246 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Oct., 1904. 



Wireless Telephony. 



In order more closely to investigate the phenomena attend- 

 ing the disruptive discharge of a Kuhmkorff coil, Mr. F. 

 Lifchitz, as recorded in a paper recently presented to the 

 Russian Physico-Chemical Society, places a concave mirror on 

 the axis of the Ducretet commutator working the coil. On 

 account of the synchronism, a fixed image of the spark is 

 obtained on the screen instead of a Federsen band, as 

 obtained in the case of the rotation of the mirror being much 

 more rapid. The image observed is a single one in the case 

 of the spark length being maximum, 2, 3, etc. images — up 

 to some dozens — being realised as the distance of the electrodes 

 from the spark becomes less. In order to be able to record 

 these observations, the author fitted a photographic plate 

 instead of the mirror verticallv to the axle of the commutator, 

 when the images of the sparks followed up each other at in- 

 creasing intervals, beginning with -rs'-sHn second. This goes to 

 confirm Hertz's opinion, according to which the discharge of 

 the coil would carry an amount of electricity much greater 

 than that of an electrostatic machine in virtue of the more 

 rapid increase in potential. The number of impulses obtained 

 for the same length of spark varies directly as the intensity 

 of the current traversing the primary circuit. Now let the 

 commutator of the coil be replaced by a microphone acted 

 upon by the voice of the experimenter. Each letter pro- 

 nounced will result in a series of disruptive discharges, the 

 series of impulses being the longer as the pulsations are 

 stronger. The vibration thus set up may be received by the 

 aid of a decoherer. A whole series of vibrations following up 

 e.ach other at intervals of some 10,000th of a second will result 

 in a single variation in the resistance of the decoherer, being 

 the greater as the series is longer, and the time necessary for 

 producing decoherence being of some thousandths of a 

 second. 



ZOOLOGICAL. 



By R. Lydekker. 



The Blood of Men a.nd Apes. 



At the Anthropological Congress recently held at Grcifswald, 

 Professor Uhlenhuth described at considerable length the re- 

 sults of experiments he had undertaken with the view of ascer- 

 taining whether any closer affinity exists between the blood of 

 the man-like apes and that of man than between the latter and 

 the blood of the lower monkeys and mammals in general. 

 1 he result is to show that, although it is perfectly easy to dis- 

 tinguish between human blood and that of the lower mammals, 

 it is much more difiicult to demonstrate under the microscope a 

 satisfactory distinction between the former and that of apes 

 and monkeys. But this is by no means all ; for, whereas the 

 resemblance is greatest between the blood of man and that of 

 man-like apes, it becomes less strongly marked when that of 

 the lower Old World monkeys is compared, still less so in the 

 case of the American monkeys, and least of all when the blood 

 of the lemurs is under comparison. This is exactly what might 

 have been expected to occur, seeing that the lemurs dep.art 

 most widely of all the Primates from the human type. 

 » » » 



The Gorillas a.t the " Zoo." 



The recent arrival at tlie Zoological Society's menagerie of 

 two apparently healthy young gorillas was an event of great 

 importance and interest. Unfortunately, the elder of the two 

 {aiat 5^ did not long survive, succumbing to a disease which 

 was apparently already in its system at the time of its pur- 

 chase. The other and younger animal, which was supposed to 

 be three years old, has also died. Only two gorillas have pre- 

 viously been exhibited in the Regent's Park. The first of 

 these was a young male, purchased in October, 18S7, from Mr. 

 Cross, the well-known Liverpool dealer in animals. At the 

 time of arrival it was supposed to be about three years old, 

 and stood zh feet in height. The second, which was a male, 

 and supposed to be rather older, was acquired in March, iSq6, 

 having been brought to Liverpool from I'rench Congoland by 

 one of the African Steamship Company's vessels. It is de- 



scribed as having been thoroughly healthy at the date of its 

 arrival, and of an amiable and tractable disposition. Neither 

 of these animals survived long. 



So long ago as the year i.St5, when the species was known 

 to zoologists only by its skeleton, a living gorilla actually 

 existed in this country. This animal, a young female, came 

 from French Congoland, and was kept for some months in 

 Wombwell's travelling menagerie, where it was treated as a 

 pet. On its death, the body was sent to the late Mr. Charles 

 Waterton, of Walton Hall, by whom the skin was mounted in 

 a grotesque manner, and the skeleton given to the Leeds 

 Museum. Apparently, however, it was not till several years 

 later that the skin was recognised by the late Mr. A. D. 

 Bartlett as that of a gorilla ; the animal having probably been 

 regarded by its owner as a chimpanzee. 



Of the two recent arrivals at the " Zoo.," one appears to 

 belong to the true gorilla (Aiithrflpopitluriis i^orilln), while the 

 other represents the red-headed gorilla, which has been de- 

 scribed as Gorilla castuiwicips. It is now definitely known that 

 there are several local forms of gorilla, of which one inhabits 

 East Central .Africa ; but naturalists are by no means in 

 accord as to whether they should be regarded as species or 

 sub-species. If the latter view be adopted, the gorilla should 

 be included in the same genus as the chimpanzee (Anthro- 

 pi'pitlu-ciis}, but, if the former course be followed, it would pro- 

 bably be better to regard the various species as representing 

 a genus (Gorilla) by themselves. 



Whether it will ever be possible to keep a specimen in cap- 

 tivity in this country till full-grown remains to be seen. Since 

 the above-mentioned 3-year old example was only 2 J ft. in 

 stature, gorillas must probably take something like 15 or 16 

 years to reach maturity. 



* * » 



Fossil Mammals in the Ganges Valley. 



An extremely interesting discovery of the remains of extinct 

 mammals has recently been made during excavations under- 

 taken for the foundations of the Ganges bridge at Allahabad, 

 India. The remains include those of one or two species of 

 hippopotamus, of a wild ox, and of an elephant, all belonging 

 to extinct species. .Apparently all these species are identical 

 with those long known from the valley of the Narbada, con- 

 siderably further south in India ; but it is possible that the 

 Ganges bones, like others discovered in the early part of last 

 century in the valley of the Jumna, may belong to a somewhat 

 later portion of the Pleistocene epoch. In all probability the 

 creatures they represent were cotemporaries of the early 

 human inhabitants of India; and the special interest of the 

 discovery lies in the possibility that it may give rise to inves- 

 tigations for the purpose of ascertaining whether human 

 remains may not occur in the same deposit. In connection 

 with the former existence of hippopotamuses in India, it may 

 be remarked that we have yet to learn why these animals died 

 out while elephants survived. 



* * « 



Mammoth Skull in Kent. 



We have also to record a very interesting palseontological 

 discovery at Erith, in Kent. A short time ago it appears 

 that while some labourers were working in a sand pit at 

 that place, they came suddenly upon an entire skull of a 

 mammoth, at a depth of about 2^ feet from the surface, with 

 tusks close on six feet in length. L'nfortunately they forth- 

 with proceeded to exhume the prize, which of course at once 

 fell to pieces. Had it been properly treated with size and 

 plaster, it might have been extricated whole, when it would have 

 formed a most valuable specimen, as only one entire British 

 mammoth skull is known. 



* * * 



The Later History^ of the Horse. 



This subject was discussed at the late meeting of the British 

 Association by Professor Ridgeway, who urged that while the 

 ordinary "cold-blooded " horses of Europe and Western Asia 

 trace their descent to a dun-coloured stock more or less nearly 

 resembling the Mongolian wild ponies, Arabs and thorough- 

 breds are descended from a l>reed whose colour was bay. fre- 

 quently with a white star on the forehead .and a white ring on 

 the fetlock. This ancestral bay stock, it is urged, originally 

 came from North Africa, whence it migrated into Western 



