September 24, 1891] 



NATURE 



501 



Port Nolloth, Mossamedes, Benguela, St. Paul de Loanda, Sao 

 Thome, and Bonny. The observations were made in 1889 by 

 Cojnmander T. F. Pullen, R.N., and Mr. W. H. Finlay, under 

 the direction of Dr. Gill, of the Cape Observatory. Whilst 

 stationed at Bonny, Commander Pullen succumbed to malarial 

 fever, and Dr. Gill has since taken charge of the reductions. 

 The observations would not have been possible but for the 

 courtesy of the officials of the Eastern and South African Tele- 

 graph Company, who placed their cables at the disposal of the 

 observers. 



Neptunia for July gives a description of the frigate Scilla, set 

 apart by the Italian Government for the hydrographic explora- 

 tion of the Mediterranean, and of its scientific fittings and instru- 

 ments. By the end of September the Scilla was expected to be 

 at work along the Italian possessions in the Red Sea, investi- 

 gating the fauna and flora, and the temperature at different 

 depths. 



Dr. a. Alcock, the Surgeon-Naturalist of the Marine 

 Survey of India, is able to give a most favourable report of the 

 work done in natural history on board the Investigator during 

 the year ending March i, 1891. The deep-sea researches made 

 great progress. Not only has the work of collection been much 

 more successful since the use of the reversible trawl and wire- 

 rope, but the collections themselves are becoming better ar- 

 ranged ; so that should it ever be decided to report upon them, 

 group for group, in systematic detail, there will be abundance of 

 material all soned ready to the hand. Dr. Alcock is most 

 anxious that such a report should at some time be undertaken ; 

 for apart from the Marine Survey of India nothing whatever, he 

 thinks, is likely to be made known of the life of the depths of 

 the Indian Seas, and of the physical and chemical characters of 

 the deposits now being laid down on the bottom of those seas. 

 Further, there are good reasons for supposing that an economic 

 return would follow from the careful investigation of the little- 

 known semi-baihybial fauna of Indian waters, and from a com- 

 parison between it and the semi-bathybial faunae of the Mediter- 

 ranean Sea on the one hand and the Japanese Seas on the other. 



We have received from Messrs. Philip and Son a new orrery 

 for finding roughly the positions of the sun, moon, and planets 

 for any hour of the year, and their times of rising, southing, and 

 setting. In general appearance it resembles their well-known 

 planisphere, but, in addition, it is provided with two index 

 arms graduated in degrees of declination — one for the sun, and 

 the other for the moon or planet. The operations are simple, 

 but the instructions givenscarcely do justice to the arrangements 

 for carrying them out. An almanac is, of course, a necessary 

 accompaniment to the orrery. We can recommend it to young 

 students of astronomy. 



A Botanical Club for California has been instituted under 

 the presidency of Dr. H. W, Harkness. 



We learn from the Botanical Gazette that Prof. J. M. Coulter 

 has been spending the summer in studying the Cactaceae of the 

 borders of the United States and Mexico, under the direction of 

 the Department of Agriculture at Washington ; and that an 

 expedition has been organized to investigate the flora of Mount 

 Orizaba, Mexico, under the superintendence of Mr. H. E. 

 Seaton. 



A QUARTERLY Review of Geological Science in Italy will 

 shortly appear at Rome, edited by Sigg. M. Cermenati and 

 A. Tellini. 



Mr. Charles Todd, in his Report on the Rainfall in South 

 Australia and the Northern Territory during 1890, says that 

 without doubt " the feature " of the year was the extraordinary 

 rainfall (especially in the first three -months) over the eastern and 

 north-eastern portions of the continent, which continued through- 

 NO. 1 143, VOL. 44] 



out the whole year, more or less, in New South Wales, and, 

 whilst giving that colony the wettest year on record, caused 

 some stations to register over 100 inches. 



The Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean for September 

 states that the most important storm of the month was the hurri- 

 cane that devastated the island of Martinique on the evening of 

 the i8th, causing the loss of 378 lives. The storm seems to 

 have been of comparatively small diameter, and it probably 

 originated south-east of the island, which it passed directly over, 

 on a west- north-west track towards San Domingo. It recurved 

 over the eastern Bahamas, and thence moved north-east close to 

 Bermuda ; where at noon of the 27th the wind blew with hurri- 

 cane force from north-north-west. The weather, the same as in 

 this country, was unsettled and rainy over the North Atlantic 

 generally, especially off the Atlantic coast of the United States, 

 and a considerable amount of fog has been reported. A sub- 

 marine earthquake was experienced at loh. 30m. a.m. on August 

 23, in latitude 36° 44' N., longitude 59° 47' W., by the s.s. 

 Robert Harrowing : Captain Hughson reports that a strange 

 commotion of the sea increased until the decks were filled with 

 water. At ih. p.m. the sea suddenly fell calm. 



Colorado apparently intends to be well represented at the 

 great Chicago Exhibition. Besides the mineral, agricultural, 

 and educational exhibits, the flora and fauna of the State will be 

 shown in great completeness. Already more than 1000 speci- 

 mens of plants have been pressed ; nearly 200 varieties of fruit 

 have been duplicated in wax, and more than 2000 species of 

 insects have been mounted. 



Retijrns have been collected in Prussia, showing the extent 

 to which buildings belonging to the State, or entitled to State 

 subsidy for rebuilding or repair, were damaged by lightning 

 from the year 1877 to 1886. The number of buildings to which 

 the returns relate is 53,502. Of these, 264 were struck during the 

 period in question, or about five for every looo buildings in ten 

 years ; and in 81 cases a fire resulted. The following facts, given 

 originally in the Reichsanzeiger, are reproduced in the current 

 number of the Board of Trade Journal: — Of the 264 buildings 

 struck, 107 had^towers, and in six cases only the tower escaped 

 being struck. Of the total number of buildings struck, fifteen 

 were fitted with conductors, and of these latter only one building 

 escaped injury. In two cases the conductor was injured, and on 

 one occasion the lightning passed from the conductor to an iron 

 water pipe. In five cases they were so constructed as to be 

 either dangerous or useless ; in six cases they were not struck at 

 all, being inadequate for the size of the building, from which it 

 will be seen that conductors are a safeguard against lightning 

 only when carefully constructed and repaired, and fiited in 

 numbers according to the size of the building which it is intended 

 to protect. The amount of injury wrought by lightning on the 

 53,502 houses was, on the whole, inconsiderable, being only 

 1,136,683 marks (;^56,83i), or 4306 marks (^215) for each 

 casualty, or 21 marks (a guinea) per building in ten years, that 

 is 2'l marks (about 2s.) per building per annum. 



Some parts of Australia seem to be admirably suited for the 

 growth of the olive. Mr. Principal Thompson, of Dookie, says 

 in a recent report that 700 olive trees planted in thai district are 

 robust and healthy, and that they produce splendid oil. He 

 strongly recommends the planting of the olive around vineyards 

 and homesteads for shade and shelter, and to give a picturesque 

 appearance to the rural home. Apart from the making of oil, 

 he believes it would pay handsomely to grow olive berries to 

 feed pigs alone. Last winter the pigs at Dookie (about 80 

 head) were allowed to eat up the fallen berries in the olive 

 grove ; they had no other food for upwards of two months, and 

 throve amazingly, their skins having a peculiar shining appear- 

 ance, characteristic of animals being well fed. 



