September 25, 1890] 



NATURE 



525 



Mr. a. McAdie, Fellow of Clark University, U.S., has 

 forwarded us his prize essay on tornadoes, reprinted from the 

 American Meteorological Journal for August. After a dis- 

 cussion of the state of our knowledge of storms of this character, 

 the possibility and practicability of predicting them is considered. 

 It is suggested that, since the barometric movement is too 

 sluggish and the thermometric indications too much masked to 

 be serviceable, the electrometer might be better adapted to give 

 notice and warning of the proximity of violent whirlings in the 

 air and detect those which would otherwise pass unheeded. A 

 careful study of cloud movement is also suggested, as a method 

 promising much in the way of obtaining knowledge bearing on 

 the occurrence of tornadoes. 



The Report of Dr. Eitel, Inspector of Schools in Hong Kong, 

 for the past year, contains some interesting details. The total 

 number of educational institutions of all descriptions, known to 

 have been at work in the colony of Hong Kong during the year 

 1889, amounts to 21 1 schools, with a grand total of 9681 scholars 

 under instruction. More than three-fourths of the whole num- 

 ber of scholars, viz. 7659, attended schools (106 in number) 

 subject to Government supervision, and either established 

 or aided by the Government. The remainder, with 2022 

 scholars, are private institutions, entirely independent of Govern- 

 ment supervision and receiving no aid from public funds. The 

 total number of schools subject to direct supervision and annual 

 examination by the Inspector of Schools amounted, in 1889, to 

 104, as compared with 50 in 1879, and 19 in 1869. The total 

 number of scholars enrolled in this same class of schools during 

 1889 amounted to 7107, as compared with 3460 in 1879, and 

 942 in 1869. In other words, there has been an increase of 31 

 schools and 2518 scholars during the ten years from 1869 to 1879, 

 and an increase of 54 schools and 3647 scholars during the ten 

 years from 1879 to 1889. It would seem, therefore, that the 

 decennial increase of schools and scholars during the last twenty 

 years has shown a tendency to keep up with the progressive in- 

 crease of population. Comparing the statistics of individual 

 years, the number of schools under supervision and examination 

 by the Inspector of Schools rose from 94 in 1887 and 97 in 1888 . 

 to 104 in 1889, whilst the number of scholars under instruction 

 in these same schools rose from 5974 in 1887 and 6258 in 1888 

 to 7107 in 1889. There is, therefore, a steady annual increase 

 during the last three ayears, progressing from an increase 

 of 284 scholars in 1888 to an increase of 849 in 1889. The ex- 

 penses incurred by the Government during the year 1889, on 

 account of education in general, amounted, exclusive of the cost 

 of new school buildings, to a total of §53,901. 



In Science reference is made to a question which may interest 

 many of our readers, "Should beer be drunk out of a glass?" 

 Dr. Schultze claims to have established, by a very extended 

 Series of experiments, that beer, by as little as five minutes' 

 standing in any glass, even when cold and in the dark, will be 

 materially affected both in taste and odour. By making trial 

 tests on some one hundred persons he sustains his claims. The 

 change is due, as he thinks, to the slight solubility of the glass 

 substance in the beer. Lead is used in the manufacture of glass, 

 making it more easy to manipulate, and from experiments with 

 glass obtained from the leading sources of supply, he determined 

 that one cubic centimetre of beer, by five minutes' standing in 

 glass, dissolved 6-26 ten-millionths of a milligram of the glass 

 substance containg 0-48 thousand-millionths of a milligram of 

 lead oxide. It is this small quantity of glass substance that 

 affects the taste of the beer, and if it contains lead, renders it 

 objectionable for sanitary reasons. By further experiments with 

 vessels of different substances, he comes to the conclusion that 

 gold-lined silver mugs are the best, and he ranks covered salt- 

 glazed stone mugs as good. 



NO. TO9I, VOL. 42] 



The United States Consul at Hanover, in a recent report 

 refers to afforestation in that State, where, he says, there were 

 formerly rich tracts of forests. These, in consequence of wars, 

 were reduced to desolate wastes, and remained so until the first 

 decades of the present century — particularly those districts 

 between Hamburg and Hanover which are known by the 

 name of Luneburger Haide. Another reason for the devasta- 

 tion was mismanagement, such as division of common forests, 

 by which they were dispersed and fell into the hands of people 

 with small means, and thus were doomed to neglect and 

 destruction. The celebrated Burkhardt was appointed Director 

 of the Forest Department in 1850, and under him part of the 

 Luneburger Haide, as well as other tracts growing more and more 

 desert by the encroachments of sand, have been wooded with 

 great pains and trouble. To prevent the increase of sandy 

 deserts those tracts were at first planted with fir-trees. After a 

 number of years these were cleared, and beech and other trees 

 substituted. How much the forests have been enlarged in this 

 manner will appear by the fact that the wooded surface amounted 

 in the year 1850 to 1,217,625 acres, and in 1885 to 1,551,900 

 acres. The Government granted large sums for the purchase of 

 land unfit for cultivation to be turned into forest tracts, and is 

 now intent on uniting again those formerly scattered wooded 

 parts into one single tract. In the same way the Klosterkammer 

 (Administration of cloister funds) purchase extensive stretches of 

 soil. Municipalities, communities, and even private individuals 

 who are inclined to establish foiests and manage them rationally, 

 will receive loans at 2 per cent, from the Provincial Govern- 

 ment, to be reimbursed yearly by small instalments ; single 

 subsidies also are granted for converting large wastes into forest 

 grounds. The Government employed vagabonds, tramps, and 

 prisoners not of a dangerous character, for forest culture. In 

 this manner about 9000 acres were planted with trees by those 

 troublesome classes within the years 1876 to 1888. Moreover, 

 communities as well as private individuals have turned about 

 14,000 acres into forest grounds within the same period by means 

 of subsidies afforded by the Provincial Government, and various 

 towns have laboured to preserve and plant forests in their vicinity 

 for purposes of health, recreation, and incidentally of profit 

 also. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Rhesus Monkey {Macacus rhesus i ) from 

 India, presented by Mr. A. S. Keys ; a Brazilian Tree- Porcu- 

 pine (Sphingurus prehensilis) from Trinidad, presented by Mr. 

 J. N. Kilner ; two Vulpine Phalangers [Phalangista vulpina 

 (J ? ) from Australia, presented by Mr. J. G. Mackie ; two 

 Pucheran's Guinea Fowls {Niimida pucherani) from East Africa, 

 presented by Mr. Keith Anstruther ; a Silver Pheasant {Euplo- 

 camut nycthemerus 9) from China, presented by Mr. E. W. 

 H. Blagg ; two Wheatears {Saxicola cenanthe), a Stonechat 

 {Pratincola rubicola), a Whitethroat {Sylvia cincrea), British, 

 presented by Mr. J. Young, F.Z.S.; an Owen's Apteryx(4//^ryj; 

 02veni) from New Zealand, presented by Capt. E. A. Fiadlay, 

 R.N.R., R.M.S, /v'z/aA/«<; a Blue and Yellow Macaw (^ra 

 ararauna) from South America, presented by Mr. Luxmore 

 Marshall; a Blue-eyed Cockatoo [Cacatua ophthalmica) from 

 New Britain, presented by Mrs. R. E. Anson; a Guillemot 

 {Lo7nvia tj-oile), British, presented by Mrs. Forbes; two Common 

 Gulls [Larus canus), a Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus), 

 British, presented by Mr. A. C. Howard ; a Lion {Felis lea S ) 

 from Sokoto, West Africa, deposited ; a Common Bee-eater 

 {Merops apiastcr), European, a Green-headed Tanager (Callisle 

 tricolor) from Brazil, purchased ; three Garden Dormice {Myoxus 

 quercinus) from Vosges, France, received in exchange ; 

 two Viscachas {Lagostomus trichodactylus), born in the 

 Gardens. 



