March 14, 1889] 



NATURE 



469 



(1736 feet). Ritigala is completely isolated, and its summit is 

 frequently surrounded by mist, especially during the south-west 

 monsoon — that is, when the plains are sudering severely from 

 drought. The branches of the stunted trees on the mountain 

 are covered with masses of Afeteorium moss and lichens, like 

 those on the high mountains. Unfortunately the long-continued 

 drought had withered up much of the vegetation, and therefore 

 the expedition was not as productive as it otherwise would have 

 been. 



Captain Moore, of H. M.S. Kambler, has lately described — 

 in a paper read before the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic 

 Society — the appearance and effects of the remarkable " bore " 

 which often occurs in Hangchow Bay. This dangerous visitor is 

 the result of the struggle between the advancing tide in the great 

 estuary and the current of the river. Captain Moore and his officers 

 on several occasions observed the progress of the wave, and their 

 investigations may be summarized as follows : — The rate at which 

 the bore travels varies from ten to about thirteen miles per hour. 

 The height of the bore rarely exceeds I2 or 14 feet, and broken 

 water, in which no small boat could live, follows it for some 

 distance. With the passing of the wave the tide rises many feet 

 in a few seconds ; in one instance, observed by Captain Moore, 

 it rose from 9 feet 4 inches below to 4 feet 7 inches above 

 mean level. The rush of the bore was so strong that the 

 force of the waves breaking against the broadside of the Rambler 

 sent the water into the mizzen chains and the spray on to the 

 poop. The junks in that region are protected by platforms, with 

 narrow steps cut in the sides. To the north of the estuary is a 

 great sea-wall, built to protect the surrounding country from 

 being flooded by these great tidal-waves. It is thirty-five miles 

 long, and it is strengthened, where the bore strikes most strongly, 

 by an elliptical stone buttress, 253 feet long by 63 feet wide. 

 Behind this the junks are drawn up for shelter. 



In one of the recent American Consular Reports the pre- 

 paration of Japanese koji (yeast) is described by Prof. 

 Georgeson, of the Imperial Agricultural College at Tokio. 

 Koji is made not only in special factories, but also in saki 

 (rice-beer) breweries. The materials used are water, rice of 

 the common starchy kind only, and tane (seed or leaven), the 

 spores of a fungus {Eurotittni oryzece, Ahlb.). It is this latter 

 substance which, when germinating on the rice, changes a portion 

 of the starch into dextrose and dextrin, and produces the ferment- 

 ation. The rice is carefully washed, and the thin covering of the 

 seed is always removed. It is then allowed to remain for some 

 hours in water, and having been steamed, it is spread on mats to 

 cool, and when the temperature has fallen to about 100° F., the 

 tane is scattered uniformly on the mass and then thoroughly 

 mixed with it. The whole is then allowed to remain for eighteen 

 or twenty hours covered with mats, after which the rice is spread 

 in a thin layer in a number of shallow, wooden trays, which are 

 taken to the warmest room in the factory, and there left standing 

 for four or five hours, when the contents are stirred by the hand, 

 and again after an interval of four hours the operation is repeated. 

 On the third day the fungus grows very rapidly, and great heat is 

 generated. Care, however, is taken that the heat does not become 

 too great. This is the usual mode, but there are many other 

 methods. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Guinea Baboon (Cynocephalus sphinx) from 

 West Africa, presented by Mr. W. J. Vinton ; a Valentyn's 

 Phalanger {Ciiscus orientalis 6 ) from the Solomon Islands, 

 presented by Mr. Chas. M. Woodford, C.M.Z.S ; an Owen's 

 Apteryx {Apicryx <nveni), two Tuatera Lizards (^phenodon 

 /)t(nciatus) from New Zealand, presented by Capt. C. A. Findlay, 

 K.M.S. Ruapehu ; two Nuthatches {Sitta casia), British, 

 presented by Mr. J. Young, F. Z. S. ; a Chimpanzee {Anthrjpo- 



pilhecus troglodytes 6 ) from West Africa, two Brown Cranes 

 {Grus canadensis) from North America, three Black Swans 

 {Cygnus nigricollis) from Australia, a Larger Hill-Mynah 

 (Gracula intermedia) from India, deposited; a Hoffmann's 

 Sloth {CIwlopus Jioffmanni'i) from Panama, six Brent Geese 

 {Bernicla brenta), European, purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Distribution of Sun-spots in Latitude. — As remarked 

 in the last issue of Nature (p.'449), spots have been decidedly 

 more numerous in the southern hemisphere of the sun during 

 the last six years than in the northern. Since, however, the 

 two hem.ispheres were about equally occupied in 1882, and the 

 northern had the decided advantage in l88i and l88o — whilst 

 for nearly a quarter of a century previous there had been no 

 long-continued difference between the two— it might be sup- 

 posed that their present predominance in the southern hemisphere 

 was one which would disappear in a series of observations spread 

 over any great number of years. Prof Spoerer, in a couple of 

 valuable papers which he has just published — " Ueber die Perio- 

 dicitat der Sonnenflecken seit dem jahre 1618," and " Sur les 

 differences que presentent I'hemisphere nord et I'hemisphere sud 

 du Soleil," the latter appearing in the Bulletin Astronomique 

 for February — has given reason for believing that this is not the 

 case, and that there have been at least two considerable periods, 

 previous to the present one, in which the southern hemisphere 

 was by far the more prolific in spots. The first of these was 

 from 162 1 to 1625, during which Scheiner's observations give 

 r.s no spots in the northern hemisphere for 162 1 and 1622, very 

 few up to February 1625, and decidedly fewer than in the 

 southern hemisphere until 1626, when a practical equality was 

 established. The second period was in every way a more re- 

 markable one, lasting for more than forty years. We have no 

 record of any northern spots from 1672 to 1704; a few were 

 seen in 1705, but their appearance there was looked upon as a 

 most remarkable circumstance : Cassini and Maraldi recorded 

 that they had never seen spots in the northern hemisphere before ; 

 and later, in 17 14, on the occasion of the appearance of three 

 northern spots, it was stated in a paper in the Mimoires of the 

 Paris Academy that that hemisphere had been free from spots 

 for forty years. This period, 1672-1713, seems to have been 

 an exceptional one from several points of view. For much of 

 the time there seem to have been scarcely any spots visible at 

 all. Cassini, noting the third spot seen in 1676, remarks that 

 in that year they had been more frequent than in the twenty 

 preceding years. Flamsteed, in 1684, says that a spot he saw 

 then was the first he had seen since 1676. Cassini, later on, 

 states that the only spot seen since 1686 was that of May 1688, 

 whilst in 1705 it is recorded ("Histoire de I'Academie," 1795, 

 p. 128) that since Scheiner's observations, made sixty years 

 before, two groups of spots had hardly ever been seen at the 

 same time. Ten years later a similar remark is made ; but, in 

 1 7 16, spots became much more numerous, and as many as eight 

 groups were seen at one time, from August 30 to September 3. 

 The "law of zones," which Prof. Spoerer demonstrated for re- 

 cent periods, the law that, from minimum to minimum, the spots 

 .'^how a tendency to seek lower and lower latitudes, breaking out 

 afresh in high latitudes directly the next minimum is passed, 

 seems to have been in abeyance during this remarkable period. 

 The mean latitude seems to have been about 8° or 9°, but there 

 was no regular drift downward made evident. The law, as 

 Prof Spoerer shows in the first of the above-named papers, 

 appears to be unmistakably illustrated by Scheiner's observa- 

 tions at the time of the minimum of 1619, whilst the observa- 

 tions of 1643 and 1644 gave .ilso a low mean latitude previous 

 to the minimum of 16^5. Observations at minima since the 

 exceptional period of 1672- 1 713 supply many illustrations of 

 the law of zones, as Prof. Spoerer takes occasion to demonstrate 

 for the minima of 1755, 1775, 1784, 1833, and 1844. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 



WEEK 1889 MARCH 17-23. 



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

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

 is here employed.) 



