86 



NATURE 



\_Nov. 28, 1878 



means of escape were confined to narrow streets, and where the 

 houses were not so solidly constructed as in the centre. The 

 towns included in the disaster are Guadalupe, Nueva Guadalupe* 

 Chinameca, Usulutan, the Caserio del Arenal, Santiago de 

 Maria, which is entirely ruined and some lives lost, a condition 

 in which are also found Tecapa, Triunfo, and San Buenaventura. 

 The shock which produced the greatest damage was at first a 

 kind of oscillatory movement which lasted over forty seconds, 

 and terminated in what felt like a general upheaval of the earth, 

 and was so violent that solid walls and arches and strongly 

 braced roofs were broken and severed like pipe-stems. The 

 movement proceeded from the south-west to the north-east. It 

 was supposed to proceed from the volcano of Tecapa, which is 

 reported as being in conflagration. The district which has been 

 devastated is one of the most thickly settled portions of the 

 country. "Va&Idea of Santa Ana reports that apprehensions exist 

 in the public mind that the volcano of Santa Ana is about to be 

 in eruption, from the effects of which serious consequences are 

 feared. The Panama Star and Herald is the authority for 

 these statements. 



A CORRESPONDENT of the Piomer, writing fro m Mirzapore, 

 calls attention to a phenomenon which he considers worth 

 recording. Early on e morning large quantities of fish of every 

 description were seen coming to the surface along both banks of 

 the river gasping and dying ; all the crabs came cut and hung 

 in clusters to the clay, or lurked in the grass above the water 

 level, and large eels, leaving the water, lay like snakes along the 

 edge. The next day great numbers of fish, some of enormous 

 size, floated past, and endeavours were made to induce the 

 natives to bring them on shore for manure, but as their fathers 

 had never employed fish for such a purpose, they declined to 

 make such an innovation. The river was high, but not in full 

 flood, and the water, probably on account of the long drought, 

 was intensely and abnormally turbid. The death of the fish 

 is attributed to this peculiarity, for the particles of earth held 

 in suspense appear to have impregnated the gills and stopped 

 breathing; it had not, however, been ascertained which of the 

 affluents of the Ganges or Jumna had caused the mischief. 



The following method of measuring approximately the velocity 

 of sound, devised by M. Bichat {Journal de Physique) is said to 

 form a suitable lecture experiment. A white-iron tube, about 

 lom. long is bent back on itself, so that the ends A and B are 

 near each other. A is closed with a caoutchouc membrane ; B 

 has a stopper with glass tube which communicates, through a 

 caoutchouc tube of a certain length, with one of M. Marey's 

 manometric capsules. Near the end A is an aperture which, by 

 means of another caoutchouc tube the same length as the former, 

 communicates with another of Marey's capsules. These capsules 

 are arranged before a blackened cylinder, the ends of their levers 

 applied to it one over the other. A tuning-fork, giving 100 

 vibrations per second, inscribes these also in the same vertical 

 line on the cylinder. All being ready a slight blow is given, 

 with the hand or otherwise, to the membrane A, while an assistant 

 turns the cylinder. The capsules register the point of departure 

 and that of arrival, while the tuning-fork gives the time. Thus 

 it is found that, between those two points, there are, e.q., three 

 vibrations of the tuning-fork, i.e., about -^^^ of a second have 

 elapsed. The velocity of sound is inferred to be 333 '3 m. per 

 second. By means of two iron tubes placed one above the other 

 the difference of the velocities of sound in air and hydrogen may 

 be demonstrated, even though it may be difficult to keep the one 

 tube fiUed with pure hydrogen. 



An historico-ethnographical exhibition has been opened at 

 Winterthur (Switzerland), and the visitors are agreeably sur- 

 prised by the large number and great variety~of objects exhibited 

 as well as by their artistic arrangement. 



Japanese farmers appear to be determined not to be left 

 behind by their fellow-countrymen in matters of progress, for 

 we hear that in some parts they are growing wheat from foreign 

 seed. On this subject a Nagasaki paper says : — "We have seen 

 a magnificent specimen of wheat grown in Japan from American 

 seed, than which nothing better could be desired, the flour pro- 

 duced from it being fully equal to any we have seen from 

 America. Such a result speaks well for the prospects of Japan 

 becoming, with proper cultivation, a profitable wlieat-producing 

 country." 



A German engineer residing at Smyrna, Ilerr Karl Hnmann, 

 who some time ago had undertaken some successful excavations 

 at Berghama at his own expense (the ancient Pergamum in Asia 

 Minor), has recently been commissioned by the German Govern- 

 ment to continue these excavations, and has succeeded in bringing 

 to light some highly interesting objects of art. The Porte has 

 permitted the continuation of the excavations under the condition 

 that only half the objects found shall become German property^ 

 while the other half will be retained at Constantinople. 



In the Annual Report of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta,, 

 for the year 1877-78, Dr. King, the superintendent, draws 

 attention to the want of proper accommodation for the her- 

 barium, which now consists of ninety-three cabinets of dried 

 plants, forming, as we are told, "the only large herbarium in 

 India, containing authentic specimens from almost every Indian 

 botanist from Heyne to Kurz, including excellent sets of 

 Wallich's, and Hooker and Thomson's plants." Dr. King 

 reports that of .the seedlings of the Para rubber plant (/fc'<M 

 brasiliensis) received at the beginning of last year, some were 

 retained at Calcutta, while the others were sent to the Cinchona 

 plantation in Sikkim. Several of the plants have died during 

 the year, but those remaining at Calcutta are healthy, and have 

 grown fairly well. Of the Ceara rubber plant {Manihotglaziovi)^ 

 many of them were found to be dead on arrival ; those that 

 sui'vived were divided between Calcutta and the Cinchona 

 plantation, one of the plants is said to be ten feet high, and the 

 others vary in height from two to five feet, but they all appear 

 weak and lanky, as if the climate were too damp for them> 

 Regarding the cultivation of vanilla in India, especially in 

 the climate of Calcutta, Dr. King's experience confirms his 

 first impression that "it is not worth while to go to any 

 further expense in attempting to make a plantation oJ 

 it, to be conducted on commercial principles." It is 

 satisfactory to learn that ipecacuanha has been propagated 

 largely ; like vanilla, Dr. King is of opinion that it can never 

 be grown successfully as a crop in any part of Bengal. The 

 utilisation of new vegetable substances for paper-making, espe- 

 cially baobab bark and bamboo shoots, are fully considered by 

 Dr. King, who expresses an opinion with regard to the former 

 that, if the plant is "to be grown to a profit, it would be hardly 

 feasible to give it cultivation, however rough, after the first year." 

 Considering also the comparatively slow growth of the baobab. 

 Dr. King says he is driven to the conclusion that it is not likely 

 to afford in India a sufficiently cheap paper-fibre. He points 

 out that a plant yielding an annual crop is much more likely to 

 fulfil the financial conditions of success than any perennial like 

 the baobab, which yields a crop only after many years. Regard- 

 ing the use of the young shoots of bamboo for paper stock, which 

 have been very favourably reported on by Mr. Routledge, Dr. 

 King does not look upon it in any hopeful light. Of the so- 

 called "Rain Tree," which has already been noticed in our 

 columns, and referred to Pithecolobium saman, a number of 

 good trees are growing in the Botanic Garden, Calcutta. One 

 set consists of five trees, about eleven years old, and the other of 

 eighty-four trees, planted in an avenue about four years ago. 

 The tree is a very fast grower, and is said to be perfectly at 

 home in the soil and climate of Lower Bengal. From its 



