490 



NATURE 



[September 17, 1903 



instituted to show the merits and demerits of the Great 

 Circle track, 3524 miles ; the Rhumb track, 3603 miles ; 

 and the suggested route iii&. the Azores and the Mona 

 passage, 3722 miles. The conclusion arrived at is that, 

 " taking into consideration the wind direction, the wind 

 force, and the sea-surface currents, it seems safe to assume 

 that the Azores routes will be covered by a vessel at her 

 usual speed in an interval of time certainly not greater than 

 that occupied by the same ship in following either the 

 Great Circle route or the Rhumb track, and probably in 

 less." 



The report of the Meteorological Commission of Cape 

 Colony for the year 1901 shows a considerable falling off 

 as regards the number of stations, compared with that of 

 the previous year, owing to the difTiculties of observation 

 and communication under the operation of Martial Law 

 within the colony. Nevertheless, the commission has been 

 able to publish rainfall statistics from 436 stations, ex- 

 cluding those connected with the Kenilworth Observatory, 

 and a large amount of valuable general meteorological 

 observations. Many of the stations destroyed or discon- 

 tinued were situated in the more sparsely populated dis- 

 tricts, and it is estimated that it will take years to recover 

 the lost ground. The commission reports, however, that 

 there is an awakening sense of the importance of meteor- 

 ology among the governing bodies of the other British 

 South African territories, and that, in spite of the troublous 

 times recently passed through, the prospects of the de- 

 velopment of meteorological observations are much brighter 

 now than ever they have been. We wish the commission 

 success in the continuation of its very useful operations. 



Particulars are given in the Scientific American of an 

 ingenious invention which has been brought out to notify 

 automatically the outbreak of fire, and to indicate to the 

 fire stations the name and position of the building which 

 is in danger. Of the device, which is the invention of 

 M. Emile Guarini, the essential feature is a thermometer 

 which is so arranged that it is capable of releasing a toothed 

 wheel which serves to transmit the requisite information. 

 When the heat reaches the thermometer and the mercury 

 rises in the tube until it reaches the mark indicated by 

 42° on the Reaumur scale it touches a small platinum wire 

 inserted in the upper end of the tube, and thereby closes an 

 electric circuit including an electro-magnet. Thus excited 

 the magnet attracts and holds its armature. This motion 

 releases a toothed wheel of peculiar construction, which, by 

 means of a weight or spring, is made to revolve, and pro- 

 duces during each revolution a series of makes and breaks 

 upon a contact piece placed in its path. A connected in- 

 duction coil describes the exact location of the endangered 

 property to the neighbouring fire station, where the message 

 is registered by a Morse apparatus, and the attention of 

 the attendants is directed by an electric gong to the signal 

 received. An incandescent lamp also glows when the alarm 

 is sounded. 



It will not be owing to want of help from the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture if West Indian planters fail to 

 get profitable returns from their land. In the last number 

 of the West Indian Bulletin the value of ground nuts, 

 Eucalyptus trees, and the bay tree is brought to notice. 

 Mr. W. G. Freeman has collected much practical inform- 

 ation on the subject of ground nuts, known also as monkey 

 nuts and pea nuts. Besides furnishing oils of which the 

 best grades ai-e nearly equal to olive oil, the ground nut, 

 Arachis hypogaea, offers another source of profit, since it 

 may be manufactured into oil-cake, for which ' there is 

 evident deiliahd, as at the present time large quantities are 

 NO. 1768, VOL. 68] 



imported. For the manufacture of bay oil and bay rum 

 the tree Pintenta acris has a considerable value ; it is in- 

 digenous to many of the islands, but must be distinguished 

 from the tree known as " bois d'Inde citron " iri Dominica, 

 the product from which is inferior. 



Judging from a circular which has been received from the 

 Forestry Bureau of the U.S. Department of Agriculture 

 the lumbermen of the United States of America do not 

 yet thoroughly recognise that their interests coincide with 

 those of the forester. Of the three papers included in the 

 circular, the first is an address delivered by President 

 Roosevelt in which he states that "the forest problem is 

 in many ways the most vital internal problem in the United 

 States." Chief-forester Pinchot discusses the mutual posi- 

 tion of the lumberman and the forester. 



We have received a chart of fossil shells found in con- 

 nection with the seams of coal and ironstone in nor.th 

 Staffordshire, drawn up by Dr. Wheelton Hind and Mr. J. T. 

 Stobbs. There are columns showing the strata met with 

 in the Potteries and Cheadle coal-fields, but the information 

 relates chiefly to the former and more important district. 

 The species figured are chiefly Mollusca, and they are 

 arranged alongside the divisions which they characterise. 

 The chart is published by the North Staffordshire Institute 

 of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, and it should prove 

 of practical use to mining students and to those engaged in 

 sinking for coal. 



Dr. J. F. Whiteaves has described some additional fossils 

 from the Cretaceous rocks of Vancouver, and has given a 

 revised list of the species therefrom, in the fifth and con- 

 cluding part of his first volume on Mesozoic fossils (Geol. 

 Survey of. Canada, August). A number of Crustacea, of 

 Cephalopoda and other Mollusca, and Brachiopoda are 

 figured. Echinoderms are represented only by fragments, 

 and corals and Polyzoa by two or three specimens. A few 

 fish-remains occur, including Lamna appendiculata, which 

 extends through the Upper Cretaceous strata, and ranges 

 from northern Europe to New Jersey and Queensland. 



Dr. Ernest W. Skeats contributes an essay on the 

 chemical composition of limestones from upraised coral 

 islands, with notes on their microscopic structure (Bull. 

 Museum Comp. Zool., Harvard Coll., vol. xlii.). The rocks 

 consist of true coral reefs and of fragmental strata made up 

 of organic debris. The author, after describing the 

 materials, briefly discusses the relation of the distribution 

 of magnesium carbonate in the limestones to the question 

 of the origin of dolomite. It seems probable that the in- 

 troduction of magnesium into the rocks takes place from 

 the waters of lagoons under certain favourable conditions. 



In addition to his presidential address on the distribution 

 of life in the Antarctic, Dr. H. Woodward contributes a 

 paper on East Anglian geology to the Transactions of the 

 Norfolk and Norwich Natiiralists' Society for 1902-1903. 



We have received two parts of the Bulletin International 

 (Rospravy Ceske Ak. Praze) for 1903. Among their con- 

 tents, reference may be made to an important article, by. 

 Dr. O. Volker, on the development of the pancreas in the 

 amniote vertebrates, and to a second, by Prof. J. Janosik, on 

 that of the blood corpuscles in the same great group. 



A LENGTHY illustrated account of the " Bathymetrical 

 Survey of the Fresh-water Lochs of Scotland " appears in 

 the current Geographical Journal, the introductory portion 

 of which gives the history of the origin of the survey ; this 

 is followed by particulars of some six of the lochs. The , 

 Geographical Journal is to publish the bathymetrical maps 



