14 



NA TURE 



[May 7, 1903 



Belloni du Chaillu was born in 1835, and at an early age 

 he went to live in the French colony of Senegamb.a, where 

 his father was a trader. There he acquired a knowledge 

 of languages and modes of life of the tribes, devoting much 

 attention to natural history. At the age of seventeen he 

 went to the United States, where he naturalised himself, 

 but in 185s he sailed for West Africa again, and spent four 

 years in 'the interior unaccompanied by any white men, 

 traversing a distance of more than 8000 miles on foot in 

 the equatorial region. The results were embodied in the 

 most important of his works, " Explorations and Adven- 

 tures in Equatorial Africa " (1861). He returned also with 

 many specimens, some of which were acquired by the British 

 Museum. The work provoked much controversy, and his 

 gorilla and cannibal stories, in particular, were widely dis- 

 credited ; but the general truth of his narrative was after- 

 wards substantiated, both as regards the river systems of 

 the Continent, its equatorial population, and its zoological 

 characteristics. In 1862-65 Du Chaillu revisited West 

 Africa, and afterwards published an account of the expedi- 

 tion in a volume under the title of " A Journey to Ashango- 

 land " (1867). Since then he had made journeys in Sweden, 

 Lapland, and Finland, and written numerous works, the 

 chief being " Stories of the Gorilla Country," " Wild Life 

 under the Equator," " Lost in the Jungle," " The Country 

 of the Dwarfs," " The Land of the Midnight Sun," and 

 " The Age of the Vikings," in which he contended that the 

 origin of the English race was Scandinavian. He was also 

 the author of other works. 



Referring to Mr. G. Henschel's letter in last week's 

 Nature (p. 610) on complementary singing by bullfinch and 

 canary, Mr. J. R. Paul writes from Alcluith, Dumbarton, 

 to say that he put a red-pole in a cage hung between the 

 cages of two canaries. After a time the bird dropped the 

 brisk " tweet, tweet " of the finches, and began to imitate 

 the canaries' song. His song is now an almost perfect copy 

 of the canaries' notes, and his own particular note is quite 

 lost. Moreover, Mr. Paul adds that a pair, of little green 

 parraquets are also learning the canaries' song. " Within 

 a very few days of their arrival they began to try ' notes,' 

 and already the imitation is laughably correct, the 

 ' squawky, ' parrot-like voice making the song only the more 

 ludicrous." 



The first scientific meeting of the Challenger Society for 

 the Promotion of the Study of Oceanic Zoology and Botany 

 was held on April 29, Dr. R. N. Wolfenden in the chair. 

 In a paper on bipolarity, Dr. G. H. Fowler cited recent 

 memoirs to show that, in spite of a good deal of destructive 

 criticism, a prima facie case had been made out for a 

 marked similarity (amounting in some instances to specific 

 identity) between the two sub-Polar faunas. Dr. Wolfenden 

 gave a preliminary account of the Copepoda collected by 

 Mr. J. S. Gardiner in the Maldive Archipelago. More than 

 ninety species had been already identified, of which some 

 sixteen were new. Mr. E. W. L. Holt exhibited and made 

 remarks on a new Gnathophausia from deep water. A 

 committee was appointed to inquire whether it will be 

 possible for the Society to undertake a card catalogue for 

 oceanic work. 



The monthly Bulletin published by the Philippine 

 Weather Bureau under the direction of the Rev. J. Algu6, 

 S.J., contains much valuable information relating to the 

 meteorology and microseismic movements of the Archipelago ; 

 the tables include meteorological data deduced from hourly 

 observations made at the Manila Observatory, and rainfall 

 and temperature data at a considerable number of stations. 



NO. 1749, VOL. 68] 



The last Bulletin we have received, for November, 1902, 

 gives an account and the track of a typhoon which occurred 

 between November 7 and 12. This typhoon was one of 

 the most rapid that has been experienced, and its speed did 

 not decrease until it reached the Asiatic continent. The 

 map shows that at noon on November 7 it was near the 

 meridian of 135° east, and that twenty-four hours later it 

 had already reached 122° east longitude, and that it entered 

 Luzon during the afternoon of that day. It speaks well for 

 the efficiency of the forecasting department of the observ- 

 atory that it was able to give timely warning of the ap- 

 proach of the storm to the provinces threatened. 



The Meteorological Office pilot chart for May shows that 

 there are immense quantities of icebergs and field-ice about 

 the Newfoundland banks, so much, indeed, that the steam- 

 ship owners have been compelled to order their commanders 

 to disregard the international steamer routes, and keep 

 about sixty miles to the southward, so as to endeavour to 

 keep clear of the danger. A number of bergs have been 

 sighted southward of the 41st parallel, beyond the southern 

 point of the Great Bank, and they extend thence northward 

 in vast numbers up the edge of the bank to about the 

 ;5oth parallel, and no doubt far beyond, while they are 

 scattered as far eastward as the 40th meridian and west- 

 ward to the 55th meridian. In addition quantities of field- 

 ice, drifting out of the St. Lawrence by Cabot Strait, render 

 navigation in the neighbourhood of Cape Breton and the 

 south of Newfoundland dangerous. It is many years since 

 there was so much ice in the neighbourhood. 



Negotiations are in progress with the Danish Govern- 

 ment for establishing wireless communication to Iceland 

 by the Marconi system. A provisional agreement has been 

 iinade between the Marconi Co. and a Danish association 

 by which the latter has the option of carrying out the 

 project; it has not yet been decided whether the communica- 

 tion shall be direct between Iceland, the Faroe Islands and 

 Jutland, or between the islands and Scotland. 



The full text of the Government Bill " to facilitate the 

 I introduction and use of electrical power on railways," which 

 jwas read for a first time last month, has now been printed. 

 'The chief effect of the Bill is to give, the Board of Trade 

 'power to make orders authorising railway companies to 

 juse electricity as motive power, and to generate such power 

 lor make agreements for. its supply. There are several other 

 Iclauses in the Bill relating to provisions which would be 

 inecessary in the case of a railway company changing. over 

 ipartly or wholly to electrical working. The Bill, as it 



facilitates acquiring the necessary powers for electrical 

 ^working by doing away with the necessity for introducing 

 ;a private Bill, can only help forward progress in this direc- 

 ition. The Government is certainly to be congratulated on 

 Ihaving, for once in a way, recognised the probable develop- 

 !ments of science before it is too late, and we hope that the 



Bill will soon become law, and that the railway companies 



will avail themselves of its provisions. 



' Some interesting evidence was given before the depart- 



•mental committee on electricity in mines by Mr. Selby 

 Bigge, especially in relation to the position of this country 

 in comparison with America and continental countries. Mr. 

 Bigge stated that he thought this country was very much 



.behindhand, not only in the application of electricity to 

 mining, but in the manufacture of electrical machinery 

 generally. This he attributed partly to the restrictive nature 

 of our legislation, and partly to the lack of scientific train- 

 ing on the part of the managers and others in authority. 



,He instanced numbers of examples of electrical mining in- 



