Feb. 8, 1877J 



NATURE 



313 



generally like to use them except for killing small game, as they 

 often broke, and they have told me that their boomerangs were 

 not 'strong enough ' to kill a man. For fighting they have no 

 throwing weapons — no throwing-sticks for their spears, but throw 

 them by the hand, and only do so in extremity, for the spear is 

 too valuable a weapon. It is only used as a pike ; and they 

 obtain their spears by barter from some tribe to the north. In 

 ordinary fighting they use a weapon like a boomerang from 4 to 

 5 feet in length. It is held in both hands and blows are struck 

 with the convex edge. They were not warded off when I saw it 

 used, but the blows were struck indiscriminately — a sort of free 

 fight. These weapons are made by themselves of boxwood. 



"In throwing the boomerang I have seen it usually held nearly 

 parallel with the horizon. When thus thrown it would rise and 

 return towards the thrower, but the blackfellows always told me 

 thatjalthough they could ensure its returning near them they could 

 not tell exactly where it would come to. They could tell the 

 direction but not the distance. If the boomerang^trikes anything 

 its course ceases. 



"Some years ago the blackfellows living in the mountains just 

 south of Blanchewater had no boomerangs and no spears. Their 

 weapons were yamsticks and stones. They had no shields. 

 Boomerangs, spears, and shields were acquired by them from 

 the Blanchewater blacks, in return for which they bartered 

 Wallaby rugs ; at that time the Blanchewater and Deerie blacks 

 had absolutely no clothing. 



" This system of barter is said to have been instituted by a Hill 

 blackfellow named Pompey, who, in 1856, was concerned in the 

 spearing of two men at Angepina. He escaped and went north 

 to the Deerie blacks, having first stayed some time with the 

 Blanchewater blacks, who understood both languages, being a 

 border tribe. He took up to the Deerie blacks some flour, 

 sugar, tobacco, and for some time settled at Kopparamanna. 

 He endeavoured to raise a confederacy to drive the white settlers 

 out of the Flinders Range, and is said at that time to have insti- 

 tuted the system of barter. 



" I knew this Pompey in 1857, when he sent another black- 

 fellow, named Blanchewater Charley, to offer his services as 

 'nauto shepherd.' When Pompey then came in he told me 

 much of the above concerning himself, which was also current 

 among the tribes. He was a very shrewd fellow, and thus became 

 a leader among them. He was afterwards shot for killing station- 

 blacks. The national weapons of the Blanchewater blacks are 

 stones. These are thrown of the size of the fist, and are per- 

 haps thrown as far as a hundred yards, and with precision for 

 forty yards ; and in throwing, a rotatory motion is imparted to 

 the stone. At about forty to fifty yards they can hit a small 

 mark, such as a bottle, almost without fail. In fighting at close 

 quarters they ward off spear blows by means of a short stick 

 held in the hand, and if possible, in cases where the spear has 

 been thrown, clutching it in passing with the other. They do 

 not use a shield for stopping spears, but against stones, which, 

 as I have said, are the national weapons." 



Although much of the above cannot be said to be strictly 

 belonging to the "boomerang," I have preferred to give Mr 

 James's statements in full as given to me. 



Much that he says corroborates the statements I have made 

 in the letter referred to. 



It is much to be regretted that no one else than myself among 

 your readers in Australia has recorded their observations on the 

 " boomerang," in reply to your correspondent's request. 



Bairnsdale, Gippsland, Victoria A. W. Howitt 



Longmynd Rocks 



Mr. H. B. Woodward, in his " Geology of England and 

 Wales," p. 28, states that, near Shrewsbury, the Longmynd 

 Rocks are overlaid conformably by the Lingula Flags. I should 

 be glad to see the evidence upon which this conclusion is based. 

 So far as I have examined the district, the facts do not sustain 

 Mr. Woodward's view. Arenig fossils are found at the very 

 head of the ravines which cut back nearly to the quartzite of 

 the Stiper Stones. The beds under the quartzite are similar 

 in lithological character to the Arenig shales above, and I have 

 not heard of the lower shales yielding Lingula flag fossils. At 

 the base of the escarpment is the fault which separates the Stiper 

 Stones rocks from the Longmynd beds. I believe the Stiper 

 Stones beds are Arenig, in the absence of proof to the contrary. 

 The quartzose band of the Stiper Stones may represent the 

 arenaceous bed adopted by the Geological Survey as the base of 

 the Arenig. Charles Callaway 



Wellington, Salop, January 15 



The Measurement of the Height^f Clouds 



It has always been a matter of some interest to obtain mea- 

 sures of the height of clouds, independently of observations 

 made from balloons or on mountains. 



During last July and August I made a series of measures of 

 cloud -altitudes— the first, 1 believe, of their kind— by photo- 

 graphing the clouds simultaneously from different stations. 



The details of the process would occupy too much space to 

 be inserted here, but I have reason to believe that the results 

 obtained are not as much as three per cent, in error. The cirrus 

 clouds which I measured varied in height from 22,000 to 25,000 

 feet ; massive cumuli from 6,000 to 7,000 feet. 1 did not get 

 any good examples of cirro-cumulus or .<;tratus. Rain-clouds 

 appeared at all altitudes up to 4,000 feet, I hope to resume the 

 measures at some future time. Arnulph Malloch 



Terling Place, Witham 



Mimetic Habit of Bats 



In September, 1875, whilst paddling in a dorey (dug ou* 

 boat) through a narrow and dark creek leading from Belize 

 River, Honduras, to Reid's lagoon, we disturbed a number of 

 small bats which were clinging to the trunks and branches of the 

 mangroves overhanging the water. These bats were about six 

 inches in expanse and of a grey colour so exactly corresponding 

 with that of the trees on which they settled as to be with diffi- 

 culty distinguishable even at a distance of only a few feet. They 

 invariably clung to the trunk or bough tvith 7aijt^s expanded, and 

 were never, so far as I noticed, suspended from the branches. 



I saw the same species in Black Creek of the same river in 

 February last year clinging to the trees in a similar manner, and 

 conclude it is the natural position of the animal when at rest. I 

 send this note as I do not recollect havini:^ anywhere seen this 

 curious mimetic resemblance and peculiar habit remarked upon, 



loi, Grove Street, Liverpool, January 22 S. Archer 



THE SPONTANEOUS GENERATION 

 QUESTION'^ 



TTHE following paper on this subject was read at the Paris 

 Academy ot Sciences on January 8 ^ : — 



The Academy has perhaps not forgotten that at the se.mce 

 of July 10 last. Dr. Bastian announced the discovery by him of 

 the physico-chemical conditions necessary and sufficient for the 

 spontaneous generation of certain varieties of microscopic 

 objects of the genus Bacteria. The experiment which, according 

 to Dr. Bastian, realises these conditions is very simple ; it con- 

 sists in exactly neutralising by liquor potassce urine deprived of 

 every organic germ and exposing the mixture to a temperature of 

 fifty degrees. In those conditions certain varieties of bacteria 

 promptly appeared. 



Dr. Bastian has no doubt as to the bearing of his conclusions. 

 To all who are attentive to medical movements it is evident 

 that the debate relative to spontaneous generation has been 

 removed into the domain of the etiology of contagious diseases, 



I immediately repeated the experiment, and I proved, among 

 other things, that it is sufficient to determine the saturation of 

 the urine by solid potash instead of potash in aqueous solu- 

 tion (which does not modify whatever be the physico-chemical 

 conditions to which it is subjected) for the mixture to remain per- 

 fectly sterile. I hence concluded that the interpretation given by 

 Dr. Bastian to his experiment was totally inadmissible. 



Dr. Bastian replied {Comptes Rendus, July 31 and August 21) ; 

 he did not at all dispute the legitimacy of my reasoning, but he 

 affirmed that I reproduced his experiment badly and exceeded 

 the exact point of neutralisation of the urine. Such is, accord- 

 ing to him, the cause of the sterility of the liquid in my liands. 



The question is then limited to the point : Have I done any- 

 thing else but replace the liquor potassa; by melted potash, 

 and specially, have I exceeded the point of saturation of the 

 urine, and is there anything amiss in so doing ? 



I have examined the debate reduced to these terms, along 

 with M. Joubert, with all the attention of which we are both of 

 us capable, and we are able to declare to the Academy, on the 

 basis of new experiments, that the exact neutralisation of the 

 urine by solid potash, which we had melted, left the urine 

 sterile. We add, although that may not be indispensable, that 

 there is no obstacle to the fertilisation of urine, in the experi- 



I Continued from p. 303. 



- Note on the Alfration of Urine in reference to Recent Communications 

 of Dr. Hastian, by Mi\I. Pasteur and Joubett, 



