30 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Febeuaey 1 , 1893. 



minences I have myself seen many changes take place 

 which it was difficult to explain on the theory of the 

 upward projection of matter, combined with the assump- 

 tion that I was looking at the same mass of cooling matter 

 throughout the whole of the observation. In looking at 

 the sun's limb the line of sight passes through a very great 

 thickness of chromospheric matter, and one, no doubt, sees 

 several prominence regions superposed on one another, as 

 well as cool masses of gas which absorb the light of hotter 

 gas behind. The very rapid motions Dr. Brester speaks 

 of, if they exist in the chromosphere, are very rare, 

 though motions of over 200 miles a second are not 

 infrequent. Au upward velocity of about 38:-} miles a second 

 at the level of the sun's photosphere would, if there 

 were no resisting medium round the sun, carry matter 

 projected upward from the level of the photosphere away 

 from the sun never to return ; but with a resisting medium 

 like the corona surrounding the sun it is possible that 

 masses of gas may be shot upward with a much greater 

 velocity, and yet never get away from the sun. The forms 

 of the prominences seem to my mind clearly to indicate 

 motion of matter in a resisting medium ; and if there were 

 nothing else to go upon, I think that I should have 

 adopted a theory involving motion and projection into a 

 resisting medium to account for them. 



The even spherical surface of the solar photosphere does 

 not seem to me to point to an "undisturbed stratification 

 of the solar atmosphere in which the heavier gaseous 

 components sink to the bottom,'' but rather to a rapid fall 

 in temperature as we proceed upward from the sun, 

 causing the well-churned and evenly mixed matter around 

 the sun to emit diii'erent spectra at different levels, the 

 matter in the lower regions being more highly heated than 

 matter above, which can radiate more freely into space. — 

 A. C. Eanyard.] 



^-♦-^ 



A BRILLIANT METEOR. 



To the Editor of Knowledge. 



Dear Sir, — You may like to know that I with two other 

 members of my family observed a briUiant meteor here on 

 the evening of the 4th of .January, at about G.30 p.m. 

 It passed near the pole star and left a trail about 10"^ long. 

 It appeared to be going south. I see by the papers that a 

 bright meteor was observed at about the same time in 

 many parts of England and Wales, and that a meteoric 

 stone seems to have fallen the same evening close to the 

 drUl ground at Freiburg, in Baden. I should like to know 

 whether you think it possible that the meteor we saw can 

 have travelled so far, and over what area a meteor can be 

 seen Yours, &c., 



Folkestone. 



W. H. Watson. 



S'Ctntct Notes. 



« ^ « 



In our last issue we referred to the arrangements now 

 being made for an ethnographical survey of the United 

 Kingdom. It is gradually being recognized that so far 

 from being Anglo-Saxons, with a mere infusion of other 

 races, we are really a very mixed people of diverse origin, 

 and it is expected that the survey in question will dissipate 

 many popular errors. Readers interested in the subject 

 will find a mine of wealth in Canon Isaac Taylor's valuable 

 book, " Words and Places." 



[BrilUant meteors are seldom, if ever, seen at a height 

 much above 100 miles. A meteor at a height of 100 miles 

 could be seen on the horizon, if its light were not lost by 

 absoi-ption, at a distance of a little more than 900 miles 

 from the place over which it was vertically situated. But 

 the meteor observed by Mr. Watson does not seem to have 

 been moving in the direction of Freiburg. I notice that 

 the account telegraphed from Berlin, and published in the 

 St<inilonl of the 12th -January, does not say that the 

 meteor was observed to fall at Freiburg ; but that frag- 

 ments of a meteor had been found near to the drill ground, 

 which were blue-green in colour, and contained quartz 

 crystals. If the stones found contain quartz crystals they 

 are in all probability not meteoric, for no quartz has up to 

 the present time been found in bodies known to have a 

 meteoric origin. — h, C. Ranyakd.] 



The project of establishing a meteorological and astro- 

 nomical observatory on the summit of Mont Blanc made con- 

 siderable progress during the summer months of last year. 

 The building will rest on the snow, and this, it is said, can be 

 done with security. An astronomical dome, which is to com- 

 plete the observatory, will also be talven in hand this year. 

 — •-♦-* — 



Mr. E. T. Newton has communicated to the Royal 

 Society an important paper on some New Reptiles from 

 the Elgin Sandstone (of triassie age). During the last 

 few years a number of reptilian remains have been 

 obtained from the Elgin sandstone at Cuttle's Hillock, 

 near Elgin, which are now in the possession of the Elgin 

 Museum and of the Geological Survey. These specimens 

 represent at least eiglit distinct skeletons, seven of which 

 undoubtedly belong to the Dicynodontia, and one is a 

 singular horned reptile new to science. All the remains 

 yet found in this quarry are in the condition of hollow 

 moulds, the bones themselves having entirely disappeared ; 

 but gutta-percha casts have been taken of them. The 

 casts thus obtained indicate tlie former presence of several 

 species of (ionJuiiiii — one of the Dicynodonts — and reveal 

 the nature of the skull, and, to some slight extent, of other 

 parts of the skeleton. FJijinIa mi nihil is is the name pro- 

 posed for the skull of a reptile which, on account of the 

 extreme development of horns and spines, reminds one of 

 the living lizards, Moloch and Phrynosoma. The skull of 

 this ancient saurian seems to show aiiinities with both 

 Labyrinthodonts and Lacertilians, and is unlike any living 

 or fossil form. Prof. Seeley's strange Pnria-inunis, from 

 South Africa (Karoo beds), may be a distant ally. 



We hear a great deal nowadays about bacteria, and the 

 science of bacteriology is making great strides. Although 

 some bacteria are so deadly, others are of the greatest 

 possible service to mankind. It has recently been dis- 

 covered that these minute organisms play an important 

 part in determining the quality of tobacco ! The leaves of 

 the tobacco plant, before they are worked up into cigars 

 and finally handed over to the public, undergo certain 

 fermentative changes. It was formerly supposed that the 

 alteration in their condition thus brought about was due 

 to purely chemical changes, but some interesting expe- 

 riments recently made go to show that these important 

 results are brought about by special micro-organisms. In 

 a paper read before the German Botanical Society, Such- 

 land gives an account of his recent investigations on the 

 bacteria found in different kinds of tobacco. He has 

 examined fermented tobaccos from all parts of the world 

 and found that tliey contain plenty of micro-organisms, 

 although but few varieties, mostly only two or three 

 different species in any particular brand, and but rarely 

 micrococcus forms. Ho finds that pure cultures of bacteria 

 obtained from one kind of tobacco and inoculated on to 

 another kind generated in the latter a taste and aroma 

 recalling the taste and aroma of the original tobacco from 

 which the bacteria liad been in the first instance obtained. 

 This discovery suggests great possibilities. Thus, it is 



