2IO 



NATURE 



\_Dec. 29, 1887 



— relics of the earlier Buddhist era and of the Chinese dominion. 

 Such treasures are probably also to be found in Japan and Corea. 

 It is known that there are Japanese versions of Hiuan Thsang's 

 journey ; and Prof VasiliefF has been informed that manuscripts 

 written on palm4eaves, and brought from India, have been seen 

 in Corea. Many Coreans formerly visited India as Buddhist 

 pilgrims. 



A LIST of publications issued by the authority of the De- 

 partment of Science and Art has just been published. It 

 includes publications specially relating to instruction in science 

 and art, publications relating to the South Kensington Museum, 

 catalogues of reproductions and of loan collections, miscella- 

 neous publications, hand-books, books of photographs, and 

 diagrams. 



Messrs. Giard and Bonnier have just published a valuable 

 memoir on the anatomy of the Bopyridse, with good illustrations. 



Whales — the so-called "herring" whales, which follow the 

 shoals of that fish — are very numerous off the west coast of 

 Norway this winter, and large catches have been made. 



In the Report of a Committee appointed by the British 

 Association " for the purpose of investigating . . . the quantity 

 and character of the water supplied to various towns and 

 districts " from the permeable formations of England, a very 

 misleading statement as to the character of the water-supply of 

 Cheltenham was made. In a later Report of the same Com- 

 mittee, just issued, the error is frankly admitted. " In the 

 Eleventh Report of your Committee," we read, " by a most 

 unfortunate misprint, the reservoirs are described as * dry ' during 

 the drought of 1884, instead of 'short,' as reported by a cor- 

 respondent, in which statement he was obviously incorrect. 

 Your Committee much regret that the condition of the Chelten- 

 ham Waterworks should have been misrepresented by them, as 

 they were fully aware of the ample supply and pure quality 

 given to the town by the Corporation, the purity of which has 

 been testified to by Drs. Allen Miller, Frankland, Way, and 

 Tidy, and Prof. Voelcker." 



The Brighton Herald says it is expected that the medallion 

 portrait of the la^e Dr. Thomas Davidson, F.R.S.. Gold 

 Medallist of the Royal Society, Wollaston Medallist of the 

 Geological Society, and first Chairman of the Brighton Museum 

 Committee, executed in marble for the Committee of the 

 Davidson Memorial by Mr. Thomas Brock, A.R.A., will be 

 unveiled early in the new year. The work is said to be an 

 excellent likeness. 



A SHOCK of earthquake was reported from Oberhausen on 

 December 9. The direction was from west to east. 



Last week Sir John Lubbock delivered an interesting address 

 in Queen Street Hall, Edinburgh, to the members of the Edin- 

 burgh Philosophical Institution on "The Sense and Senses of 

 Animals." He said one would gratefully admit that the dog 

 was a loyal and true and affectionate friend, but when we came 

 to consider the nature of the animal our knowledge was very 

 limited. That arose a good deal from the fact that people had 

 tried rather to teach animals than to learn from them. It had 

 occurred to him that some such method as that which was fol- 

 lowed in the case of deaf-mutes might prove instructive if 

 adapted to the case of dogs. He had tried with a black 

 poodle belonging to himself. He then went on to relate several 

 experiments he had made with pieces of cardboard with 

 different words marked upon them. He had taken two pieces 

 of card, one blank and the other with the word " food " upon 

 it. He had put the latter on a saucer containing some bread 

 and milk, and the blank card he put on an empty saucer. The 

 dog was not allowed to eat until it brought the proper card to 

 him. This experiment was repeated over and over again, and 



in about ten days the dog began to distinguish the card with the 

 letters on it from the plain card. It took a longer time to make 

 the dog realize the difference between different words. In 

 order to try and discover whether the dog could distinguish 

 colours, he prepared six cards, marking two of them blue, two 

 yellow, and two orange. He put one of each on the floor, and 

 tried to get the dog to bring to him a card with the same colour 

 as one which he showed the dog in his hand. After trying this 

 for three months, he found that his experiment in this direction 

 was a failure. He had always felt a great longing to know how 

 the world appeared to the lower animals. It was still a doubtful 

 point whether ants were able to hear. From experiments which 

 he had made, he had come to the conclusion they had not the 

 power of addressing each other. His impression on the whole 

 was that bees and ants were not deaf, but that they heard 

 sounds so shrill as to be beyond our hearing. There was no 

 doubt about insects seeing. He related several experiments he 

 had made with the view of discovering whether different insects 

 could distinguish different colours and had any preference for 

 particular colours. The colours of objects produce upon insects 

 an impression very different from that produced on human 

 beings. The world to them might be full of music which we 

 could not hear, colours which we could not see, and sensations 

 which we could not feel. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a White-crested Guan {Pipile jacutinga) from 

 Guiana, presented by Captain J. Smith, s.s. Godiva \ two Silky 

 Bower Birds {PHlonorhynchus violaceus) from New South 

 Wales, deposited; two Yisca.zha.% [Lagostoinus trichodactyhis) 

 born in the Gardens. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1888 JANUARY 1-7. 



/"C*OR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 ^ Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 



is here employed. ) 



At Greenwich on January i 



Sunrises, 8h. 8m. ; souths, I2h, 3m. 39"5s. ; sets, I5h. 59m. : 

 right asc. on meridian, i8h. 46'om. ; decl. 23° 2' S. 

 Sidereal Time at Sunset, 22h. 42m. 

 Moon (at Last Quarter on January 6, I2h.) rises, lyh. 29m.* ; 

 souths, ih. 31m. ; sets, 9h. 25m, : right a^^c. on meridian, 

 8h. i2-om. ; decl. 19° 10' N. 



Ri^ht asc. and declination 

 Planet. Rises. Souths. Sets. on meridian. 



h. m. h. m. h. m. h. m. „ , 



Mercury.. 7 33 ... 11 19 •• 15 5 ••• 18 17 .. 24 19 S. 



Venus ... 4 19 ... 8 55 ... 13 31 ... 15 37-1 ... 16 38 S. 



Mars ... o 21 ... 6 9 ... 11 57 ... 12 50-3 ... 3 6 S. 



Jupiter ... 4 37 ••• 9 o ... 13 23 ... 15 42-1 ... iS 47 S. 



Saturn... 17 59*... i 49 ••• 9 39 ••• ^ 29-2 ... 19 31 N. 



Uranus... o 50 ... 6 23 ... 11 56 ... 13 3*9 ... 6 5 S. 



Neptune. 13 19 ... 20 59 ... 4 39*... 3 43-0 ... 17 57 N. 



* Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening and the setting 

 that of the following morning. 



Occupations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich). 



Corresponding 



angles from ver- 



Jan. Star. Mag. Disap. Reap. tex to right for 



inverted image, 

 h. m. h. ra. 00 



I ... </' Cancri 6 ... 4 13 near approach 200 — 



5 ... ^ Virginis 6 ... 2 16 ... 3 24 ... 53 209 



Jan. h. 



1 ... 9 ... Saturn in conjunction with and 0° 55' north 



of the Moon. 



2 ... 16 ... Venus in conjunction with and i° 51' north 



of Jupiter. 

 4 ... I ... Mercury at greatest distance from the Sun. 



6 ... 9 ... Mars in conjunction with and 2° 46' south 



of the Moon. 

 Saturn, January i. — Outer major axis of outer ring = 45" '8 ; 

 outer minor axis of outer ring = I5"'i ; southern surface visible- 



