158 



NA rURE 



[December 17, 1891 



According to a telegram received in New York from Mexico, 

 the Mexican CJovernment has ordered the inhabitants of the 

 villages in the neighbourhood of the town of Colima to abandon 

 their homes and seek refuge elsewhere, as the volcano in the 

 vicinity, which was recently in eruption, shows signs of fresh 

 activity, and the country for miles around it is illuminated by 

 the flames issuing from the crater. 



The census of 1890 in Austria-Hungary shows that the rate 

 at which the population increased during the preceding ten 

 years was very different in the two great divisions of the 

 Monarchy. The increase in so-called Cisleithania was 7*9 

 per cent. ; in Transleithania, 10 "82 per cent. In the indi- 

 vidual provinces the increase was very unequal. In Lower 

 Austria it was I3'8 per cent., this high rate being due to the 

 attractive force of Vienna. Then came Bukowina with 13 "i 

 per cent. ; Galicia, io'4 per cent. ; Silesia, 6'5 per cent. ; 

 Moravia, 5*5 per cent, ; Bohemia, 5 per cent. ; the Alpine 

 lands, from yz to 3'6 per cent. ; and Tyrol, o'9 per cent. A 

 different set of figures is yielded by the increase of the various 

 nationalities. Among these the Poles stand highest, with 15 

 per cent. ; then the SeiboCroatians, 14 per cent ; the Ru- 

 thenians, 11 per cent. ; the Germans, 5 "66 per cent. ; the 

 Czechs, 5"65 per cent. ; the Slovenians, 318 per cent. ; and 

 the Italians, under i per cent. 



Mr. Henry Layer records in the current number of the 

 Zoologist the capture of a spotted eagle at Elmstead, near 

 Colchester, on October 29, 1891. On that day a farm labourer 

 saw a strange bird, evidently in an exhausted condition, alight 

 in the field in which he was working. When he went after it, 

 it rose, and flew about a hundred yards. He soon came up to 

 it, and, after some little difficulty, from its pugnacity, captured 

 it alive and uninjured, and in a few days sold it to a gipsy, who 

 in turn disposed of it to Mr. Pettitt, the local taxidermist. Mr. 

 Laver says its plumage appears to indicate good health, and that 

 its appetite favours that idea. If any injury led to its capture, 

 all marks of it have quite disappeared. 



The new instalment of the Transactions of the Leicester 

 Literary and Philosophical Society (vol. ii. part ix.) contains 

 an abstract of an interesting lecture by Mr. Harold Littledale, 

 of the College, Baroda, on some of his experiences with big 

 game in India. Mr. Littledale gave an especially good account 

 of shooting in the Himalayas. The ibex and markhoor were 

 found at altitudes varying from 10,000 to 20,000 feet, and could 

 be obtained only by perseverance in the face of many dangers 

 and obstacles. Q>{\}a&v<\2ccV\\oox{Capramegaceros), a splendid 

 animal which is becoming increasingly rare, he obtained ten 

 examples, and ibex had also fallen to his gun, with 45 

 inch horns — the maximum development being about 52 

 inches. Various species of sheep also occurred, as the magni- 

 ficent Ovis poli, which the lecturer had not yet met with, Ovis 

 ammon, Ovis cycloceros, &c. The chamois was found com- 

 monly in the Himalayas, and Hodgson's antelope could be 

 shot at elevations of 20,000 feet. Amongst the other mountain 

 animals described were the snow leopard, Sikkim stag, and 

 musk deer [Moschus moschiferus), with its tusks about 5 inches 

 in length. 



Mr. W. H. Rosser has written for the benefit of candidates 

 preparmg for the Board of Trade examinations a general ex- 

 planation of what is usually known as the " Compass Syllabus." 

 It is entitled "Compass Deviation : a Syllabus of Examination 

 in the Laws of Deviation, and in the Means of Compensating 

 it," and is published by Messrs. James Imray and Son. The 

 pamphlet is to be regarded as an appendix to Mr. Rosser's 

 *' Deviation of the Compass considered practically." 

 NO. I 155, VOL. 45] 



MM. H. Leveille and A. Sada, of Pondicherry, have started 

 a new botanical journal with the title Le Monde des Plantes : 

 Revue Menstielle de Botaniqtie. The first number appeared on 

 October l. It is published at Le Mans (Sarthe). 



The Council of the Owens College have published the first 

 volume of " Studies in Anatomy." It is edited by Prof. A. H. 

 Young, and presents a part of the results of investigations con- 

 ducted in the anatomical department of the College during the 

 last three or four years. 



Messrs. Bailli^re, Tindall, and Cox have issued a 

 second edition of Dr. Edridge-Green's work on " Memory : Its 

 Logical Relations and Cultivation." 



Anew edition of "Falling in Love: with other Essays on 

 More Exact Branches of Science," by Mr. Grant Allen, has 

 been published by Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co. 



Messrs. Bemrose and Sons have issued a second edition of 

 a "Hand-book to the Geology of Derbyshire," by the Rev. 

 J. Magens Mello. The work has been rewritten, and is illus- 

 trated with a map and sections. 



A CURIOUS compound of lead, sodium, and ammonia, 

 Pb4Na.2NH3, is described by M. Joannis in the current number 

 of the Comptes rendus. M. Joannis has been studying the nature 

 and reactions of the substance known as sodammonium, ob- 

 tained by dissolving metallic sodium in liquefied ammonia. The 

 deep blue liquid thus produced has been shown in a previous 

 communication (see Nature, vol. xliii. p. 399) to decompose 

 slowly at the ordinary temperature into hydrogen gas and 

 sodamide, a compound of the composition NaNHa, which M. 

 Joannis isolated in the form of colourless crystals. That such a 

 compound assodammonium (NaNHg),,, really exists in the blue 

 solution in liquefied ammonia would appear to be the most 

 natural assumption from these experiments. The reactions of 

 sodammonium now described lend additional support to this 

 view. When a rod of pure lead is placed in a saturated solution 

 of sodammonium in water, the reddish-brown liquid becomes 

 rapidly blue, and finally assumes a deep green tint. A small 

 quantity of hydrogen is evolved at the same time owing to the 

 decomposition of a portion of the sodammonium into sodamide, 

 as above described. The lead gradually disappears, and a solid 

 substance possessing an indigo-blue colour is deposited. This 

 blue substance is found upon analysis to consist of the compound 

 Pb4Na.2NH3, and would appear to be a sodammonium in 

 which a portion of the sodium is replaced by lead. It dissolves 

 readily in liquefied ammonia with formation of a solution 

 possessing a bottle-green tint. It is not very stable, dissociating 

 spontaneously on standing, with production of a grey substance 

 very much resembling spongy platinum. Upon exposure to air 

 it becomes warm owing to its rapid oxidation. It behaves in a 

 somewhat remarkable manner towards water. When intro- 

 duced in small quantities zi. a time into ordinary water, the first 

 portions dissolve completely, the oxygen dissolved m the water 

 oxidizing the lead to litharge, which at once dissolves in the 

 alkaline solution formed. As soon, however, as the oxygen in 

 the water is used up, further additions of the substance result in 

 the precipitation of black flocculae of metallic lead. Another 

 interesting reaction of sodammonium is that with metallic 

 mercury, which behaves in an entirely different manner from 

 lead. When the solution of sodammonium in liquefied ammonia 

 is poured over a globule of mercury, rapid action occurs, with 

 the ultimate elimination of the whole of the ammonia, and 

 production of a sodium amalgam of the composition NaHgg, 

 which has been obtained in well-formed crystals. This reaction 

 is the more interesting inasmuch as M. Berthelot, from purely 

 thermo-chemical considerations, has previously indicated the 

 possible exitence of such a compound of sodium and mercury. 



