January 23, 1896J 



NATURE 



279 



to buildings occurred within a nearly circular area about 35 km. 

 in diameter, the centre of which is close to Florence. The 

 disturbed area contains about 27,000 sq. km. Under the form 

 of microseismic movements, the earthquake was recorded at 

 several Italian observatories, and also at Grenoble (France), 

 which is 460 km. from Florence, the mean velocity to the latter 

 place being 1 75 km. per second. 



According to a Reuter telegram from Christiania, the estate 

 of Hafslund, near the great waterfall known as the Sarpsfos, 

 Ijetween there and Goteborg, has been acquired by a syndicate, 

 consisting chiefly of German and American capitalists, for the 

 sum of 800,000 kroner. The purchasers intend to form a large 

 company with a capital of three to five million kroner, in order 

 to utilise the water power of the falls for electrical power, and 

 establishing aluminium works on the same principle as planned at 

 the Falls of Foyers in Scotland. The Sarpsfos is one of the 

 finest falls in south-eastern Norway, being 74 feet in height and 

 116 feet in width. 



The ancestral history of the horse, long familiar as a 

 most striking instance of the possibility of tracing a pedigree 

 by the aid of palaeontology, is now being worked out still 

 more minutely. In a paper just published (Btiil. Amer. 

 Mits. Nat. Hist., December 23, 1895) on the Perisso- 

 dactyls of the White River beds (Oligocene and Lower 

 Miocene), Messrs. Osborn and Wortman announce the discovery 

 of so complete a series of intermediate forms between Mesohippiis 

 Bairdi and Anchitheritim priestans, that a strict definition of 

 generic and specific names becomes impossible. These two and 

 the intermediate types " form a closely-connected phylogenetic 

 series of animals, slowly specialising and constantly increasing 

 in size. So far as we know," the authors add, " there is not a 

 single character missing in the structural chain. " 



Among the many points of interest which they possess, the 

 Ratite birds of the southern hemisphere have presented no 

 feature more curious and more inexplicable than the opercular 

 fold which covers the transitory gill-slits in the neck of the 

 embryo. The fold was first discovered five years ago by Prof. 

 T. J. Parker, who described its occurrence in embryos of the 

 New Zealand Apteryx ; but its recent discovery by Prof. 

 Nassonow in embryos of the ostrich also (Zool. Anzetger, No. 

 492) shows that it is a feature which probably characterises the 

 development of all the Ratite birds. A branchial operculum 

 has not, however, been observed in the early stages either of 

 reptiles or of Carinate birds, and the retention of so obviously 

 amphibian a character in Ratite birds alone among Sauropsida 

 provides a puzzle for ornithologists and embryologists alike. 



It is interesting to note, with reference to the observation of 

 of the meteor seen at Cahirciveen on the 6th inst. (Nature, 

 P- 253), notice of which was sent to us by Mr. R. H. Scott, 

 that according to a letter received at the Meteorological Ofiice 

 from Dr. A. Riggenbach, of Basle, a similar phenomenon was 

 seen at Hochwald, about seven miles to the south of the former 

 place, at 6 p.m. on the same evening. The observer noticed 

 over the mountains of Nunningen what appeared to be a star of 

 unusual magnitude. After looking at it for some time he was 

 surprised to find it moving and leaving a long trail after it. The 

 light increased in splendour, being first of a yellowish colour, 

 which, upon the bursting of the meteor into three or four 

 pieces, assumed a bluish-green colour. The movement con- 

 tinued in a soutii-westerly direction for about i^ seconds, when 

 the phenomenon disappeared below the horizon. 



The history of the introduction of the first hermetically- 

 sealed thermometer into France is contained in Cosmos of the 

 4th inst. , with extracts from the correspondence of Pierre des 

 Noyers, Secretary of the (^ueen of Poland. In 1657 he sent a 

 NO. 1369, VOL. 53] 



description of a Florentine thermometer to M. BouUiau, of 

 Paris, with a drawing of it, which is reproduced in Cosmos, and 

 in 1658 a specimen of the instrument was sent to Paris, 

 and was apparently used by M. BouUiau on June 25 of that 

 year. This thermometer was graduated by means of small 

 black enamelled knobs on the outside of the tube, and was 

 subsequently improved by the Accademia del Cimento. A full 

 description of the instrument is contained in Prof. Hellmann's 

 "Anfange der meteorologischen Beobachtungen und Instru- 

 mente" in Himmel und Erde, vol. ii. p. 175 (see Nature, vol. 

 xlii. p. 207). We are indebted to M. G. Maze for the publica- 

 tion of extracts from the interesting original documents which 

 are contained in the National Library in Paris. 



An account of some ingenious experiments on wind pressure 

 is reported in Engineering of December 27 last, made by 

 Messrs. H. C. Vogt and I. Irminger, of Copenhagen, to prove 

 that " the greater part of the lifting power of an aeroplane, or the 

 thrust of a close-hauled sail, was to be attributed to the rarefaction 

 on the leeward side of the same, and not to the direct pressure." 

 The experiments seem to show that even when a pressure-plate 

 was perpendicular to the wind, the direct pressure was equal to 

 only about one-third of the vacuum behind, and that when the 

 vane was placed parallel to the wind, a negative pressure was 

 indicated. For the purpose of the experiments, a current of air 

 was produced by inserting in the side of a high chimney con- 

 nected with the Gas Works one end of a rectangular conduit, 

 the interior sectional area of which was 4i x 9 inches, and the 

 length 40 inches. In this conduit was placed a hollow vane 

 which reached from side to side, but the width of which was 

 only 1 1 inches. The interior of the hollow vane was connected 

 through its axis with a water-gauge, and the arrangement was 

 such that the vane could be turned to any desired angle. Three 

 holes were bored in both faces of the vane, but only one of these 

 holes was used at a time, the others being stopped when not in 

 use. We think that the results arrived at should be accepted 

 with caution. The second leg of the pressure-gauge was con- 

 nected with the inside of the conduit by an opening just alx)ve 

 the vane, and there seems to be little doubt that the disturbance 

 of the air current must, in such a small passage, have been con- 

 siderable, and would probably affect the pressure upon the hole 

 connected with the second leg of the gauge. This may pos- 

 sibly account for some of the rather improbable results obtained. 



The Scalpel — a monthly journal of medicine and surgerj' — has 

 just made its bow to a medical public. The new journal is 

 edited by Dr. T. M. Dolan, and it will be conducted upon 

 much the same lines as the late Provincial Medical foiirnal. 



The January Journal of the Sanitary Institute (vol xvi. jmrt 

 iv. ) contains a paper on infectious diseases and methods of dis- 

 infection, by Dr. E. Seaton ; and among the articles is one on 

 the Hermite process for sanitation of towns, by Mr. E. J. 

 Paterson. 



The careers of few men inspire such international admiration 

 as the life of Huxley. His sterling qualities stand out so boldly 

 that they command the attention of the entire intellectual 

 world. The latest biographical notice that we have seen has 

 appeared in the last two numbers of the Hez'tte Scientifitjue, the 

 author being Dr. H. de Varigny. We commend Dr. Varigny's 

 appreciative notice to the attention of those who would be in- 

 terested to learn of the high regard in which Huxley's works 

 are held among men of science in France. 



We have received from Prof. G. Klebs, of Basel, an interest- 

 ing paper entitled Ueber einige Problemc der Physiologic der 

 Fortpjlanzung. He deals with all the most recent observations 

 on the phenomena of non-sexual propagation and of sexual 

 reproduction, especially in the vegetable kingdom, and sums up 



