July 26, 1888] 



NA TURE 



303 



motion is about six times the greatest vertical motion in those 

 earthquakes in which vertical motion was sensible. These, 

 however, formed only 28 per cent, of the whole number re- 

 corded. The period of the vertical motion was little more than 

 half that of the horizontal. In only 18 per cent, of the recorded 

 shocks was the extent of motion greater than one millimetre. 

 The paper forms the most extensive collection of data in absolute 

 seismometry that has yet been published, and is a very valuable 

 contribution to seismology. 



According to a telegram sent through Reuter's agency from 

 Yokohama on July 18, a volcanic eruption had occurred at 

 Makamats (? Takamatsu). Four hundred persons are reported 

 to have been killed and 1000 injured. 



In our issue of the 6th October last (vol. xxxvi. p. 546) we 

 drew attention to the useful work of Mr. Wragge, the Govern- 

 ment meteorologist of Queensland, in issuing daily weather 

 charts for Australasia. The entire meteorological observing- 

 system of that colony is in course of reconstruction, upon the 

 lines adopted by the Meteorological Office in London and other 

 similar institutions abroad, and Mr. Wragge invites attention to 

 the new series of weather charts now prepared at 9b.. a.m. 

 daily (except Sundays and holidays), files of which are kept at 

 the Meteorological Office and at the office of the agent for 

 Queensland, both in Victoria Street. The charts, which are on 

 a large scale, contain observations received by wire from seventy- 

 two selected observatories distributed over the Australian con- 

 tinent, Tasmania, and New Zealand, show very clearly the 

 general atmospherical conditions, and contain besides collated 

 information from about 300 smaller stations. A prominent 

 feature in the new meteorological service is the preparation of 

 a complete digest of the meteorological conditions of each 

 colony, together with forecasts, which are issued about 5h. p.m. 

 to the press. These publications have, of course, a special 

 value to men- of science generally, while to those interested in 

 agricultural and shipping pursuits they have a practical bearing 

 hitherto unequalled in Australia. 



The Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean for July shows 

 that no severe cyclonic storms entirely crossed that ocean in 

 June, but two or three depressions were formed in the mid- 

 Atlantic, and caused gales off the Irish coast from the 8th to the 

 1 2th inclusive. Much fog was experienced off the American 

 coast, north of Hatteras, and in the English Channel, and in the 

 early part of the month fog-banks were frequently met with east 

 of the 40th meridian. Icebergs and field ice have been 

 encountered, principally off the eastern and southern coasts of 

 Newfoundland. A few bergs, however, have been seen as far 

 south as the 43rd parallel, in longitude 43 west. The chart also 

 contains valuable information with reference to the West India 

 hurricanes which are now likely to be encountered. 



In the Berlin Aleteorologische Zeitschrift for June, Dr. Hann 

 gives an interesting account of the winter temperature of Wer- 

 chojansk (Siberia), deduced from several years' observations. 

 The town, which lies in the valley of the J ana, about 9 feet above 

 the level of the river, in latitude 67 34' N., longitude 133 51' 

 E. , and at a height of about 350 feet above the sea, has the 

 greatest winter cold that is known to exist upon the globe. 

 Monthly means of - 58 F. occur even in December, a mean 

 temperature which has been observed nowhere else in the Polar 

 regions ; and minima of - 76° are usual for the three winter months 

 (December-February). In the year 1886 March also had a 

 minimum -77°, and during that year December and January 

 never had a minimum above - 76 , while in January, 1885, the 

 temperature of - 89 was recorded. These extreme readings are 

 hardly credible, yet the thermometers have been verified at 

 the St. Petersburg Observatory. To add to the misery of the 

 inhabitants, at some seasons the houses are inundated by the 

 overflow of the river. The yearly range of cloud is characteristic 



of the climate ; in the winter season the mean only amounts to 

 about three-tenths in each month. 



A new base has been discovered in tea by Dr. Kossel, of 

 Berlin. It appears to be an isomer of theobromine, the well- 

 known base present in cocoa-beans, possessing the same empirical 

 formula, C 7 H 8 N 4 O a , but differing very materially in physical 

 and certain chemical properties. The new base, to which has 

 been assigned the name theophylline, was discovered during 

 the investigation of large quantities of tea-extract, which, after 

 treatment with sulphuric acid to remove foreign matters, was 

 saturated with ammonia-gas and precipitated with ammoniacal 

 silver solution. The silver precipitate was then digested with 

 warm nitric acid, and, on cooling, the silve" salt which separated 

 out was filtered off and the filtrate rendered slightly alkaline with 

 ammonia. On allowing this alkaline liquid to stand until the 

 next day, a brownish deposit was noticed, which, on examina- 

 tion, proved to be the silver compound of a new base. The solu- 

 tion was therefore further concentrated, and a second and much 

 larger yield of the silver salt obtained. This was next decom- 

 posed by sulphuretted hydrogen, the free base being thus obtained 

 in solution. The liquid, after removal of the silver sulphide by 

 filtration, deposited on standing a small quantity of xanthine, 

 C 5 H 4 N 4 2 , a derivative of uric acid, whose presence in tea has 

 previously been shown. The mother-liquors were afterwards 

 treated with mercuric nitrate solution, which precipitated the 

 theophylline in the form of a mercury compounl, fron which 

 the base itself could readily be obtained by treatment with sul- 

 phuretted hydrogen as before. Analyses of the theophylline 

 obtained after purification indicate the formula C 7 H 8 N 4 2 , 

 which is that of theobro nine. But the two substances are cer- 

 tainly not identical : their crystals are quite distinct, those of 

 theophylline containing one molecule of crystal water which is 

 expelled at no , while theobromine crystallizes anhydrous. The 

 crystals also are totally unlike those of the other known isomer 

 of theobromine, paraxanthine, from which theophylline differs 

 most materially in its behaviour with soda. Again, the melting- 

 points of the three isomers are considerably removed from each 

 other, and their different solubilities in water are conclusive 

 proofs of their different internal structures. Theophylline forms- 

 a well-crystallized series of salts with the mineral acids, and with 

 platinum, gold, and mercury chlorides ; and, like theobromine, 

 yields with silver nitrate a silver substitution-compound, 

 C 7 H 7 AgN 4 2 , which, as may be concluded from the above 

 method of isolation, is readily soluble in nitric acid. Finally, 

 to complete the proof of its isomerism with theobromine, which 

 is the dimethyl derivative of xanthine, the silver compound was- 

 found to react with methyl iodide to form tri-methyl xanthine, 

 better known as caffeine or theine, the remarkable base of the 

 coffee and tea plants. 



In a letter lately submitted to the Elliott Society, and printed 

 in its Proceedings, Mr. G. W. Alexander, of Charleston, S.C., 

 tells a strange tale of a humming-bird. Mr. Alexander heard in 

 his garden what he knew must be a cry of pain ; and going to a 

 vine, from which the cry seemed to proceed, he found a humming- 

 bird " struggling violently, but unable to extricate itself." He 

 took it in his hands, and, to his astonishment, saw that it was in 

 the clutches of an insect, which he identified as a mantis, popu- 

 larly known in those parts as "Johnny-cock-horse." "The 

 bird," says Mr. Alexander, "was wounded under the wing, 

 upon one side of the breast, which ha:l evidently been lacerated 

 with the powerful mandibles of its captor. The wound looked 

 ugly enough to lead me to fear that it would prove fatal ; never- 

 theless my children and I cared for it as tenderly as we knew 

 how, but we found it difficult to administer nourishment to a 

 humming-bird. So at night I placed it among the leaves of the 

 vine — for it was a warm night — and in the morning the little 

 sufferer lay deadion the ground beneath." 



