554 



NATURE 



[Sept. 19, 1878 



In the last city there are no less than four in active work, viz., 

 those of the Sorbonne, lEcole de Medicine, Ecole de Pharmacie, 

 and Museum (Jardin des Plantes) respectively, besides one for 

 experimental physiology at Vincennes. — On the question of 

 gymnospermy. Prof. Arcangeli's anatomical researches had led 

 him to conclude that the coat of the ovule in Gymnosperms 

 was sometimes carpellary in origin, but not always. Unfortu- 

 nately no discussion followed. — M. Sirodot gave an abstract of 

 his researches on Batrachospermum, which he shows is the 

 sexual form of Chantransia. — M. Borodin gave an account of 

 the variations in the excretion of COj in leaves of different ages. 

 — M. Millardet found the lesions from phylloxera differ accord- 

 ing as the part attacked is the young rootlet or an older part. 

 In the latter case a septum of cork is often formed to preserve 

 the parts that remain healthy. Unfortunately the question of 

 the " Hortus europsens " was hardly discussed, but suggestions were 

 made for the compilation of a new " Steudel." Besides the 

 excursion to Segrez, a large number of members were conducted, 

 on the 22nd, all over the remarkable irrigation works at Gene- 

 viiliers (where a fourth of' the sewage of the city of Paris is 

 utilised), by M. Durand-Claie, Engineer to the Works, and M. 

 n. Vilmorin, Secretary to the Commission d'Etudes. After- 

 wards many of the foreign members breakfasted with M. E. 

 Cosson, and visited his splendid -herbarium, and in the evening 

 was held the banquet of the Congress. On the 23rd a large 

 party visited the gardens of the Jardin des Plantes with Prof. 

 Decaisne, and the herbarium with Prof. Bureau. The final 

 session of the Congress was held at Versailles on the 25th, after 

 which the members visited the show of the Horticultural Society 

 of the town, at whose annual banquet the foreign members were 

 entertained in the evening. 



A VERY useful paper "On Lightning Conductors and 

 Accidents by Lightning" was read at the Briti?h Association 

 meeting by Richard j Anderson, F.C.S. So slow has been the 

 " march of progress " in the application of one of the greatest 

 scientific discoveries of modern times to the uses of daily life, 

 that even now, after the lapse of more than a century, the 

 employment of lightning conductors, simple as they are, and as 

 inexpensive as simple, is far from being general, still less uni- 

 versal. At least one-half, and perhaps two-thirds, of all the 

 public buildings, including the churches and chapels, of Great 

 Britain and Ireland, are without protection against lightning. 

 As to private houses, it is safe to assert that not five out of every 

 hundred have lightning conductors. It is well known that the 

 amount of property destroyed annually by lightning is very great, 

 though it is naturally impossible to form any estimate of it. The 

 terrible losses, both of property and human lives, still occasioned 

 by lightning, are the more lamentable, as they are in nearly all 

 cases the result of the grossest negligence. The negligence is 

 three-fold — namely, first, in not providing any lightning con- 

 ductors at all ; secondly, in not placing them in the right posi- 

 tion, or in sufficient number to cover a given area ; and, thirdly, 

 in not having them regularly tested, so as to ascertain their 

 constant efficiency. Even some of the first cathedrals of 

 England, such as Peterborough, have no lightning conductors 

 whatever, while others, supplied with them, are insufficiently 

 protected, as is apparent to any competent observer. Mr. An- 

 derson gives striking examples of the absence of lightning con- 

 ductors, and of the disastrous effects of their being badly placed. 

 The third cause of neglect is by no means the least. Mr. 

 Anderson justly argues that lightning conductors ought to be at 

 regular intervals, at least once a year, carefully inspected, and 

 their efficiency tested by a galvanometer. The absolute neglect 

 of this precaution which is now prevailing is no doubt the cause 

 of a vast number of casualties by lightning, inflicted upon build- 

 ings nominally protected by conductors. Utter neglect of the 

 conductor, when once it has been put in its place, is the I 



commonest thing, and indeed the rule, as regards private 

 dwellings ; and, we fear, there is little difference in this respect 

 as to most public buildings, churches, and chapels. In fact, it is 

 the old case of a matter of however great consequence, yet being 

 utterly disregarded as " nobody's business." Between three and 

 four thousand pounds were spent in protecting the Houses of 

 Parliament by lightning conductors at the time of their erection, 

 some twenty years ago. Since that time, as far as Mr. Ander- 

 son can learn, after minute investigation, they have never been 

 tested, and there is no guarantee whatever that a discharge of 

 lightning may not at any time fall upon the Queen's throne, the 

 Lord Chancellor's woolsack, or the Speaker's chair. A French 

 writer pithily expresses the results that follow from a lightning 

 conductor over a house not having a proper "earth connection," 

 by saying it is lightning guided to the owner's iron bedstead. 

 Mr. Anderson then gives several useful practical instmctions as 

 to what ought to be done to amend the present unsatisfactory 

 state of matters, which well deserve attention. As the clock in 

 churches and other public buildings is methodically inspected by 

 the clockmaker, so ought every lightning conductor to be as 

 systematically examined by an electrician or other competent 

 person. Already such a system of inspection and testing of 

 conductors exists in Paris and several othei French towns. Shall 

 we say, once again, "They manage these things better in 

 France?" 



The long-expected report of the United States Entomological 

 Commission, appointed to investigate the ravages of the locust, 

 has been published as one of the series of Dr. Hayden's survey, 

 and constitutes a very important addition to the scientific and 

 practical literature on this subject. Although it has been several 

 years since there has been any serious damage caused by the 

 Rocky Mountain locust, their enormous destructiveness, when 

 they do occur in abundance, is such as seriously to threaten the 

 prosperity of the States in which their ravages are prosecuted. 

 The present report professes to be for 1877, and posts the sub- 

 ject up to that date, being a stout volume of nearly 800 pages, 

 and is accompanied by excellent wood-cuts and engravings, re- 

 presenting the insect and its winged and other enemies in all 

 stages of development and condition. In addition to the de- 

 scriptions of the species and its general natural history, various 

 remedies and devices for its destruction are communicated; also 

 notes on the influence of prairie fires on the increase of the 

 locust, the influence of the weather on the species, the effects 

 which generally follow severe locust injury, and the uses to 

 which locusts may be put. There are also chapters on the 

 ravages of other species of locusts in the United States and on 

 the ravages of locusts in other countries. Congress at the last 

 session provided for the continuation of the inquiry for the pre- 

 sent year under the same commission. 



Mr. W. H. Shrubsole informs us that an imperfect tooth 

 recently found in the London clay at Warden, in the Isle of 

 Sheppey, has been submitted by him to Prof. Owen, who 

 says of the specimen that "it suffices to determine both the 

 mammalian and ungulate nature of the animal it belonged to ; 

 that it comes nearest to the kind of Palaotherium figured in 

 'British Fossil Mammals,' p. 322, Fig. 116, but is too in- 

 complete to show the genus or species." Mr. Shrubsole adds 

 that there is no record of any mammalian remains having been 

 found in Sheppey before. 



Messrs. Churchill will publish, early in November, a work 

 on the poisonous snakes of India, by Dr. Ewart, illustrated 

 with coloured plates reduced from Sir Joseph Fayrer's large 

 folio work. 



Messrs. Tegg and Co., Pancras Lane, will shortly publish 

 " Berkeley's Principles of Human Knowledge," with Introduc- 



