4i6 



NA TURE 



[August 23, 1894 



ExiERlMENTAL psychology is represented in Mind by an 

 article on "Mediate Association," by Mr. W. G. Smith, the 

 results of which do not appear to be very conclusive. In the 

 Psychological Rrjie-Ji, Prof. Ladd describes the results of experi- 

 mental work on the "direct control of the retinal field." A 

 class of sixteen students were asked to close the eyes, allow 

 after-images to die away, and then to cause, by attentively 

 willing, a cross, circle, or some other simple figure, to appear 

 in the retinal field. In two cases, where the results were suc- 

 cessful, a coloured figure was distinctly visualised, and when 

 the eyes were opened after these voluntary crosses were obtained, 

 and were immediately focussed on a sheet of white paper, a 

 cross was found to appear on the paper in the complementary 

 colour. It is clear that these experiments open up interesting 

 psychological problems. Prof. Jastrow, in the same journal, 

 describes c^cperiments on Helen Kellar, a blind and deaf girl. 

 The sensibility of her finger-tips and the palm of her hand were 

 found to be decidedly more acute than in the average individual ; 

 her verbal memory is decidedly above the normal ; and she 

 shows that sensitiveness to vibration and jars which has 

 frequently been noted in the deaf. 



Mr. Thomas R. Sim, Curator of the Botanic Garden, King 

 William's Town, South Africa, has done good service by col- 

 lecting and systematically arranging the records of Kaffrarian 

 plants, in a pamphlet recently published at Cape Town. As a 

 botanical district, KafTraria is described as an oblong tract of 

 country two hundred miles long by about one hundred miles 

 wide, bounded at one end by the Kiroo, and at the other end 

 by Xatal. Mr. Sim finds that the flora includes 2449 species, 

 of which 1690 are dicotyledons, 656 monocotyledons, and 103 

 vascular cryptogams. The richness in species is shown by a 

 comparison with Great Britain — an area much greater than that 

 of Kaffraria, but containing only about 1700 species. The 

 opinion is expressed that were the Kaffrarian plants as well 

 known as our own, they would number more than three thousand 

 species. Though Mr. Sim's list is incomplete, it is an excellent 

 groundwork upon which a detailed description of the flora of 

 the district surveyed may be built. 



For some years past Lieut. -General Pitt-Rivers has supplied 

 the means for physical and mental recreation near his country 

 seat at Kushmore. He has had the Larmcr Grounds laid out 

 as pleasure grounds, and opened them free to the public every 

 day. In 1S87 the number of persons who availed themselves 

 of this privilege was 15,351. and lait year the number was 

 24,143. To those intereited in breeding and acclimatisation, 

 some of the animals in the grounds at Kushmore will be found 

 of interest. But the museum at Farnham, established and 

 supported by General Pitt- Rivers, is most attractive to us. It 

 consists of eight rooms and galleries devoted mainly to anti- 

 quities, and containing models of the excavations carried on 

 by the generous donor in the neighbourhood. During List 

 year, more than seven thousand persons visited the museum. 

 Another building open is King John's House at Tollard 

 Koyal. This building contains a series of pictures illustrat- 

 ing the history of painting from the earliest times, commenc- 

 ing with Egyptian paintings of mummy heads of the 

 twentieth and twenty-sixth dynasties, ii.c. 1200-528. De- 

 scriptions of all these places are given in a short guide, re- 

 cently received, together with illustrations of some of the most 

 striking features. 



Statistics relating to the distribution of rain over the 

 British Isles have been collated by Mr. G. J. Symons, F.K.S., 

 in "IJnli'ih Rainfall," for thirty-four consecutive years. The 

 rolumc for 1893 resembles former issues so far as the tabular 

 matter is concerned ; but the great drought rendered the year 

 NO. 1295, VOL. 50J 



an exceptional one in several respects. .\t twenty-five stations, 

 only about an inch of rain fell from the end of February to the 

 end of June, that is, during a period of four months. A curious 

 point mentioned in connection with the discussion of this re- 

 markably low rainfall is that among the stations recording 

 droughts exceeding 120 days, two of the three which head the 

 list were situated on promontories or projecting parts of the 

 coast. These were Dungeness, with a period of 127 days, 

 during which only I '27 inches of rain were measured, and East 

 Dean (near Beachy Head), where l"iS inches fell in 126 days. 

 Several remarkably heavy falls in short periods occurred 

 during the year. At Preston, I '25 inches is estimated to 

 have fallen in five minutes on August 10 ; but this record 

 is hardly trustworthy. .\ fall of 062 inch in five minutes 

 was measured at Shirenewton Hall on June 14. This is 

 at the rate of 7^44 inches per hour. An extraordinary 

 lall of rain occurred at Eastbourne in July, and a waterspout 

 (or cloud burst) caused great damage on the Cheviots in the 

 same month. Various other remarkable falls of rain are re- 

 corded in the notes which the observers send to Mr. Symons 

 with the results of their rain-gauge observations. A discussion 

 of the relation of the total fall of rain in 1S93 to the average 

 shows that, taking the whole of the British Isles, the deficiency 

 was 14 per cent. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Rhesus Monkey (Macacus rhesus) from 

 India, presented by Mr. II. P. Nicholls ; an Ocelot (Felis 

 parJalis) from South America, presented by Miss Edith 

 Zambra ; two Ring Ouzels ( Turiiiis torquatus) from Hungary, 

 presented by Mr. John Young ; a Herring Gull (Zarwi ar_^enta- 

 iHs), British, presented by Mr. George Hayes ; a Common 

 Viper ( Vipera btnis) from Gloucestershire, presented by Mr. 

 Barry Burge. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Solar Electrical Energy.— .\ccording to Dr. M. A. 

 Veeder {Piociedings of the Rochester Academy of Sciences, 

 vol. ii., July 1894), there is conclusive evidence that magnetic 

 perturbations are not of thermo-electric origin, and aic- not 

 connected with heat and light radiations, lie holds, in short, 

 that there is no correspondence whatever between the behaviour 

 of magnetic storms and the manner in which thermal and 

 luminous radiations are originated and propagated from the 

 sun to the earth. His idea is iliat electrical disturbances upon 

 the sun are transmitted to the earth not by r.idiation but by 

 conduction through the impalpable dust and di bris with which 

 interplanetary space is filled. Such meleorilic particle^ arc 

 composed of good conducting material, and an exaiuinalion of 

 a large number of meteorites has shown Dr. Veeder that they 

 all possess magnetic properties which might have been prO' 

 duced by long-conlinucd induction. Therefore he thinks ihal 

 the origin of magnetic storms is as follows : — " Particular por- 

 tions ol the sun's surface and cooler immediate suiroundings 

 arc electrified by what has every mark of being volcanic aciion. 

 The motion of rotation of the sun carrying forward ihest 

 charged portions ol its surface, develops currents dynamically 

 which act inductively along lines of force wherever there is 

 conducting in.iterial within their scope. There is no convey- 

 ance by radiation or in a manner similar to that in which heal 

 and light are conveyed from the sun. The laws governing; the 

 process are entirely different from ihosc of radiation, and have 

 reference to the principles of conduction as they appear under 

 the conditions existing in interplanetary sp.ice. It is a mode of 

 solar action that is distinct, and that must be considered by 

 itself. " 



Tem pel's Periodic Comei. — This comet, rediscovered by .|1 

 Mr. Finlay at the Cape, on May 8, is still visible, and promises (^ 

 to be within the grasp of moderately large instruments for some 

 time. .M. Schulhof points out in the Aslronomisdie NaclirichUn 

 that it is desirable that the comet should be followed as long as 

 possible. The object is becoming more favourably situated 



