June 2, 1887] 



NATURE 



I II 



the formation of the debris-covering on the mountain slopes, and 

 the decrease of the lakes. The loess was deposited, and, as desic- 

 cation proceeded, the stony and sandy steppes by and by made 

 tlieir appearance. The process of desiccation went on first on 

 the southern slopes of the mountains, where the dry steppe now 

 rises to the limits of perennial snow. With the exception of a 

 few species which accommodated themselves to the new condi- 

 tions, all plants of an Alpine character and those that grow in 

 moist climates disappeared, as also did the forest vegetation on 

 the dr}' slopes of the hills. The place of the old flora was taken 

 by immigrants from the drier parts of Asia. 



The death is announced, at the age of seventy-six, of the 

 Swedish botanist, Prof. J. E. Areschong. His best-known 

 irks are " Symbola Algarum Flora; Scandinaviae," " Icono- 

 iphia Phyctologia," and " Phyceae Marinse." 



The Norwegian Storthing has granted ;^ioo to Herr Dahll, 

 to enable him to issue a short popular scientific work on the 

 geology of Northern Norway. The Assembly has, however, 

 refused at present to grant £,^^0 to Prof. W. C. Brogger, who 

 is anxious to complete a work which he has had in hand for 

 several years on the syenite and granite rocks of the mountains 

 around the Christiania fjord. 



Persons interested in the fisheries of Sweden have often 

 urged that oyster-beds should be formed on the south-west 

 coast of the country, similar to those which have been 

 so successful on the opposite coast of Norway. This is 

 now being done by a Swedish naval captain, MUlenfels, who is 

 founding two oyster-beds on the coast of the province of Bohus. 

 The young oysters to be laid down will be taken from the bed at 

 Oster-Risor, in Norway. The oysters cultivated there are said 

 to equal " natives " in flavour. 



Ox May II the American Oriental Association held its spring 

 meeting in Boston. The number of papers read at the meeting 

 was unusually large. The paper which seems to have attracted 

 most attention was one by Dr. W. Hayes Ward, who offered a 

 new interpretation of a scene presented on a number of 

 Babylonian seals. The late Mr. George Smith thought the 

 design represented the Tower of Babel. Others have held that 

 it is a representation of the underworld opsning to receive the 

 dead, and of a porter leading the soul into the presence of a 

 deity. Dr. Ward's theory is that certain prominences invariably 

 found on the seals stand for mountains, as they undoubtedly do 

 in Assyrian art, and that the deity surrounded by rays is the 

 sun-god Shamash. During the night he has been under the 

 earth, and in the morning the porter opens the gate to let him 

 out. In the discussion which followed the reading of the paper. 

 Prof. Lyon, of Harvard College, and Prof. Jastrow, of the 

 University of Pennsylvania, took part ; and some evidence was 

 brought forward to show that Dr. Ward's ideas are confirmed 

 by references to sunrise in cuneiform texts. 



A FINE series of new colouring-matters has recently been 

 discovered by Dr. J. H. Ziegler {Berichte der Dent. Chein. 

 Ges., No. 8, 1887), by employment of the hydrazine reaction 

 upon amido-derivatives of triphenylmethane. Rosaniline 

 hydrochloride was first converted by nitrous acid into its diazo- 

 derivative, which was then reduced with tin and hydrochloric 

 acid, yielding brilliant green crystals of a hydrazine salt. This 

 new hydrazine, which, in contradistinction to rosaniline, the 

 discoverer terms roshydrazine, is itself a colouring-matter of a 

 somewhat bluer shade than fuchsin, and forms the nucleus of the 

 series. By treatment with aldehyde, acetone, or benzophenone, 

 condensation products are obtained possessing brilliant colours, 

 varying from red to violet ; benzaldehyde and aceto-acetic ether, 

 on the other hand, yield beautiful blues, while grape-sugar forms 

 with roshydrazine a dye of a greenish-blue tint. Very numerous 



shades are further produced by action of many other reagents, 

 and, moreover, the sulpho-derivative of roshydrazine appears to 

 form a second series of coloured substances quite as numerous as 

 those of the nucleus itself. Indeed, the discovery will, in all likeli- 

 hood, prove a very rich one, and will afford another instance of the 

 immense assistance which pure chemistry so frequently furnishes 

 to the commercial world. The fact of most vital importance 

 about these new colours, which are practically insoluble in water, 

 is that they may be readily prepared in situ upon the fibre, it 

 being only necessary to immerse it first in a bath of roshydrazine, 

 and afterwards in a second bath containing the condensing 

 reagent. 



Messrs. Longmans are preparing for publication " Modern 

 Theories of Chemistry," by Prof. Lothar Meyer, translated from 

 the fifth edition of the German by Prof. P. Bedson and Prof. 

 W. C. Williams ; " Electricity for Public Schools and Colleges,'' 

 by W. Larden ; " A Text-book of Elementary Biology," by Prof. 

 R. I. H. Gibson ; *' The Testing of Materials of Construction," 

 by W. C. Unwin, F.R.S. ; and "Astronomical Work for 

 Amateurs ; a Practical Manual of Telescopic Research adapted 

 to Moderate Instruments," edited by I. A. W. Oliver, with the 

 assistance of Messrs. Maunder, Grubb, Gore, Denning, and 

 others. 



Many of the beautiful Alpine flowers, especially the edelweiss 

 and the Alpine rose, are in danger of becoming extinc^ The 

 Government of Valais and the Monte Rosa section of the Alpine 

 Club, have caused gardens to be laid out and inclosures to be 

 made for the cultivation and protection of these plants. The 

 station on the Tete de Mouton, near Vissoye, in the Einficht 

 Valley (Valais), situated at the height of 2300 metres, cultivates 

 not only plants belonging to the Alps, but so:iie from the 

 Pyrenees, the Himalayas, and the Caucasus. 



In the Report of the Rugby School Natural History Society 

 for 1886, just issued, the editors are able to congratulate the 

 Society on the number of its members and associates being 

 greater than in any previous year. Among the contributions 

 printed w ith the Report are papers on the motion of stars in line 

 of sight, the dispersion of seeds and spores, Danes' Blood, and 

 the protective colouring and form of animals. 



The Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia, eldest son of the 

 Grand Duke Michael Nicholaievitch, has, it is said, written a 

 book on the entomology of the Cmcasus. His Highness is an 

 ardent student of natural history, and studies every new work on 

 the subject published in England, France, and Germany. 



At a recent meeting of the Natural History Society of 

 Wisconsin, Dr. Peckham, the President, read an interesting 

 paper on wasps, presenting the results of many experiments 

 made in 1886 on the mental habits and peculiarities of these 

 insects. In the section entitled " Emotions," Dr. Peckham 

 discusses the question whether wasps have much sympathy with 

 the suffering of their fellows. " To be sure," he says, " when 

 we caught numbers of them, and painted them within the 

 cage, they at once went to work to clean each other, and 

 this seems to show that they have some desire to aid and 

 comfort their friends. But we have often seen them continue 

 to eat, with entire composure, near the body of one of their 

 number that had just been crushed to death ; and they fre- 

 quently fall upon a dead relative, cut it up, and carry it into the 

 nest to feed their young. An overpowering sense of utility 

 is probably the cause of this cannibal propensity ; as was the 

 case in Tierra del Fuego where the natives were frequently 

 forced, through stress of weather and scanty food-supply, to eat 

 their old women." 



