May 23, 1878J 



NATURE 



105 



ihe existence of a larger form than the existing species, and 

 intermediate in character to the European marmot and the 

 bobak, and he .regards it as representing the primordial stock 

 from which the living species have proceeded in the coarse of 

 time. The region in which these remains have been found bears 

 a steppe character, the fauna and flora of steppes being met 

 with both in mountainous regions and on plains. M. Liebe, 

 who is a votary of Baron Richthofen's sub-aerial theory, admits 

 the diluvial district of Germany to have been once a steppe 

 region with an extreme climate and analogous to the present 

 steppes of the Altai. 



The French Ministry for Public Instruction has completed in 

 the Central Palace of the Exhibition the installation of the 

 *' Salle des Missions Scientifiques." A large map has been 

 exhibited on which all the names of the scientific missionaries 

 are inserted on the couniries which they have explored on behalf of 

 the French Government. The collection of works published by the 

 living members of the " Corps Enseignant" (French University) 

 is ready; it is composed of more than 4,000 volumes neatly 

 bound. This library is open every day from 8 to 10 in the 

 morning. Admission to the palace is obtained at this early hour 

 by a double ticket] (price 9 francs). Not a single gallery in 

 the Trocadero Palace has been yet opened. The success 

 of the Exhibition is increasing daily. The average number 

 of admissions on payment has been more than 40,000 a day 

 for the first fourteen days. The sale of tickets by the agents 

 is more than 1,200,000. The number of season-ticket holders 

 was 1,000 in the beginning of .last week, although no real 

 advantage is offered to them. The system of conveyance by 

 trams, railways, and steamers is excellent, and working very 

 well. M. Bardoux has proposed a credit of 100,000 francs for 

 the purpose of sending to Paris a number of instituteurs who 

 will take part in their special congress during the Exhibition. 



The Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of 

 Liverpool for 1876-77 forms, as usual, a thick volume, containing 

 several papers well worthy of careful reading. The paper of chief 

 scientific interest in this volume is that of Mr. A. J, Mott on 

 Haeckel's " History of Creation," which, with the elaborate 

 discussion that followed, is likely to interest all who are in- 

 teresed in the subject. 



A FIRM at Melbourne, New South Wales, claims to have im- 

 proved the Abyssinian tube-well by attaching a drill to the first 

 tube, and cutting through rock by imparting a rotary motion to 

 it, instead of merely hammering it tlnrough as heretofore, which 

 plan has b-jen found not to succeed in hard soils. 



In confirmation of our remarks on the recent progress science- 

 wards in Spain, we may state that we have received further 

 papers. One a pamphlet of thirteen pages is a paper entitled 

 El Alcoran, by Seiior D. Eduardo Saavedra, read at the 

 eighth conferencia (February 25th, 1878) of the Institucion 

 libre de ensenanza. The other is the prospectus of the Revista 

 General de Legislacion y Jiirispriidencia, publicada por D, Jose 

 Reus y Garcia con la coloboracion de distinguidos Jurisconsultos 

 y publicistas (now in the twentieth year of its publication). 



From a Japan contemporary we learn that copper-smelting 

 works are being built by Japanese near Kobe. The ore to be 

 used will come from a mine near Ikeda, and is said to contain a 

 considerable quantity of silver which is to be extracted first. 

 Coal and copper appear to have been recently discovered in 

 several places in this part of Japan. 



A BRILLIANT meteor was seen at Geneva at 9.45 p.m. on 

 Sunday week. It moved very rapidly from east to west,, was in 

 the shape of a pear, and was of a greenish hue, leaving behind it 

 a slight train of light. This was evidently the same meteor that 

 was seen by our correspondents referred to in last week's 



Nature; the; time was the same, making allowance for the 

 difference of iongjltude. between Geneva and this country. 

 '-The total produetioa of silk cocoons in Europe amounted 

 upon an- average to 58,000 tons per year during the last five 

 years. Italy stands first in the list of silk-producing countries ; 

 it produces 39,000 tons per year. France produces about 

 10,000 tons, Turkey 4,000, Spain 2,200, Austria 1,900, 

 Portugal 250, . Greece 200, Russia 150, Germany 100, and 

 Belgium and Switzerland only 100 tons together. 



The King of Italy has conferred the Cross of the Order of 

 SS. Maurice and Lazarus upon Prof. Monmisen, of Berlin. 



The well-known geologist and academician, Gregor von Hel- 

 mersen, of St. Petersburg, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary 

 of his entering the Russian army, on the 5th instant. 



It is telegraphed from New York, May 14, that a despatch 

 from Havannah announces that a terrific earthquake has 

 occurred at Cua, in Venezuela, 600 persons having been killed- 

 A heavy shock was also felt at Caracas. An earthquake is 

 reported from Gottingen. On May 6 two shocks were felt, one 

 at 10,34 the other at 10.37 p.m. The former was of greater 

 force than the latter, and their duration was three and two 

 seconds respectively. An earthquake was also felt in a large 

 number of places in Morbihan (Britanny), on the ii4th instant, 

 in the morning ; the hours vary according to the places. 

 At Hennebout, a small seaport on the Blavet, it occurred at 

 7h. 3m., duration six seconds ; at Vannes, 5h. 40m. local time 

 (6h. 20m. Paris time). The direction was from west to east. 

 Commotions were also felt in Lorient and Port Louis almost at 

 the same hour as at Vannes. 



We have already referred to the American Journal of 

 Mathematics promised us from the Johns Hopkins University, 

 and were able to mention the names of some of the contributors, 

 all of them of the first rank. We have not yet received the 

 first number, but from a note in the Nation we see it has ap- 

 peared, and that the programme will delight our mathematical 

 friends. The first number contains, in 104 handsomely-printed 

 quarto pages, eight articles, two of them from foreign con- 

 tributors, in which the separate departments of astronomy, 

 mechanics, physics, and pure mathematics are all represented. 

 The first article is a short note of three pages, containing the 

 proof of the proposition, that " if a fourth dimension were 

 added to space, a closed material surface (or shell) could be 

 turned inside out by simple flexiu-e, without either stretching or 

 tearing." This is followed by the first part of a paper upon 

 the lunar theory, by Mr. G. W. HiU. Prof. Eddy, of 

 Cincinnati, presents a simplified equation to express the rela- 

 tionship between the moments of flexure of a straight elastic 

 girder at three successive points of support. An algebraic solu- 

 tion of the so-called irreducible case in cubic equations, with 

 examples, covers eighteen pages. A short note on the theory of 

 gi-oups is communicated by Prof. Cayley, of Cambridge. 

 Prof. Rowland's paper is a contribution to our know- 

 ledge of the theory of electric absorption. A very favourable 

 review of Ferrero's treatise on the method of least squares is 

 given by Mr. C. S. Peirce, and the balance of the number is 

 occupied by Prof. Sylvester with a paper in which the new 

 atomic theory of chemistry is applied to the graphical repre- 

 sentation of certain mathematical conceptions. A paper on this 

 subject, by Prof. Sylvester, has already appeared in NATURE. 



We notice the appearance of the concluding part of the 

 Jahresbcricht der CJumie for 1876. This almost indispensable 

 companion of the chemist, founded by Liebig and Kopp, is now 

 under the editorship of Prof. Fittica, of Marburg, assisted by a 

 xorps of twelve other leading German and Austrian chemists, 

 and has reached its twenty-ninth volume. A glance at the space 

 allotted to the various sub-divisions gives a general idea of the 



