July 24, 1879] 



NATURE 



305 



is engaged upon a continuation of it, the fourth volume being 

 now in progress. For a general review of the flora see Harvey's 

 "Genera of South African Plants," edited by Hooker (Reeve) ; 

 Harvey's " Thesaurus Capmsis " may sometimes be procured 

 secondhand. 



A LARGE number of mammalian bones of the diluvian period 

 have lately been obtained from the bone-cave of Vypustek, 

 Moravia (Prof. K. Th. Liebe, Proceed. Imp. Acad. Vienna, 

 May 23, 1S79), and sent to the Imperial Museum at Vienna. 

 The comparison of these remains with those from the Thuringian 

 caves is important, especially vrith those from the cave of Lin- 

 denthal near Gera, which led Liebe and Nehring to the interest- 

 ing conclusion that all this region was an extensive barren steppe, 

 without any forest vegetation, at the beginning of the Second 

 Diluvial Period. In the cave of Vypustek are found — Lynx 

 vulgaris. Felts catus, Canis spelaus, C. familiaris, Vulpes vul- 

 garis, V. lagopus, Gulo borealis, Maries abietinus, Fatorius 

 putorius, F. crminea, Vesperugo serotinus, Arvicola amphibius 

 ^.sp., Lepus variabilis (iimidus?), Cricttus frumentarius, Myoxus 

 glis, and Sciuriis vulgaris. Besides these seventeen species, von 

 Hochstetter found remains of Elephas primigenius, Rhinoceros 

 lichorhinus, Equus fossilis. Bos priscus, Cervus tarandus, C, 

 elaphus, C. capreolus, C. euryceros(?), Capra ibex, Ursus spelceus, 

 Felis spelira, and Hyana speliea ; the number of species found 

 in the Vypustek Cave being therefore twenty-nine. The evi- 

 dence proves that this cave was a den of beasts of prey, long 

 tenanted by families of hyenas and bears, and occasionally 

 visited by lions, lynxes, and wolves ; while many side galleries, 

 some opening to day, gave shelter to martens, weasels, and other 

 small carnivores. Some few animals may have been carried into 

 the cave after death by streams and floods ; but by far the greater 

 part of the remains are those of tenants of the cave, or of their 

 prey brought in for food. The fauna of this cave indeed bears a 

 decidedly sylvestran character ; and it may be admitted that its 

 environs were covered with woods, and had a forest climate, at 

 the time when northern and middle Germany had the features 

 and climate of a steppe. Hence too the mountains and hills of 

 South Bohemia and Moravia may be supposed to have been the 

 centre from which forests advanced gradually in every direction 

 over the great Diluvial Steppe of Europe north of the Alpine 

 chain. Further explorations, to be conducted by the Prehistoric 

 Commission of the Imperial Academy of Vienna, may lead to 

 further interesting facts as to the relative depth and succession 

 of the animal remains in this cave. 



Great damage to agriculture has been done by swarms of 

 grasshoppers in Hungary, in the Szathmar Comitat. An area 

 of some 600 Hungarian "Joch" is entirely devastated. The 

 local authorities have been compelled to apply to Budapest for 

 military assistance, besides availing themselves of that of the 

 inhabitants of numerous villages in the districts affected by the 

 plague. 



On July I a monthly serial, entitled Der Phonograph, ap- 

 l^eared at Vienna, edited by Wilhelm Stockinger, and having 

 for its object the cultivation and propagation of Faulmaun's 

 "phonography." 



In this month's number of the Mineralogical Magazine is the 

 history of a remarkable gem, called the "Maxwell-Stuart" 

 topaz, which is undoubtedly the largest cut precious stone 

 known. Its weight is 1,475-9 grains, or 368 carats 3-9 grains ; 

 specific gravity, 3'S685. It is perfectly white and very brilliant. 

 It was brought from Ceylon many years ago, and has been for a 

 considerable time, in an uncut state, in the possession of Mr. 

 Maxwell-Stuart, a collector of gems, after whom it takes its 

 name. An idea of its size may be formed by stating that the 

 table is 2j inches in length. It was cut and polished in London, 

 under the suiiervision of Mr. Bryce-Wright, the present owner, 

 the operations occupying twenty-eight days. 



Mr. Morris, the well-known botanist in Ceylon, whose 

 endeavours to find a remedy for the disastrous coffee-leaf disease 

 we have before referred to, has established the fact that very 

 favourable results may be obtained from the application by 

 hand of a mixture composed of three parts of lime and one of 

 sulphur. 



The officers of the French Balloon Committee tried several 

 ascents last week, in order to determine the visibility of terres- 

 trial objects at various altitudes. 



At a recent meeting of the French Physical Society M. Bouty 

 described the action of heat on metallised thermometers. The 

 contraction produced at the moment of deposit of the metal is 

 entirely compensated by the difference of the dilatations of the 

 glass and the metallic envelope, at a temperature which is higher 

 the greater the contraction, and the smaller the difference of the 

 dilatations, but independent of the thickness of the deposit. 

 Above this critical temperature traction takes the place of pres- 

 sure on the bulb ; ruptures presently occur at the surface of con- 

 tact, and the result is permanent deformations, which produce a 

 new displacement of zero. This latter effect is never produced 

 when the critical temperature is not exceeded. A metallised 

 thermometer may be used to measure temperatures, if it have 

 been compared with a typical thermometer, from which it does 

 not differ sensibly unless the metallic deposit be of considerable 

 thickness. When sulphate of copper is electrolysed between two 

 very sensitive thermometers, coated with copper superficially, 

 the thermometer attached to the positive pole is found to be at a 

 temperature superior, the negative thermometer at a temperature 

 inferior, to that of the surrounding liquid. The same pheno- 

 menon is observed in electrolysing sulphate of zinc between two 

 thermometers covered with zinc. M. Bouty recalled the fact 

 that when two plates of zinc or of copper are kept at different 

 temperatures in the corresponding sulphate, a current arises, and 

 the warmer metal is the positive pole. There is between the 

 production of these currents and the phenomena studied by M. 

 Bouty a relation of reversibility similar to that which connects 

 Peltier's phenomenon and ordinary thermo-electric currents. 



The electro-magnetic rotation of the plane of polarisation of 

 light in gases has recently been proved and studied variously by 

 Kundt and Rontgen, Bichat and H. Becquerel. The last-named 

 observer, by a superior method, measured the phenomenon 

 especially in ordinary coal gas, while the others demonstrated 

 the rotation in sulphide of carbon vapour, gaseous sulphurous 

 acid, and sulphuretted hydrogen. In a paper to the Vienna 

 Academy, Prof. Lippich, of Prague, describes additional experi- 

 ments on the subject. He aimed especially at perfecting the 

 optical part of the apparatus, and attained remarkable accuracy. 

 He succeeded in demonstrating the rotation in air, using a large 

 coil o'5 metres long, with 365 m. length of copper wire (nearly 

 3 mm. thick) in twelve layers. The current was from sixty 

 average Bunsen elements, combined in a battery of thirty double 

 elements. The light-ray was simply sent through the hollow 

 part of the coil. Under these circumstances an unmistakable 

 electro -magnetic rotation was observed, and it was in the direc- 

 tion of the current coursing round the air. The angle of rotation 

 could not have been far from 6 to 10 seconds of arc. (An exact 

 determination was not possible, owing to the provisional arrange- 

 ment of the optical apparatus.) 



The last number of the yournal of the Society of Arts con- 

 tains two elaborate papers by Mr. A. T. Atchison and Mr. W. 

 H. Penning, giving suggestions for dividing England and Wales 

 into watershed districts, with reference to the National Water 

 Supply. 



The Sanitary Record is now appearing in an enlarged form as 

 a monthly, instead of a weekly as hitherto. 



