6o8 



NA rURE 



[October 17, i 901 



finished black tea contains much less tannin than the green. 

 The author shows that the original tea-leaf contains an oxidising 

 enzyme, which is destroyed by heating to about 77° C. During 

 the fermentation of the leaf in the manufacture of black tea this 

 enzyme oxidises the tannin, giving rise to a brown product. 



The June issue of the Monthly Weather Review of the U.S. 

 Weather Bureau has a note stating that an observer at Tillers 

 Ferry, South Carolina, had reported that during a heavy local 

 rain in June there fell hundreds of small fish (cat, perch, trout, 

 &e. ), which were afterwards found swimming in the pools 

 between the cotton rows in a field. " It is," says the Kevic-iV, 

 "a well-known fact that in such rains all sorts of foreign objects, 

 whether sticks or stones, frogs or fish, or even debris of destroyed 

 houses and crops, occur occasionally, not only in America, but 

 in Europe and elsewhere. It is very rare that we are able to 

 trace these objects back to their sources, but there can be no 

 reasonable doubt that they were carried up from the ground by 

 violent winds, such as attend thunderstorms and tornadoes." 



International balloon ascents (both manned and un- 

 manned) were undertaken by several countries on July 4 and 

 August I. The greatest heights at which records were obtained 

 in July were at Trappes, near Paris, 10,270 metres, temperature 

 - 52° C. (on ground i6°-5), and at Chalais Meudon, 10,260 

 metres, temperature -43' (on ground l6°7). In August, the 

 greatest heights at which observations were recorded were : — 

 Trappes, 9S00 m., temperature -40° (on ground I7°'5) > 

 Berlin (July 31), 13,040 m., temperature - 4S°(on ground I5°i). 

 Drs. Berson and Suring reached an altitude of 10,300 m., tem- 

 perature - 40°. At Vienna a temperature of - 33° was recorded 

 n an unmanned balloon at a height of 10,000 metres. 



An agreement has just been concluded between Marconi's 

 International Marine Communication Co., Ltd., and Lloyd's, 

 by which the latter agree to employ no system of wireless 

 telegraphy other than the " Marconi " for a period of fourteen 

 years. The agreement also provides for the immediate equip- 

 ment often Lloyd's signalling stations, one of which is to be on 

 the Fastnet Rock and two on the Red Sea coast, together with 

 the taking over of some of the existing British stations, of which 

 there are at present eight, that could be rendered serviceable 

 to Llo)d's for mercantile signalling. 



The Monist for October contains the translation of a paper 

 by Prof. Ludwig Boltzmann on the necessity of atomic theories 

 in physics. In it the author compares the atomic theory with 

 the second method, which seeks to represent the facts of physics 

 by means of differential equations ; the latter method he calls 

 " mathematico-phj'sical phenomenology." The object of the 

 paper is to discuss the advantages arising from the retention of 

 the atomic theory, and its claims to be studied at least in parallel 

 with the phenomenologic method. Even if it should be possible 

 to formulate an all-embracing theory of the world, every feature 

 of which has the same evidence as Fourier's theory of the con- 

 duction of heat, Prof Boltzmann thinks it is still an open 

 question whether such a theory can be more easily reached 

 through atomism or phenomenology. It would even be per- 

 missible to assume that several representations of the universe, 

 each possessing the ideal traits, were possible. 



A SINGLE bone of the wing, and that imperfect, may nowa- 

 days seem but poor material on which to establish a new genus 

 of birds, but Dr. F. A. Lucas (Proc. U.S. AIiis., vol. xxiv. 

 No. 1245) appears to be justified in regarding a humerus from 

 the Miocene of Los Angeles, California, as representing a large 

 extinct type of flightless auk. For this the name Mama/la 

 calijoniiensis is suggested ; it is considered to have equalled the 

 great auk in size, but to have been more nearly allied to the 

 NO. 1668, VOL. 64] 



guillemot. The existence of a flightless member of the group 

 at such a comparatively early epoch is considered remarkable. 

 In the same journal Messrs. Jordan aud Snyder continue their 

 review of the fishes of Japan, dealing in No. 1241 with the 

 hypostomid and lophobranchiate types, and in No. 1244 with 

 the gobies, of which no less than twenty-one species are described 

 as new. No. 1242 of the journal in question contains Mr. 

 R. V. Chamberlin's account of myriopods of the Lithobius group, 

 while No. 1243 is devoted to the description of new flies from 

 Southern Africa, by Mr. D. M. Coquillett. 



The development of the typical flies (Muscidte) forms the 

 subject of an elaborate investigation by Herr W. Noack, the 

 results of which are published in the latest issue of the Zeit- 

 schrifi f. Wissenschaft. Zoologie (vol. Ixx. part i. ). No less 

 than eight distinct stages in developmental history are recog- 

 nised. In another article in the same issue Herr J. Schaffer,\)f 

 Vienna, commences a dissertation on the histology and develop- 

 ment of cartilaginous structure, and the various modifications 

 assumed by that substance. 



Some time ago Dr. D. G. Elliot's " Synopsis of North 

 American Mammals" [Field Museufn PubUcatiom) was noticed 

 in our columns. The author has supplemented this with a 

 " list " of the mammals of the same area (Fifld Miis. — Zoo!. 

 vol. ii. No. 2), which contains a few names omitted from the 

 larger work, together with some published too late for inclusion 

 in the latter, and such emendations as have been found neces- 

 sary. In the same journal (vol. iii. No. 5) Dr. Elliot describes 

 and figures the reindeer, or caribou, of the Kenai Peninsula, 

 Alaska — the Rangifey sionei of Dr. J. Allen — in the course of 

 which he throws doubts on the distinctness of this form, and 

 suggests that the American reindeer have been too much 

 subdivided by recent writers. 



In accordance with a recent decision of the council, the first 

 part has been issued of " Obituary Notices of Fellows of the 

 Royal Society." It contains the biographies of recently 

 deceased Fellows, reprinted from the year books for 1900 and 

 1901, together with an index to the obituary notices previously 

 published in the Society's Prociedings. 



In their new catalogue, Messrs. C. Baker, of High Holborn, 

 announce that they have arranged a series of free demonstrations 

 during the coming session, illustrating the use of apparatus for 

 the illumination of microscopic objects, testing of objectives, 

 micrometry and drawing with the microscope. Another an- 

 nouncement of some interest refers to the microscopic slide- 

 lending department, which has now been placed in the hands 

 of various specialists, who have prepared type-written descrip- 

 tions of most of the series of objects sent out; these should 

 considerably increase the educational value of the system. Of 

 other items we may cite a new engineering microscope (for 

 examining metals) and a mosquito-collecting outfit (for malarial 

 observations), as illustrating the large variety of apparatus now 

 supplied to meet the requirements of modern specialisation. 



Hann's " Lehrbuch der Meteorologie " (Tauchnitz) is now 

 complete. It consists of 10 Lieferungen instead of S, as was 

 originally proposed. 



A I'RACTICAL journal for amateur gardeners has just made its 

 appearance under the title of Garden Life. The journal informs 

 horticulturists what to do and how to do it, but it mostly leaves 

 the reasons for the operations out of consideration. We suggest 

 that there is a science as well as an art of horticulture, and that 

 descriptions of simple experiments in the physiology of plants, 

 or studies of plant diseases, might be included in the contents 

 of future numbers. 



