1 64 



NATURE 



\yune 13, 1889 



a marsh invariably are flowering plants, such as Men- 

 yanthes, Comarum, Cicuta, Equisetum, Carices, and the like. 

 Their roots and underground stems make a thickly-woven 

 floating carpet, which soon totally conceals the water. The 

 Sphagnum invades this floating carpet, while the water beneath 

 becomes filled with debris of decaying plant?, transformed 

 later on into peat-bog. In shallow basins the transforma- 

 tion goes on at a much speedier rate, as their bottoms are 

 invaded by plants like Phragniites and Scirpiis lacusltis which 

 reach a considerable height, and thus supply, after their decay, 

 a good deal of additional material for the filling up of the basin. 

 A mass of smaller plants, such as Leinna, Hydrocharis, 

 Callitriche, Utricularia, Hypmim fltiitans, and several others, 

 ■usually grow also amidst the rushes. Of course, the streamlets 

 which flow into the basin contribute also to fill it up by bringing 

 in sand and loam. As soon as the floating carpet has reached 

 a certain thickness, and the Sphagnum has still more increased 

 Its bulk, various plants, such as Drosera, Vaccinium, Eriophorum, 

 the dwarf birch, and other bushes, begin to grow upon it, although 

 the space beneath still remains filled with water. As the Sphag- 

 num Aotsnot grow upon ponds containing a chalky water, its place 

 in such ponds is mostly taken by the Hypnum, and in these cases 

 a variety of other plants, such as Typha, Stratiotes, Btilomus, 

 Ranunculus divaricalus, and Chara fragilis, make their appear- 

 ance. As to the Sphagnum, it invades wet meadows as well. 



At a recent meeting of the French Academy of Sciences, 

 M. de Malarce, speaking of the extension of the metric system of 

 w^eights and measures, gave some interesting figures. In 1887 the 

 aggregate population of the countries in which the metric system 

 was compulsory was over 302,000,000, being an increase of 

 53,000,000 in ten years. In 1887, in countries with a population 

 of close on 97,000,000, the use of the system was optional ; and 

 the countries where the metric system is legally admitted in 

 principle and partially applied (as in Russia, Turkey, and British 

 India) had in 1887 a population of 395,000,000, being an in- 

 crease, of 54,000,000 in ten years. The increase is due to the 

 growth of population in the countries which had already adopted 

 the system, and to its adoption by new countries. The systems 

 •of China, Japan, and Mexico, are decimal, but not metric. The 

 metric system is thus legally recognized by 794,000,000 of 

 people, and the three last-named countries have a population of 

 about 474,000,000. So that only about 42,000,000 of inhabitants 

 ■of the civilized world have systems which are neither metric nor 

 decimal. 



Sir Arthur Nicolson, the British Consul at Buda-Pesth, 

 in his last Report on Hungary, referring to technical education in 

 that country, says that it will afford an indication of the attention 

 which is being paid to this important question to instance the 

 ■steps which have been taken in Buda-Pesth in regard to primary 

 technical education. By paragraph 80 of the Trade Law of 1884, 

 ■every comimme, where there are fifty or more apprentices, is 

 bound to provide for their education, and to afford special courses 

 of instruction. The apprentice schools in Buda-Pesth contain a 

 preparatory class, provide a course of three years, and are chiefly 

 -destined to educate apprentices for the higher trade schools. 

 Each district of the town must have at least one apprentice 

 ■school. No class is to comprise more than fifty pupils, or at 

 most sixty pupils ; and should the number of pupils be larger, 

 parallel classes can be established. A pupil passes at the end of 

 -each year into a higher class if he can show proficiency and good 

 progress. Theoretical instruction is given six hours in the week, 

 and drawing and modelling are taught five hours weekly, on 

 Sundays. The first schools were established in 1887, and 

 numbered 12 with 125 teachers. There were 42 classes, or, in- 

 cluding the parallel classes, 93, attended by 5173 pupils. In 

 z888 the number of schools had risen to 16, the number of classes 

 to 127, the staff of teachers 151, and the number of pupils to 



6459. In the other towns and counties of Hungary there were 

 229 apprentice schools, with 1237 teachers, and 38,081 pupils. 

 For all these schools, including those of the capital, the com- 

 munes contribute in florins 214,302 ; private individuals, 1387; 

 Chambers, 680; counties, 9080 ; State, 35,806 ; fees and fines, 

 129,488 ; making a total of 390,843 florins. 



The British Consul at Ancona, in his last Report, refers to a 

 School of Practical Agriculture established in Fabriano in 1882. 

 It is subsidized by the Government, the province of Ancona, 

 the municipality of Fabriano, and the local Chamber of Com- 

 merce. The school has a Director, two Professors, and a 

 Teacher of Practical Agriculture. The course of study is spread 

 over three years as follows : first year, Italian, geography, ele- 

 ments of natural history, elementary arithmetic, agronomy, and 

 writing ; second year, Italian, geography, elements of natural 

 philosophy and chemistry, agriculture, and rural accounts ; third 

 year, horticulture, rural direction and management of a farm, 

 technical agriculture, and arithmetic. The school at present 

 has thirty-six scholars, of whom nineteen are in the first year, 

 nine in the second, and eight in the third. Of these, twelve are 

 agriculturists, ten sons of land stewards, eleven sons of gentle- 

 men, and three sons of tradesmen. The day's work begins at 

 5.30 a.m. in winter, and is over at 8 p.m. Seven hours are 

 devoted to practical work, five to study, the remainder being 

 allowed for meals and recreation. In summer the students rise 

 at 4.30 a.m. ; otherwise, with the exception of an extra hour and 

 a half for recreation, the studies are carried on as in winter. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include two Australian Thicknees ( (Edicnemus gral- 

 lafius), an Eyton's Tree Duck {Dendrocygna eytoni) from 

 Australia, two Lineated Parrakeets {Bolhorhynchus lineolatus) 

 from Mexico), two Senegal Touracous {Corythaix persa) from 

 West Africa, purchased ; two Elliot's Pheasants {Phasianus 

 ellioti fi ? ) from China, deposited ; a Hog Deer {Ccrznis 

 porcinus ? ), two Mule Deer {Cariacus inacrotis 9 9 ), born in 

 the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN, 



Stonyhurst College Observatory. — The results of the 

 observations made during the year 1888 at this Observatory 

 have recently been published in the ususal form. The bulk of 

 the volume is occupied with the routine magnetic and meteoro- 

 logical observations, and an appendix gives the meteorological 

 results for St. Ignatius College, Malta. The weather in 1888 

 was less favourable for the daily delineation of the solar surface 

 than in 1887, but 223 full-sized drawings were secured. Ihe 

 daily areas of sun-spots derived from these show very strikingly, 

 especially as given in graphical form, the nearness of our ap- 

 proach to minimum. The chromosphere was completely ex- 

 amined on eighty-four days, and partly on three other dates. 

 The most important event of the year in connection with the 

 Observatory has been the installation of a large grating-spectro- 

 scope for the especial purpose of photographing the solar spec- 

 trum, and the spectra of sun-spots in particular — a work which, in 

 the present state of solar physics, greatly needed to be undertaken, 

 and carried out with persevering regularity. The grating is a flat 

 one, by Rowland, of 14,438 lines to the inch, and 3I inches in 

 length. It is to be used in connection with a heliostat and a 

 5^-inch object-glass by Alvan Clark. The preliminary experi- 

 ments promise well for its efficiency, and the Director of the 

 Observatory is to be greatly congratulated on so valuable an 

 addition to his equipment. 



The Rev. E. Colin, S.J., who spent the last year at Stony- 

 hurst Observatory, has just been appointed Director of the 

 French Government Observatory at Antananarivo. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1889 JUNE 16-22. 



/"pOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 ^ •*■ Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 

 is here employed.) 



