284 



NATURE 



\yan. 23, 1890 



he of course takes with him a supply of fresh flowers in a basket. 

 Dr. Tylor's theory, therefore, is that the objects carried by the 

 winged genii of the Assyrians are the male inflorescence of the 

 date-palm in one hand, the basket with a fresh supply of inflor- 

 escence in the other, 'and that the function the genii are depicted 

 in the sculptures as discharging is that of fertilizing the palm- 

 groves of the country — a' function which must have been held to 

 denote their great beneficence, since it showed them fulfilling 

 the great duty of providing the Assyrians with bread. 



The current quarterly statement of the Palestine Exploration 

 Fund contains a brief review of the work done in connection 

 with the Fund during 1889. It is stated that excavations on 

 property belonging to a French gentlemen on the eastern slope 

 of Zion have revealed a number of rock-hewn chambers, which 

 appear to have been used in ancient times partly as dwellings 

 and partly as storehouses. In describing them Herr Schick re- 

 marks that nearly all the ground covered by the city of Jerusalem 

 is found on examination to be honeycombed with these lock- 

 hewn chambers. It is not improbable that the Jebusites were to 

 some extent troglodytes. In the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles 

 mention is made, of a cave at Cyprus "where the race of the 

 Jebusites formerly dwelt." 



Several violent shocks of earthquake occurred in Carinthia 

 on January 14, at 9.30 p.m., their direction being from south- 

 east to north-west. In the theatre at Klagenfurt, which was 

 densely packed, the seismic disturbance caused a panic, which 

 was heightened by a false alarm of fire. The audience, how- 

 ever, soon became reassured, and there was no accident to life 

 or limb. 



The Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean for the month 

 of January states that December was notable for the severe 

 storms that prevailed along the Transatlantic routes. A number 

 of the depressions followed each other in rapid succession ; the 

 most notable of these was one on the i6th, in about lat. 51° N., 

 long. 37° W. Gales of hurricane force, with mountainous seas, 

 accompanied this disturbance, as it moved to the north-eastward, 

 to the serious embarrassment of west-bound steamers. Two storms 

 occurred to the eastward of Bermuda during the first week of the 

 month. The first of these disturbances was central on the 4th, 

 in about lat. 36° N., long. 55° W. After 16 hours the wind 

 hauled to south-east and moderated. The south-east wind ex- 

 perienced after the passage of the storm was probably due to the 

 approach of the second cyclone, which was central on the 5th in 

 about lat. 31° N., long. 63° W., and was accompanied by severe 

 hailstorms and heavy seas. Very little fog was reported. A 

 dense fog along the coast of the United States on the 19th, 20th, 

 and 2 1 St, extended some distance inland ; navigation in New 

 York harbour was practically suspended on the 20 th. Ocean ice 

 was reported in the neighbourhood of lat. 48° N., long. 47° W. 



We referred lately to a new kind of butter which is now 

 being made in Germany from cocoanut milk. The Calcutta 

 ■Correspondent of the Times says that the cocoanuts required for 

 this industry are imported in large numbers from India, chiefly 

 Bombay, and that the trade seems likely to attain still greater 

 importance. 



According to the Perseveranza of Milan, quoted in the 

 current number of the Board of Trade Journal, important 

 ■sponge-banks have lately been discovered close to the island of 

 Lampedusa, on the southern coast of Sicily. These deposits 

 of sponges extend for over a surface of from 15 to 18 marine 

 leagues, and are situated about an equal distance from the south- 

 eastern extremity of the island. The smallest depth above these 

 banks is 20 ells ; the greatest depth is from 30 to 31 ells. At 

 the lesser depths rock is met with, on which the sponge grows ; 

 -at greater depths a sandy soil is found. All varieties of sponge 



are discovered here, including those which are in the greatest 

 commercial request, and they are easy to obtain. Greek and 

 Italian vessels have already proceeded to Lampedusa to take 

 advantage of this discovery. 



At the meeting of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 

 on November 27, Mr. K. H. Bennett read a paper on the 

 breeding of the glossy ihh (Ibis fakinelltis, Linn.). The un- 

 precedented rainfall of the year on the Lower Lachlan induced 

 several species of birds to breed in the district, contrary to the 

 author's experience of previous years. Among these was the 

 glossy ibis, two nests of which with eggs of a beautiful green- 

 ish-blue colour somewhat resembling those of Ardea nova:- 

 hollandia;, but much brighter, were found in October and 

 November. At the same meeting Mr. J. H. Maiden com- 

 municated preliminary notes, by Dr. T. L. Bancroft, on the 

 pharmacology of some new poisonous plants. Mr. T. P. Lucas 

 read a paper on Queensland Macro-Lepidoptera, with localities 

 and descriptions of new species. Forty-one species belonging 

 to various families were proposed as new, and new localities 

 were given for about ninety-five other species. 



The new number of "The Year Book of Pharmacy" (J. and 

 A. Churchill) has been issued. It comprises abstracts of papers 

 relating to pharmacy, materia medica, and chemistry, con- 

 tributed by British and foreign journals from July i, 1888, to 

 June 30, 1889. It presents also the Transactions of the British 

 Pharmaceutical Conference at the twenty-sixth annual meeting, 

 held at Newcastle-on-Tyne, September 1889. 



Messrs. E. and F. N. Spon have issued a third edition of 

 " A Guide for the Electric Testing of Telegraph Cables," by 

 Colonel V. Hoskiser, of the Royal Danish Engineers. The first 

 edition appeared in 1873. The Congress of Electricians in 

 1881 made some alterations necessary, and the author explains 

 that he has added a few methods of testing, in the hope of 

 making the book more useful. 



The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge has issued, 

 in the series entitled " Chief Ancient Philosophies," a third 

 edition of the Rev. I. Gregory Smith's " Aristotelianism," in 

 which an attempt is made to tabulate from the "Ethics" the 

 opinions of Aristotle on questions relating to what has been 

 called " the scientific basis of morality." In the same volume 

 is printed a treatise, by the Rev. W. Grundy, Head Master of 

 Malvern College, on the more important of Aristotle's other 

 works. 



Some interesting properties and reactions of the chlorides of 

 selenium are described by M. Chabrie in the current number of 

 the Bulletin de la Societe Chimiqtie de Paris. Selenium tetra- 

 chloride, SeCl4, was obtained by Berzelius by passing a stream 

 of chlorine over selenium at the ordinary temperature, a quantity 

 of the reddish-brown liquid subchloride, Se2Cl2, being first 

 formed, and eventually converted to the pale yellow solid tetra- 

 chloride. The tetrachloride was subsequently volatilized by 

 heating and obtained in small white opaque crystals. By heating 

 the crystals obtained by this method in one end of a sealed tube 

 to i90°-200° C, M. Chabrie has obtained a sublimate of much 

 larger and better formed crystals, presenting brilliant faces. 

 With these crystals determinations of the vapour density of the 

 tetrachloride were attempted by Victor Meyer's method at 360° 

 in an atmosphere of nitrogen. The resulting numbers show 

 that two molecules of SeCl.j dissociate at 360° into one molecule 

 of ScjClo and three molecules of chlorine. The subchloride, 

 Se2Cl2, is a very much more stable body, and may be distilled 

 unchanged at 360°. Determinations of the density of its vapour 

 yield values closely approximating to 7 "95, the theoretical density 

 of a molecule of the formula SejCIj. Among the numerous 

 reactions of these compounds which M. Chabrie has studied, the 

 most interesting are those between selenium tetrachloride and 



