The French Minister of Public Instruction, M. Waddington, 

 has visited officially the several establishments of public instruc- 

 tion in Paris, as well as the site of the building to be constructed 

 for the u.se of the Academy of Medicine. It may be interesting 

 to state that the money required for the building, which we 

 referred to in a recent note, was extorted from the Bank of 

 France during the Commune, under threat of pillage and 

 assassination. The government assented to restore it to the city 

 of Paris, to which it belonged, on condirion that it should be 

 devoted to works of public usefulness. The Municipal Council 

 accepting the condition granted it for improving and extending 

 the buildings of the Faculty. 



M. Large.\u and his staff have returned from Rhadames to 

 Constantine after a successful journey. A lecture has been 

 delivered at the Salle Herz, in I'aris, by M. Foucher de Cared, a 

 senator, and a concert given on behalf of [future explorations 

 by M. Largeau and his colleagues. 



Many persons are under the impression that white cats with 

 blue eyes are deaf ; it can by no means, however, be deemed to 

 be so commonly the case as to be an evidence of much conse- 

 quence in building a theory upon. A New Zealand correspondent 

 sends us some curious facts bearing on the point. "At Taranaki, 

 N. Z.," he says, " I saw a white cat with blue eyes which was 

 not at all deaf, and a good many of its kittens were white and 

 had light blue eyes. As many of these had perfect hearing as 

 were afilicted with deafness. This cat had a grown-up kitten 

 perfectly black which had sometimes also white yoimg ones with 

 blue eyes ; it showed, as did the old cat, a singular partiality for 

 them. On one occasion it happened that the old white cat and 

 her black daughter had litters at the same time ; amongst them 

 there was only one white kitten with blue eyes — the black cat's. 

 The two fought fiercely for possession of the coveted beauty, and 

 the old cat frequently took it away and placed it amongst her own. 

 One morning the unfortunate object of quarrel was found divided 

 by the recommendation of some feline Solomon, and each cat 

 quite contentedly in possession of half. Both of these litters had 

 some light tortoiseshell-coloured kittens among them, of which a 

 moiety appeared to have their hearing imperfect " 



" Railway Appliances, a Description of Details of Railway 

 Construction subsequent to the Completion of the Earthworks 

 and Structure?, including a Short Notice of Railway Rolling 

 Stock," is the title of a little work by Mr. John W^olfe Barry, 

 published by Longmans and Co. The work, we believe, will be 

 found of value not only to railway officials of all kinds who desire 

 to have an intelli jcnt knowledge of their duties and of the details 

 of the elaborate system whose efficient working depends on them, 

 but also to the general, and especially the stock-holding, public, 

 who have but a vague idea of the multitude of details which are 

 wrapped up in the little word "railway." Mr. Barry treats ia 

 successive chapters of Acts of Parliament and other reg\dations 

 affecting railways, permanent way, points and crossings, signals, 

 the block system, stations, and rolling stock. The book is plen- 

 tifully illustrated. 



Those who are familiar with Dr. J. W. Draper's " History 

 of the Intellectual Development of Europe," will be glad to 

 know that Messrs. George Bell and Sons have published an 

 edition, revised by the author, in Bohn's "Philosophical 

 Library" series, 



Messrs. Longmans and Co, have published as an Appen- 

 dix to the seventh edition of Ganot's Treatise on Physics, 



