Oct 17, i8;8] 



NATURE 



653 



It contains a description of the death and the burial celebration 

 of the mother of King Herod, from the first dynasty of Egyptian 

 kings. The price paid by the Academy was 4,000 francs 

 (160/.) ; the papyrus is now in the Exhibition. 



In the August number of the Moniteur Scientifique M. J. 

 Laurent, of Marseilles, cautions the scientific world generally, and 

 chemists in particular, against the use of de laBastie's toughened 

 glass. He considers the objects and utensils made of this sub- 

 stance to be no better than so many Prince Rupert's drops or 

 Bologna flasks, from which they differ only by their shape, M. 

 Laurent adduces an instance where a dish made of toughened 

 glass was used at a stearine factory at Marseilles ; it suddenly 

 broke into thousands of fragments upon being placed on the 

 metal scale of a balance. It was then in a state of cooling down 

 from 110° C, at which temperature it had been maintained for 

 some time ; but it had previously been in use for about a month, 

 and its sudden destruction was entirely inexplicable, save by the 

 theory above mentioned. 



With reference to Vesuvius the Libcrth publishes the fol- 

 lowing letter from Prof. Palmieri, dated October 6: — "The 

 phase of minor activity of the crater continues, nor is there sign 

 of any speedy increase. Little smoke, very little lava, and a 

 certain lesser activity in the eruptions of the new cone represent 

 the phases of decreasing dynamism. According to some, I have 

 announced augmenting force with the growth of the'- moon. I 

 must state that I only said that if there was to be any increase, 

 it would be verified towards the time of the full moon, according 

 to the laws I have noted since Vesuvius has been my study, and 

 confirmed by irrefutable documents from which I have drawn 

 the histor)' of our volcano. But, however it may be, this erup- 

 tive period, long foreseen, appears to require time to reach the 

 •evolution of the major phases it will ultimately attain." Tele- 

 grams from Naples on the 13th announced greatly increased 

 activity in the volcanic action of Vesuvius. 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co. have in preparation a text- 

 book, systematic and practical, on the " Physiological Chemistry 

 of Animal Bodies, and on the Changes which their Tissues and 

 Fluids undergo in Disease," by Prof. Arthur Gamgee, M.D., 

 F.R.S. The author seeks to fill up an important gap at present 

 existing in English medical and scientific literature by preparing 

 a succinct, though complete, account of the chemical processes 

 of the organism, and of the methods of studying them. The 

 work will primarily be a didactic and systematic treatise, and, 

 though in no respect a servile imitation, will be constructedon the 

 same plan as Prof, Kiihne's most admirable, though now neces- 

 sarily almost obsolete, " Lehrbuch der physiologischen Chemie : " 

 Leipzig, 1866. It will differ, however, even in plan from that 

 book, in containing elaborate descriptions of methods of research 

 and directions for the performance of analyses, which will in 

 part be introduced into the systematic portion of the text, and in 

 part be added as appendices to each section. These appen- 

 dices will be so detailed and complete as to render superfluous a 

 separate laboratory treatise on Chemico-Physiological Analysis, 

 such as the excellent books of Hoppe-Seyler, and Gorup-Besancy. 

 It is the object of the author to prepare a work which will not 

 only be useful to specialists in physiology, but to physicians, by 

 whose researches the most important facts in the chemical 

 history of the body have been discovered in the past, as they 

 doubtless will be in the future. 



Four shocks of earthquake were felt at Mineo, in Sicily, 

 early on the morning of the 5th. 



The severe thunderstorms of October 7, 8, 9, 10, which 

 raged in several parts of France with an almost unprecedented 

 fury, were preceded by strong siroccos in Algeria, where the 

 heat had been quite oppressive. The thunderstorms ^advanced 

 in France from the south northwards, and even in the British 



Channel strong south gales were felt. The perturbation lasted 

 during five da)-^, when the magnificent weather which had 

 marked the beginning of October returned. 



The large balloon, the Crusader, which escaped from the 

 Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, on Monday afternoon last, descended 

 in the Port Meadow, near Oxford, at 7 o'clock the same evening. 



An interesting account of the annual fungus foray of the 

 Woolhope Club will be found in the Gardeners' Chronicle of 

 October 12. 



The Courrier de Bone says that a singular phenemenon was 

 observed at Clousel, in the vicinity of Hammam Mex Kontine, 

 one of the most celebrated thermal bathing- places in Algiers. 

 After an earthquake which took place in the beginning of 

 September, an immense rock was precipitated from the moun- 

 tain. Some inhabitants visiting the place found the opening of 

 a grotto at the bottom of which a lake was discovered. The 

 water is quite fresh and almost at zero Centigrade. 



Active preparations are being made for the meeting of the 

 Social Science Congress at Cheltenham on the 23rd instant. 



Captain Patterson, Superintendent of the U.S. Coast 

 Survey, has lately initiated a very important undertaking in 

 connection with the work of the Survey, namely, in determining 

 the extent and position of the oyster beds of the Chesapeake 

 Bay, primarily with reference to the formation of oyster reefs, 

 and their interference with navigation, but broad enough in its 

 Scope to serve as the basis of a critical investigation of the whole 

 subject of the oyster fisheries and oyster culture in the United 

 States. It is somewhat curious that the best article upon the 

 statistics and distribution of the oyster in America is from the 

 pen of Capt. Broca, a French officer sent over some years ago by 

 his government to investigate this subject. The work is being 

 prosecuted in the Chesapeake Bay by the Coast Survey steamer 

 Palinurus, Mr. H. J. Rice, formerly of Johns Hopkins Univer- 

 sity, looking more particularly after the natural history features, 

 such as the embryology and development of the oyster, &c. 

 After the survey and investigation have been completed in 

 Chesapeake Bay, the exploration will be extended to other points 

 on the coast. For the better purpose of furnishing the required 

 data for a critical investigation of the subject, the party, in 

 addition to determining the depth of water in which the beds 

 are situated, will secure samples of the water itself, with speci- 

 mens of the oyster, and the temperature and currents will be 

 observed, the whole work being conducted in accordance with 

 the best principles of modern research. 



M. Thiers' long-talked -of work on philosophy will soon be 

 published ; it is in the hands of copyists, who will finish their 

 work this week. The work will include scientific subjects. It 

 will be published in three volumes, but the first is the only one 

 which has been completed. The last two volumes have not 

 been revised by the author. M. Thiers began the work in 1864, 

 after having received lessons in astronomy from Leverrier and in 

 chemistiy from Sainte Claire Deville. It was interrupted from 

 1870 to May 24, 1874, when Thiers was obliged to resign the 

 presidentship of the French republic. But it underwent some 

 interruption from January, 1877, when the illustrious author was 

 appointed by the Chamber of Deputies President of the Com- 

 mission for the Reorganisation of the Army. At St. Germain, 

 when he suddenly died, he was busy re-writing his second 

 volume. 



Mr. Horjiuzd Rassam, we learn from the Times, who 

 returned to England in July last, bringing with him a rich col- 

 lection of Assyrian antiquities, the result of his last expedition 

 to explore the ruins of Ancient Nineveh, is about to start 

 upon a second and much extended tour of exploration. The 

 expeditions of the late George Smith and other explorers 



