232 



NATURE 



\yuly 3, 1879 



specimens of appliances for necessary sanitary arrangements, 

 drainage, ventilation, and lighting ; the furnishing of buildings, 

 public and domestic, clothing, food ; and the preservation of 

 health and the relief of sickness. At present the collection is 

 incomplete, but the committee hoped that funds and material 

 5vould be forthcoming to make the Parkes Museum a national 

 and a useful institution worthy of the important subject which it 

 illustrated and the great name it bore. Prof. Huxley, who was 

 present, expressed a hope that Mr. Cross would use his influence 

 with the Government and with the House of Commons to stay a 

 movement which appeared intended to dam back the stream of 

 education and prevent the lower classes from gaining the know- 

 ledge they so much needed. 



A MEETING of ladies and gentlemen interested in Japanese 

 art, literature, folk-lore, S:c., will be held to-morrow at the 

 Royal Asiatic Society, 22, Albemarle Street. The meeting is 

 called together for the purpose of establishing in London a cen- 

 tral institution, with the following objects : — To bring into 

 closer communication admirers and students of Japanese art, 

 literature, &c. ; and to collect, record, and disseminate infor- 

 mation relative to Japan. To encourage residents in Japan, 

 and the Japanese, to collect such material. To enlist the cordial 

 co-operation of scientific and literary societies, and individuals, 

 in extending the usefulness of tlie Institution. To publish pro- 

 ceedings, notes, queries, and ether interesting matter ; and to 

 facilitate this branch of research and study. After the business 

 is concluded, an "Old Resident" will communicate some inte- 

 resting facts about Japan, illustrated by photo?, &c., from his 

 collection, and discussion will follow. 



Some attention has recently been drawn in the Gardeners^ 

 Chronicle to tea prepared in St. Michael, Azores, from plants 

 grown in that island. It «eems that two Chinese tea-growers 

 have been sent for by the Agricultural Society of St. Michael 

 and after a careful examination of the tea- plantations they 

 pronounced the plants as belonging to the very best varieties 

 grown in China. It is prophesied that "the time is not far off 

 when tea from St. Michael will come to the European market 

 and prove to be of a very good quality." In a subsequent 

 number orthe Gardeners' Chronicle, however, Mr. Elwes points 

 out the difiiculties to be contended with in a competition with 

 India and China in the production of tea, notably the price of 

 land, the cost of labour, the temperature, extent of rainfall, &c. 

 The first outcome of this tea growing in the Azores is shown in a 

 sample recently received at the Kew Museum from Serior Jose 

 de Canto. This sample is of good appearance through perhaps 

 somewhat over roasted, the smell also is good, and the flavour of 

 the infusion by no means to be despised. 



The new fodder grass Euchlcstia luxuriam known as the 

 Teosinte, and which has attracted considerable attention of late, 

 is reported from Ceylon as growing \iell, having been intro- 

 duced from Java. The stems have attained in the former island 

 the height of eight feet in three months from the time of sowing. 

 The plant is stated to be unsuitable for cultivation at high eleva- 

 tions, but it is hoped that after a time it would become acclima- 

 tised to them. At the time the above was a ritten the seeds ^^■ere 

 being distributed in several districts. 



Dr. Schomburgk in his "Report on the Progress and Con- 

 dition of the Botanic Garden and Government Plantations " of 

 Adelaide, South Australia, for the year 1S78, gives, as usual, a 

 great deal of consideration to plants of economic interest. In 

 the experimental ground many of the well-kncwn British fodder 

 grasses have been grown and produced satisfactory results. Dr. 

 Schomburgk, however, points out the almost impossibility of 

 stocking runs with artificial grasses on account of the large 

 extent of pastoral land, and of the insuperable difficulty arising 

 from climate and drought, to which some parts of the colony, 



especially the north, are often subjected. Euchlana Ittxu- 

 rians has not been introduced long enough to give any 

 practical results. It is hoped, however, that the plant will 

 turn out a great acquisition to the summer fodder plants of 

 Australia. On the subject of flower farming for perfumery 

 purposes there is no doubt that the Australian colonies offer 

 special advantages for this branch of culture. Dr. Schom- 

 burgk thinks favourably of the scheme, but considers it unad- 

 visable to manufacture the scents in the colony on account of the 

 greater perfection with which this kind of w^ork is done at home. 

 As an illustration of the importance of this single use of flowers 

 Dr. Schomburgk says : — If we consider that British India and 

 Europe consume about 150,000 gallons of handkerchief perfume 

 yearly, and the English revenue from Eau-de-Cologne alone is 

 about 8,000/. a year ; that the total revenue from imported per- 

 fumes is estimated at about 40,000/., and that one great perfume 

 distillery at Cannes in France uses yearly about ico,ooo lbs. of 

 Acacia flowers {Acacia farnesiana), 140,000 lbs. of rose-flcwer 

 leaves, 32,000 lbs. of jasmine blossoms, 20,000 lbs. of tuberose, 

 together with a great many other sweet herbs, we may judge of 

 the immense quantity of material used for perfume. It is satis- 

 factory to find that the Colonial Parliament has granted a sum 

 of 1,000/. towards the erection of a new building for the Museum 

 of Economic Botany ; this sum, however, it is expected, will he 

 supplemented by a further vote, so that a building of sufficient 

 size, to meet the requirements of the next generation, may be 

 erected. The design, as already furnished, is for a building in 

 the Romanesque style, 100 feet long by 36J feet wide. The 

 show cases will be fixed between the windows and at right angles 

 with them on the plan adopted in the New Museum at South 

 Kensington. From the promises of specimens, together with 

 those already contained in the present museum, amounting to 

 about 2,coo objects, it is expected that the museum when finished 

 will form a very important adjunct to tlie gardens. The Report 

 concludes with a notice of the Phylloxera vastatrix, or vine 

 disease, which is enlarging its borders so much as to threaten a 

 serious visitation in Australia. 



Several remarkable results have been recently obtained by 

 Herr Kohlrausch in his researches on the electric conductivity of 

 aqueous solutions (Annalen der Physik), and especially with 

 regard to the influence of temperature on the conducting power 

 of liquids. Thus concentrated soda-lye, ^^hich, at a temperature 

 of — 10° conducts badly, acquires, under action of heat, a con- 

 ducting power which increases regularly and with very great 

 rapidity, so that at -I- 80° the liquid conducts a hundred times 

 better than at - 10". A solution of bisulphate of potash behaves 

 quite differently ; its conducting power increases very slowly witli 

 the temperature, up to a temperature of 60°, at which there is a 

 maximum. From this point the conductivity rem.-,ins nearly 

 constant, as the temperature is raised. Studying solutions of 

 sulphate of soda, \\hich are known to present at 33° a remark- 

 able peculiarity, due to the proportion, more or less, of water of 

 crystallisation, Herr Kolilrausch found nothing peculiar in the 

 conducting power. This seems to prove that water of crystal- 

 lisation does not play any part in the conductivity of liquids for 

 electricity. 



In addition to his astronomical paper, Admiral Mouchez is pre- 

 paring the organisation, at the Observatory, of a High School of 

 Astronomy composed of pupils from the Polytechnic and Normal 

 Schools, and licencies en sciences, mathematiques, et physiques. 

 The salary of successful pupils will be l,8co francs a year, and 

 posit ions will be secured for them in the French national obser- 

 vatories. The school will also admit a number of free students, 

 who will have the advantage of the use of the instruments of the 

 observatory. 



The New York correspondent of the Daily News telegraphs 

 as follows : — "Mr. Edison has obtained a dynamometer of suffi- 



