Oct. 27, 1887] 



NA TURE 



615 



and retained until his death, the position of Chairman of the 

 Botanical Section of the Society. The resolution to which we 

 have referred concludes as follows: " We shall miss from our 

 meetings and excursions his venerable form, his familiar voice, 

 and his wise counsels, but the name of ' Old Price ' is one which 

 will ever live in the Society as that of one of our revered father?, 

 and one of Nature's truest disciples and humblest and most loyal 

 children," 



The last number of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 

 (N.S. vol. xix.) contains a short paper by Prof, de Lacouperie 

 on the Miryeks, or stone men of Corea. These are huge half- 

 length human figures, carved in stone, and looked upon as relics 

 of a religion of former times. Those described by Mr. Carles in 

 his paper on Corea, read before the Royal Geogaphical Society 

 last year, are about 25 feet high, cut out of some large boulders 

 in the middle of a fir wood in a hill-side. The largest hitherto 

 known is at Unjin, and is shown in a plate prefixed to the 

 paper. It stands about 62 feet high ; and the body and head 

 resemble those of the idols in Buddhist temples. A column 

 about 10 feet high runs up from the head, giving support to an 

 oblong slab about the same length ; on this stands a smaller 

 column supporting another slab, and from the corners of the two 

 bells are pendent by chains. Prof, de Lacouperie points out some 

 pecuHarities about the word Miryek, and suggests that perhaps it 

 is not Corean at all ; it may have existed in Corea in its special 

 adaptation to the huge stone statues, without having preserved 

 its original meaning previous to the adoption of Chinese 

 characters. If this be correct, it implies that the religion which 

 produced the erection of the statues was then forgotten or in the 

 shade. They might, he suggests, be due to an early spread of 

 Buddhism in Corea. But it is evident that we must know more 

 of that country before the origin of these curious survivals is 

 clearly explained. 



Another contribution to our knowledge of the group of beau- 

 tiful dye colouring matters known as safranines has just been 

 published in the current number of the Comptes rendus by MM. 

 Barbier and Vignon, It has been known for some time that the 

 nitroso-derivalives of the tertiary aromatic monamines in acting 

 upon the primary monamines give rise to colouring matters, 

 but their nature has hitherto remained undetermined, MM. 

 Barbier and Vignon, however, in the light of their previous 

 work, set out to explore this interesting side group of substituted 

 safranines, with the following successful result. Starting with 

 para-nitroso-dimethyl aniline, CsH4N0N{C 113)2, they studied 

 the action of one equivalent of its hydrochloride upon one 

 equivalent of aniline in alcoholic solution, and found that a re- 

 action occurred sufficiently violent to boil the alcohol . Eventually 

 the product dissolved, forming'a solution at first yellow, afterwards 

 gradually changing to brown, and finally to bright violet-red, 

 which on cooling deposited a solid. After filtration, washing, and 

 repeated recrystallization this solid was obtained pure in brilliant 

 brown crystalline spangles. Analysis showed that its composi- 

 tion was C,«H2oN4, and from its reactions there can be little 

 doubt that it is tetra-methyl diamido-azo-benzene. It is not very 

 soluble in water, but, as is characteristic of all the safranines, is 

 soluble in concentrated acids, forming deep-red or violet solutions. 

 This, however, is not the only substance formed during the above 

 reaction, for sodium chloride precipitated from the violet mother- 

 liquor a second crystalline colouring matter, which turned out to 

 be identical with the well-known dimethyl phenylene safranine, 

 ^20^x8^4. The formation of this latter body helps to explain 

 the course of the reaction, which probably runs as follows : 

 3[C6H4NON(CH3)2HCl] -t- 2C6H5NH2 = C16H20N4 -(- 

 C20H18N4HCI -f 3H.P -f- 2HCL The work of MM. Barbier 

 and Vignon, and of all other workers in this direction, is the 

 more interesting inasmuch as it combines industrial utility with 



the advancement of pure chemistry, on the one side handing 

 over new materials to the manufacturer, and on the other new 

 facts to the already immense number which stand to the credit 

 of the last few years. 



The Times reprints, from a document issued by the Berlin 

 Bureau of Statistics, some interesting information about what is 

 called " the motive force of the world." It appears that four- 

 fifths of the engines now working in the world have been con- 

 structed during the last twenty-five years. France owns 49,590 

 stationary or locomotive boilers, 7000 locomotives, and 1850 

 boats' boilers ; Germany has 59,000 boilers, 10,000 locomotives,, 

 and 1700 ships' boilers ; Austria 12,000 boilers, and 2800 loco- 

 motives. The force equivalent to the working steam-engines 

 represents — in the United States, 7,500,000 horse-power; in 

 England, 7,000,000; in Germany, 4,500,000; in France, 

 3,000,000 ; and in Austria, 1,500,000. In these figures the 

 motive power of the locomotives is not included, whose number 

 in all the world amounts to 105,000, representing a total (rf 

 3,000,000 horse-power. Adding this amount to the other 

 powers we obtain the total of 46,000,000 horse- power. A steam 

 horse-power is equal to three actual horses' power ; and a living 

 horse is equal to seven men. The steam-engines of the world 

 represent, therefore, approximately the work of 1,000,000,000 

 men, or more than double the working population of the earth, 

 whose total population is supposed to amount to about 

 ''>455i923,ooo inhabitants. Steam has accordingly trebled 

 man's working power. 



In the report presented at the eighteenth meeting of the 

 Sunday Lecture Society it is stated that the attendance at the 

 lectures during the last session was less than in the previous 

 year. The Committee also announce that the accounts show an 

 increased balance against the Society. On the other hand, they 

 note with pleasure that good progress is being made by kindred 

 associations in various parts of the country. 



A SERIES of elaborate "geological studies," relating to the 

 Dutch West Indies, by Prof. K. Martin, of the University of 

 Leyden, is being issued by E. J. Brill, of Leyden. These "studies" 

 embody the results of researches which Prof. Martin himself has 

 carried on. In the first instalment, which has just been issued, 

 he deals with the geology of Curasao, Aruba, and Bonaire. 

 This instalment consists of 140 handsome, well-printed pages, 

 and is illustrated by three coloured geological maps, two plates, 

 and thirty-six woodcuts. 



A VALUABLE "Statistical Atlas of India," prepared for the 

 Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886, and printed at Calcutta, 

 may now be obtained at Mr. Edward Stanford's, Charing Cross. 

 The object of the work is to give a general idea of the character 

 of the country, its inhabitants and agriculture, with the addition 

 of such statistics as may serve to illustrate commercial and educa- 

 tional progress. The maps have been prepared and printed in 

 the office of the Surveyor-General of India at Calcutta, under 

 the special supervision of Colonel Waterhouse and Major 

 Strahan ; and the chapters are by writers specially conversant 

 with the subjects with which they deal, 



Messrs. Cassell and Co. have ready a new and enlarged 

 edition of " Colour," a scientific and technical manual treating 

 of the optical principles, artistic laws, and technical details 

 governinj; the use of colours in various arts, by Prof. A. II. 

 Church ; and cheap editions of " The Fresh-water Fishes of 

 Europe," by Prof. H, G. Seeley, F. R. S. , and " Short Studies 

 from Nature," a series of familiar papers, by eminent authors, 

 on interesting natural phenomena, with full-page illustrations^ 

 and diagrams. 



New catalogues of scientific books have just been issued by 

 Messrs. Macmillan and Bowes, Cambridge, Messrs. Dulau and 

 Co., London, and Mr. W. P. Collins, London. 



