July 8, 1897J 



NATURE 



231 



the Seal-pond, where they present a very attractive appearance 



with their sedate gesture and strangely contrasted colours. There 

 are here also five examples of the Black-footed Penguin of the 

 Cape to bear them company, but the King Penguins keep quite 

 aloof from their smaller brethren. 



It is well known that the bison or buffalo {Bison americattus) 

 is practically extinct in the United States as a wild animal, being 

 now only to be found there in certain " parks " where it is care- 

 fully protected. But it is not generally so well known that there 

 is still one district in the Dominion of Canada where the bison, 

 or the variety of it called the " Wood-Bison," is still to be met 

 with in its native wilds. The locality in question, which is 

 perhaps one of the least accessible on the earth's surface, lies 

 near Fort Chipewyan to the south of Great Slave Lake. It 

 was visited in 1894 by Mr. Caspar Whitney, who has recently 

 published an account of his unsuccessful hunt after this animal 

 in his work entitled '* On Snow-Shoes to the Barren Grounds." 

 Before this interesting relict is quite exterminated, it is very 

 desirable that a specimen of the Wood- Bison should be obtained 

 for our Natural History Museum in South Kensington, where 

 there is at present no specimen of this little-known mammal. It 

 is probably only a local form of Bison americantis, but should 

 certainly be represented in the National Collection. 



A VERY compact and neat little camera has recently been 

 put upon the market under the name of the " Photoscope," and 

 is being made by Messrs. Ross and Co., of New Bond Street. 

 This instrument is exactly like a binocular glass, and, in 

 fact, it may be used as one when the fittings pertaining to the 

 photographic attachment are removed. To use this for photo- 

 graphic purposes, one half of the binocular acts as a finder, and 

 the other as the camera, the thicker ends of the binocular being 

 placed up to the eyes, and pointed at the object to be photo- 

 graphed. The camera is arranged for carrying films, so that 

 thirty or forty exposures may be made rapidly if required. The 

 focussing is done after the manner of all binocular glasses, and 

 the largest size picture capable of being taken by the instru- 

 ment is 2 inches by 2 inches. 



The Engineer, commenting on a monograph by Mr. N. 

 N. Banerjee, written under the auspices of the Bengal 

 Government, says : — " The number of professional dyers in 

 India is fast diminishing. Aniline dyes and cheap European 

 goods are killing their trade. They are being compelled to 

 turn their attention to new handicrafts, just as French com- 

 petition and the vagaries of fashion caused the ribbon-makers 

 of Coventry to seek a new livelihood in the manufacture of 

 bicycles. Aniline dyes have made every man his own dyer. 

 Formerly, the complicated processes by which indigenous dyes 

 were prepared made the dyer a specialist. Now-a-days, any- 

 body can dissolve the chemical powders sent out from Europe 

 and colour his own clothes. The aniline dyes are more brilliant, 

 and, to the native, they have the superlative merit of cheapness. 

 They are not so fast, and they lack the delicacy of colour 

 which, judging by the specimens annexed to the monograph, 

 distinguish the Indian dyes. But their very gaudiness makes 

 them more popular, and so the fate of the native dyer is sealed. 

 Silk dyeing, cotton dyeing, and carpet dyeing are all declining. 

 The fault, it should be added, is to some extent due to the 

 conservatism of the native dyers themselves. They persistently 

 adhere to their crude methods of preparing their dyes, and show 

 a lamentable lack of ingenuity in preparing new designs." 



The Weekly Weather Report of June 26, shows that for the 

 first half of this year the rainfall has exceeded the mean value 

 in all districts, except in the north and west of Scotland. The 

 greatest excess is in the south-west of England, where it 

 amounts to 5 inches. This result is in some measure due to 

 the occurrence of several heavy thunder-storms. During the 

 NO. 1445, VOL. 56] 



week in question, some very high temperatures were recorded : 

 Greenwich registered 90-2'' in the shade, and 144-2'' in the 

 sun's rays, on the 24th, the day of the violent storm in Essex ; 

 while on the continent still greater heat was experienced, the 

 shade temperature reaching 99° at Lisbon and Madrid, and 108° 

 at Biskra (Algeria), in the early part of the week. 



The report of the Director of the Hongkong Observatory for 

 the year 1896 states that the investigations of typhoons have 

 been continued, and are now complete since the time of starting 

 the Observatory in 1884. An important discussion of the 

 anemometrical records obtained from the top of the Victoria 

 Peak is being carried on, and will no doubt throw additional 

 light upon the movements of the wind at elevated stations, 

 which will be useful for storm-warning purposes. We notice 

 that the weather forecasts during the year have been very suc- 

 cessful, a result which is probably due to the receipt of three- 

 hourly telegraphic reports, day and night, from Gap Rock 

 Lighthouse, about thirty miles to the south of the colony. The 

 examination of ships' logs has been continued with much 

 activity ; the observations for each month are tabulated in 10° 

 squares, for the purpose of constructing trustworthy pilot charts 

 of the Eastern seas. The number of observations so entered 

 exceeds 131 thousand. 



In a note in Nature for May 20, we called attention to 

 Prof. Augusto Righi's investigations on electro-optics. Since 

 then, we have received three further papers bearing on kindre 

 theories from the same author. In one of these (Attidei Lincei 

 vi. 10), Prof. Righi investigates the principal indices of refrac 

 tion of selenite for electro-magnetic waves. In order to obtain 

 a sufficiently large prism for his observations, the author had to 

 make one of a number of small crystals cemented together with 

 their axes parallel. In another paper, communicated to the 

 Academy of Bologna (Bologna, Tipografia Gamberini, 1897), 

 Prof. Righi deals with the orientation of a disc of selenite in a 

 uniform electric field, and confirms Maxwell's theory according 

 to which the three optical axes are coincident in direction with 

 the three principal dielectric constants, A second communica- 

 tion to the Bologna Academy treats of secondary waves ot 

 dielectrics, and includes mathematical investigations for the 

 effects of a dielectric sphere or cylinder. 



We have received a pamphlet entitled " An account of an 

 investigation, by the late Joseph Baxendell, F,R.S., as to 

 the short period cyclical changes in the magnetic condition of 

 the earth, and in the distribution of temperature on its 

 surface," by Joseph Baxendell, who read it recently before 

 the Liverpool Astronomical Society. The author, from con- 

 siderations arising out of an investigation of the irregularities 

 which take place in the changes of some of the variable stars, 

 was led to think that it was highly probable that the light of 

 the sun, and also its magnetic and heating powers, might be 

 subject to variations of a more complicated nature than had 

 hitherto been supposed, and that changes indicated by the 

 greater or less frequency of solar spots, others of a minor 

 character and occurring in shorter periods, might also take place. 

 A discussion of an immense amount of magnetical and thermo- 

 metrical observations led the author to deduce the periods of 

 variation, and conclude that (i) a ring of nebulous matter 

 exists differing in density or constitution in different parts, or 

 several masses of such matter forming a discontinuous ring, 

 circulating round the sun in a plane nearly coincident with the 

 plane of the ecliptic, and at a mean distance from the sun of 

 about one-sixth of the radius of the earth's orbit. (2) The 

 attractive force of the sun on the matter of this ring is alternately 

 increased and diminished by the operation of the forces which 

 produce the solar spots, being greatest at the times of minimum 

 solar spot frequency, and least when the spots are most 

 numerous. (3) The attractive force being variable, the 



