I90 



NATURE 



[Dec. 28, 1876 



to Berwickshire, on which the views of [Mr. Lebour are based, 

 accompanies the paper. 



The General Council of Hautes-Alpes has decided to organise 

 a special meteorological service for the purpose of carrying oat 

 the system of weather-warnings for agriculture for that depart- 

 ment analogous to what have been established in other depart- 

 ments of France. The height and other physical peculiarities 

 of the department make this a valuable addition to this system 

 of warnings which is being gradually established over France 

 with marked success. 



A MEMOIR on the Ophite of Pando, in the province of San- 

 tander, by Don Francisco Quiroga y Rodriguez, which has just 

 been published in the Anales de la Soc. Esp. de Hist. Natural., 

 is of considerable interest to petrographers, as it discusses 

 the microscopic structure and mineralogical constitution of a 

 rock of decidedly peculiar character, and at the same time 

 enables us to realise the points of resemblance and difference 

 between it and the similar rocks of the Pyrenees, described by 

 Prof. Zirkel, and those of the province of Cadiz, concerning 

 which Mr. Macpherson has recently given us such very interesting 

 details. The rock in question is suspected to be of Triassic age, 

 and among other features of interest presented by it we may 

 mention the existence in it of a mineral which appears to possess 

 characters intermediate between those of augite and diallage. 



The following further Saturday evening lectures have been 

 arranged for in connection with the South Kensington Loan Collec- 

 tion of Scientific Apparatus. We do not yet know whether the 

 closing of the Collection will interfere with their delivery : — De- 

 cember 30. — Prof. W. F. Barrett, on *' Some of the Practical 

 Applications of Electricity as Illustrated by Instruments in the 

 Loan Collection." January 6. — Alexander J. Ellis, F.R.S., on 

 ' ' The Nature of Chords in Music, illustrated by Appunn's Appa- 

 ratus." January 13. — Dr. B. W, Richardson, F.R.S., on 

 " Stephen Gray and the Discovery of Electric Conduction." 

 January 20. — Prof. Garrod, on " The Instruments exhibited by 

 M. Marey, specially with reference to the Flight of Birds and 

 Insects." January 27. — W. Chandler Roberts, F.R.S., on 

 " The Means adopted for securing the Accuracy of the Coinage." 

 Februarys. — Prof. Osborne Reynolds, on "Vortex Motion." It 

 is intimated that the Collection will be closed after Saturday, 

 the 30th inst. 



We are glad to see that an effort is being made to give the 

 people of Hertford some knowledge of science, of the value of 

 which they seem somewhat ignorant. Mr. Percy Smith and Mr. 

 Vincent Elsden have commenced a course of experimental lec- 

 tures on Chemistry and Physics, which, to judge from the 

 syllabus, is likely to prove both interesting and instructive to 

 those who are wise enough to attend. 



The curious phenomenon of a ball being supported in air by 

 a strong air current directed obliquely 35° to 40° from the ver- 

 tical, has lately been exhibited in Philadelphia. Various ex- 

 planations of it have been attempted by engineers and others. 

 M. Reuleaux (in Foggendorff's Annahn), rejecting previous 

 explanations, offers the following : — The pretty thin air current, 

 on reaching the ball, is deflected on all sides, and therefore more 

 or less rarefied in its interior. Accordingly the atmosphere 

 presses the ball in the direction of the greatest rarefaction, or 

 the mean force of the rarefactions, towards the orifice. The 

 weight of the ball acts vertically downwards. Equilibrium 

 occurs between the obliquely-acting force of the current and 

 the two forces just named, when the mean force of the latter is 

 parallel to the action of the current. This can only take place 

 when the ball has its centre under the'axis of the current. There 

 is then a pair of forces which put the ball in rotation. If the 

 finger or a rod be brought to the place of supposed minimum 

 pressure on the ball, the latter is forthwith driven off (as the 

 vacuum is destroyed) or falls down. 



From a recent report on the cultivation of the vine in Madeira 

 we are told that the Phylloxera vastatrix has partially attacked 

 and destroyed many plants in some districts, but the evil has no 

 discouraged the renewal and extension of plantations. The im- 

 proved method of treating Madeira wines have rendered them 

 more agreeable to the prevailing taste of consumers, and the 

 demand for them is steadily increasing in every market. In 

 Teneriffe many landowners have likewise turned their attention 

 again to the cultivation of vines, and the wines of the island are 

 thus increasing annually in quantity. The Oidiiim is gradually 

 dying out, and where it still appears is successfully checked by 

 sulphuring. The Phylloxera has as yet not appeared in any of 

 the vineyards. 



From the Annual Report on the Brisbane Botanic Garden, 

 we gather some valuable and interesting facts relating to the 

 acclimatisation of economic plants. Of the three most exten- 

 sively cultivated tropical plants — sugar, coffee, and tea, we learn 

 that at present forty varieties of sugar-cane are grown in the 

 garden, and that there is such a large and continuous demand for 

 plants of such varieties as are known to be not yet subject to 

 disease, that the director has recommended the settmg apart 

 from the Botanic Garden of a piece of ground to be used as a 

 nursery for sugar and other plants of commercial value. It is 

 satisfactory to know that with regard to coffee the plants of the 

 ordinary kind ( Coffea arabica) in the experimental plantatation 

 are all healthy, and show not the slightest sign of disease either 

 from the Hemileia vastatrix, or any other cause. The northern 

 districts, especially the sheltered ridges of the Hubert and 

 Endeavour rivers are said to be the most suitable to the profit- 

 able cultivation of coffee, and some thirty acres of land on the 

 Lower Hubert is to be put under this cultivation during the 

 ensuing season. Of the Liberian kind {Coffea liber ica) some seeds 

 have been sent from England, and these are growing into per- 

 fectly healthy plants, some of which, indeed, have been already 

 distributed. Though the tea plantation is reported to be in a 

 flourishing condition and numbers of plants have been distri- 

 buted, the cultivation of tea, it is said, does i^not attract the 

 attention it deserves owing to the high price of skilled labour 

 required in the preparation of tea as a commercial article. Among 

 other plants of interest introduced to the Garden may be men- 

 tioned the Paraguay tea {Ilex paraguayensis), which seems to be 

 thoroughly well adapted to the climate of Queensland. Mr. 

 Hill reports that the demand for it has of late very largely in- 

 creased. The Balsam of Tolu {Myroxylon tolui/era), the new 

 tanning plant {Balsamocarpon brevifolium), the Sumatra rubber- 

 plant ( 6^^'c^(7/a elastica), 2.rA\h& Siam Gamboge {Garcinia morella, 

 \3.x.pedicellata), all seem to be doing well. The consideration of 

 the introduction of foreign grasses and other plants as well for 

 fodder purposes as for renovating old pastures, nas occupied some 

 attention in Queensland, and the result is that many of our well- 

 known meadow-grasses as well as the Trifolimns Medicagos, and 

 Meldots have established a similar reputation in the new to that 

 which obtains in the old. The only unsatisfactory part of Mr. Hill's 

 report is that in which he tells us of the destruction and probable 

 extermination of indigenous plants. Thus, in certain districts 

 within the Colony, some trees formerly plentiful have almost dis- 

 appeared, or are but rarely found. The Queensland Nut (Maca- 

 damia ternifolia) is an instance, in districts abounding with it 

 some years ago, it is now difficult to find even a single specimen. 

 This has been caused in consequence of numbers of them having 

 been cut down chiefly by South Sea Islanders for the purpose ot 

 more easily obtaining the fruit at the expense of the destruction 

 of the tree. A similar fate seems to await the Cycas media. It is 

 found between Port Denison and Cooktown, and the flour ob- 

 tained from its seeds forms one of the principal articles of food, 

 in certain seasons, of the aborigines of that part of the Colony. 

 During the visit of the North-East Coast Expedition of 1873, 



