420 



NATURE 



[Feb. 28, i8b9 



out the Presidency. A Committee was appointed, but there was 

 some difference of opinion amongst the members as to the most 

 convenient standard. Some were in favour of adopting the scale 

 used by the railway companies in Bombay — that is, 180 grains 

 — I tola, and so on up to i candy ; but the majority thought that 

 the English system of hundredweights, quarters, and pounds 

 would be the best, and to this view the Chambers of Commerce 

 of Bengal, Madras, and Kurrachee have assented. The Com- 

 mittee, however, refrained from urging on the Government to 

 alter the present standards. The Government of India have 

 appointed a Commission to inquire into the whole matter. 



M. Resin has published, in the Izvestia of the Russian 

 Geographical Society, interesting sketches of the natives of 

 Kamchatka, made during a cruise on the schooner Sibir. It 

 appears that the Kamchadales and the Aleutes are rapidly 

 abandoning their mother language, and speak a very broken 

 Russian — the more broken as the Russians themselves, in order 

 to be better understood, speak a language which has hardly 

 any likness to their mother tongue. The population of 

 ' Kamchatka, which was carefully registered in 1878 and 1879, 

 shows a regular decrease ; since the time of Krasheninnikoff's 

 journey (in 1741) the population seems to have been reduced to 

 one-half of what it was 148 years ago. Years of scarcity of 

 fish, the staple food of the population, are quite common. 

 In such cases the Lamutes and the Koryaks usually bring to 

 the Kamchadales a number of their reindeer ; but this 

 voluntary help is not sufficient to prevent starvation. Hunt- 

 ing becomes less and less profitable. The following figures 

 represent the results of hunting during the winter of 1884-85 : 

 2,915 sables, 159 foxes, 321 otters, 302 ermines, 120 mountain 

 sheep, and 767 reindeer. It is noteworthy that no diminution 

 of population is remarked among the Tchukches on the coasts 

 of the Arctic Ocean. 



Last week we quoted from Prjevalsky's " Fourth Journey to 

 Central Asia " a description of fiery sunsets he had observed in 

 crossing the Gobi. The same work contains the following re- 

 marks as to the action of wind upon the soil in the deserts of 

 Central Asia : — " One must see the wind blowing in the desert to 

 appreciate its force. Not only dust and sand fill the atmosphere, 

 but sometimes smaller gravel is lifted into the air, while larger 

 stones are rolled over the surface of the soil. At the foot of 

 the Altyn-tagh, in the neighbourhood of the Lob-nor, we saw 

 how stones as big as a man's fist, having been whirled into 

 the hollow of a larger piece of rock by the storm, were making 

 deep holes, and had even pierced through a slab of sandstone 

 2 feet thick." In accordance with Richthofen's views, Prje- 

 valsky was inclined to explain the formation of loess by the 

 force of wind, but he was not aware of the geographical distri- 

 bution of loess — that is, its disposition as a girdle along the 

 foot of all the mountains of Central Asia, and its absence on 

 the plateaus, even in the parts which are protected from wind. 

 On the other hand, the winds of the desert really afford an 

 explanation of the strange coarse gravel, quite devoid of any 

 particles of finer sand and loam, which covers the Gobi. The 

 winds must have blown away the finer parts of the gravel. 



We have received the Triennial Calendar of the Tungwen 

 College of Pekin, at which over a hundred students are prepared 

 for the Government service. The full course, literary and 

 scientific, extends over eight years, the first three being devoted 

 exclusively to foreign languages, and the remainder to the ac- 

 quisition of scientific and general knowledge through the medium 

 of these languages. After the completion of the general 

 course, students may, if they please, remain in the College, 

 or be sent abroad at the option of the Government, for the 

 pursuit of special studies with a view to professional use. The 

 method of paying the students is thus described in the 



Calendar : — The object of the College being to train men for 

 special service, the number is limited, and all admitted are, 

 with a few exceptions, paid by the Government. During the 

 first year the student is on probation, and receives his food and 

 lodging only. He then gets an allowance of about three taels 

 (14J. or 15^.) a month. In two or three years this stipend is 

 doubled if the student progresses satisfactorily, and it is again 

 increased to ten taels a month at the end of five or six years. If 

 a student is sent to pursue his studies in foreign couniries, the 

 allowance is one hundred taels a month, which is increased to two 

 hundred taels when he is made a third-class interpreter. The 

 preparation of books for the diffusion of scientific and general 

 knowledge is part of the work of the College. Amongst those 

 prepared and published already are works on natural philosophy, 

 chemistry, practical economy, chemical analysis, mathematical 

 physics, anatomy, astronomy, &c. 



In the " Note" last week about a Greenland whale which went 

 ashore in the Sound (p. 398), for "90 feet in length" read 

 "60 feet in length." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Macaque Monkey [Alacactcs cynomolgus 9 ) 

 from India, presented by Mrs. Nicol ; an Indian Chevrotain 

 {Tragtdus meminna 9 juv.) from India, presented by Mr. 

 George Score ; a Hybrid Polecat (between Mustela putorius and 

 M. furo), British, presented by Mr. J. Herbert B. Cowley ; an 

 Owen's Apteryx {Apteryx oweni) from New Zealand, presented 

 by Prof T. Jeffrey Parker, C.M.Z.S. ; a Common Buzzard 

 {Buleo vulgaris) from Spain, presented by Captain J. V, Harvey ; 

 eight Common Svf a.ns {Oygnus o/or), European, deposited ; seven 

 Common Gulls {Larus canus), from Holland, five White's Tree 

 Frogs {Hyla ccerula) from Australia, purchased ; a Collared 

 Fruit Bat- {Cynonycteris collaris), born in the Gardens. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1889 MARCH 3-9. 



/"pOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

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

 is here employed.) 



At Greenwich on March 3 

 Sun rises, 6h. 42m. ; souths, I2h. 12m. 3'os. : sets, I7h. 42m. : 



right asc. on meridian, 22h. 57 ■9m. ; decl. 6° 37' S. Sidereal 



Time at Sunset, 4h. 29m. 

 Moon (at First Quarter on March 9, i8h.) rises, 7h. 48m. ; 



souths, I3h. 35m. ; sets, igh. 35m. : right asc. on meridian, 



oh. 207m. ; decl. 3° 6' S. 



Right asc. and declination 



Sets. 



on meridian. 



Planet. Rises. Souths. 



h. m. h. m. h. m. h. m. q , 



Mercury,. 5 47 ... 10 36 ... 15 25 ... 21 21-9 ... 14 18 S. 



Venus 7 39 ... 14 57 ... 22 15 ... I 43-8 ... 14 6 N. 



Mars 7 30 ... 13 54 ... 20 18 ... o 40-5 ... 3 56 N. 



Jupiter.... 3 37 ... 7 33 ... II 29 ... 18 18-4 ... 23 4S. 



Saturn.... 14 46 ... 22 23 ... 6 o*... 9 10-9 ... 17 30 N. 



Uranus... 21 12*... 2 36 ... 8 o ... 13 20*1 ... 7 45 S. 



Neptune.. 9 22 ... 17 5 ... o 48*... 3 51-4 ... 18 29 N. 



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

 that of the following morning. 

 Mar. h. 



4 ... o ... Mars in conjunction with and 5° 2' north 



of the Moon. 



5 ... II ... Venus in conjunction with and 8° 57' north 



of the Moon. 

 5 ... 20 ... Venus at least distance from the Sun. 

 Saturn, March 3. — Outer major axis of outer ring = 45""2; 

 outer minor axis of outer ring = 12" '5 : southern surface visible. 

 Meteor-Showers. 

 R.A. Decl. 



Near Capella 



From C oma Berenices 

 Near 7 Herculis ... . 



50 ... 48 N. 



190 ... 25 N. ... March 8. 



244 ... 16 N. ... March7. Veryswift. 



