546 



NA TURE 



{April lo, 1890 



and September to November. Dr. von Danckelman gives valu- 

 able statistics about the harmaltan, which is generally under- 

 stood to be a cold wind. He shows, however, that during the 

 periods of this wind the temperature both in the morning and 

 •evening is warmer than on other days, and that the mean daily 

 temperature is nearly 2° warmer. The air on these occasions 

 is so dry that the hygrometric tables are not low enough for 

 the reduction of the observations. On one occasion the 

 relative humidity was only 9 per cent., with a temperature of 

 94°. 



We have received from Mr. D. Dewar his " Weather and 

 Tidal Forecasts for 1890." The author has previously published 

 similar forecasts for past years, and they are said to be mainly 

 •based upon the simple idea that the prevailing westerly move- 

 ment of the air in the two great belts in the north and south 

 temperate zones is due to the continued westerly (west to east) 

 movement of the sun and the moon, and it is claimed that the 

 probable weather, while referring generally to the northern 

 hemisphere, is chiefly applicable to the British Isles and neigh- 

 ■bourhood. We have made a rough comparison of the forecasts 

 ■with the actual weath er experienced in the British Isles during 

 the first three months of this year. The weather predicted by 

 Mr. Dewar for January largely consists of cold and anticyclones, 

 whilst the actual weather experienced was conspicuous for the 

 absence of cold, with the exception of the first two or three days, 

 ■and its mildness probably exceeded that of any January during the 

 ■last half-century. At Greenwich the thermometer did not once 

 fall below the freezing-point after the 3rd, Considering Feb- 

 ruary as a whole, the forecasts were rather more successful. In 

 March, the early part of the month was lo have been mild, 

 except in the north. The first few days were colder than in any 

 March during the last half-century, except in the north, where 

 milder weather was experienced. The weather predicted for the 

 1 remainder of the month consists almost wholly of cold and snow, 

 whereas the weather was exceptionally mild, and the Greenwich 

 temperature on the 28th has only twice been exceeded in March 

 •during the last fifty years. 



Ii\ the current number of the Zoologist it is stated that a 

 wealthy Berlin manufacturer has a shooting near Luckenvvald, 

 where the Wapiti, Cervus canadensis, has been acclimatised. 

 Between January 20, 1889, and January 20, 1890, seven of these 

 :animals were shot there, one of them having a head of fourteen 

 ipoints. 



Dr. W. King, Director of the Geological Survey of India, 

 'has commenced, in the current number of the Records of 

 'the Survey, the publication of the provincial index of the 

 minerals of India, which is intended as a help towards the 

 •compilation of an annual statement showing the quantities and 

 value of mineral products in British India, for the publication 

 •of the mining and mineral statistics of the Empire. Dr, King's 

 ■classification is of a broad and popular nature. The provinces 

 or Presidencies and Native States are taken in alphabetical 

 •order, and the mineral products of each are set down with notes 

 as to the quantity, quality, and output. The mineral products 

 themselves are divided into "Important Minerals," "Mis- 

 cellaneous Minerals," " Gem Stones," and "Quarry Stones." 

 Under the first head are included only coal, iron ores, gold, 

 petroleum, and salt. Under the second head come metallic ores, 

 borax, gypsum, asbestos, soapstone, sulphur, and the like. 

 "Gems" include amber, beryl, diamond, garnet, jade and 

 jadeite ; while clays, limestones, marbles, kunkar, slate, &c., 

 are grouped as quarry stones. The first instalment of the list 

 ends with the Central Provinces. This index may help to dispel 

 the common idea that India is rich in minerals. The greater 

 part of the entries are mere indications of the Reported existence 



of ores, while those which note a regular production of any 

 commercial importance are few and far between. 



In one of the Bombay Natural History Society's papers, Mr. 

 G. Carstensen, Superintendent of the Victoria Gardens, Bombay, 

 makes a bold suggestion for facilitating the study of botany in 

 India. His experience, he says, has taught him that the study 

 of botany is far more popular in the northern countries of the 

 European Continent than in British possessions, and he cannot 

 help thinking that this fact may be clearly attributed to the 

 difference in the botanical terminology. While the terms used 

 in English works on botany are too frequently quite unintelligible 

 for the layman, because they are in most cases Anglicized Latin 

 words, the terms used by German and Danish authors are 

 generally easily comprehended, because they are translated into 

 the mother language, refer to objects of daily life, or are derived 

 from the language itself. He therefore proposes that the 

 Botanical Committee of the Bombay Society be requested to 

 revise the existing terminology, and to substitute English and in- 

 telligible terms for the more unintelligible ones. He gives a few 

 examples of the English substitutes he proposes. The natural 

 arrangement of plants consists of two large divisions. Phanero- 

 gams, or "flower-plants," and Cryptogamous plants, or " spore- 

 plants." " Flower- plan ts " are again divided into Dicotyledons, 

 or "two-seed-leaved." The " twoseed-leaved " in the same 

 way are divided into Angiosperms, or "seed- vessel- plants," and 

 Gymnosperms, or " naked-seeded plants," and so on. For the 

 "natural orders " he would substitute existing or new English 

 names, and for "genera " he would substitute "forms." In a 

 complete flower the calyx would become the " cup," the sepals 

 "cup-leaves," the corolla the "crown," the petals "crown 

 leaves ; " the cup and crown together, now known as the 

 perianth, would be the " floral cover," and so on through the 

 andrgecium and gynsecium, and the whole anatomy of the plant. 

 The adoption of this method would, Mr. Carstensen thinks, 

 "vastly increase the number of students of botany, and in the 

 end would materially further the progress of this unfortunately 

 neglected science." 



The subject of dreams seems to demand more thorough study 

 than it has yet received from science. An American, Dr. Julius 

 Nelson, of New York, has lately published the results of an 

 examination he made of some 4000 of his dreams. He finds 

 that the dreams of evening generally follow great physical or 

 mental fatigue, and are associated with the events of the day. 

 The same applies to night dreams, which, however, have more 

 of a terrifying element in them. The most remarkable and 

 pleasant are the morning dreams, occurring after complete rest 

 of the brain. Fancy then appears to have its widest range and 

 activity, working marvellous transformations, and giving clear 

 vision of the past and the future. Dr. Nelson further finds 

 that the vividness of his dreams is subject to regular fluctuations 

 of 28 days, and that they also vary with the seasons, so that 

 they are very vivid in December, and least vivid in March and 

 April. An old popular superstition attaches special importance 

 to dreams in the twelve nights from Christmas to January 6, and 

 it is suggested that this is perhaps because dreams at that time 

 have been faund very vivid and distinct. 



The skin of Arctic voyagers, after the long night of winter, 

 often appears pale, with a tinge of yellowish-green, on return of 

 sunlight. The nature of this phenomenon, was, at the instance 

 of Prof. Holmgren, studied by Dr. Gyllencreutz, in the ex- 

 pedition of 1882-83, ^nd the results are given in a German 

 physiological journal. Holmgren pointed out that the phe- 

 nomenon might be subjective, due to a change in colour-sense 

 through the long darkness ; or objective, due to changes in 

 pigment of the blood ; or both. An examination of the colour- 

 sense of the men before and after the polar night revealed no 



