114 



NA TURE 



[Dec. 5, 1889 



falls in one month as woald mike a year's rainfall at Mjlbourne. 

 At Sydney the least annual rainfall on record is 21 '48 inches, 

 and the greatest 82 'Si inches. The question of evaporation 

 continues to receive considerable attention ; the tabular results 

 are published, with the rain and river results, in a separate 

 volume. 



The Meteorological Report of the Straits Settlements has 

 been published for the year 1888, being the fifth year in which 

 meteorological observations in the colony have been made the 

 subject of a general systematic report. The temperature of the 

 air ranged between 67'''2 and 96°, and solar radiation varied from 

 81° to 179"; the lowest temperature on the grass was 61°. 

 Rainfall observations were received from forty-one stations. 

 The annual amount differs considerably in the various provinces, 

 the mean of the stations ranging from 65 '6 inches in Singapore, 

 to 1117 inches in Penang, and 123 '2 inches in Province 

 Wellesley. The greatest fall in twenty-four hours, was 12 

 inches at Bertam, Province Wellesley, on October 21. The 

 Report also contains a tabular statement of annual and monthly 

 rainfall at Singapore since 1869, and diagrams of annual rainfall 

 and other elements since 1870, at the same place. 



The International Commission for the scientific investigation 

 of the Lake of Constance have nearly finished their task, which 

 consisted of drawing a new and comprehensive map on a scale of 

 I : 25,000 ; investigating the currents, density, temperatures, and 

 chemical composition of the water ; and minutely describing the 

 flora and fauna of the lake. A full account will be issued when 

 the researches are complete. 



We have received thelatestinstalment (pp. 321-S4) ofvol. xvi.of 

 the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, session 1888- 

 89. It contains : — The solubility of carbonate of lime in fresh and 

 sea water, by W. S. Anderson, chemist at Marine Station, 

 Granton (continued) ; secretion of carbonate of lime by 

 animals, part ii., by Robert Irvine and Dr. G. Sims Woodhead ; 

 theoretical description of a new " azimuth diagram," by Captain 

 Patrick Weir, communicated by Sir William Thomson ; note 

 on Captain Weir's paper, by Prof. Tait ; on the coagulation of 

 egg and serum albumen, vitellin, and serum globulin, by heat, 

 by Dr. John Berry Haycraft and Dr. C. W. Duggan. 



The fourteenth part of Cassell's " New Popular Educator" 

 has been published. It includes a clearly printed map of the 

 world. 



At a recent meeting of the Bombay Anthropological Society, 

 Mr. W. E. Sinclair, of the Civil Service, read a paper on flint 

 remains in the Kolaba district. Referring to a collection be- 

 longing to the Society made in the Ghar Hills, near Sukker, on 

 the Indus, Mr. Sinclair said that these hills were evidently a 

 sort of "Black Country" to the flint-using races. Cones and flakes 

 can be got there literally by the hundredweight. There is no 

 historical evidence of the use of such things in India proper. On 

 the contrary, all historical evidence points to the conclusion that 

 India was one of the first countries to use iron, if not the very 

 first. Amongst the wildest forest tribes to-day the use of stone 

 does not go beyond weighting a fishing-line or bird arrow with a 

 pebble ; and although stone spindle- weights are still used on the 

 coast, these are no more barbarous than the stones in an English 

 mill. These cones of flint are covered with long grooves of a 

 curved section ; and the flakes show each one face correspond- 

 ing to such a groove, which shows that they have been struck 

 off such cones. The cones themselves have a peculiar typical 

 form, and the art of producing flake or cone is one lost in the 

 India of to-day. Where a flint shows that peculiar groove, 

 there is good reason to assume that it was made before iron was 

 known in India. On all the agates and chalcedonies in the 

 Kolaba collection there are the i-ame strange grooves, the same 

 long blade-like flakes matching them, as in .Sind or in England 



or France ; and we are, in fact, in presence of a lost art, for 

 which there has been no occasion from the time that iron came 

 into common use. That was a long time ago in India. Steel — • 

 and very good steel, too — must have been for many generations 

 in the hands of the ancient inhabitants of the Konkan when the 

 first cave temples were hewn — at least 2000 years ago. On the 

 other hand, the position of the flakes, both in Sind and in 

 Kolaba, shows that they belong to a very recent geological 

 period. The Kolaba specimens, except one or two, come from 

 the surface of the lacustrine gravels abundant in the valleys of 

 the Konkan. All search for them in places where sections of 

 these gravels are exposed has hitherto been fruitless, and the 

 few water-worn specimens found came out of a river bed. They 

 most commonly occur at places where fresh water is to be had 

 near an estuary. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Rhesus Monkey {Macacus rhesus 9 ) from 

 India, presented by Colonel J. D. C. Ferrell ; two Common 

 Marmosets {Hapale Jacchus) from South-East Brazil, presented 

 by Mr. Charles Petrzywaski ; an Arctic Fox {Canis lagoptis 9 ) 

 from Siberia, presented by Mr. Stuart N. Corlett ; a Corn Crake 

 {Crex pratensis) from Essex, presented by Mr. Bibby ; four 

 Common Snakes {Tropidonotus natrix), British, presented by 

 the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway ; a European Bison 

 {Bison honasiis i ) from Central Europe, deposited ; a Stanleyan 

 Chevrotain ( 7Vagtilus stanleyanus) from Ceylon, a Prevost's 

 Squirrel {Sciurus prevosti i ) from Malacca, a Common Roe 

 {Capreolus capraa <J ), European, a White-faced Tree Duck 

 {Dendrocygna viduata) from Brazil, four Black-necked Swans 

 {Cygnus nigricollis) from Antarctic America, a Curlew {Nii- 

 ntcnius arquata), British, two Indian Cobras {Naia triptidians) 

 from India, an Annulated Snake [Leptodira anmilata) from 

 Panama, a Hawk's-billed Turtle {Chelone imbricata) from the 

 East Indies, purchased ; two Crested Pigeons {Ocyphaps lophotes) 

 bred in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 Ohjects for the Spectroscope. 



Sidereal Time at Greenwich at 10 p.m., December 5 = 2h. 

 59m. 335. 



Remarks. 



(i) Ihe General Catalogue description of this nebula is as 

 follows :— Pretty bright, pretty small, round, brighter in the 

 middle. The spectrum has not yet been recorded. 



(2) This is a star of Group II., in which Duner records the 

 bands 2-8, and states that the bands 2 and 3 are especially well 

 developed. This latter fact indicates that the star is well 

 advanced, and it accordingly falls in a late species (13) of the 

 group. As I have before pointed out with reference to similar 

 stars, absorption li)tes of metallic substances, and possibly of 

 hydrogen, may be expected at this stage, and it is important to 

 note the presence or absence of these, as they will probably 

 form a connecting link between the stars of this group and the 

 slightly hotter stars of Group III. The intensity of the bright 

 carbon flutin'4 near /', as compared with its appearance in other 

 stars of the group, will bean additional check in placing it in 

 position on the ''temperature curve." 



