yan. lo, 1878] 



NATURE 



201 



date on the evidence of the plant>remains found in the coal- 

 seams which are associated with it. 



Owing to the difficulty of determining questions of relative 

 superposition in a country so densely clothed with vegeta- 

 tion, and to the insignificant depth of the sections, natural 

 and artificial, which are accessible, coupled with the re- 

 markably disturbed condition of large tracts of the sedi- 

 mentary rocks — it is not possible to define at present the 

 relations of the igneous to the sedimentary rocks of the 

 district. Nevertheless, such evidence as I have myself been able 

 to collect goes to support the hypothesis that the last outbreak of 

 volcanic activity was posterior in date to all but the more modem 

 deposits of shales, clays, river-grave's, &c., or, in other words, 

 that it preceded more or less immediately, the last submergence 

 of north-west Borneo — though separated from that submergence 

 by a long interval, and possibly being the concomitant of an 

 antecedent elevation of the land. 



The traces of this outbreak remain in the existence of thermal 

 springs, two at least of which occur in association with hills of 

 trappean and basaltic rocks ; the country in many parts is dotted 

 with hills of basalt, columnar basalt, and fel>pathic porphyries, 

 and in the intervening lowlands is seamed with dykes of porphy- 

 ritic, hornblendtc, and siliceous rock* ; the sedimentary strata are 

 greatly disturbed when the igneous rocks occur, being often 

 upheavfd at high ang'es and much plicated, and locally the 

 san 'stones and shales have been metamorphosed ; whilst masses 

 of a volcanic-conglomerate (?) are occasionally met with. 



Philippine Islands, September 27 A. H. Everett 



New Form of Telephone 



Having had the pleasure of listening to Mr. Preece and Prof. 

 Graham Bell explaining that most wo derful invention, the 

 telephone, at the late meeting of the British Association in 

 Plymouth, I endeavoured to obtain the instrument for my own 

 use, and was ultimately successful. 



It soon struck me that if the disc or diaphragm whose vibra- 

 tion cau-ts the induced current in the coil of copper wire must 

 be a magnetic substance, and not simply a conductor, then if I 

 could succeed 'n getting an electro magnet to vibrate in a similar 

 manner it might be possible to get as powerful a sound. 



With this object in view a coil of insulated copper wire was 

 fastened to a card, as shown in Fig, i. 



The wire used wjis No. 28 cotton-covered, and It was sewed 

 to the card with thread, 



The iron disc was taken out of one of the telephones, and the 

 coil-diaphragm put m its place through which a current was 

 passed fiom a sii gle Bunsen cell. On niaki< g connection with 

 the other telephone, talking, singing, and whistling were heard 

 distinctly at b >th. 



Various coils have since been tried both with thicker and also 

 thinner wire, but as yet the results have not been as good as 

 when the iron dsc is used. 



When two such coils are used, one superposed on the other, 

 the loudness of the sound transmitted is increased to some 

 extent. The same result is produced by adding another Bunsen 

 cell. With a Darnell's cell the sound is very feeble. When a 

 coil is placed in each telephone the result is rather unsatisfactory 

 as yet. 



It has also been noticed that a simple conductor as a coil of 

 copper wire a'so transmits sound but very faintly. 



A small apparatus (Fig. 2) has been made to show the effects 

 above described, A piece of wood about three inches square and 

 about one inch thick has a hole bored through it about two 

 inches in diameter. A reel (2) containing about 250 yards of 

 silk-covered copper wire is placed in the hole with a piece of 

 soft iron about half an inch in diameter as axis (i). 



A co'1-diaphragm (3) is placed across one end of the hole at a 



very short distance from the soft iron core, and is covered by a 

 mouth-piece. Across the other end of the hole at a similar dis- 

 tance from the core is placed a thin iron disc (4) which is also 

 covered by a mouth-piece. On a current being passed through 

 the coil-diaphragm this apparatus acts as a telephone, and 

 messages can be sent from either side of it 



Fig. 2. 



.J 



3. Coil diaphragm. 



4. Iron disa 



The iron disc and core may be removed, and the coil* 

 diaphragm alone acts in an exactly similar manner. 



The above are the results of some experiments which have 

 occupied my spare time lately, and not having seen anything 

 similar published I forward them to you as they are rather 

 interesting. The whole of the eKperiments have been conduc ed 

 with the »id ot my friend, Mr. G. B, Niooll, who has also made 

 many important suggestions, JaMes M. Romanis 



Shooting Stars 



The number of shooting stars seen here during the last six 

 months (July to December) is 2,259 in 168 hours of watching. 

 This numher includes 385 Perseids observed be ween August 3 

 and 16. Of the remaining 1,874 1,028 wrreseen during seventy- 

 five hours in the mornings and 846 duri> g nincy-three hours in 

 the evenin,fs. A^ter making certain allowances for time spent 

 in registering the paths (and omitting the Pcrseid-), the horary 

 numbers appear to have been as follows ; — 



i6'4 A.M., 10 9 P.M., I3'4 A.M. and p.m. 



From these figures I estimate that the aggregate number of 

 shooting-stars as bright as, or brighter than, 5th mags., which 

 entered the earth's atmosphere in this particular part of the 

 woild by night and day during the last six months, was about 

 236,700. The horary number has already been mentioned as 

 13 4 lor one observer. Now a single pair of eyes certainly cannot 

 command more than a fourth part of the visible sky, so that 

 we must adopt 53 '6 as the horary rate over the whole sky. 

 From this we readily deduce the diurnal number as I286'4, and 

 the aggregate for the six months, 236,697*6 as above. 



When u is further considered thai the average height of ordl» 

 nary shootmg-stars is only about seveny miles, and that there- 

 fore observers at widely niscant stations must each see a distinct 

 set altogether, we are able to firm some remote idea of the vast 

 number that enter our atmosphere every day. 



Biistol, December 26, 1877 W. F. Denninq. 



Gentiana asclepiadea and Bees 



This gentian is very abundant on the mountain slopes round 

 Engel berg, as visitors t> that part o Switzerland well know. As 

 I was botanising in the neighbourhood, in the autumn of this 

 year, I observed that most of the flowers were pierced with a 

 raand hole at the base. Presently I saw a bee conne to one of 

 the pierced flowers, and thrust in its proboscis in search of 

 honey. The flowers of this beautiful, sweet-smelling gentian 

 are long and funnel-shaped, and very contracted at the base, 

 and, as the bee that visited it was a " fair large " one, like Sir 

 Torre's diamond, and not of the narrow hive-bee type, it could 

 not possibly have effected its purpose by entering the flower in 

 the usual way at the top, and had no doubt resorted to this 

 method of extracting the honey. I only saw this one kind of 

 bee visit the flowers, but I saw many of them at work, and all 

 acted in the same way. One of them came to some of the 

 flowers, which I had gathered, as I held them in my hand. I 

 cannot say that I saw a single fliwer acually pierced by a bee; 

 the day was warm, even for Engelberg, and the bees were very 



