May 24, 1883] 



NA TURE 



89 



i heaply as if they were in the neighbourhood of Kingston." It 

 is stated that a drought, caused chiefly by the failure of the May 

 rains coming alter a succession of dry months with parching 

 winds, had a prejudicial effect on all agricultural operations. 

 Mr. Morris says : " It is a subject of common remark amongst 

 old planters that the 'seasons,' or the periodical rains which 

 have hitherto fallen with great regularity and copiousness during 

 1 he months of May and October of each year, are becoming 

 more and more uncertain and irregular, and the effects of these 

 conditions are clearly shown in the precariousness of the agri- 

 cultural products affected by them. These remarks apply chiefly 

 to the southern slopes of the Blue Mountains, and to such other 

 districts stretching south and west where coffee and provi-ions 

 are being chiefly raised." Under the head of "Cinchona Planta- 

 tion," the cultivation of which plants has become an object of 

 special attention in Jamaica, Mr. Morris reports very fully. He 

 says : " In order to test the commercial value of Jamaica grown 

 liark, no better plan could be followed than to send it in lots to 

 the open market an 1 place it in competition with barks from 

 other countries. That it has so satisfactorily stood this test and 

 brought in a large return on the outlay, and, moreover that the 

 results of the sales have induced cinchona planting to be under. 

 taken in the island by private enterprise with energy and success, 

 are matters for which the Government no less than the general 

 public are to be congratulated." "During the past year chiel 

 attention has been given to the successful introduction of Cinchona 

 Ledgeriana and its establishment as a cultivated plant in Jamaica. 

 In addition to the plants esiabhshed on the Government planta. 

 tions, several thousands have been distributed amongst private 

 planters, and each lot of these will doubtless form a nucleus from 

 whence seeds and cuttings may hereafter be obtained, and thus 

 prove most valuable acquisitions to private plantations." A few 

 plants of the now well known cuprea bark, Rtmijia [>edutuulata t 

 have been raised from seed received from Bogota, and are being 

 tried in order to test the value of the bark under cultivation. 

 An attempt is about to be made to manufacture cinchona febrifuge 

 in the island in a similar way to what is being now done so suc- 

 ce sfully in the East Indies. By this means a valuable and cheap 

 preparation will be available for use among the poorer classes. 

 Besides the cinchonas the cultivation of jalap and various other 

 economic plants has received attention during the year, so that 

 we have evidence that a gooJ deal of really useful work is being 

 carried on by Mr. Morris in Jamaica. 



A writer in the North China Herald on the history of gun- 

 powder in China asserts that this explosive was known in the 

 sevenih century of our era. The alchemists of Hie I Ian 

 dynasty, and subsequently in the fourth and following centuries, 

 worked with s ltpetre and sulphur, as well as cinnabar, red 

 oxide of lead, and other conimon compounds. But in the seventh 

 century we find gunpowder used to make a crackling sound and 

 to afford an agreeable sight to the court of Sui Vang-ti, the 

 emperor of that time. The earliest exhibitions of fireworks 

 mentioned in Chimse history belong to that date. The sub- 

 stances u-ed in the composition of gunpowder are all native to 

 China, and the writer appears to prove conclusively that the 

 Arabs derived the art of firework making, as well as gun- 

 powder, from the Chinese. The discovery once made, the 

 Chinese alchemists, owing to the badness of their hypotheses 

 and the futility of' their aims, were slow • at improve. 

 oicnt. But the doctors of the Arab colonies in China 

 carried to Bagdad the germs of the Chinese discoveries, and 

 there they were elaborated into new forms. In short, in many 

 arts and sciences the Arabs learnt from China, and, a-sisted 

 by Nestorians, Jews, and Greeks, improved on what they 

 learned. In course of years, cannon, matchlocks, and shells 

 for use in sieges were brought to China from Mohammedan 

 countries. There are faint traces in the eleventh century of rude 



firearms : in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the records of 

 their use in the Chinese wars become frequent and distinct. 

 The Golden Tartars, in their wars with South China in the 

 twelfth century, used cannon which they called " heaven-shaking 

 thunder." In an iron tube was placed powder which was "set 

 fire to, and would burn down half a square li of houses and 

 pierce a coat of mail made of iron rings." It is expressly stated 

 that Genghis Khan, the Mongol conqueror, used cannon in his 

 wars. Kublai Khan also used these weapons at a siege cele- 

 brated in Chinese history — that of Siang-yang. Hearing, it is 

 said, the sou i.d of the explosion, which shook the sky, and 

 seeing that the ba Is entered seven feet into the earth, ihe 

 Chinese defenders of the city capitulated. It is clear that 

 China owed its knowledge of anillecy to the Mohammedans. 

 In the fourteenth ceniury commenced the European intercourse 

 with China, which then abandoned the Arabs, and took the 

 Portuguese as teachers in the construction of weapons of 

 warfare. 



News from Iceland slates that from ihe 12.I1 to the 21st of 

 March there were violent volcanic water eruptions. 



A Reuter's telegram from Hong Kong j« San Francisco 

 announces the completion of the telegraph line between Canton 

 and that colony. This is the second great line in China, and 

 appears to have been constructed wholly by native merchants in 

 Canton, who found the want of early communication with 

 western markets in their commercial transactions. Vigorous 

 preparations are also being made for the m 1st formidable under- 

 taking of this nature that has yet been attempted in China, viz. 

 a line connecting Peking with Canton. According to the latest 

 informati .n an expeditionary party has arrived at Shanghai to 

 conduct the nece-sary surveys. It will proceed first to Soochow, 

 and there, under the escort of 200 troops, will commence its 

 work, proceeding southward. 



A NUMBiR of students at the Ecole des Mines of France will 

 during the summer make an excursion to the Arctic regions. A 

 steamer, in charge of a Norwegian Arctic hunter, will bring the 

 party to Throndhjern and llammerfest, and thence to Spitz- 

 bergen, which will be examined during a fortnight's stay. The 

 Naturalistic Mu eum of Taris sends two savants with the party. 



The additions to the Zo .1 ogical Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include two Green Monkeys (Cercopithecus callitri- 

 chus 6 9 ) from West Africa, presented by Mr. Thos. H. Dixon ; 

 a Long eared Owl (Asio o.'us), British, presented by the Rev. H. 

 D. Grantham; a Smooth Snake (Corond/a larjis), European, 

 presented by Mr. W. II. B. Pain; seven Black and Yell >w Cy- 

 c\*\u^(Cyc!odits mgro-litttus) from Tasmania, presented by Baron 

 F. rdinandvon Mueller, CM. Z.S. ; a Proteus {Proteus anguirms), 

 European, pie.-ented by Miss Maud Howard ; a Sea Crayfish 

 (Palinwus vulgaris), British Seas, presented by Messrs. Mile- 

 stone and Staniforth ; three Green-winged Doves [Cha'cophaps 

 indica) from India, a Herring Gull (Larus argentatus), British, 

 depo-ited ; a King Vulture (Gypagus papa) from Tropical 

 America, purchased; a Cabot's Tragopan (Ceriornis eab.li 9 ) 

 from North- West China, received on approval. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 The Comet of 1707. — The elements of this comet's orbi-, 

 as calculated by Lacaille and Siruyck, bear a certain degree cf 

 resemb'aice to those of the comet discovered by De Vico at 

 Rome on February 20, 1846 (1846 IV. of our cataloguts). to 

 which Van Deinse's definitive calculation as-igns a period of 

 revolution of 73 years. The interval between the perihelion 

 passage- in 1707 and 1846 would give two periods of 69/ t years; 

 there is consequently a sufficient reason for examining how far 

 the elements of the comet of 1707 represent the observations. 

 It appears to have been discovered by Manfred i at Bologna on 

 November 25, and the place given in the Mknoirts of the Paris 



