December 7, 1899] 



NA TURE 



135 



History Museum. The young one differed from the adult in 

 that the under-surface of the body was flesh-coloured instead of 

 white. 



We learn from a German contemporary that a complete horn 

 — that is to say, both the horn-core and its sheath — of the 

 Avrochs or extinct European Wild Ox {Bos taurus primigeiiius) 

 was disinterred some years since from a peat-bog at Treten, in 

 Pomerania, and is now preserved in the zoological museum of 

 the high school. The specimen has been examined by Dr. A. 

 Nfehring, of Berlin, who pronounces it to be about 300 years 

 ■old ; it is only in peat, or in an extremely dry cave, that the 

 conservation of horn would be possible for such a lengthened 

 period. 



Owing to the frequent settlement of the land in the salt 

 districts it has always been found a difficult matter to maintain 

 in proper order bridges and other similar structures. To meet 

 this difficulty the engineer of the Weaver Navigation, in con- 

 structing two new swing bridges over the river at North wich, 

 has so designed these that, instead of resting on the land, the 

 weight of the bridges is carried on steel pontoons floating in 

 the water, and the bridges are therefore independent of any 

 settlement of the land so far as their foundations are con- 

 cerned, and they are so built as to be easily adjusted to any 

 settlement of the ground at the two ends. These bridges also 

 are opened and closed by electric power, being the first to be 

 so operated in this country. The two bridges have cost 25,000/. 



An interesting use of electro-magnets in steel works is 

 referred to in the Electrical Review. It appears that in the 

 works of the Illinois Steel Company, which makes very exten- 



Electro-m.-\gnets carrying a steel plate. 



sive use of electric power for all the purposes ot steel manu- 

 facture, electro-magnetic cranes are used to carry plates from 

 the rolls to the shears. A long plate being conveyed in this 

 manner is shown in the accompanying illustration. 



Monsieur Charles Janet, President of the Zoological 

 Society of France, has for some years been engaged in invesi- 

 i^ating the minute anatomical structure of ants, wasps, and 

 bees. The results of his investigations are published at intervals 

 under the title of " Etudes sur les Formis, les Guepes, et les 

 Abeilles " ; and of these we have just received Nos. 17, 18, 

 and 19, the last published in the Mdnioires of the French 

 Zoological Society for 1898. All these treat of the anatomy 

 of different portions of the body of the Red Ant {Myrmica rufa). 

 Another memoir, on the cephalic nerves of the latter insect, 

 appears in the journal last mentioned for 1899, although not 

 under the same general title. The work being of an extremely 

 technical nature, its details cannot be described in a note ; but 

 we may observe that these are worth the best attention of all 

 students of insect morphology. The illustrations alone serve 

 to indicate the extreme care and labour that the author has 

 devoted to his subject, the elaboration of detail being little 

 short of marvellous. 



We learn from the Scientific American that the Naval Board 

 appointed to inspect and report on the performance of the 

 NO. I 57 I, VOL. 61] 



Holland submarine boat has reported that in the recent tests, 

 held on November 6, in New York Harbour, she fulfilled all the 

 requirements laid down by the Department. These require- 

 ments were that she should have three torpedoes in place in the 

 boat, she should have all arrangements for charging torpedoes 

 without delay, and that she should be prepared to fire a torpedo 

 at full speed both when submerged and at the surface. Lastly, 

 the Holland was to make a run for two miles under water, 

 starting from one buoy, running submerged for a mile to a second 

 buoy, rising to discharge a torpedo at a mark near the second 

 buoy, and then, after diving again return submerged to the start 

 ing point. In his report Chief Engineer John Lowe, U.S.N., 

 who was specially ordered to observe and report the preliminary 

 trial, says : " I report my belief, after full examination, that the 

 Holland is a successful and veritable submarine torpedo 

 boat, capable of making "a veritable attack upon the enemy 

 unseen and undetectable, and that therefore she is an engine of 

 warfare of terrible potency which the Government must neces- 

 sarily adopt into its service." 



The November number of the fournal of the Franklin 

 Institute contains several of the addresses delivered on the 

 occasion of the recent celebration of the seventy- fifth anniversary 

 of the Institute. Dr. J. W. Richards, president of the chemical 

 section, which is the oldest of the sections, inaugurated the 

 proceedings of the commemorative week with an address in 

 which he showed that the Institute has always stood for the 

 happy combination of theory and practice— the union of pure 

 and applied science. Mr. H. W. Wiley gave an address on the 

 relation of chemistry to the advancement of the arts. The 

 i following remark illustrates the dominant influence of chemica I 

 science in one direction : " The agricultural experiment stations 

 of the United States which have been directed by chemists, have 

 taken such a leading position in the development of agricultural 

 science as to practically monopolise all those investigations 

 which have been most useful to agriculture throughout the 

 country." Dr. E. J. Houston gave an account of the position 

 of electrical science at the time of the birth of the Institute, in 

 1824, and showed that the Institute has exerted a marked 

 influence on the extension and application of electricity by its 

 great international exhibition of 1824, and through other means. 

 Mr. R. W. Pope gave an address on a similar theme, namely, 

 the influence of technical societies in promoting the progress ot 

 the arts. All the addresses in the Journal are of interest in 

 connection with the subject of the bearing of science upon 

 industry. 



The current number of the Lancet contains an article of par' 

 ticular interest dealing with the effects upon the wounded of the 

 Mark II., the Mauser, the Dum-dum, and the Mark IV. bullets. 

 The article, which has been written by Dr. Arthur Keith and 

 Mr. Hugh Rigby, gives a clear idea of the relative amount of 

 destruction caused by each of these modern military bullets, and 

 the experiments upon which the writers' views are founded, 

 confirm fully the experiences which have already been reported 

 from the seat of war in South Africa. A glance at the illustra- 

 tions shows the terrible havoc wrought by the Mark IV. and Dum- 

 dum bullets and shows also that the old Martini-Henry bullet 

 made an enormous and jagged wound compared with the neat 

 little track that is left behind the Mark II., which our forces are 

 using in South Africa, or the Mauser which is being used by the 

 Boers. Dr. Keith and Mr. Rigby have not, however, been able 

 to obtain results in their experimants with Dam -dum bullets 

 that endorse Prof, von Bruns's statement of the case against the 

 English open-nosed bullet. All open-nosed bullets cause fearful 

 injuries, but it is contended that Prof, von Bruns must have used 

 Dumdum bullets of an exceptional nature to get the results 

 which he recorded. ^ , 



