September 26, 1895] 



NATURE 



525 



two specimens brought home about two years ago were from 

 Northern Mashonaland. Thus this animal, until lately sup- 

 posed to be quite extinct, has now been found in a second 

 locality. But these are now the only two spots on the face of 

 the earth where this huge creature, formerly abundant in the 

 Cape Colony, still exists, in very dwindling numbers, which 

 will, no doubt, be now rapidly diminished. 



A COMMITTEE of six gentlemen has been appointed by the 

 Governor-General of Goa, India, to carry on excavations in the 

 ancient city of Goa, in rearch of relics of the traditional grandeur 

 of the past, and to take the necessary steps for the preservation 

 of the monuments of Portuguese rule in India in the earlier time. 



An electrical forge, where the whole of the heating required 

 is done by electricity, is in operation at Niagara Falls, the power 

 being supplied by the great cataract. The cost of making a 

 horse-shoe at the electric forge is, it is stated, much less than at 

 an ordinary coal forge. We hear, too, that corn is being threshed 

 by electricity, with very satisfactory results, at Mjolby in 

 Sweden. 



We have received from Mr. W. Radclifle, of .\ndreas School, 

 Isle of Man, the inventor of the " Gonagraph,"' an instrument 

 for drawing perfectly accurate equilateral triangles, squares, pen- 

 tagons, hexagons, heptagons and octagons, an arithmetical 

 puzzle. The puzzle consists of nineteen small cubes, having a 

 face on each numbered with one of the first nineteen numbers, 

 which are to be placed upon squares, symmetrically arranged on 

 a board, five on the middle row, and two rows of four and three 

 squares to right and left of this. The numbers are to be so 

 arranged that their sum along each of twelve straight lines shall 

 make up thirty-eight. This sum is also obtainable from other 

 symmetrical arangements. It will thus be seen that the puzzle 

 is of the nature of a magic square, and is a very ingenious one. 

 The author has favoured us with his solution, which naturally is 

 at present kept back. He has not furnished us with a clue to his 

 arrangement, and we have in vain searched for it ; nor dots he 

 say whether he has attempted any extension of the puzzle to 

 thirty-seven or a higher number of cubes. The " thirty-eight " 

 puzzle can be obtained direct from the inventor in a sniall box 

 for sixpence. 



A DESCRII'TION" has been sent to us of a new arc lamp for 

 projection purposes, which has been devised by Mr. Cecil M. 

 Hepworth. The instrument has three regulating discs or milled 

 heads of vulcanite, which project at the back, so as to Ije under 

 the control of the lanternist. The top and bottom discs are for 

 the purpose of regxilating the positions of the carbons, and the 

 middle disc has three duties to perform, viz. to bring the carbons 

 slowly together as their points waste in consumption, by a push 

 action to cause the carbons instantaneously to touch, and by a 

 spring to as quickly separate, while by an upward movement 

 the worm-wheel is thrown completely out of gear, and the car- 

 bons can l>e rapidly sejjarated or brought together by hand, a 

 provision necessary for the saving of time when inserting new 

 carbons. 



The September part of the Proceedings of the Physical Society 

 of London has reached us, and contains, in addition to the 

 usual valuable supplement of " Abstracts of Physical Papers 

 from Foreign .Sources," the following papers: — " A Theory of 

 the Synchronous Motor," by W. G. Rhodes (continuation) ; " On 

 the Use of an Iodine X'oltameter for the Measurement of Small 

 Currents," by Prof. E. F. Ilerroun, " On the Condensation and 

 the Critical Phenomena of Mixtures of Ethane and Nitrous 

 Oxide," by Dr. Kuenen ; " An Electro-Magnetic Effect," by 

 F. W. Bowden ; and "The Electrical Properties of Selenium," 

 by Shelford Bidwell, K.R.S. 



NO. 1352, VOL. 52] 



T "5 September-October part of the Physical Review 

 (Macmiilan) contains the following articles : " A Study of the 

 Polarisation of the Light emitted by Incandescent Solid and 

 Liquid Surfaces," by K. A. Millikan, ".Alternating Currents 

 when the Electromotive Force is of a Zigzag Wave Type," by 

 E. C. Rimmington, "On Ternary Mixtures," by W. D. 

 Bancroft, part 2 ; and minor contributions. 



Bourne's Handy Assurance Manual for 1895, by William 

 Schooling, has been published. It contains in a small com- 

 pass a whole host of information likely to be of use to those who 

 are interested in insurance matters, and appears to have been 

 compiled with great care. 



We have received from Messrs. (}. W. Wilson and Co., 

 Limited, 2 St. Swithin Street, Aberdeen, copies of their cata- 

 logues of lantern slides. The list of subjects illustrated is a very 

 full one, and the catalogues may be had upon application. 



On the completion of the fiftieth year of its existence, the 

 editor of the Bolanischc Zeitung publishes a very useful index of 

 the papers contained in the first fifty volumes. 



The September number of the Irish Naturalist has just ap- 

 peared, and is entirely devoted to reports of the Galway 

 conference and excursion of the Irish Field Club Union, held 

 in July. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include a Bonnet Monkey {Mcucuus sinicus, 9 ) 

 from India, presented by Miss Larkin ; a Macaque Monkey 

 {^Matcuus cyitcmolgus, i ) from India, presented by Mr. W. 

 Aldridge ; a Purple-faced Monkey (Semnopilhecus leucoprymmis) 



from Ceylon, presented by Mrs. Grifiith ; a Monkey 



{Cercopitltecus, sp. inc.) from Africa, presented by Miss Pigott ; 

 two Vulpine Phalangers {Phalangista vttlpina, 6 9 ) from 

 Australia, presented by Mr. F. J. Horniman ; a Magpie (Pica 

 caiidata), British, presented by Mr. H. E. Blandford ; an 

 Orange-cheeked Amazon (Chrysotis auliiinnalis) from Central 

 America, presented by the Rev. W. J. Loftie ; a Martinique 

 (lonornis iiiartiiiiciis), captured off the Island of .\scension, 

 presented by Mr. H. W. Power ; a Smooth Snake (Coroiulla 

 Icsvis), a Common Viper ( Vipera berus), British, presented by 

 Mr. G. J. S. Warner; a Brown Capuchin ( Ci-i;/.? /a/Hs/Z/w) from 

 Guiana, three Grant's Francolines (Francolinus granti) from 

 East Africa, two Egjplian Trionyx ( Trionyx itiloliciis) from 

 the Congo, deposited ; a Two-toed Sloth ( Cholopus didaclyiits^ 

 from Brazil, a Vcllow-naped Amazon (Chrysotis auripalhata) 

 from Central America, purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Orbit ok /t= Bootis (2 1938). — Dr. T. J. J. See gives 

 in the Astr. Nach., No. 3309, Bd. 138, the results of his re- 

 searches on this star. This double was discovereil by Sir William 

 Herschel in 1781, and since the time of Struvc it has been very 

 abundantly observed. In all parts of the orbit the pair is 

 sufficiently wide to be seen with a 6-inch telescope. The 

 investigation gives the following elements of )i- Bootis ; other 

 elements are given for comparison. 



