392 



NATURE 



{March 14, 1878 



The Spectaior learns from a private letter that the telephone 

 has been arfopt'-d by the Chinese, the telegraph being useless, as 

 they have no alphabet. Five hundred miles, it is stated, have 

 alreafiy been spoken over in China. Mr. H. F. Stevens writes 

 from Tabreez, Persia, that conversation and music were trans- 

 mitted satisfactorily by telephone between that town and Tiflis, 

 along the line of the Indo-European Telegraph Company. 



At a recent meeting of the East Kent Natural History Society, 

 P of. Gulliver exhibited a very extensive series of drawings of 

 raphides and other crystals found in the tissues of plants. Mr. 

 Gulliver considers that sufficient attention has not hitherto been 

 directed to the part played by these deposits of mineral salts in 

 the vital economy of the plant, or, from the soluble condition in 

 which they are presented, in the nutrition of the animals which 

 feed on them. 



Apropos of the note in Nature (vol. xvii. p. 311) relating to 

 a recent attempt to send certain fish to America, Mr. Carring- 

 ton, of the Westminster Aquarium, writes that there are in the 

 Royal Aquarium, Westminster, at least eighteen species of fish 

 from American waters. In return he has exported a number of 

 sea-water animals, including fish, molluscs, crustaceans, and 

 zoophytes. At first a large proportion of specimens was lost 

 during the voyage, but now there are seldom any lost, either on 

 the homsward or outward voyages. In addition to the constant 

 attention necessary at sea, Mr. Carrington finds the great secret 

 of success is to have the animals subjected to confinement for 

 some weeks before shipment. 



Messrs. Longman have published an abridged edition of Dr. 

 Pole's excellent "Life of Sir W. Fairbairn." The personal 

 narrative has been retained entire, the scientific and technical 

 portions being much abridged. The little work deserves, and 

 no doubt will have, a wide circulation. 



We are pleased to see that the Natural History journal, con- 

 ducted by the Societies in Friends' Schools, whose appearance 

 we noted a year ago, has reached the beginning of a second 

 volume. Of the 170 contributors sixty- three, we learn, have 

 been boys and girls. The journal is well conducted and, 

 judging from the number before us, its contents are well calcu- 

 lated to interest its young readers in science. 



In Nature, vol. xii. p. 514, W. W. Wood, writing from 

 Manila, describes a species of Navicula (?) with a gelatinous 

 ciliated envelope, which is there figured. Mr. Wood announced 

 his intention of submitting his specimens to a competent diato- 

 mist, but three years have nearly elapsed, and no more has been 

 said on the subject. It is one of such extreme importance as 

 bearing on the ordinary motion of diatoms, that Mr. G. S. 

 Boulger writes asking for an explanation. 



Many of our readers will be sorry to hear of the death, on 

 Monday last, of the old hippopotamus, in the Gardens of the 

 Zoological Society. He was obtained in the White Nile when 

 only a lew days old, in 1849, and has been in the Gardens since 

 1850. Prof. Garrod, F.R.S., will communicate the results of 

 his examination of the body to an early meeting of the 

 Zoological Society. 



With reference to a note in Nature (vol. xvii. p. 38) respecting 

 the uninflammability of eucalyptus, Mr. A. Nicols writes that this 

 must be a mistake, as in Australia the wood is extensively used 

 as fuel Acclimatisation of these really valuable trees, Mr. 

 Nicols thinks, should be strongly supported. They jield timber 

 of immense size and strength, durable alike in dry or wet situ- 

 ations, and more proof against the attacks of termites than many 

 other woods, and some work up into beautiful furniture. They 

 would probably thrive wherever the mean annual temperature is 

 not below 60°, or, roughly speaking, over an area of about one- 

 half of the habitable region of the earth. 



The provisional observatory at Meudon is in full operation, as 

 we reported some months ago. Dr. Janssen has done such good 

 work that the ministry will propose to restore the old palace 

 which is now in ruins, and establish a splendid physical observa- 

 tory in an admirable situation. A credit of 250,000 francs is to 

 be asked for ; this will include the purchase of a refractor om. 

 67 in. diameter. 



The governor of the French island, Reunion, in the Indian 

 Ocean, reports that this colony was visited by a terrible cyclone 

 on January 15, causing great losses of life and property. 



Under the auspices of the Deutscher Fischerei-Verein, 

 2,000,000 salmon eggs are hatched annually, and distributed 

 among the various rivers of the empire. Strong efforts are now 

 being made to introduce extensively the grayling, which is 

 comparatively rare in Germany. 

 In the February session of the Berliner poly technische Gesellschaft, 

 Dr. F. Siemens, of Dresden, the inventor of the new compressed 

 hard glass, gave an interesting exhibition of this new invention. 

 The process has been brought to such perfection, that the hard 

 glass is not only more easily, but more cheaply manufactured 

 than the ordinary glass. The power of resistance varies from 

 eight to ten times that of ordinary glass. The serious objection 

 made to hard glass at the time of its discovery, that it often fell 

 to pieces when entirely unexposed to pressure, has been success- 

 fully avoided. This property was found to result from over- 

 hardening, and it is now possible to detect all articles which have 

 acquired it, by the use of the polarisator, under which over-^ 

 hardened glass shows a prevalence of violet tints. This condi- 

 tion is also detected by exposure to water at a certain temperature. 



The working out of the results obtained by the Transit of 

 Venus expeditions sent out by the German Government, were 

 expected to have been far enough advanced for publication in 

 the year 1877. It has been found, however, that this task causes 

 more difficulties and expenses than had been at first anticipated. 

 The Imperial Chancellor's office has therefore demanded from 

 the German Parliament an extra credit of 500/. to defray the 

 additional costs. 



A useful invention has recently been made by Herr Weber, 

 of Hummel- Radeck, near Liibben (Prussia). This gentleman has 

 contrived to construct a very simple machine for levelling roads, 

 which for working requires only two horses, a driver, and a 

 labourer, and renders it possible to make such improvements in 

 a road, in a short time, as could otherwise be accomplished only 

 by fifty or sixty workmen. The machine works equally well 

 upon gravel or clay soil, and its cost is only forty-five marks 

 (shillings). The whole machine works much in the same way 

 as an ordinary carpenter's plane does upon wood. 



On January 25, shortly after noon, the belfry of Toucy ( Yonne) 

 was struck by lightning, and set on fire. According to Dr. 

 Roche (who describes the case), the wind was blowing from the 

 north-west, and a dense, low cloud had begun to cover the 

 ground with large hailstones. A few minutes after a single and 

 prolonged thunder peal was heard, and the cross on the belfry 

 was then seen to be surrounded by a luminous meteor. Persons 

 in the houses near the church saw coming from the base of the 

 belfry two fire-balls of about 030m. to 0"40m. diameter, and 

 about O'Soaa. apart. They rolled on the steps of the building 

 about 20m. and disappeared. A woman in a room about 

 15m. from the belfry was carried to the end of the room ; a 

 young man who was passing was thrown on the ground, and 

 several other persons were more or less shaken. Immediately 

 after the thunder peal the hail ceased and was replaced by a 

 snow-storm which lasted three-quarters of an hour. It was 

 afterwards found that the belfry was fired at two points — one 

 at the upper part of the north-west side, the other at the lower 

 part of the south-east side, probably the points of entrance and 

 exit of the electric fluid. Toucy stands in the middle of a narrow 



