372 



NATURE 



{March 7, 1878 



The German Verein zur Beforderung des Gewerbfleisses has 

 offered extensive prizes for ,i^the invention 'oi substitutes for 

 caoutchouc and gutta-percha. 



News from South America states that powerful waterspouts 

 were recently experienced at Callao, doing considerable damage 

 in the town and its environs. On January 27 Callao suffered 

 again severely from a repetition of the phenomenon known as the 

 " tidal wave," from which so much damage was done in May last. 

 Much destruction of buildings has resulted. On January 23 a 

 strong earthquake, lasting thirty seconds, was felt at Iquique and 

 Arica ; shocks recurred on the 24th and 25th. On December 31 

 a violent thunderstorm visited Lima, accompanied by torrents 

 of rain. The latter phenomenon is of extreme rarity in that 

 neighbourhood, and during the present century has occurred 

 there only once, viz., in the year 1804. 



The Moniteur Vinicole announces the surprising fact that the 

 wine-production of France has not been diminished of late years, 

 in spite of the devastations of the pernicious insect, phylloxera. 

 During the five years, 1862 to 1867 (before the vast spreading of 

 the plague), the annual production averaged 54,747,405 hecto- 

 * itres. During the five following years (1867 to 1872) it rose to 

 56,527,129 hectolitres. After 1872, since when the phylloxera 

 invasion began to reach its maximum height, the average annual 

 production has not sunk below 56,000,000 hectolitres. The 

 total of last year's produce amounts to 56,405,363 hectolitres, as 

 against 41,846,748 in 1876. 



The statistics of the German Imperial Telegraph Office for 

 1877 have just been published. When the Telegraph Office 

 was united with the Post Office there were 1,688 telegraph 

 stations in Germany. At the end of 1877 this number had risen 

 to 3,287. 



Those desirous of sending 'objects of natural history from 

 Guatemala (Central America) to the forthcoming Paris Exhibi- 

 tion are requested to communicate with M. A. Boucard, of 55, 

 Great Russell Street, W.C, until the 20th inst. After that date 

 all communications should be sent to the following address : — 

 Legacion de Guatemala, 3, Rue de Copenhague, Paris. 



The experiments on the practical value of the telephone, 

 carried out by the German postal department, show that it is 

 not adapted to supersede the telegraph on lines which are con- 

 stantly in use. For local purposes and lines less frequently used 

 it will, however, be introduced on a large scale, a large pecuniary 

 saving being effected by the ease in obtaining officials who have 

 not had to master the difficulties of telegraphy. The depart- 

 ment has also introduced an apparatus for calling the official at 

 the station to which a message is to be sent, so that an electric 

 battery is now unnecessary for the purpose of summoning 

 attention. 



Australian colonists have noticed some strange peculiarities 

 in bees imported from Europe, which, however unpleasant they 

 may be to the agriculturist, are yet of the highest interest to 

 naturalists. It appears that our European bees retain their 

 industrious habits only for the first one or two years, when im. 

 ported into Australia. While during that period ihey keep their 

 hives in good order and yield a fair quantity of honey, they 

 gradually cease to collect honey after that time, and soon become 

 entirely barren. 



Mr. Murray has published in a neat little volume, Virchow's 

 address at the German Association last autumn, on the Freedom 

 of Science in the Modem State. We are glad this has been done, 

 as the address is one well worthy the attention of men of science. 

 It was our sense of its importance that induced us some months 

 ago to publish in our columns a verbatim translation of the 

 address, as well as translations of the addresses of Haeckel and 

 Niigeli, on which Virchow's address is to a large extent a 

 criticism and reply, 



The master of theZ>. M^B. Park (British barque), whicharrived 

 at West Cowes (I. W.), March 3, from Batavia, reports as fol- 

 lows ; — January 29, at 7 a.m:., in lat. 4.20 N., long, 21.45 W., 

 saw several submarine volcanoes throwing large columns of 

 water about 100 feet into the air, while the sea was in great 

 commotion, as it is when there is a very strong under-current, 

 the weather at the time being very cloudy, with rain, and nearly 

 calm. The sound was like distant thunder. 



Various theories have been offered of the sense of tempe- 

 rature. In a recent one by M. Hering it is represented that 

 when at a given part of the skin we feel neither heat nor cold, 

 the feeling of temperature at that part is, so to say, at zero. The 

 main points of the theory are these : The feeling of temperature 

 depends on the height, for the time being, of the temperature 

 proper (eigeti Temperaiur) of the nervous apparatus of the skin, 

 not on the rise or fall of this temperature (Weber) nor on the 

 intensity and direction of the heat current (Vierordt). Every 

 temperature of the nervous apparatus above the zero point is 

 felt as heat, every one below as cold. The distinctness of the 

 sensation of heat or cold increases with the distance of the 

 temperature proper for the time being, from the zero tempe- 

 rature. The zero temperature is variable within certain limits. 

 Every temperature of the nervous apparatus, felt as warm, 

 causes a displacement of the zero point of the scale of sensation 

 upwards, and every temperature felt as cold causes a displace- 

 ment downwards. These ideas are developed by M. Hering, in 

 a recent paper to the Vienna Academy. 



M. Lenglen, a physician of Arras, has recently described a 

 remarkable perpetuation of physical traits. A certain M. 

 Gamelon, in the last century, was sex-digital, having two thumbs 

 on each hand and two great toes on each foot. The peculiarity 

 was not noticeable in his son, but in each of the three subse- 

 quent generations it has been strongly marked, some of the 

 children at present showing the malformation as distinctly as their 

 great -great-grandfather. M. de Quatrefages has noticed, a few 

 months since, a similar case in the animal kingdom. A six- toed 

 cock having transmitted this peculiarity to his descendants, it 

 has spread to such a degree, that in the district where it occurred 

 the ordinary five-toed variety is no more to be met with. 



Lime, strontian, and baryta have recently been obtained in 

 the crystalline state by Dr. Briigelmann, of Diisseldorf {Ann. der 

 Phys.y No. 11), by heating their nitrate salts till complete decom- 

 position takes place. In this way are obtained the three oxides 

 in (chiefly) microscopical crystals of the regular system, and 

 exclusively hexahedra. While, however, in the case of strontian 

 and baryta, this , interesting fact and new example of isomor- 

 phism is recognisable only with aid of the microscope, the lime 

 can be easily obtained in large crystals, observable with the 

 naked eye. Dr. Briigelmann describes his method fully, as also 

 the form and properties of the three crystallised alkaline earths. 



It was pointed out some time ago by M, Herwig, that when 

 strong induction shocks are sent through liquids they do not 

 pass conformably to Ohm's law ; there is at first a retardation of 

 the electricities in the electrodes, and the equilibration which at 

 length occurs is somewhat like a discharge, as in the case of a 

 large condenser. The phenomenon has of late been more fully 

 studied by M. Herwig, who describes various interesting experi- 

 ments with reference to it in the Annalni der Physik, No. 1 :. 



M. Gaston Planti:: describes at length in tlie last number 

 of the Annales de Chimie et Physique, his newly-discovered method 

 for the engraving of glass, a process which promises to be of 

 widely- extended application. His attention was first directed to 

 this line of investigation by the observation that glass moistened 

 with a solution of ordinary salt was strongly attacked by currents 

 from secondary piles. As perfected, his process consists in 



