178 



NATURE 



[June 20, 1895 



may vary considerably. The observation thus affords another 

 instance of a Cuckoo placing its e^ in the nest of a particular 

 species of bird, although there were numerous nests of Hedge- 

 Sparrows and other dupes of the bird in the vicinity, into which 

 the e^ could have been put with much less difficult}'. 



A STORY to the effect that a new breed of cats had been pro- 

 duced in the cold-storage warehouses of Pittsburg went the 

 rounds of the newspapers some months ago, and was reprinted 

 in most of our scientific contemporaries. It has even found its 

 way into Mr. Lydekker's recent volume on "Cats." A letter re- 

 ceived from the Secretary of the Cold Storage Co., and published 

 in the June number of the American Naturalist, shows that the 

 story has but a slight foundation in fact. The letter reads 

 as follows : — " While there is some foundation for the newspaper 

 article, it is somewhat exaggerated. Our cold-storage house is 

 separated into rooms of various sizes, varjing from io° to 40° 

 above zero. About a year ago we discovered mice in one of the 

 rooms of the cold-storage house. We removed one of the cats 

 from the general warehouse to the room referred to in the cold- 

 storage house. While there, she had a litter of several kittens ; 

 four of these were transferred into one of the general warehouses, 

 leaving three in the cold-storage house. After the kittens were 

 old enough to take care of themselves, we put the old cat back 

 into the house we had taken her from. The change of climate 

 or temperature seemed to affect her almost immediately. She 

 got very weak and languid. We placed her again in the cold- 

 storage room, when she immediately revived. \\Tiile the 

 feelers of the cats in the cold-storage room are of the usual 

 length, the fur is thick and the cats are larger, stronger, and 

 healthier than the cats in any of the other warehouses." Thus, 

 it is pointed out, the only result of the change of environment 

 was the usual one which ensues on the advent of winter in extra- 

 tropical latitudes generally. 



IIerk H. Schinz reprints from V.n^tT's Botanisclusjahrbiuh, 

 vol. \xi., a synopsis of the African Amaranthace^, in which a 

 numl>er of new species are described. 



Thk most recent part published (No. 7) of Dr. Geoi^e King's 

 " -Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula," published in 

 the foiirnat of the .Asiatic .Society of Bengal, is occupied by the 

 orders Melia<ett, Oladnta, and Ilicinea. A large number of 

 new siwcies are described , and a new ^enus, Bracea, belonging 

 to the OLicinea-. 



I.N an article reprinted from the Ann. de la SocitSt^ beige de 

 .Mii-rosiopie, .M. E. Marchal discusses the microbiological 

 l>rcjcesses which take part in the ripening of soft cheeses, 

 especially those known as " fromage de Herve " and " fromage 

 Casctte." While a kirgc number of microbes appear to assist 

 in the process, he states that the essential part is played by 

 the fungus known as Oospora lattis, Sacc. 



In a previous note (vol. li. p. 540), we have given a brief 

 account of the Vicentini microscismograph erected in the 

 University of Siena. A full description of the instrument, 

 illustrated with three figures, has now been published by the 

 inventor (Bull. Sot. Veiuto-Trenliua di S<i. Nat. vi., 1895), 

 and well deserves the attention of seismologists. 



Wk are glad to observe that the South London Entomological 

 and Natural History .Society re])orts a prosperous condition, in 

 ihc volume ni Prxeedin/p for the year 1894. The Society dates 

 back to 1872, and has been a centre of scientific energies ever 

 since its foundation. 



Tmr |>a(>ers read at the fifth annual meeting of the Museums 

 Avv>cialiiin, held at Dublin a year ago, have just been published 

 in a re|Kjrt of the proceedings at the meeting. The report, 

 which is edited by Mr. K. Ilowarth and Mr. H. M. Platnaucr, 

 should be in the han>ls of all curators of museums. 



XO. 1338, VOL. 52] 



The first number of a bimonthly journal for sanitary engineers 

 will be published at Brussels on .Vugust I , under the title La 

 Technologii Sanitairc. It will be under the direction of an 

 editorial committee, the secrelar)- of which is M. Victor J. Van 

 Lint, 115 rue Joseph II., Bruxelles. The journal will deal with 

 all questions relating to public health. 



A Fl'i.i. abstract of a paper on " The Psychologic Development 

 of Medicine," read by Dr. J. H. McCormick before the Johns 

 Hopkins Hospital Historical Club, on .\pril 8, appears in the 

 Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulletin, No. 49. The paper follows 

 almost exactly the same lines as Mr. Herbert Spencer's paper 

 in the current number of the Contemporary Xeview. 



The latest addition to the Encyclopedic Scientifique des 

 Aide-Memoire is " Transmissions par Cables Mctalliques," by M. 

 M. H. Leaute and A. Berard. The transmission <if power by 

 metallic cables has given rise to important mathematical 

 developments which are considered in this .\ide-.Memoire. The 

 authors confine themselves to the theoretical points which ought 

 to be known to every engineer concerned with cable trans- 

 mission. 



To the series of Economic Classics in course of publication by 

 Messrs. Macmillan, has just been added Thomas Mun's impor- 

 tant treatise, " England's Treasure by Korraign Trade," written 

 about 1630, and printed for the first time in 1664. The treatise 

 marks an important (period in the history of economic thought, 

 and its author is regarded by political economists as the founder 

 of the mercantile system. In the present reprint of the first 

 edition of the book, the lille-iMge is reproduced in facsimile, 

 and the original spelling and punctuation are followed through- 

 out. 



The third part of " I'hycological Memoirs," edited by Mr. 

 George;Murray,'has just been published by Messrs. Dulau and Co. 

 The memoirs are devoted to researches made in the Botanical 

 Department of the British Museum (Natural History), and Ihe 

 present jiart contains jiapers on " .\ New Part of rachytheca," 

 " Calcareous Pebbles formed by Alga:," " The Sori of Macro- 

 cystis and Postelsia," and " X Comixirison of the Arctic and 

 Antarctic Marine Floras." Four very fine lithographed plates 

 illustrate the papers. 



The colours exhibited by the artificial spectrum-top, described 

 and discussed in these columns some months ago, are shown much 

 more distinctly, and in greater variety, by a " Betts's Chromo- 

 scope," sent to us by Messrs. deorge Philip and Son. The 

 instrument consists of an ingenious whirling table, by means of 

 which heart-shaped pieces of cardboard, having arcs of diflferenl 

 thicknesses variously disposed up<in them, are put in rotation. A 

 moderate speed of rotation jiroduces a ver>' definite impression of 

 coloured rings, an<l when some of the more complicated designs 

 are used, secondar)' tints are clearly seen. 



Messrs. J. and A. Churchill have published an eighth 

 edition of the well-known " Bloxam's Chemistry, Inorganic and 

 Organic," rewritten and revised by Prof. J. M. Thomson and 

 Mr. A. G. Bloxam. Several new woodcuts have been added, 

 and some obsolete ones have been omitted. Considerable 

 changes have been made in the arrangement of the subject- 

 matter, and a large portion of the took has been rewritten, while 

 the whole of it has been well revised. The changes all appear to 

 have l>een in the direction of improvement ; hence the l)ook will 

 hold its place as a good text-book and a handy work of reference. 



We have received from Dr. L. Palazzo an account of a 



meteorological station recently attached to Ihe laboratories of 



the Public Health Department in Kome. The authorities, 



recognising the important connection between various diseases 



atmospheric conditions, have provided the station with a full 



