412 



NATURE 



[Mar. 21, 1872 



A RICH instance of the mode in which the phenomena of 

 nature present themselves to certain minds is furnished by the 

 following extract from the Prophetic News for March 1S72, pub- 

 lished by G. J- Stevenson, 54, Paternoster Row : — •" St. John in 

 the Apocalypse has described his vision of the descent of ' the 

 city of the New Jerusalem ' into the air. . . . The Royal 

 city may at first appear as a come', which astronomers may be 

 unable to understand, for its luminosity and stationary position 

 in the eastern hemisphere may at first be but just discoverable. 

 The news may then flash all over the globe by means of the tele- 

 graph. The unu.ual brilliancy of the aurora boreali-i seems a 

 fitting harbinger, together with the spots whicli appear in the sun, 

 of the approaching climax (Luke xxi. 25, 26), for through the 

 prophetical telescope alone can we realise the intention of these 

 wonderful phenomena. I shall be glad if some of your corre- 

 spondents who may have given their thought to these points 

 would avail themselves of the Prophetic News to help others to a 

 better understanding of so important a subject." 



In the last year there was exported from Nicaragua 100 dols. 

 worth of the waters of Nejapa, reported to have the virtue of 

 curing drunkenness. This may be recommended to the Liquor 

 League as better than a Maine Liquor Law. In the neighbour- 

 ing State of Columbia, it is asserted by natives and Europeans, 

 that there is an Indian cure for drunkenness. 



On the i6th of January two slight shocks of earthquake were 

 felt at Valparaiso at I0'20 p.m. The weather was intensely cold. 



On the night of the loth of January several shocks of earth- 

 quake were felt in Arequipa, in Peru, but no damage was done. 

 It was observed they occurred a few hours afier the new moon, 

 and coincided with one of the highest tides of the year. 



On the jist of January a severe shock of earthquake was felt 

 at Palm, in Beng.al. 



In the month of January there were frequent shocks of earth- 

 quake at Broos5a, in Asia Minor. 



On Jan. 14 and 15 three shocks of earthquake were felt in the 

 English hill-town of Darjeeling, in the Himalayas. 



A SLIGHT shock of earthquake was felt in the middle of 

 October at Memeodsbad, in the Ahmedabad CoUectorate, 

 Bombay Presidency. 



On thi 23rd Jan. there was an earthquake at Guayaquil, in 

 Ecuador. 



I. -J January the heaviest fall of snow known for years took 

 place in the hills of the Deyrsh Dhoon. 



Largk deposits of coal have been discovered at Cobquecura, 

 in the province of I lata, Chile. 



Further impoitant mineral discoveries are officially reported 

 from Bolivia, which are expected to produce great results. In 

 the Chaco on the road from La Paz to Fungas silver ore has 

 been found yielding 12,000 ounces per ton, or half silver. A 

 hundred claims were at once taken up. On the Llisa and Con- 

 dormanana hills, near San Andres de Mochaca, veins of gold 

 have been found, as well as in Vilaquil, eighteen miles from La 

 Paz, where ancient winnowing grounds have been recognised. 



According to a report made by the Rev. Father Wo'f to 

 the Government of Ecuador, there are exten';ive fossil remains 

 of the Tertiary and Quaternary epoch on the coast of Manabi 

 and near Punin. Besides the mastodon the fossil horse is found, 

 showing that in pre-historic times such animals were found thrrc, 

 though they became extinct, and the present race was introduced 

 by the Spaniards. 



In Bolivia has been discovered an ancient mine, known as 

 the Narango, twelve miles S. of Antofogasta, in the Mcjillones 

 district, near the Pacific. The vein is reported as composed of 

 ochre-coloured ore, backed by a stratum, 2,^ in. thick, of copper 

 studded with gold, and containing about 20 per cent, of this 

 precious metal. 



A correspondent of the Ceylon Times draws attention to 

 the circumstance that that island is, as he believes, on the eve 

 of an important change of climate, depending on the great cyc'e 

 of thirty or thirty-three years. The past thiriy years have, he 

 ma ntain"!, shown a complete contrast to the previous thirty 

 years, wiih manifestly different effects on animal and vegetable 

 life, from the much smaller amount of rain. The next cycle ot 

 thirty yeais will be, bethinks, above the average, wet. 



A SUIT has lately taken place in the High Court of Madras 

 respecting a two-mouthed cow, the value of which is estimated 

 at 1,000/., as large sums were made by exhibiting it. She had 

 been seized by the sheriff, as is alleged, on wrongful distraint. 



The Ipecacuanha plants in the Neilgherries are flourishing. 

 Two have blossomed, but have yielded no seed. Twelve plants 

 in good condition were received at the Calcutta Botanic Gardens 

 from England in August. 



The English Vice-Consul at Ciudad Bolivar, on the Orinoco 

 River, Venezuela, reports that an old woman had applied an 

 efficacious remedy for yellow fever and black vomit. It is the 

 juice of the leaves of the vervain plant, which is obtained by 

 bruising, and is taken in small doses three times a day. In- 

 jections of ihe same juice are also administered every two hours 

 until the bowels are completely relieved of their contents. The 

 medical men have adopted the remedy, and the number of fatal 

 cases have been much reduced. The leaves of the female plant 

 alone are used. 



The wild elephant which has lately destroye \ fifty-six lives in 

 the Central Provinces of India and committed such ravages, was 

 shot on November 15 by two officers of the Government. The 

 night before his death he killed ten persons. 



A GOOD deal of attention has been excited among Egyptolo- 

 gists by the comparatively recent discovery in excavations made 

 at Tanis, on the eastern or Pelusiac branch of the Nile, of a 

 trilingual stone, somewhat of the character of the celebrated 

 Rosetta stone, but much more perfect, and believed to be of 

 about two hundred and fifty years' greater antiquity. This, which 

 is now deposited in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities at 

 Cairo, is a perfect stela, about six feet high, two and a half feet 

 broad, and one foot thick, the summit being arched. 



Puchmurree or Pachmari, in the central provinces of India, 

 is now to be marked on our maps as a to ^n ; this hill site having 

 been successfully established as a sanitarium for English soldiers 

 in 1870. 



A SHOWER of stones is repotted from Rosario, in December. 

 A great tempest was felt, ending in a shower of stones from 

 N.W. to S.W., and doing much damage. The shower lasted ten 

 minutes, and the stones were abundant and large, weighing from a 

 nut in size to a pigeon's egg. The corn fields have severely suffered. 

 It is remarked the like occurrence had not been seen for many 

 years, so it is to be inferred such a phenomenon is not unknown. 

 As the Bernstadt colony was affected some European observa- 

 tions may be leceived. 



Two new discoveries of gold are announced, the one in (he 

 Transvaal distnct near Natal, where the gold is stated to exist 

 in large quantities, and the other in Manitoba, in Canada. 



