132 



NA TURE 



[Dec. 14, 1871 



the phenomenon has been sent us by Dr. Smallwood of the 

 Montreal Observatory : — A few minutes past 5 o'clock yesterday 

 evening, the eastern horizon showed a banlc of cumulo-stratus 

 clouds, which reached to an altitude of 9°, behind which was 

 discernible an auroral light, which increased in intensity as the 

 darkness became more dense. At 5.30 a diffused light of a 

 bright crimson colour occupied tlie whole of the eastern and 

 north-eastern horizons. Rising behind this bank of clouds, 

 s'reamers were frequently observed, reaching to the constellaticn 

 Cassiopeia. The light was frequently so dense as to prevent even 

 the stars 5 and y Urss Majoris being seen through it. While these 

 appearances were present, a far more brilliant display was 

 seen in the north-west, triangular in shape, its base hidden by 

 the Mountain, but which appeared about 10^ in breadth, and 

 extended upwards, passing part of the constellations Hercules, 

 Corona Borealis, and Draco, to tlie zeni h. The bright 

 crimson colour was very intense ; its edges were occasionally 

 softened by a band of narrow streamers of a palish green colour. 

 .Stars below the third magnitude were hidden from view, owing 

 to the great density of this light. Small patches of cumulus 

 clouds were seen passing across and in front of this display. 

 The surpassing beauty of these appearances has rarely been 

 equalled. At 6.15 r.M. the intensity of the brightness was much 

 diminished, and at 7 only a soft auroral light was visible in the 

 north and north-east. The declination magnet was very sensibly 

 deflected from its normal state, showing a great easterly variation. 

 The weather during the day was comparatively warm (having suc- 

 ceeded a slight fall of snow), with a rising barometer, which at 

 6 r.M. stood at 29 '902 inches. Thermometer, 37°. Humidity, 

 806. Wind west ; velocity three miles per hour. 



Prof. Panceri, of Naples, has been studying for some time 

 past the phosphorescence of marine animals. He has examined 

 Nodiluca, Beroe, Pyrosotna, Phclas, Chaioptcrus, and lias lately 

 published a paper on tlie phosphorescence of Pmiia/iila. He 

 finds in all cases that the phosphorescence is due to matter cast 

 off by the animal — it is a property of dead separated matter, not 

 of the living tissues. In all cases (excepting Xoctiltica) he also 

 finds tliat this matter is secreted by glands, possibly special for 

 this purpose, but more probably the phospliorescence is a 

 secondary property of the secretion. Further, the secretion 

 contains epithelial cells in a state of fatty degeneration, and it is 

 these fatty cells and the fat which they give rise to which are 

 phosphorescent. Hence the phosphorescence of marine animals 

 is brought under the same category as the phosphorescence of 

 decaying fish and bones. It is due to the formation in decompo- 

 sition of a phosphoric hydro-carbon, or possibly of pliosphuretted 

 hydrogen itself. In Pcnuatiila Prof. Panceri has made phos- 

 phorescence the means of studying a more important physiologi- 

 cal question — namely, the rate of transmission of an irritation. 

 For when one extremity of a Peniiattila is irritated, a stream of 

 phosphorescent light runs along the whole length of the polyp- 

 colony, indicating thus by its passage the rate of the transmission 

 of the irritation. This admits of accurate measurement, and 

 furnishes data for extending Helmholtz's and Donder's inquiries 

 to animals so widely separated from their " Versuchs-thiere " as 

 the Cah'nterata. It is also a proof of the thoroughness of Prof. 

 Panceri's investigation that he has made use of the spectroscope 

 for studying the light of phosphorescence. 



Attention has been called in PIni-pcr's Weekly to the injuries 

 to the Florida submarine cable supposed to have been caused 

 either by the bites of the sea-turtles, or from some kinds of fish ; 

 and we now learn that in China a similar difficulty has been ex- 

 perienced in consequence of the attacks of a minute crustacean. 

 This is so small as scarcely to be perceptible to the naked eye, 

 but can be readily defined under the microscope. Various breaks 

 have been satisfactorily referred to the agency of these animals. 



which had embedded themselves in the gutta percha. It has be- 

 come necessary, therefore, to envelop the cables in certain 

 localities with an external supplementary layer of metallic wire, 

 in order to prevent injury in this manner. 



With a commendable promptness, the first volume of the 

 Annual Report of the United States Commissioner of Patents 

 for 1S70 has made its appearance, and inaugurates the new order 

 in regard to this document. Instead of publishing the specifica- 

 tions of the patents with wood-cut illustrations, the present 

 volume embodies — first, an alphabetical list of patentees during 

 the ye.ar ; second an alphabetical list of the patents extended 

 du;ing the year ; next, an alphabetical list of inventions and of 

 reissues. It will be remembered that at the present time the 

 patents are printed in detail, accompanied by photo-lithographic 

 drawings of working size, 150 copies being published, some of 

 ihem to be distributed, and sets placed for free public inspection 

 in the various State and Territorial capitals, and in the clerks' 

 offices of the District Court of the various judicial districts 

 throughout the United States. The issue of additional copies is 

 also authorised in proportion to the demand, to be sold at a 

 price not exceeding the contract price for such drawings.. The 

 total number of patents issued during the year 1870 amounted 

 to 13,321, of which considerably the largest number were made 

 out to citizens of New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, 

 Ohio, Illinois, Connecticut, Indiana, and Michigan, in the order 

 mentioned. 



The RIechanics' A/dgiizhh- stMes that amber is reported by the 

 collectors as being sometimes found in a soft "unripe" state; 

 Herr H. Spirgatis was fortunate enough to receive a specimen 

 from the Baltic, near Brusterort, East Prussia. Its interior con- 

 sisted of an almost transparent yellow resin, surrounded by a 

 thin opaque crust. When freshly broken the centre was soft and 

 elastic, but on exposure to the air it soon became hard and 

 brittle. Its analysis differed so much from that of amber, that 

 though it evidently belongs to the same class of substances, it is 

 not to be mistaken for it. Its percentage composition agrees 

 with that of Benntheim asphalte, and with the fossil resins from 

 the East Indies, examined by Duflos and Johnston. 



On Nov. 7 at 2. 30 p.m. a slight earthquake was felt at Smyrna. 

 It was simultaneous at Mytilene and Cheshmeh. 



Two smart shocks of earthquake were felt at Cavalla in 

 Macedonia at 11 P.M. on Nov. 28. 



On Oct. 13 an earthquake was felt in the fort of La Libertad, 

 at II P. M. It was also felt at La Union and Nicaragua. 



About a year ago many English and foreign scientific journals, 

 following the Bulletino Romano, announced that a large meteorite 

 had fallen near the town of Murzak, in December 1869. M. 

 Rose has lately made a communication to the Berlin Academy, 

 in which he states that the results of his inquiries made both at 

 Tripoli and Murzuk have shown that no such fall was ever 

 observed, much less that any such meteorite had been found. 



It is stated in Land and Wato- that the whole of the pack of 

 fox-hounds of the Durham County Hunt has been condemned to 

 be destroyed in consequence of the prevalence among it of a form 

 of hydrophobia defined as "dumb madness," which has run 

 through the kennels, and has carried off twelve couple of hounds. 

 As to the details of this "dumb madness," it will be interesting 

 to hear more of the exact symptoms attending it. Old works 

 upon canine diseases used to specify seven species of canine mad- 

 ness, "dumb madness" among them, the last and worst being 

 "running madness," which was undoubtedly hydrophobia, though 

 probably many other phases of so-called madness were simply 

 distemper, which in primitive days was little understood as a 

 specific disease. 



