JUXK 13, 1 895] 



NA TURE 



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July 15 anil iJctoljer 31, 1^94 i-'V//, K. ,Iit. lUt ri,\iv( riUci, v., 

 1895). An examination of the traces corresponding to seismic 

 movements shows that they exhibit different kinds of oscillations, 

 some short, others long, in period. When the earthquakes 

 occur in neighbouring districts, the disturbance of the instrument 

 is brief and the vibrations are rapid. But, with distant earth- 

 'juakes, the disturbances last for much longer intervals. They 

 Ijegin with rapid oscillations which generally present several 

 maxima, so as to appear as if distributed in groups : while 

 towards the en<l, either alone or in company with the former, 

 succeed much slow^er oscillations, which perhaps correspond lo 

 undulatory movements of the earth's crust. 



Dr. Hoeber has been making some interesting experiments 

 to ascertain w hether the presence of water- weeds affects the vitality 

 of anthrax germs in water. l"or this purpose he constructed small 

 resli-waler aquaria, each of which contained about eight litres 

 of ordinar)- river Main water, some river sand, and a supply of 

 water-weeds, and in addition about 200,000 anthrax microbes. 

 These aquaria were only submitted to diftused light, and were 

 kept at 10° and 19" C. , respectively. Dr. Hoeber pre- 

 sumably worked with anthrax bacilli only, but special pre- 

 cautions were not taken to ensure the absence of spores ; no 

 anthrax germs, however, could be found after three days at the 

 lower, and four days at the higher temperature, respectively. In 

 his second report to the Royal Society, Prof. Percy Frankland 

 states that ^poriferous anthrax retained their vitality in ordinary 

 river Thames water for upwards of seven months without losing 

 their vindence ; but when exposed to sunshine they were destroyed 

 after eighty-four hours. On the other hand, when using aiUhrax 

 bacilli free from spores, as derived from the dead body of an 

 animal, the same authority (Proceedings Royal Society, 1894, p. 

 549) states that in sterilised river Thames and loch water they 

 were destroyed in about five days at 5° C. , and in fourteen 

 days at 13° C. ; but that at 19° C. they multiplied enor- 

 mously, and were present in large numbers on the forty-second 

 day. This different behaviour was found to be due to the bacilli 

 having formerl spores in the water at the higher temperature. 

 The danger of anthrax germs gaining access to water dejwnds, 

 therefore, upon the temperature of the water and the presence or 

 absence of spores in the morbific material. Judging oy Dr. 

 Hoeber's experiments, it would appear that the presence of water- 

 weeds and the ompctition of walcr-bacteria may offer obstacles 

 lo the vitality of anthrax bacilli in water. 



A SALE of much interest recently took place at the dispersal of 

 the herd of white polled cattle belonging to Mr. R. E. Lofft, of 

 Troston Hall, Bury .St. Edmunds. The herd, which comjirised 

 twenty cows and heifers and five bulls, represented the old " monks' 

 cattle," descended from the oldest historic breed of cattle in the 

 British Isles— the [xilled white, with black or red points on the 

 ears, muzzle, rims of eyes, and hoofs. Under the wave of im- 

 provement which set in with the work of Kakewell, of Dishlcy, 

 more than a century ago, the old hornless white breeds no 

 longer enjoye.l the pride of place, and .Mr. Loffts herd really 

 emlxKlied an attempt to restore this ancient breetl to something 

 like its former position. It is probable that these cattle were 

 originally selected by the monks, who in their day were the 

 leaders of agriculture. Being hornless, the animals would be 

 more easily domesticated, and less adapted to purposes of s[x)rt, 

 such as the chase and bull-baiting, .\fter the dissolution of the 

 monasteries, these cattle were dispersed over the country, and 

 mosily became merged in the common local varieties. \ few, 

 however, were kept pure, and at the beginning of this century 

 there were twii herds in Suffolk, which quite escaped the notice of 

 the late Kev. John Storer, the historian of the breed. It is 

 satisfactory lo know that some of Mr. Lofft's quaint cattle were 

 purchased by Mr. .Assheton-Smilh, of Vaynol Park, Carnarvon- 

 NO. 1337, VOL. 52] 



shire, where he has a herd of bla^,. t.iii..i ..u.. i. lack-muzzled 

 white horned cattle, and is now going to keep some of the polletl 

 type. 



Prof. L. ue .M.\rchi, the author of an Italian hand-book of 

 Meteorology, has contributed an important essay on the theory 

 of cyclones to the Piibblicazioni ai \\\e Milan Observatorv-. The 

 discussion consists of 42 .small folio pages and 15 plates, and 

 while ginng a general account of recent researches, treats the 

 subject chiefly from a mathematical [wint of view. The follow- 

 ing is a brief summary of the principal results arrived at : — The 

 changes in the shape and path of a cyclone, as well as all 

 the principal dynamic phenomena that accompany it, may be 

 deduced from the equations of the horizontal motion, if account 

 is taken of the distribution of temi>erature round the cyclone, 

 both as regards that which previously existed in the mass of air 

 subsequently occupied liy the cyclone, and that drawn into the 

 same area by the vertical movements produced by the earths 

 rotation. Therefore in some cases, if not always, it is useless to 

 have recourse to external causes, and particularly to the general 

 circulation of the atmosphere, to explain the persistence, change 

 of form, or the motion of a cyclone. The general circulation 

 may be the determining cause of a cyclone at a given point ; 

 its propagation, or the succes.sive transference of cyclonic 

 conditions to contiguous masses of air, is determined and 

 maintained, at least in some ca.ses, by the disturbances of 

 thermic equilibrium caused by the sun at the surface of the 

 earth, and induced by the earth's rotation. 



The old and fascinating problem concerning the manner in 

 which the ether moves with or through matter has been attacked 

 by Herr L. Zehnder, who contributes an interesting paper on 

 the subject to VViedctnaun s Anna/en. Me endeavoured to 

 decide whether the ether is pushed along by atoms or bodies, or 

 whether it passes through them without resistance, or, finally, 

 whether only a portion of the ether adheres to the particles of 

 bodies, and this portion only is carried along. The apparatus 

 used consisted of a cast-iron cylinder in which a piston moved 

 air-tight. A narrow tube led out from one end of the cylinder, 

 doubled back upon itself, and returned by the other end. Now 

 if the cylinder was exhausted of air, and the piston pushed the 

 ether before it, the latter would stream through the narrow tube 

 with a velocity greater than that of the piston in the ratio of the 

 sectional areas of the cylinder and the tube. This ratio was 

 560, and exhaustion was carried to i •40,000th of an atmosphere. 

 To test the motion of the ether, a beam frcjm a brilliant sodium 

 flame was passed through two thick parallel glass plates, the 

 .second one being silvered at the back. This plate, by its two 

 reflecting surfaces, split the beam into two, each of which 

 travelled through one jwrtion of the narrow tube. The 

 two beams, reflected near the cylinder by a rectangular prism, 

 were recombined by the same thick plate and returned along the 

 way they had travelled, being finally reflected into the reading 

 telescope by the first plate. Interference fringes were thus pro- 

 duced in the field of view, the motion of which would have indi- 

 cated a motion of the ether. But no such motion was observed 

 when the tidies were thoroughly exhausted, so tha; it must hi 

 concluded that the ether passes freely through solid bodies. 

 The corollary to this conclusion, that there is a relative motion 

 between the earth and ihe luminifcrous ether, though investi- 

 gated by the author by means of a new and ingenious apparatus 

 on the Rosskopf, near Freiburg, could not be proveil. 



The thirteenth part of Kemer and Oliver's " Natural History 

 of Plants," just published by Messrs. Blackie and Son. refers 

 chiefly to the production and characteristics of plant hybrids. 



TnEjuneyc«rH(j/of the Chemical Society contains, in addition 

 to pajiers read before the Society, and abstracts of other papers, 



