564 



NATURE 



{Oct. 13, 1887 



The second edition has lonj been out of print. In the present 

 edition the entire text has been revised, and some new chapters 

 have been adcled, mainly relating to changes and improvements 

 in the Meteorological Office work since the year 1876. 



Messrs. De La Rue and Co. will publish shortly the second 

 volume of "A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (Methods 

 of Measurement and Applications)," by E. Mascart, Professor 

 in the College de France, and Director of the Central Meteoro- 

 logical Bureau, and J. Joubert, Professor in the College Roliin. 

 The work is translated by Dr. E. Atkinson, Professor of Experi- 

 mental Science in the Staff College. 



Messrs. Macmillan will shortly publish a new edition of 

 Huxley and Martin's well-known " Manual of Elementary Bio- 

 logy," considerably revised and extended by Messrs. Howes and 

 Scott, Assistant Professors in the Normal School of Science 

 and Royal School of Mines. To the new volume Prof. Huxley 

 will contribute a preface. 



A NEW way of utilizing dynamite has been lately devised by 

 a French military engineer, M. Bonnetond. He uses the 

 expansive force to drive out, for a brief period, the water from 

 portions of wet ground in which foundations are to be made. 

 The method is now in practice in the construction of a fortified 

 enceinte at Lyons. A hole is first bored 10 or 12 feet deep, 

 and about \\ inch wide, in the wet ground. Into this is passed 

 a string of cartridges of dynamite, which is then exploded. The 

 water is thus driven far out beyond the sides of the cavity, over 

 a yard wide, which is produced, and it does not reappear till after 

 half an hour at least. The workmen thus have time to clear 

 the cavity and introduce quickly-setting concrete. When the 

 water returns it cannot injure the foundation. A rapid rate of 

 progress is realized by this method. 



A RECENT number of La Nature (September 17) has an 

 illustrated account of a steam tricycle contrived by MM. Roger 

 de Montais and L'Heritier, which will go 16 to 18 kilo- 

 metres an hour with one person, and 14 to 16 with two. In 

 front is a small boiler heated by petroleum, which gives off, it is 

 said, no smoke nor smell, nor unpleasant heat. Under the seat 

 is the petroleum reservoir, holding ten litres, enough to last ten 

 hours, and behind is a water reservoir which holds thirty-four 

 litres, allowing a two and a half hours' run without fresh sup- 

 ply. This water reservoir has one compartment for cold water, 

 and another for water constantly heated by escape of steam ; the 

 latter feeding the vertical engine behind, and the former having 

 steam turned into it at will. 



In a new galvanic battery, described by Herr Friedrichs in 

 Wiedemann's Annahn (No. 9), a series of inverted bottle- 

 shaped vessels have their necks connected by means of a 

 horizontal tube, into which the exciting liquid (say dilute sul- 

 phuric acid and bichromate of potash) flows through a flexible 

 tube from the lower part of a jar, which is raised or lowered to 

 fill or empty the vessels. The liquid can also be let off through 

 a cock at the further end of the connecting tube. 



The various Transatlantic and British fish hatched out this 

 year by the National Fish Culture Association have prospered 

 remarkably well at the establishment at Delaford Park. Some 

 of the Californian rainbow-trout have grown to the extent of 

 4 inches, and the .S". fontinalis produced from ova taken from 

 two-year-old fish in the ponds have thriven in a similar manner. 

 The landlocked salmon {S. sebago), despite their partiality to 

 deep waters, are also doing well. The whitefish {Coregonus 

 albus) have attained a length of 4 inches, and appear to be 

 thriving better this year in consequence of their habitat having 

 been deepened to suit their natural necessities. The cultivation 

 of coarse fish is proceeding, a large quantity of fry bred from 

 German carp being now in the ponds, besides other species. 



At the request of the Austrian Minister for Agriculture, 

 Herr Putik has recently investigated the hydrography of Central 

 Carniola, and given special attention to the Zirkr.itzer Lake. 

 The phenomena of the periodical emptying and tilling of this 

 lake are very extraordinary ; a gigantic cave, called Gilovca or 

 Karlovca by the natives, and situated at the no'th-west comer 

 of the lake, near Niederndorf, forms an outlet for the overflow. 

 This cave lies at the foot of perpendicular rocks, and leads to a 

 number of subterranean lakes, five of which Herr Putik has 

 crossed. He is convinced that there are a great many more of 

 these lakes. 



In the spring of 1885 a Society was founded in Hamburg for 

 the establishment of plantations in Cameroon. Some 30,000 

 cocoa shrubs were planted, which are now 3I to 4 feet high, 

 and this year 40,000 more have been added. 



On Monday evenings in Michaelmas Term a course of lectures 

 on "Climate and Weather" will be delivered by Mr. A. W. 

 Clayden, at the City of London College, White Street, Moor- 

 fields, E.C. The lectures will be delivered in connection with 

 the London Society for the Extension of University Teaching, 

 and under the auspices of the Mitchell (City of London) 

 Trustees. 



A correspondent of the Indian Forester communicates the 

 following account of " a real weeping tree " to that periodical : — 

 " On my way to and from the Mussoorie Library I have noticed for 

 some days a small pool of water in the middle of the road just 

 above ' Auchnagie.' It struck me as being something singular ; 

 and to-day when passing I noticed several drops of water fall 

 into it ; on looking up I saw that it was the sap from a branch 

 high up on a tree that was falling into it ; the drops were large 

 and were falling at the rate of one a second. I afterwards 

 noticed several other trees of the same kind on the roadside 

 dropping sap from their branches in the same way. The tree is 

 a large one, called by the natives Kagashi [Cormts macrophylla ?). 

 In the spring, if the bark of this tree is wounded by an axe, the 

 sap runs out of the wound in a great stream ; some of it solidifies 

 into a thick mucilage of a bright orange colour ; it was from a 

 broken branch that the sap was coming, broken most likely by 

 the heavy fall of snow we had at the end of January. These 

 trees are just bursting into leaf, but they have been weeping for 

 the last ten days at least." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Bonnet Monkey {Macacus sinicus 9 ) from 

 India, presented by Mr. H. R. Sherren ; a Leopard {Felis 

 pardiis) from Ceylon, presented by Mr. W. Mauger ; a Guild- 

 ing's Amazon {Chrysoti^ guildingi) from St. Vincent, West 

 Indies, presented by Mrs. Ellice ; a Pheasant {Phasianus 

 cokhicus), British, presented by Mr. A. L. Sawer ; a Com- 

 mon Toad {Bufo vulgaris) from Gloucestershire, presented by 

 Mr. John Scovell ; a Chinchilla {Chinchilla lanigcra), born in 

 the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Proper Motion of Ll 26481. — Mr. John Tebhutt {Obsei~va- 

 torj'jiSS'j, October, p. 360), having found a considerable discord- 

 ance between the places given for this star by Lalande and 

 Lamont, asked Mr. Lenehan, the acting Government Astronomer 

 at Sydney, to observe the star with the transit-circle of that Obser- 

 vatory. The result of his observations, as will be seen, showa 

 that the star has a large proper motion in both elements : — 



Mean R.A. i8S6-o. Mean N.P.D. i886-o.' 

 h. ni. s. o , „ 



Lalande 1800 ... 14 25 i -06 ... 105 6 23'4 



Lamont 1850 ... 14 25 2-17 ... 105 6 56'6 



Lenehan 1887 ... 14 25 2-67 ... 105 7 i4'2 



The Washburn Observatory.— The fifth volume of the 

 Publications of the Washburn Observatory of the University of 



