96 



NATURE 



\May 29, 1879 



I was told by a local medical gentleman, who had visited the 

 spot, that some eleven or twelve trees had been struck among 

 the hills under peculiar circumstances. The snow was lying so 

 deep at the time that the place was well nigh inaccessible, and 

 owing to want of leisure and the continued severe weather, I 

 had no opportunity of visiting the wood in question until a few 

 days ago. I then ascertained from a farmer living 150 yards 

 south-east of the spot, that the trees nmst have been struck 

 simultaneously. 



Between 9 and 10 P.M. on the 15th a flash of lightning, fol- 

 lowed by loud thunder, was seen by him in the north and clear 

 of the wood altogether ; besides, the interval between flash and 

 peal showed it to be at a comparatively great distance. The man, 

 being an invalid, never slept, when about 12.45 A.M. on the i6th 

 a blinding light immediately followed by a tremendous thunder- 

 clap made him think his own house was struck. The next and 

 last flash and peal occurred a quarter of an hour afterwards at a 

 considerable distance away to the west. 



The effect of the lightning on the trees was observed from the 

 window on the following morning, and as the spot was daily 

 visited by the inmates of the house for the purpose of drying 

 clothes, there could be no doubt but the damage had been done 

 during the previous night All the fourteen trees, varying from 

 six to nine inches in diameter, and not visibly higher than the 

 immediately adjoining ones have lost the bark over a width of 

 one half to one inch, and the wood is slightly split. 



Buckie, Banff, N.B., May 12 G. W. Camphuis 



Intellect in Brutes 



In connection with recent correspondence in your columns, it 

 has occurred to me that the following remarkable instance of 

 reasoning in an animal might be of interest to your readers. 



In 1877 I was absent from Madras for two months, and left 

 in my quarters three cats, one of which, an English iabby, was a 

 very gentle and affectionate creature. During my absence the 

 quarters were occupied by two young gentlemen, who delighted 

 in teasing and, frightening the cats. About a week before my 

 return, the English cat had kittens, which she carefully concealed 

 behind book-shelves in the library. On the morning of my 

 return I saw the cat, and petted her as usual, and then left the 

 house for about an hour. On returning to dress I found that 

 the kittens were located in a comer of my dressing-room, where 

 previous broods had been deposited and nursed. On questioning 

 the servant as to how they came there, he at once replied, " Sir, 

 the old cat taking one, one in mouth brought them here." In 

 other words, the mother had carried them one by one in her 

 mouth from the library to the dressing-room, where they lay quite 

 exposed. I do not think that I have heard of a more remark- 

 able instance of reasoning and affectionate confidence in an 

 animal, and I need hardly say that the latter manifestation gave 

 me very great pleasure. The train of reasoning seems to have 

 been as follows : " Now that my master has returned there is no 

 risk of the kittens being injured by the two young savages in the 

 house, so I will take them out for my protector to see and 

 admire, and keep them in the corner in which all my former pets 

 have been nursed in safety." G. Bidie 



Govertmient Central Museum, Madras, May 3 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



The anniversary meeting of the Royal Geographical 

 Society was held on Monday last, Sir Rutherford Alcock, 

 vice-president, in the chair. From the Council report it 

 appears that there is no diminution in the number of 

 Fellows, notwithstanding the losses from variovfs causes. 

 From a financial point of view, the Society continues to 

 prosper, its assets being set down at over 37,000/., exclu- 

 sive of its valuable map collection and library, both of 

 which have received large accessions during the past 

 year. It will be interesting to practical geographers to 

 learn that considerable progress has been made with the 

 revision of the classified register of maps and the prepa- 

 ration of an alphabetical catalogue of all the maps in the 

 Society's collection and publications, and especially that 

 the new catalogue is being prepared with a view to its 

 being subsequently printed. We are also informed that a 

 case containing a set of traveller's instruments, such as 



the Society recommend, has been placed in the map- 

 room. At the conclusion of the report the royal medals 

 were presented to Count Schouvaloff, the Russian 

 ambassador (for Col. Prejevalsky), and General Sir 

 Lintorn Simmons, R.E., G.C.B. (for Capt. W. J. Gill, 

 R.E.), after which came the presentation of the Public 

 Schools' Prize Medals, the award of which we have 

 already recorded, and some interesting remarks on the 

 teaching of geography, by the Rev. G. Butler, head- 

 master of Liverpool College. The Hon. G. C. Brodrick 

 announced the subject for next year' s examination would 

 be " Western Africa, from the Sahara to the Congo, and 

 as far eastwards as Nyangwd." The Earl of North- 

 brook was elected president, and among the new members 

 of council are General R. Strachey and General Sir H. 

 L. Thuillier, late head of the great Trigonometrical Sur- 

 vey of India, both of whom are well known as scientific 

 geographers. The Society being without a president, the 

 annual address on the progress of geography was deli- 

 vered by Mr. Clements R. Markham, the senior secre- 

 tary. The chief items of news are that Lieut. R. C. 

 Temple, of the ist Gurkhas, has constructed a map of 

 a large tract of previously unknown country between 

 Candahar and Dehra Ghazi Khan, and has promised to 

 furnish an account of the region, and that Mr. Whitely is 

 about to attempt an examination of the mysterious Mount 

 Roraima and its neighbourhood, in the interior of Guiana. 

 In conclusion, Mr. Markham called attention to the short- 

 comings of the Admiralty in the surveying department, 

 expressing a hope that they might be induced to send out 

 a properly equipped surveying-vessel to the southern part 

 of the east and west coasts of Africa, " which have not 

 been sounded since the days of Capt. Owen, half a century 

 ago." 



M . SOLEILLET, who recently tried to reach Timbuctoo, 

 has arrived in Paris, and gave, on Monday, an address 

 before the Socidtd d' Etudes Maritimes et Coloniales, in 

 the large hall of the Socidtd d'Encourageraent. M. 

 Soleillet is in very good health, and no trace of his 

 illness is now visible. He speaks highly of the negro 

 population and the Sultan of Segou, where he spent 

 more than three months as peaceably as in any French 

 town, without any other escort than a single servant, a 

 sergeant of the Senegal Rifles. The Niger at Segou- 

 Sokkbora, more than 2,000 miles from its mouth, is about 

 300 yards wide. The access is very easy for traders. M. 

 Soleillet will devote his future exploration to the deter- 

 mination of the best track for the trans-Saharan railway. 

 He contrasted the good will of the negro population for 

 the French with the hostility exhibited towards Europeans 

 in the Sahara. 



From Globus we learn that the long sojourn of the 

 Russian troops in Bulgaria and Rumelia has been fruitful 

 of results to geographical knowledge. The Russian 

 staff have been active in carrying out a series of astrono- 

 mical and geodetic observations, so that a fairly complete 

 network of triangulation has been accomplished, which 

 will enable cartographers to lay down with fair accuracy 

 a very considerable number of places in our maps. 

 Something like 1,000 points have been thus taken, most 

 of them geodetically, but a considerable number astrono- 

 mically. The chief results are expected to be published 

 by 1880. 



The steamer Nordenskjold, Capt. H. Sengstacke, for- 

 merly chief officer of the Germania on the second Ger- 

 man Arctic expedition, sailed from Malmo, under the 

 Russian flag, on May 12, for Behring Strait, vid the Suez 

 Canal. On board are Prof. Grigorieff of St. Petersburg, 

 and Baron von Danckelraan of Leipsic, to whom are 

 intrusted the duties of zoologist and physicist respec- 

 tively. The object in view, as our readers know, is to 

 visit the mouth of the Lena, and, if necessary, render 

 assistance to Prof. Nordenskjold. The expedition is not 



