June 26, 1890] 



NATURE 



207 



In the Journal 'of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic 

 Society, Mr. Alfred Everett has just published a most important 

 list of the birds of the Bornean group of islands. Hitherto 

 the work of Salvadori has been the standard record for Bornean 

 ornithology, but the numerous discoveries of recent years have 

 rendered that author's " Uccelli di Borneo " considerably out of 

 date, and the Catalogue of Bornean birds published by Dr. Vorder- 

 nian in i886 is a list of names merely. The work just com- 

 pleted by Mr. Everett will therefore be of great assistance 

 to ornithologists, as it gives references to all the recent 

 scientific memoirs on Borneo, published in England and in 

 Germany. 570 species have now been recorded from the islands, 

 the numbers having been considerably increased by the recent 

 ■discoveries of the author himself and Mr. John Whitehead's expe- 

 dition to Kina Balu. Mr. Everett has given a carefully compiled 

 list of the localities where the species have been found by him- 

 self and other travellers. Two very good maps of Borneo are 

 given, one "showing roughly the distribution of highlands and 

 lowlands," with all the best-known collecting stations indicated 

 as well ; and the other being a map of Palawan, showing by the 

 soundings that this island is intrinsically a part of Borneo rather 

 than of the Philippine archipelago. 



In the current number of the Board of Trade Journal, it is 

 stated that the French Consul-General at Warsaw has informed 

 his Government of the establishment of a commercial museum 

 in Warsaw. This is to form a permanent exhibition of speci- 

 mens of the products and manufactures of Poland, as well as a 

 bureau of information for Russian or foreign merchants. At a 

 small charge all persons can be supplied at the office of this 

 museum with information on any subject connected with trade. 

 The museum is at present at No. 66 Faubourg de Cracovie, 

 Warsaw. 



A Meteorological Society is to be established in New 

 York, where many persons are giving attention to weather 

 science, owing to the relations existing between some branch 

 thereof and their own vocation. It is intended that the Society 

 shall be purely local at first. 



Das (Fetter (or May contains an article by Dr. P. Perlewitzupon 

 the influence of the town of Berlin upon its climate. He finds that 

 the difference of the mean temperature between the town and 

 the open country outside differs, in various months, from o°7 to 

 2°*3, the town being always warmer. The smallest differences 

 are in spring and winter. The greatest daily differences are 

 found to be in the evening, owing to a retardation of radiation 

 in the town ; from this time the difference decreases until about 

 midday, when there is no perceptible difference between the two 

 localities. Dr. Hann has found similar results for Vienna, but 

 the differences there are smaller, owing to the better exposure of 

 the town station. The humidity is less in the town than in the 

 •country ; in the evening, in June and July, the difference 

 amounts to above 19 per cent. No appreciable effect appears 

 to be exerted by the town upon the rainfall, as compared with 

 that of the country stations. 



Dr. G. Hellmann, to whom meteorologists are indebted for 

 ■various interesting investigations into the history of that science, 

 has contributed to Himmel tmd Erde (Heft. 3 and 4, 1890) 

 two instructive articles on "the beginnings of meteorological 

 -observations and instruments." He divides the history of the 

 development of observations into three periods : (i) that ending 

 ■with the middle of the fifteenth century, up to which time they 

 -were of a very fragmentary and almost aimless character ; (2) 

 that in which observations were taken, at least once a day ; and 

 <3) that in which they were systematically taken with instruments, 

 <iating from about the middle of the seventeenth century. It is 

 i.ot exactly known who first kept a regular meteorological 

 journal, but Humboldt attributes it to Columbus, on his first 

 NO. 1078, VOL. 42] 



voyage to America in 1492, while the Italians also appear to 

 have made daily observations from the middle of the fifteenth 

 century. The wind-vane is by far the oldest of the meteoro- 

 logical instruments. In the periods of Homer and Hesiod, in 

 the ninth and eighth centuries B.C., the qualities of the winds 

 were correctly described. The first arrangement for observing 

 the wind-direction is the Temple of Winds at Athens, which 

 was built about 100 years B.C. A picture of this tower is given 

 by Dr. Hellmann. Eginhard, in the reign of Charlemagne, de- 

 noted the winds by the four cardinal points, and their variations. 

 The first instrument for denoting the/jr^^-of the wind is ascribed 

 to Robert Hpoke (1667) ; this instrument is essentially the same 

 as that now used and known as Wild's pendulum anemometer. 

 The absorption or organic hygrometer was invented about 

 the middle of the fifteenth century, by N. de Cusa, although the 

 invention is generally ascribed to L. da Vinci. The first con- 

 densation hygrometer is attributed to the Grand Duke Ferdinand 

 II. of Tuscany. The first continuous hygrometrical observa- 

 tions appear to have been by R. Boyle, at Oxford, in June 

 1666. The first thermometer is attributed to G. Galilei, towards 

 the end of the sixteenth century. Some few years later, the 

 instrument was improved, although the freezing-point was the 

 only fixed point determined, and the graduation was made by 

 means of little knobs in the glass, every tenth one being 

 enamelled. The first rain-gauge was used by B. Castelli in 

 1639, although usually a later date is quoted. The discovery 

 of the Torricellian tube, in 1643, is too well known to require 

 special remark. These are only a few of the very interesting 

 points referred to in Dr. Hellmann's instructive investigations. 



In an interesting paper contributed to the May number of the 

 Ottawa Naturalist, and now reprinted separately, Dr. G. M. 

 Dawson brings together some striking facts with regard to the 

 extent of Canadian territory which is still unexplored. The 

 entire area of the Dominion is computed at 3,470,257 square 

 miles, and he calculates that an area of 954,000 square miles of 

 the continent alone, exclusive of the inhospitable detached 

 Arctic portions, is for all practical purposes entirely unknown. 

 In this estimate the area of the unexplored country is reduced 

 to a minimum by the mode of definition employed, and Dr. 

 Dawson thinks we may safely assume that it is about one million 

 square miles, or between one-third and one-fourth of the whole. 

 That the aggregate of unknown territory is so vast is not quite 

 creditable to Canadian energy ; but Dr. Dawson hopes that the 

 task of exploration will be undertaken by no one who has not 

 the necessary scientific qualifications. " The explorer or sur- 

 veyor," he says, " must possess some knowledge of geology and 

 botany, as well as such scientific training as may enable him to 

 make intelligent and accurate observations of any natural features 

 or phenomena with which he may come in contact." 



There is a disease in Japan known as kakke, a disorder of 

 the kidneys communicated by bacilli, and closely related to the 

 more virulent beri-beri. From the distribution of kakki, M. 

 Gueit has recently drawn conclusions as to the ethnic composition 

 of the present population of Japan. The fact that Chinese 

 always escape the disease, even in localities where it is very pre- 

 valent, indicates (in his opinion) that the Chinese or Mongolian 

 element is not the dominant one. He finds three constituents in 

 the population : (i) descendants of Ainos ; (2) of Negritos ; and 

 (3) a Malayan element, which is the most prominent. Wherever 

 the Malayan goes.he brings with him \}r& beri-beri ox6^g.x of disease^ 

 his liability to this being probably due to the Hindu blood in 

 him. From India we find beri-beri spread, like the Malays, to 

 Madagascar on the one side, and to Japan on the other ; we 

 meet with it also in Java, Sumatra, &c. According to the 

 proportion of Malay blood in the natives of Japan is the 

 frequency of the malady, which occurs in various forms and under 

 different names. As to the Negrito element in Japan, M. Gueit 



