Sept. 25, 1879] 



NATURE 



515 



ditioned by these. With this assumption the decrease of the 

 motion is thus explained by Dr. Puluj, according to the kinetic 

 theory of gas : With full atmospheric pressure the reaction-force 

 aroused on the vanes is too small to overcome the resistance of 

 frictio n and the air. With sufficient rarefaction it overcomes 

 these resistances, and the motion begins. If the reaction- 

 force, like the internal friction, decreases but very slowly 

 with the pressure, the velocity of motion reaches, at a 

 certain pressure, the maximum, and on further rarefaction 

 it decreases, because not only the resistance of the air, but 

 also the reaction-force awakened becomes smaller with the 

 smaller number of rebounding molecules. In an absolutely 

 vacuous space, the motion must quite cease, if no emission of 

 particles took place from the vanes. Dr. Puluj further describes 

 a radiometer, consisting of a fixed cross with mica vanes 

 blackened on one side, and a very thin cylindrical glass cover. 

 The outer vane edges were 2 mm. distant from the glass. The 

 glass cylinder turned, on illumination, in an opposite direction to 

 that in which the cross should turn. The object of the experi- 

 ment was to prove that the movements of the radiometer could 

 also not be explained by air current^. 



Prof. Klinkerfues, the director of the Gottingen Observa- 

 tory, has taken out a patent for a new invention in telegraphy. 

 The professor has discovered a method by which up to eight 

 different messages may be sent simultaneously by the same wire, 

 an apparatus at the receiving end printing the messages separately 

 and all at the same time. The importance of this invention to 

 telegraphy generally needs no comment. 



At Cannstatt (near Stuttgart) a horticultural exhibition will 

 be held from the 2Sth till the 29th inst. 



A NEW periodical devoted to aeronautics will be published at 

 St. Petersburg from January next, iinder the name of The 

 Aeronaut ( Vozdukhoplavatd). Its editor will be M. Klinder. 



A SHOCK of earthquake was felt at Lyons on the 9th inst. at 

 7 A.M. It proceeded in a south-northerly direction and lasted 

 two seconds. 



Dr. King's annual report on the Cinchona Plantations in 



British Sikkim for the year ending March 31 last, together with 



that of the Government quinologi^t, Mr. C. H. Wood, are 



extremely satisfactory, both with regard to the cultivation and 



extension of the most valuable species of cinchona as well as in 



the preparation of the cinchona febrifuge. Of red bark trees, 



Cinchona succirubra, 353,415 were planted out, namely, 24,725 



to replace old plants uprooted in taking the bark crop, and 



328,690 on new land. Special attention has been paid to the 



most valuable of all the medicinal barks, C. calisaya, known as 



ilie yellow bark tree. Of this kind there were in the nursery 



beds at the close of the year 60,000 cuttings and seedlings in the 



Mungpoo division and 1,000 in the Sittong division, all of which 



were nearly ready at the time the report was ^vritten, for transfer 



■ the permanent plantations. The first crop of bark of this 



■cies was obtained in the Sikkim plantation during the past 



on, the result showing a yield of about 1,400 lbs. of dry bark. 



IS species we are, however, informed, is very capricious in 



iWth, and no locality with perfectly suitable climatic conditions 



it has yet been found in British Sikkim. For the purpose of 



crtaining correctly the conditions under which the Dutch have 



ceeded in growing the tree cheaply in Java, Dr. King has 



eived authority to proceed thither. The summary of all kinds 



cinchona plants planted out during the year under review 



ws a total of 4,028,055, of which 3,589,965 were of the red 



; k species. As nearly 300,000 lbs. of bark, the produce of 



: previous year, remained in the qninologi-t's hands, it was 



t deemed advisable to collect a larger crop than was really 



necessary to meet the requirements of the febrifuge factory, con- 



sequently the total crop of bark taken amounted to only 261,659 

 lbs. The continuous increase in the amount of febrifuge manu- 

 factured by the Government quinologist is very marked, for while 

 in the year 1874-75 only 48 lbs. were produced, which in the 

 following year had increased to 1,940 lbs., in the year under 

 review no less a quantity than 7,007 lbs. were turned out, but 

 notwithstanding this rapid development of the manufacture the 

 increasing confidence in the efficacy of the febrifuge has raised 

 the demand for it so much that the consumption of the past year 

 greatly exceeded the quantity manufactured. To meet this 

 growing demand the scale of manufacture at Mungpoo has been 

 extended. Whether the febrifuge now so largely manufactured 

 in India is capable of being improved by eliminating any of its 

 constituents is a question still under the consideration of the 

 committee appointed in 1877. It is satisfactory, however, to 

 find that the further experience in the use of the drug during the 

 past year has increased the confidence of the public and of the 

 medical profession in its virtues. The question of manufacturing 

 a superior drug which would not be exposed to the prejudices 

 which have so long delayed the free distribution of the present 

 febrifuge is still under the consideration of the committee before 

 referred to. It is stated that it will probably be found advisable 

 to manufacture at a slightly increased cost a preparation com- 

 posed of the three sulphates, cinchonidine, cinchonine, and 

 quinine in conjunction. 



The Congress of Viticulturists which took place at Cobleni 

 on the 4th inst. will meet at Ileilbronn next year, and the api- 

 cultural meeting which was held at Prague on the 7th inst. 

 selected Cologne as a meeting place for 1880. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include two African Sheep (Ovis arics) from We.-t 

 Africa, presented by Mr. R. B. N. Walker, C.M.Z.S. ; two 

 Ring-tailed Coatis (Nasiia riifa) from South America, presented 

 respectively by Mr. Chas. S. Barnes and Mr. Percy Brewis ; a 

 Common Fox {Cam's vulpes), British, presented by Mr. Jas. 

 Wheatley ; a Caracal {Felis caracal), a Secretary Vulture {Serpen- 

 larius reptilivortts) from South Africa, presented by Dr. Holub ; 

 two Dunlins {Tringa einclus), a Turnstone {Slrepsilas interpres), 

 a Ringed Plover (CEgialiiis hiaticida), British, presented by Mr; 

 Edmund A. T. Elliot; two Common Cuckcos {Cuculus canorus)^ 

 British, presented respectively by Mrs. Bolton and Miss C. 

 Bealey ; a Turquoisine Parrakeet {Euphema pulclulla) from New 

 South Wales, presented by Mr. J. Fraser ; a Square-spotted 

 Snake {Oxyrrhopus doliatus) from South America, presented by 

 Mr. II. Colgate ; a Chacma Baboon {Cynocephalus porcarius), a 

 Yellow Baboon {Cynocephalus babouin), an Isabelline Antelope 

 {Cervicapra isabellina), a Sociable Vulture (Vullur auricularis), 

 two Tawny Eagles {Aquila na~jioides'), two Cape-crowned Cranes 

 {Balearic regulorum), a Stanley Crane {Telrapteryx paradisea), 

 from South America, deposited. 



HISTORY AND METHODS OF PAL^ONTO- 



LOGICAL DISCOVERY^ 



II. 



WHILE the Paris Basin was yielding such important re ultsfor 

 pala:ontology, its geological structure was being worked out 

 with great care. The results appeared in a volume by Cuvier and 

 Alex. Brongniart, chiefly the work of the latter, published in 

 iSo8.'^ This was the first systematic investigation of tertiary 

 strata. Three years later, the work was issued in a more 

 extended form. The separate formations were here carefully 

 distinguished by their fossils, the true importance of which 

 for this purpose being distinctly recognized. This advance 

 was not accepted without some opposition, and it is an 



> An Address, delivered before the American Association for the Adrancc- 

 nicnt of Science, at Saratoga, N.V., August 28, 1879, by Prof. O. C. 

 Marsh, President. Continued from p. 499. . t» • ,. 



' " Essai sur la Gdographie mindraloguiue des Environs de P.-ms. 410, 

 1808. 



