654 



NA TURE 



[October 31. 1S95 



Brown Chimpanzee. The Chimpanzee described and fig\ired in 

 it is a young female living in the Zoological Gardens al Dresden, 

 remarkable for its reildish brown hair, projecting eyes, anil very 

 bright-coloured skin. Dr. Meyer discusses at some length the 

 numerous species, sub-siiccies, and varieties of the Chimpanzee 

 that have been proposed by various authors, and decides that 

 his " Brown Chim|ianzee " can be referred to none of them. 

 It may be quite true that no one has previously described such 

 a brown form of the Chimpanzeee, but nearly all mammals, 

 especially the Quadrumana, .ire subject to lighter variations in 

 colour, and we see no reason why this should not be the case 

 with the Chimpanzee, It would seem, therefore, that Dr. Meyer 

 has done well in not giving his Brown Chimp.-inzee a new 

 scientific name. It appears that nothing is known of the history 

 of the specimen, nor of its exact locality. 



The third and concluding portion of Kubary's monograph of 

 the ethnography of the Caroline Archipelago is now published 

 under the editorship of Herr J. D. E. Schmeltz, who has, as 

 usual, spared no pains to bring out the memoir in a way which 

 its value demands. The complete work consists of 306 pages 

 and fifty-tive plates ; many of the latter are coloured. They 

 are executed by Trap, which is a sufficient guarantee of their 

 excellence. It is to the famous but ill-fated Museum Clodeffroy 

 that we owe the inception of this investigation. -Vt a later dale 

 Kubary was connected with the Kgl. Museum fiir \ olkerkunde 

 in Berlin. The present section, which deals with house- and 

 canoe-construction in the I'elan Islands, maintains the level of 

 conscientious care and minute detail which characterised the two 

 former parts. The structure of the houses and canoes is 

 illustrated to scale by drawings in plan, elevation, and section ; 

 and details of fastenings and joinery are given on a larger scale. 

 We have thus all the information necessary to understand 

 structural details, which latter are too often lacking in the de- 

 .scriptions and illustrations of travellers. Some houses are richly 

 decorated with carved and painted ornamentation ; but unfor 

 lunatcly Kubary was not impressed with the importance of this 

 branch of ethnography, and so we are left in ignorance as to the 

 significance of the figures and patterns. What a pity it is that 

 the ethnography of our Possessions and Protectorates in various 

 parts of the world is not investigatid mid published in smh a 

 manner as this ! 



We have received from Mr. J. Eliot, F.R.S., Meteorological 



Reporter to the Government of India, parts viii. and ix. of vol. v. 



of" Indian Meteorological Memoirs," containing Ihediscussion of 



hourly observations made (l) at Deesa, a military station in the 



Palanpur State on the Hanas River ; and (2) at Kurrachee, the 



Port of Sind. The latter station is about three miles from the 



sea, and has a most complete ex|x)sure. The period embraced 



is 1875-93, and forms part of the proposed discussion of the 



observations recorded at twenty-five observ.ilories. For each 



station the mean observed hourly values of the various elements, 



and the iliffcrcnces from the mean of the day, have been 



cilrulaled, and from these the diurnal variations have been 



ri-ilved into four component harmonic oscillations by the ap- 



; 1 ■ Pin of Bcssel's formula, while the epochs and values of the 



r 1 maxima and minima have been computed by the method 



' If. Jtlinek, to the sec<md approximation. The in- 



\ of the materials at each station is of itself a most 



almnou.t and thorough piece of work, and the complete dis- 



cu.viion will lie proliably unequalled in magnitude. The imjHirt- 



ancc of the whole investigation can scarcely be over-estimated, 



and when the results are collated they cannot fail to throw much 



light U(Kin the causes which underlie the periodic variations over 



thi* vast area, and ilwir 'I'l'cndence on various phy.sical and local 



conditions. 



NO. 1357. vul,. 52I 



Xvi.osE, like arabinose, gives two optically active stereo- 

 isomeric acids on treatment with hydrocyanic acid and subse- 

 quent hydrolysis. Of these, gulonic acid has long been 

 recognised ; the second, idonic acid, has recently been isolated, 

 and its derivatives prepared by Eniil Fischer and Irving 

 Wetherbee Fay (Bcrichle, 1895, No. 14, p. 1975). The series 

 is remarkable as containing the last missing members of the 

 mannitol group of acids, sugars, and alcohols. The names — 

 idonic acid, idose, iditol, and idosaccharic acid — assigned to 

 these substances have been derived from " idem," and given on 

 account of the symmetrical geometrical formula; expressing their 

 constitution. From the formula of 1-idose, 



II on II 1)11 



CI 1,011 . c . c . c. c . coil 

 OH 11 on n, 



it is evident that hydroxyl and hydrogen are similarly related to 

 each of the asymmetrical carbon atoms, and that only the same 

 product, racemic acid, and no inactive tartaric acid can be pro- 

 duced by oxidation wherever the molecular chain is broken ; 

 in this respect a remarkable contrast to the other hexo.ses 

 being shown. l-"rom the product of the action of hydro- 

 cyanic acid on xylose, gidonic acid was separated by 

 repeated crystallisation of the lactones : the syrupy dark 

 liquid resulting on evaporation of the mother liquor was diluted 

 and treated with brucine. The product on evaporation and 

 addition of a large quantity of alcohol gave a crystalline mass 

 of brucine idonate. When purified and recrystallised from 

 methyl alcohol it formed colourless prisms, or long rectangular 

 plates, which melted with decomposition between 1S5' and 190" 

 (corr. ). The acid was prepared from the brucine salt by addition 

 of barium hydrate and subsequent decomposition of the bariun> 

 salt with sulphuric acid. Ultimately a relatively good yield ot 

 idonic .acid and its lactone was obtained as a colour- 

 less syrup, which dissolved easily in water, and with 

 difficulty in alcohol, and was insoluble in ether. 0*5 gram 

 dissolved in 3*5 grams of water gave a rotation of - 5 ■2° in a 

 decimeter-tube. The normal i<lonates of calcium, barium, cad- 

 mium, and lead are amorphous and very easily soluble in water. 

 .\ characteristic cadmium double sail, (C«Hu<^r)2Cd.CdBr3. 1 l.j( ), 

 crystallises in fine, colouriess needles. The correspimding 

 sugar, 1-idose, was prepared from the syrupy mixture of idonic 

 acid and its lactone by reduction with 24 i«;r cent, amalgam 

 after <lilution with ten times its volume of ice-cold water. The 

 sugar was isolated in the usual way as a syrup, which couUl not 

 be completely purified ihnuigh lack of material. A 10 percent, 

 sterilised solution did not ferment with yeast. The osazone, 

 prepared as usual, could not be distinguished from gulosa/one. 

 The alcohol of this series, 1-iditol, was obtained by the further 

 re<luclion of idonic .aciil by sodium amalgam, first in acid, and 

 finally in alkaline solution. It was purified by formation of the 

 benzaldehyde compound, recrystallised from acetone in colour- 

 less needles of the composition C„II,0„(Cll.Can3)3. The puri- 

 fied compound, on treatment with sulphuric .icid and alcohol, 

 gave the alcohol as a colourless syrup very easily sohdile in 

 water. The idosaccharic acid was formed from idonic acid by 

 treatment with nitric .acid, and yielded crystalline calciuni and 

 copper sails. 



The .tdditions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include a Brown Capuchin {Cchin faluellus) 

 from Guiana, presented by Sir Egbert Seliright, Bart. ; a King 

 Parrakeet {.Aprosmktiis smpiilaliis) from Australia, presented 

 by Mr. CJeorge Cawson ; two While Storks (Citonia alha), 

 European, presented by Sir Charles Payne, Bart. ; an Orlalan 

 V<\\n\mf,(Emlierha /lorlii/aiia), European, iiresenled liy Mr. II. 



