394 



NATURE 



{August 8, 1878 



printed on one side of the paper only, for the use of librarians. 

 The price to sitbscribers of each copy in this form will be 20^., 

 delivered post free in the United Kingdom, and plus the extra 

 postage for abroad. The price of the catalogue in the ordinary 

 form will be i6j. The importance of this enterprise, not only 

 to science but to bibliography generally, need not be imistedon. 

 Those interested should communicate with the Librarian of the 

 Society, 4, Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, S.W. 



A LARGE coal-field, we learn from the Sheffield Daily Tele- 

 graph, has just been opened out near Ilemsworth, about seven 

 miles from Barnsley. The thick or Barnsley seam of coal has 

 been reached on the estate of Mr. Allott, at a depth of 635 yards 

 from the surface. This proves that a well-known and valuable 

 bed exists in what may be termed the largest iinworked coalfield 

 in the West Riding. The shaft is the deepest in South York- 

 shire, and the field in which the seam is worked commences at 

 its southern extremity close to the town of Nottingham, and 

 extending through Derbyshire, proceeding along the margin of 

 the limestone to Barnsley and the east of it and the Ashworlh 

 Rock. The great coal-field, which includes parts of Derby- 

 shire, Yorkshire, and Notts, is the largest in England, and only 

 150 square miles less in area than that of South Wales, the 

 extreme length being sixty-six miles. The southern boundary 

 is new red sandstone, and the strata rire and cross out 

 westward near Bradford and Leeds, and then turning to the 

 east, disappear under the magnesium limestone. The thickness 

 of the bed near Plemsworth is about eight feet, which may be 

 considered as about the average in South Yorkshire, while at 

 Shireoaks Colliery, near Worksop, it is little more than three 

 feet. The new colliery will be able to raise, when fully opened 

 out, more than 1,000 tons daily, so that there will be an addition 

 to the coal-producing power of South Yorkshire of 400,000 tons 

 a year. 



The possibility of keeping a manatee in a healthy state in an 

 aquarium is fully proved by the good condition of that at West- 

 minster. It arrived on June 20, and has increased in size and 

 done well. The only other specimen brought alive to England 

 lived at the Zoological Gardens from August 6 to September 7 

 only, in 1875. At Westminster the animal is in a glass tank 

 above the level of the ground, and accessible on both sides, 

 so that its movements, position in floating, &c., can be well seen. 



The Times' notice of Bank Holiday amusements speaks of 

 the Nubian Camp at the Alexandra Palace as an educational 

 entertainment. In this we quite agree, and hope that every 

 success may attend such instructive exhibitions as this. 



Respecting the tornado, by which Canton was visited on 

 April II, the Rev. John Chalmei's writes to the London Mis- 

 sionary Society that after careful inquiry and personal observa- 

 tion, he concludes that the whirlwind did not extend much 

 further than three miles, the average width of its path being 

 about three hundred yards. But on the next two days there 

 were several distinct whirlwinds of a similar character in the 

 neighbourhood. Over the space above indicated the tornado 

 seems to have equalled in force and destructive effect anything 

 of the kind heard of in the West Indies. 



In our " Meteorological Notes," vol. xviii. p. 287, the name 

 of Mr. Eliot, who is officiating for Mr. H. F. Blanford in India, 

 during the absence of the latter, should have been quoted instead 

 of that of Mr. Blanford, as the authority for the forecast of the 

 monsoon referred to. 



An astronomical correspondent suggests that in Mr. Lockyer's 

 Eclipse telegram last week the words " Corona probably photo- 

 graphed in Siam. Fluorescent eye-piece worked well," should 

 read ' ' Corona probably photographed ; it seemed fluorescent. 

 Eye-piece worked well." With respect to the place of "Vulcan " 

 as observed by Watson, R.A. 8° 26' should be R.A. 8h. 26m. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Slow Loris {Nycticebus tardigradus) from 

 Borneo, three Chinese Cranes {Grus longirostris) from China, 

 presented by Mr. Theodore Hance; a Mexican Deer {Cervus 

 mexicanus) from Mexico, presented by Mr. A. Scrutton ; a 

 Common Fox {Canis vulpes), European, presented by Mr. 

 Athelston Riley ; three Great Bustards {Oiis tarda) from Spain, 

 presented by Lord Lilford, F.Z.S. ; a Tiger Bittern {Tigrisoma 

 brasilianea) from South America, presented by Mr. Hammond 

 Hawbyne; a Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo {Cacatua gale- 

 rita) from Australia, presented by Mrs. A. A. Hole ; a Passerine 

 Owl {Glaiicidium passerimnn), a Bacha Eagle {Spilornis bacha) 

 from Borneo, presented by Mr. J. S. Jameson ; two Beisa Ante- 

 lopes {Oryx beisa) from Norlh-East Africa, a Brown Coati 

 {Nastta naiica) from America, deposited ; an Ocelot (Felis par- 

 dalis), a 'Bld.ck YvMxxxt {Caihartes atratus) from America; two 

 Chilian Sea Eagles {Geranoaetus melanoleucus), a Brazilian Cara- 

 cara {Polyborus brasiliemis) from South America, two Rufous 

 Tinamous {Rhynchotus rufesccns) from Brazil, nine Spotted 

 Tinamous {N'othura viaeitlosa) from Buenos Ayres, 'a Razor- 

 Billed Curarsow [Mitua tuberosa) from Guiana, purchared ; an 

 Axis Deer {Cervus axis), born in the Gardens. 



THE PHONOGRAPH AND VOWEL-SOUNDS^ 



IL 

 T N our last communication we confined our attention to the 

 •*■ letter 0. We will now turn to the letter u (corresponding 

 to 00 vn. " focd "). Fig. 2 shows a series of curves obtained for 



/ 



Fig. 2. — Wave-forms of u Sungby the same Voice at Various Pitches 



u by the mechanical process already described. They are all 



' Ccntinued from p. 343. 



