June 1 4, 1888] 



NATURE 



159 



rence of three cyclones at intervals of about a fortnight. They pre- 

 sented such marked peculiarities that they have been specially in- 

 vestigated. All were generated in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 the Andamans. The first, which began to form on November 2, 

 is an example of a class of storms, of occasional occurrence, 

 which pass across Southern India into the Arabian Sea, and it 

 lasted for a fortnight. It is the first example of its kind which 

 has been fully worked out. The second, which was also a very 

 violent storm, was formed on November 13, and affords a 

 marked illustration of the effect of a mass of land in modifying 

 the motion of a cyclonic disturbance. The third storm formed 

 on December 7, and was in many respe cts exactly similar to the 

 first, excepting that it was comparatively feeble at sea and 

 short-lived on land. 



At the meeting of the French Meteorological Society on May 1, 

 M. Poincare presented calculations and synoptic charts showing 

 mean barometric heights at latitude 30° and 10° N., for every 

 day from December 9, 1882, to December 15, 1883, and on the 

 parallels of 40 , 50°, and 20 , for a number of selected days, and 

 pointed out certain relations which he considered existed between 

 the barometric movements at these latitudes, and the positions 

 of the sun and moon, and the effect of these on the displace- 

 ments of the region of the trade winds. M. Renou made a com- 

 munication upon the unsatisfactory condition of actinometry, 

 and showed that the values obtained varied according to the in- 

 struments used, the force of the wind, &c, and he submitted some 

 of the observations made during seven years at the Observatory 

 of the Pare Saint-Maur. The Secretary presented, on the part 

 of M. Pictre, of Pan, a plan for the graphical representation of 

 local observations, in connection with general weather charts, 

 with the view of facilitating local predictions. M. d'Abbadie 

 urged the desirability of developing the study of earthquakes, and 

 offered to give particulars as to an inexpensive form of seismo- 

 graph, and as to the ob-ervations required, to persons willing to 

 undertake such investigations. 



The Committee of the Association for the Oral Instruction of 

 the Deaf and Dumb have issued their Report for 1887. They 

 express much regret that in a great many instances the children 

 are too early removed from the school established by the 

 Association. Parents and guardians appear to think that as 

 soon as a fair amount of speech and lip-reading has been 

 acquired there is no longer any need for special training. Not- 

 withstanding this drawback, the Committee feel assured that 

 in each year the friends of oral instruction increase in numbers, 

 and that the time is not far distant when the manual alphabet 

 and sign language, if retained at all, will exist only as a special 

 requirement for cases of imperfect vision and semi-imbecility. 

 At the Training College two grades of certificates are now 

 granted — first-class for head, second-class for assistant teachers. 

 During the year 1887 eleven female teachers attended the 

 Training College, of whom six obtained first-class, and two 

 second-class certificates. 



A new edition of Sir Walter Puller's " History of the Birds of 

 New Zealand " has been issued. Without going over identically 

 the same ground, the author gives in this edition a more thoroughly 

 complete account of the birds of a country which is second in 

 interest to none in the world as regards its natural history. A 

 melancholy interest attaches to the avifauna of New Zealand, 

 where so many of the indigenous birds, remains of a most ancient 

 fauna, are either extinct or on the verge of extinction. Sir Walter 

 Buller deserves well of every naturalist for the wonderful pains 

 and energy he has shown in getting together the facts for the 

 life-histories of many of these birds, which in a few years no 

 one will be able to procure, and he has accomplished his task 

 ably. The scientific portion of the work and the full descrip- 

 tions of the species are as well written as the accounts of the 



habits. The plates have been done by Keulemans, and produced 

 by chromolithography, but, like all illustrations of birds pro- 

 duced by this process, they are not quite satisfactory. Insects 

 appear to us to be capable of illustration by chromolithography, 

 but birds do not lend themselves sd readily to this method. The 

 delay in production is excessive, and the cost very consider- 

 able, while the efforts to produce a striking plate result in some 

 loss of exactness in the colouring of the bird, this being not 

 strictly accurate in many cases. That this should result when 

 the best lithographic draughtsman of birds in the world has been 

 employed, and unlimited money been spent on the production of 

 the plates, clearly shows us that chromolithography is, and ever 

 will be, inferior to hand-colouring. 



The fifth monthly part of the " Cyclopaedia of Education " 

 (Swan Sonnenschein) has now been issued. The complete work 

 will include about twelve parts. 



A second edition of Mr. S. R. Bottone's " Electrical Instru- 

 ment-making for Amateurs" (Whittaker and Co.) has just been 

 issued. In compliance with the request of several correspond- 

 ents, the author has added a short article on the telephone. 



Sir David Salomon's useful "Management of Accumu- 

 lators and Private Electric Light Installations " (Whittaker and 

 Co.) has already reached a fourth edition. The author has 

 thoroughly revised the work and made some additions, including 

 the " Rules and Regulations for the Prevention of Fire Risks," 

 as laid down by the Committee of the Society of Telegraph- 

 Engineers and Electricians. 



Messrs. Guy and Co., at Cork, and Messrs. Simpkin, 

 Marshall, and Co., London, have published a "Guide" to what 

 the enthusiastic author calls "the most picturesque tour in- 

 Western Europe." By this he means a tour in the south-west 

 of Ireland. The little volume is illustrated. 



Mr. Leland's work on " Practical Education " has reached 

 a second edition. He will now follow up the ideas set down in 

 this book by a series of illustrated hand-books on the minor 

 arts and industries. The series will begin with a manual on 

 " Drawing and Designing." 



" A Fresh-water Yarn," an illustrated account of a 

 boat-voyage up the River Avon, is announced for immediate 

 publication by Mr. Elliot Stock. 



Mr. T. Fisher Unwin is about to publish a second edition 

 of Mr. Edward Newman's " Birdsnesting and Bird skinning." 

 The work has been revised, and practically re-written, with, in 

 addition, directions for the collection and preservation of birds, 

 and a new chapter on bird-skinning, by Miller Christy. 



Messrs. E. and F. N. Spon have in preparation " The 

 Drainage of Fens and Low Lands by Gravitation and 

 Steam Power," by W r . H. Wheeler; "Practical N.jtes on 

 1 ipe Founding," by James W. Macfarlane ; and " A System 

 for the Construction of Crystal Models on the Type of an 

 Ordinary Plait," by John Gorham. 



The administrators of the schools of the Caucasus have just 

 brought out the first volume of the works of the late General 

 Uslar. No explorer of the Caucasus has done so much as Uslar 

 did for the ethnography of the region, yet his works are little 

 known. In 1862 he published his remarkable researches into the 

 Abkhazian language, and laid the foundations for a rational, most 

 appropriate, and easy transcription of this and other Caucasian 

 languages. Later on, he brought out similar works on the 

 languages of the Tcherkesses, Avarians, Lakhes, and so on. 

 He did not merely compile more or less perfect vocabularies of 

 each language, but thoroughly learned each in turn, with the help 



