May 26, 1892] 



NATURE 



79 



primitive conception Nzambi was a celestial being or force, a 

 Nature spirit like Zeus or Indra, who ruled the sky or controlled 

 the tempest. 



Among the Isubu, e.g., a cognate form signifies "heaven," 

 and such is the case also at Cape Lopez. Winwood Read's 

 Mpongwe raised their hands to heaven when they appealed to 

 Njambi to save them from the hurricane ; and his Ashira slave 

 pointed in the same direction when questioned on the subject of 

 the deity. The Manyombe regard Nyambi as heaven, and the 

 Basundi call him the " spirit on high ; and according to Kolbe 

 the otyi Hereroterm Karunga Ondyambi= "heavenly bestower," 

 *• who gives and withholds rain." 



The word bears little evidence of change, and is perhaps of 

 comparatively modern origin. 



It appears, therefore, that while the Eastern Bantus, who 

 worship Unkulunkulu, indulge in ahnencult, the western 

 adherents of Nzambi are more or less Nature worshippei-s. In 

 this respect they appear to approach the Negroes of the Gold, 

 Slave, and Oil Coasts. 



A third and smaller, but very distinct group apply the term 

 Morimo or Molimo to their conception of the deity. I refer to 

 the Barolong, the Basuto, the Batlapin, and other clans, which are 

 generally classed together as the Bechuana tribes. " Morimo " 

 is the singular form of a word the plural of which, barimo, 

 balimo, bedimo, bazimo, is found almost universally among the 

 Bantu tribes to denote the spirits of the dead. 



The application of the singular form, Morimo, Molimo, in a 

 specialized and restricted sense to the Supreme Being is con- 

 fined almost entirely to the Bechuana tribes, and has perhaps 

 been only recently used in this monotheistic sense ; although 

 John Pory mentions (in his edition of Leo Africanus, A. D, i6<X)) 

 Muzimo as the one god of the Monomotapa tribes, and Graven- 

 broek (a.d. 1695) says of the Kaffirs of Zimboe, " Divinitatem 

 aliquem Messimo dictam in lucis summo cultu venerantur." 



One other tribe, the Lomwe, who live east of Lake Kilwa 

 among the Namuli Hills, use the word Murimu for God ; in 

 this respect differing from their Makoa foes, who worship Mlugu ; 

 but this rather leads one to conclude that this tribe is an 

 outlying Bechuana clan. Mr. O'Neill has pointed out the 

 peculiarities of language and architecture which distinguish the 

 Lomwe from their neighbours. W. Hammond Tooke. 



Cape Town. 



Aurora Borealis. 



Have any of your readers observed the display of aurora 

 borealis to-night (Wednesday) ? I regret that insufficient know- 

 ledge of astronomical technicalities does not permit me to 

 describe more exactly the size and position of the display. It 

 appeared between 11 and 11.30 p.m., as white streaks or bands 

 of light, varying in width and intensity, now shooting up a 

 considerable distance, now dying away. It was especially 

 brilliant just to the right of the constellation of Cassiopeia, and 

 this was its furthest eastward limit ; it extended more or less 

 across the whole northern sky, and at times was bright enough 

 to dim the stars it covered. The rays appeared to shoot up 

 high into the sky above Cassiopeia. It was a very beautiful 

 phenomenon, and was possibly more distinct in more northern 

 latitudes. Warington Stock. 



S. Paul's Vicarage, Derby, May 18. 



THE NEW ELEMENT, MASRIUM. 



"PURTHER details concerning the new element, whose 

 ^ probable existence was announced in a paper com- 

 municated to the Chemical Society at their meeting on 

 April 21, are contributed to the number of the Chemiker 

 Zeitung dated May 1 1. The mineral containing the new 

 substance was discovered in 1890 by Johnson Pacha in 

 the bed of an old river in Upper Egypt long since dried 

 up, but of the former existence of which there are records 

 dating back some 6000 years. Indeed, the name by which 

 it is known in the neighbourhood is " Bahr-bela-Ma," or 

 *' river without water." Here and there in the track of 

 the old watercourse are small lakes whose water is of 

 considerable repute for its medicinal value. Specimens 

 of the mineral were sent by Johnson Pacha to the Khedivial 

 Laboratory at Cairo, where it was examined by Messrs. 

 H. Droop Richmond and Hussein Off, the authors of the 



NO. II 78. VOL. 46I 



paper laid before the Chemical Society. The mineral is 

 found to be a fibrous variety of a mixed aluminium and 

 iron alum containing ferrous, manganous, and cobaltous 

 oxides. In addition, however, to these ordinary con- 

 stituents, a small quantity of the oxide of another element 

 would appear to be present, having properties entirely 

 different from those of any yet known. This element the 

 discoverers have termed masrium, from the Arabic name 

 for Egypt, and the mineral has accordingly received the 

 name of masrite. The symbol adopted for masrium is Ms. 

 The composition of masrite may be expressed by the 

 formula (Al,Fe).,03 . (Ms, Mn, Co, Fe)0 . 4SO3 . 20H2O. 

 The amount of masrium present is very small, averaging 

 only about 02 per cent., but by working upon fifteen kilo- 

 grams of the mineral a considerable quantity of the ele- 

 ment in the form of various salts has been accumulated. 

 A typical analysis of masrite published in the Proceedings 

 of the Chemical Society is as follows : — 



Water 



Insoluble matter 

 Alumina 

 Ferric oxide ... 

 Masrium oxide 

 Manganous oxide 

 Cobaltous oxide 

 Ferrous oxide 

 Sulphuric oxide 



40-35 

 2-6i 



10"62 



1-63 



0*20 

 256 

 I '02 



4 '23 

 3678 



100 00 



Suspicions that the mineral contained some hitherto 

 unknown constituent were first aroused by the fact that 

 when it was dissolved in water, and sulphuretted hydro- 

 gen was passed slowly through the solution in presence 

 of acetic acid, instead of the expected black pre- 

 cipitate of sulphide of cobalt a white insoluble substance 

 was first precipitated. This white precipitate continued 

 to form until the new substance in the solution was all 

 used up, when black sulphide of cobalt began to be thrown 

 down. By decantation before the formation of the latter, 

 and subsequent washing with dilute hydrochloric acid, 

 the white substance was isolated in a state of tolerable 

 purity. It was found to dissolve in boiling nitrohydro- 

 chloric acid. The solution in aqua regia was evaporated 

 in order to remove the excess of acid, and ammonium 

 hydrate added, when a voluminous white precipitate of 

 the hydrate of the new metal was thrown down. The 

 hydrate was washed by decantation, and subsequently 

 dissolved in the minimum excess of sulphuric acid. 

 The solution of the sulphate of the new metal was next 

 evaporated to syrupy consistency, water was added until 

 complete solution was just effected, and the solution 

 mixed with an equal bulk of alcohol. The effect of this 

 addition of alcohol was to cause immediate precipitation 

 of crystals of the sulphate of the new metal, a further 

 crop of which was also obtained upon evaporation. By 

 repeated recrystallization most of the small quantity of 

 iron present was removed. In order to eliminate the 

 last traces of admixed ferrous sulphate, the crystals were 

 redissolved in water, and excess of sodium hydrate added. 

 As the hydrate of the new metal is soluble in excess of 

 soda, the hydrated oxide of iron was readily removed by 

 filtration. Upon the addition of ammonium chloride the 

 white hydrate was precipitated in a gelatinous form ; the 

 hydrate was redissolved in hydrochloric acid, and again 

 precipitated and washed. The almost perfectly pure 

 hydrate so obtained was then finally converted to chloride 

 by solution in hydrochloric acid. 



In order to obtain data as to the atomic weight of 

 masrium the following determinations were made. A 

 known quantity of the chloride solution was precipitated 

 by ammonia, and the hydrate thus obtained was ignited, 

 and the remaining oxide weighed. A second portion 

 was precipitated by a solution of microcosmic salt in 

 presence of ammonia, and the phosphate obtained ignited 



