December 1, 1898.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



275 



Sir Clements Markham pleads urgently for funds for a 

 national expedition to the Antarctic regions which, accord- 

 ing to Sir John Murray, should be furnished with as much 

 as one hundred thousand pounds, and towards this, we 

 understand, the Council of the Royal Geographical Society 

 have promised to head the list with five thousand pounds. 

 It is to be feared that unless the more wealthy of our 

 countrymen come forward with the necessary aid in under- 

 takings of this kind our prestige as pioneers in voyages of 

 discovery will be eclipsed by adventurers of other countries. 

 Our own rich (iovernment spends so much on powder and 

 smoke that it cannot afford to extend a helping hand in 

 matters of this kind. Jlr. Cornelius Yanderbilt has gene- 

 rously fitted out an expedition to explore the flora of Porto 

 Rico, and it is earnestly hoped that many rich men in tliis 

 country may emulate his example by contributing to the 

 fund which Sir Clements Markham and others so ardently 

 desire for so laudable a purpose. 



A Parliamentary blue-book on the Ordnance Survey has 

 just been issued, and shows progress of that important 

 work up to 31st March, 1898. We gather from the report 

 that in 1891) there will be available to the public for the 

 first time a one-inch outline map of the whole of the country, 

 prepared on one uniform system, and with its principal 

 details nearly up to date. 



From the catalogue of Messrs. -Johnson, Matthey & Co., 

 Hatton Garden, London, we learn that " In furtherance 

 of scientific research, professors and recognized scientific 

 investigators will with pleasure be supplied with metals of 

 the platinum group, in moderate quantities, and for periods 

 to be arranged, free of charge, on condition that the pre- 

 cious metals are ultimately returned (in any form), and 

 that the results of the investigations are furnished." 



In France there are two villages completely lighted by 

 acetylene. There are also ten factories engaged in the 

 manufacture of the c/irhide, formed by the action of the 

 electric current on a mixture of lime and coke dust, the 

 reduced calcium combining with the excess of carbon. The 

 resulting calcic carbide easily decomposes in presence of 

 water and yields the powerful iUuminant acetylene. The 

 carbide in the States is produced by electric power derived 

 from the Falls of Niagara, and similar means are employed 

 at Neuhausen, Switzerland. The Sohuckert Electrical 

 Manufacturing Company, Nuremberg, will soon be able to 

 turn out carbide sufficient to give two hundred million 

 cubic feet of acetylene annually. 



In the annual report which has just been published by 

 the Meteorological Council, it is shown that during the 

 last twelve months fifty-five per cent, of their forecasts 

 were correct, twenty-six per cent, were nearly so, six were 

 failures, and thirteen partially so. These failures were 

 largely due to the fact that we do not possess observing 

 stations in the Atlantic. The observers have no means of 

 noting the approach of a depression until it is quite near 

 the coast. It is something, however, to know the results 

 are becoming more and more correct as the number of 

 observatories where the distribution of atmospheric pressure 

 and the direction of the wind are noted by skilled observers 

 increases. In Ireland and the west and north of Scotland 

 the forecasts are unsatisfactory, and will remain so till 

 more stations are established on the Atlantic. 



An expedition, the main purpose of which is to deter- 

 mine the vertical distribution of ocean life by a series of 

 open nets, has been organized, and consists of Jlr. George 

 Murray, Mr. V. H. Blackman, and Dr. Gregory, of the 

 British Museum ; Mr. J. E. S. Moore, Dr. Sambon, and 

 Mr. Highley, an artist, complete the staff of the expedition. 

 Prof. Agassiz and his school contend that the oceanic fauna 

 is confined to the surface and bottom belts and that the 

 vast intervening zone is devoid of life. Sir John Murray 

 and others hold that there is no such barren belt, and that 

 the oceans are inhabited throughout their whole depth. 

 The Ocernui has been chartered for a short cruise, 

 beginning work on the West Coast of Ireland, at the edge 

 of the one-hundred-fathom platform. Continuous observa- 

 tions will be made with a chain of tow-nets till, when the 

 depth reaches two thousand fathoms, the series will include 

 thirty-eight tow-nets. Experiments with various forms of 

 self-closing nets will be made for the sake of comparisons, 

 and, if time permit, some deep-sea trawling will be don;. 



An expedition has been sent out to investigate the faima 

 of the island of Sokotra, about one hundred and fifty miles 

 east-north east of Cape Guardafui. Mr. W. R. Ogilvie 

 Grant, of the British Museum, Dr. Forbes, of the Liver- 

 pool Museum, and Mr. Cutmore, a taxidermist, have sailed 

 for Aden, where the Indian Marine gna,Tishif,Elphi)i stone, 

 placed at the disposal of the party, will convey them to the 

 island and back to Aden on the termination of their stay. 

 The botany of Sokotra is fairly-well known owing to the 

 visit made to it by Prof. Balfour in 1880, when he gave 

 special attention to the flora ; but from the zoological point 

 of view the island is almost unexplored. 



While the inhabitants of Great Britain consume eighty- 

 six pounds of sugar per head, the Russians are credited with 

 only eight and a quarter pounds. A recent oflicial report 

 states that the beet-sugar industry was carried on in Russia 

 as far back as the year 1800. In 1897 the production of 

 sugar in Russia was six hundred and forty-four thousand 

 nine hundred tons, of which four hundred and eighty-four 

 thousand tons were required for her own population ; and 

 in l89(i some one hundred and fifty thousand tons were 

 exported to Europe, most of which, of course, found its 

 way to London. 



A very encouraLrins report of the analyses of sugar-beet 

 grown at Romney Marsh, Kent, has been given recently 

 by a firm of sugar refiners of Liverpool. Experiments, it 

 appears, have been conducted at the place named under 

 the cognizance of the Board of Agriculture, and the results 

 tend to prove that the district is highly suitable for the 

 sugar industry. 



There were several interesting exhibits at the opening 

 meeting of the Linnean Society. Prof. Howes showed the 

 living eggs of Sphenodun, the remarkable lizard of New 

 Zealand. This reptile is noted for the pineal eye under 

 the skin in the centre of its forehead, as well as for its 

 relationship to extinct forms ; and the development which 

 will now at last be worked out ought to prove of an inte- 

 resting character. Some photographs were shown by Mr. 

 Allan Grossman of his common buzzard and the large 

 chicken which this bird of prey hatched and brought up. 

 One remarkable point, apart from the triumph of maternal 

 instinct, is that the buzzard has learned to eat the chicken's 

 food, while the chicken shows a predilection for flesh, and 

 wiU help its foster-mother to kill sparrows. The double 

 tusk of an elephant, shown by the president. Dr. Giinther, 

 offered a problem as to whether it was a case of redupli- 

 cation, or whether the milk tusk had not been shed and had 

 persisted. 



