Sept. 26, 1889] 



NATURE 



537 



icebergs are unfortunately most to be expected in those summer 

 months when alone the navigation is open. The first heats of 

 the brief but hot Arctic sunshine set in rapid motion the glaciers 

 of Labrador and Greenland. These vast storehouses of gathered 

 and consolidated snow glide to the edge of the tremendous 

 precipices of the Winter Lands, and, falling over them in 

 monstrous masses, crash into the deep water with shocks which 

 send thunder-peals through the still Polar air, and perturb the 

 ocean far and near with rolling waves. Then, committed by this 

 awful launch to the southward-going currents, the great broken 

 glittering mass goes solemnly sailing away in the unwonted sun- 

 shine. As it floats, the water, warmer than the air, melts its 

 lower portion gradually, and detached pieces also fall from the 

 visible part, until equilibrium becomes destroyed, and the 

 colossal block capsizes with a second shock, startling the ocean 

 for leagues around." 



We have received from the Mansion House a copy of the 

 pamphlet relating to the Mansion House Fund for the Pasteur 

 Institute. Besides a full report of the meeting held on July i, 

 it contains an excellent introduction describing the aims and 

 needs of the fund, written by the Lord Mayor, and statistics of 

 the work done by anti-rabic institutions in France and elsewhere. 

 The last paragraph of the Lord Mayor's introduction is itself an 

 ample justification of the appeal which he makes, for in it he 

 reports that during July and August he sent over to Paris 

 seventeen poor persons who had been bitten by mad dogs. 

 There they have been treated free of charge, as usual by M. 

 Pasteur. The Honorary Secretary to the Fund is Dr. Rueffer, 

 26 Torrington Square, London. 



The syllabus of the eighth course of lectures and demonstra- 

 tions for sanitary officers at the Sanitary Institute during the 

 coming winter has been issued. The introductory lecture, on 

 the general history, principles, and methods of hygiene, by Sir 

 Edwin Chadwick, will be delivered on October 8, and the course 

 will be continued every Tuesday and Friday at 8 p.m. until 

 November 15. Amongst the lectures are : water supply, by Dr. 

 Louis Parkes ; drainage and construction, by Prof. H. Robin- 

 son ; ventilation, by Sir Douglas Galton ; sanitary appliances, 

 by Prof. Corfield ; scavenging, by Mr. Percy Boulnois ; food, 

 by Mr, Cassal ; infectious diseases and methods of disinfection, 

 by Mr. Shirley F. Murphy ; general powers and duties of in- 

 spectors of nuisances, by Mr. J. F. J. Sykes ; and sanitary law, 

 by Mr. Wynter Blyth. 



The carrier pigeon has just been turned to a curious use in 

 Russia, according to the Novoe Vremya. It is to convey 

 negatives of photographs taken in a balloon. The first 

 experiment was made from the cupola of the Cathedral of Isaac, 

 and the subject photographed was the Winter Palace. The 

 plates were packed in envelopes impenetrable to the light, and 

 then tied to the feet of the pigeons, who safely and quickly 

 carried them to the station at Volkovo. 



The current issue of the Kew Bulletin opens with a memor- 

 andum on the use of the flowers of Calligonum as an article of 

 food in North-Western India. From a note from Mr. Duthie, of 

 the Botanical Department of Northern India, it seems that the 

 flowers of the Calligonum polygonoides, locally known as phog, 

 are gathered and used by the poorer classes. They are either 

 mixed with flour, in the proportion of a third phog to flour, or 

 are eaten separately with salt and condiments, to which those 

 who can afford it add a little glue. The flowers are swept up as 

 they fall, and are kept for a night in a closed earthenware vessel, 

 so as to fade. Sometimes they are kneaded up in the thin atta, 

 about a fourth flowers to three-fourths atta, and baked in cakes 

 and eaten. The flowers sent home have been analyzed by Prof. 



Church, who states that the chief peculiarity of these flowers,, 

 from a dietetic point of view, is their richness in nitrogenous 

 compounds, and that there is rather a close resemblance in com - 

 position between phog and the seeds of the edible amaranths^ 

 and buckwheats, only sugar replaces starch. There are also a 

 short note from Dr. Ernst, of Caracas, Venezuela, on the earliest 

 mention of coca, and a memorandum on the BuazJ fihre, which the 

 natives living around Lake Ngami use to make fishing-nets. The 

 efforts which are being made to catalogue and publish the notices 

 of Chinese plants scattered through botanical literature and to 

 enumerate in systematic order the species of which specimens 

 are to be found in the British Museum and in Kew, are described. 

 Finally, there are two notes on vine cultivation and the Phyl- 

 loxera, one being the substance of the report, made by Mr. 

 Dyer in 1881, of the conclusions of the International Congress 

 at Bordeax, which he attended as the representative of certain 

 Colonial Governments ; and the other a report on the vineyards 

 of the Cape Colony, by M. Mouillefert, Professor of Viticulture 

 in the French School of Agriculture at Grignon. 



According to the Naples Correspondent of the Daily Nervs, 

 the scientific excursion to the volcanic regions of Italy, which 

 commenced on the 14th inst., under the direction of Dr. H. [. 

 Johnston-Lavis, of Naples, is exciting great interest. The 

 affair is under the special patronage of Signor Boselli, the 

 Minister of Public Instruction, of several Italian communes, 

 and of the London and Italian Geological Societies. The 

 general director is Dr. Johnston-Lavis, and the secretary in 

 London is Dr. J. Fullerton. The visits to the various notable 

 places will be personally conducted by Prof. Struver, of Rome ; 

 Prof. Silveslri, of Catania ; Profs. Sacjhi and Bassani, of 

 Naples ; Dr. Johnston-Lavis, and several others. The English, 

 Belgians, and Italians who joined in the excursion were received 

 at Naples, which was the starting-point, on the Sunday, by the 

 Syndic of Naples, who also intends to give a banquet to the 

 visitors, tickets for the theatres, and to show them other attentions 

 during their visit to the city. Serious business commenced on 

 the i6th inst., with a voyage to the .Eolian Islands and Sicily 

 the culminating point of this part of the programme being an 

 ascent of Etna, which is fixed for the 29th inst. A special 

 steamer or steam yacht will be either engaged or lent for this- 

 journey. The return to Naples will take place on the 30th inst^ 

 From the ist to the 14th of October the head-quarters will 

 be Naples. During this time excursions will be made to the 

 Phlegisean Fields, Vesuvius, the craters of Campania, the 

 islands, and the coast towns of the Gulf, and visits paid to the 

 sights of the city, the museums, while lectures, conversaziones,, 

 and garden parties will afford relaxation from the harder scientific 

 work. On the 15th and i6th the volcanic groups of Monte 

 Rocca-Monfina and the celebrated monastery of Monte Cassino- 

 will be visited, and from the 17th to the 29th Rome and its 

 volcanic neighbourhood will be examined. Among the notable 

 spots to be visited are Capo di Bove, Monte Tuscolo, Monte Porzio, 

 Rocca-di-Papa, Monte Cavo, Lago di Albano, Nemi, Monte 

 Mario, Bagno di Tivoli, Tivoli, Monte Cimmino, Monte Venere, 

 and the crater of Vico, Frascati, and many famous villas. Oa 

 the 30th of October the members will separate at Viterbo,. 

 going each their own way. The Minister of Public Instruction 

 has accorded many facilities, such as reduced fares to the in- 

 tending travellers, and the director and secretaries are using 

 every effort to render the tour a complete success. Apart from 

 the scientific interest of the excursion, it will afford an un- 

 exampled opportunity for becoming acquainted with some of the 

 most beautiful and picturesque parts of Italy and Sicily. 



In a Report presented to the Foreign Office by the British 

 Consul at Florence, there is a very full account of the forests on 

 the north-eastern boundary of Italy, which in that region are 



