86 



NATURE 



[November 24, 1892 



again very deficient over the whole of England and Scotland ; 

 in the south-west of England the duration only reached about 

 2 per cent, of the possible amount. 



The Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean for November 

 contains some interesting reports of the drift from some portion 

 of the coast of the American continent to mid-ocean of a mass of 

 forest growth resembling a floating island. It was first seen on 

 July 28 in lat. 39° 42' N., long. 64° 20' W. On September 

 19 the Roman Prince reported it in lat. 45° 29', long. 42° 39' 

 as " a clump of bamboos about 30 feet in diameter and 20 feet 

 high." Between these two dates the little island drifted more 

 than looo miles in an E.N.E. direction. The month of 

 October was very stormy in the North Atlantic ; from the 

 tracks laid down on the chart several of the storms seem to have 

 moved along very abnormal tracks, and this fact has probably 

 some connection with the very severe weather experienced in this 

 country. In the early part of the month a hurricane formed in 

 very low latitudes, and passed over Trinidad on October 6 

 into the Gulf of Honduras, and possibly into the Gulf of Mexico. 

 It is unusual for a hurricane to occur in such low latitudes in 

 the North Atlantic. Very little fog was reported, and no ice 

 south of the 50th parallel. 



Several shocks of earthquake have been felt lately in the 

 island of Ponza. On the evening of November 16, according to 

 a Renter's telegram, the walls of several houses were slightly 

 cracked by one of these shocks, which was accompanied by sub- 

 terranean rumblings. No one was hurt, but alarm spread rapidly 

 among the inhabitants, half of whom took refuge on small vessels 

 lying along the coast, while the remainder encamped on the 

 beach. 



The Age-Herald oi'&'wxam^z.m, Alabama, gave on October 

 28 an account of a great meteor which had been seen on the 

 previous day to pass over that city and disappear in a south- 

 westerly direction. We learn from the Mobile Daily Register 

 of October 29 that at Gadsden a brilliant meteor was seen at 

 the same time, that is, between five and six o'clock on the after- 

 noon of October 27. It passed near the zenith. Two young 

 men employed in the Daily Register office at Mobile saw at the 

 same hour in the afternoon a bright meteor in the north-west. 

 It was about 45° above the horizon. When it neared the western 

 horizon it exploded like a sky rocket. 



A MALE gorilla {^Gorilla gina) has lately been acquired by the 

 Berlin Aquarium. He is larger than any gorilla that has yet 

 been brought to Europe. He is supposed to be eight or nine 

 years old, and was for six years in the possession of a chieftain 

 on the Gaboon. Captain Clarke brought him to England, The 

 Naturwissenschajtliche Wochenschrift — which estimates the 

 value of this "splendid animal" as not less than 10,000 

 marks — says he has not yet shown any very friendly feeling 

 for man. 



It appears from a report issued by the Board of Trade that 

 the examinations and comparisons of the Parliamentary copies 

 of the Imperial standards show that no measurable change has 

 taken place in the length of the Imperial standard of measure. 

 The Imperial standard pound weight appears, however, by 

 comparison with the Parliamentary copies of the Imperial 

 standard pound, to have decreased in weight since it was 

 restored and legalized by the Standards Act of 1855, The amount 

 of diminution in the weight of the Imperial standard pound would 

 not be appreciable in trade, and had probably arisen before the 

 year 1872, but the Board of Trade are taking into considera- 

 tion the question of restoring this standard in the manner 

 provided by Section 6 of the Act of 1878. 



The South Australian Government has issued a full report of 

 the proceedings of the Rust in Wheat Conference during its 

 NO- I 204, VOL. 47] 



third session, held in March of the present year. Among the 

 resolutions adopted by the Conference was one to the effect 

 that a practical system for the production and distribution of 

 rust-resisting wheats suitable to different districts should be im- 

 mediately established, and that this system — subject to modi- 

 fications needed by each colony — should be conducted on the 

 following lines ; — A central station for each colony for the pre- 

 liminary testing of new wheats introduced into the colony, for 

 the production of new varieties by cross-fertilization and by 

 selection, and for the distribution of suitable wheats thus 

 obtained to representative districts of the colony, to be there 

 subjected to a sufficient test, and, if necessary, fixed in their 

 characters by farmers and others competent for the work, and 

 that such wheats as pass satisfactorily this test should then be 

 distributed to the farmers around in such a manner and by such 

 agency as would be most suitable to the conditions of each 

 colony. The Conference will meet at Brisbane in 1894. It is 

 hoped that in the meantime the various colonies will publish the 

 results of the experiments which are to be carried on during 

 the coming year. 



Mr, Xanthus Smith, a well-known American photographer, 

 has formed a high opinion of some of the work done in photo- 

 graphy in England. " There is no doubt," he has lately said, 

 "that the English photographers excel us Americans in land- 

 scape photography, and mainly for two reasons, the first being 

 their appreciation of atmospheric effects, which is no doubt a 

 result of their moist climate ; and second, the extreme pains 

 which they are willing to take in order to secure an effective 

 picture." T\\& Photographic A'i'Tt/i' considers it "quite a com- 

 fort to record a statement like this, not because it praises English 

 work, but because it acknowledges the pictorial effect often 

 obtainable from a misty atmosphere." " Those who are ignorant 

 of the subject," adds our contemporary, "invariably credit the 

 alleged superiority of foreign photographs to the greater clear- 

 ness of the atmosphere which is supposed to prevail outside the 

 confines of Great Britain," 



An interesting case of a wild rabbit living in an almost tame 

 condition is recorded by Helen J. Murray in the current number 

 of Nature Notes, the Selborne Society's magazine. Mrs. Paul, 

 a fisherman's wife, living in a hut between Ardnahein Farm and 

 the mouth of Loch Goil, deserves the credit of having achieved 

 this result. The rabbit was brought in when very young by a 

 cat, and reared by Mrs. Paul, from whose hand it still feeds. 

 It now spends part of its time in the woods, and part on the low 

 sloping roof of the hut among the pigeons, or at the door among 

 the fowls. It is shy in the presence of strangers, but quite 

 friendly to the fisherman's wife. 



It seems that since the appearance of the Russians at Tashkend 

 a beginning has been made there in the cultivation of the better 

 kinds of tobacco. Kccoxdxn%\.o\\i& Journal of the Constanti- 

 nople Chamber of Commerce, quoted in the Board of Trade 

 Journal, first trials were made by a commercial firm trading 

 between Persia and China, The satisfactory result of this culti- 

 vation, due to the favourable atmospheric conditions and to the 

 fruitful qualities of the soil, attracted many Russian imitators, 

 and very soon the native population followed their example, so 

 that the area of land devoted to the cultivation of tobacco now 

 comprises sixty-three deciatines, and it is expected that it will 

 not stop at that point. 



The new number of L Anthropologie contains an interesting 

 article by M, Emile Cartailhac, on the Stone Age in Egypt. It 

 is the first of a series of papers on the stone age in Africa. 

 English readers will be glad to see that in this instalment M. 

 Cartailhac does ample justice to some of the discoveries of Mr. 

 Flinders Petrie, the value of whose work has also been fully 



