*5o 



NA TURE 



[June 14. 1883 



There are two other methods of transfer of molecular motion 

 to which brief allusion may be made. One of these is the elec- 

 tric transfer. The character of this we do not know, but we 

 have reason to believe that it is vibratory, and that it bears cer- 

 tain analogies to light vibration. The other method is heat 

 conduction. This is a transfer of energy by exchange of normal 

 Tibrations. It takes the place in solids of the impact transfer in 

 gases. The molecule of the solid, when possessed of excess 

 motive energy, cannot yield it to others by impact, and must 

 therefore do so by a drag upon these others through the ties of 

 attraction. This is the slowest of all modes of transfer of 

 energy. For its proper action it is necessary that the substance 

 should be homogeneous, and the vibrations of its molecules 

 normal. The instant the tension changes, either by connection 

 of unlike substances or a condensing twist in a homogeneous 

 substance, the mode of transfer changes. The heat vibration of 

 the molecule is offered to another of different pitch, which re- 

 fuses to receive it as normal vibration, and at once the rapid 

 electric transfer manifests itself. Normal heat vibration is thus 

 converted into thermoelectricity. 



Their brief review may help to give ^ome idea of the relations 

 between molecules. In their state of normal equilibrium, which 

 they seek to regain after every excursion, they possess no inde- 

 pendence of movement, but are rigidly confined within fixed 

 limits. They may change place in common with all the mole- 

 cules of the mass to which they belong, but not independently. 

 Vigorous disturbing influences may break up the molecular 

 grouping, but immediately a new stable grouping is assumed. 

 The incessant molecular disturbances which occur do not usually 

 cause a change of grouping. These consist of vibratory trans- 

 missions of energy, and of transfers of motion through impact of 

 molecules, and their effect is but the production of momentary 

 variations in the direction and vigour of the motion of the 

 affected molecule. To the influences of this character above 

 mentioned may be added those of the vibrations of sound, of 

 magnetic energy, and of chemical affinity. The latter alone 

 produces any marked variations of molecular grouping. 



Philadelphia, U.S. Charles Morkis 



On the Morphology of the Pitcher of " Cephalotus 

 follicularis " 



I observe that the last sentence but one of my brief notice of 

 Cephalotus, which appeared in Nature last week, is calculated 

 to convey an erroneous impression. The lid g of Fig. I is seen 

 to be a c mical structure with a relatively broad base and a nar- 

 rower indented apex. In the matured pitcher the free portion 

 of the lid is much broader than its more contracted base ; and 

 the developed and involuted margin referred to extends round 

 the mouth of the pitcher until it reaches that base, but docs not 

 cross it, as by an oversight on my part my words imply. 



Fallowfield, Manchester, June S W. C. Williamson 



A Large Meteor 



The meteor seen by Mr. Hall of Shoreham (Nature, vol. 

 xxviii. p. 126) was also observed by Mr. James Cullen of the 

 Stonyhurst Observatory. Its path, as seen from here, was fiom 

 S.E. by E. to N.fc. by E. (true), traversing an arc of about 70 . 

 Its altitude was not more than from 12° to 15° above the horizon. 

 It travelled exceedingly slowly, was visible for about 20 seconds, 

 and was first seen at 10.30 p.m. G.M.T. Its size was that of 

 the full moon, white in colour, and with a tail 10* to 12° in 

 length. It burst into a shower of small pieces before it dis- 

 appeared, presenting exactly the appearance described by your 

 correspondent. 



Owing to the twilight and to the haze which hung about 

 the horizon, its position could not be referred to the stars, the 

 only star visible being o Aquilre, near which the meieor passed. 

 From the compass bearings and altitude given above its approxi- 

 mate path was from JR i8h. 50m., 5-2°, to .rR22h. 35m., 8 + 25°. 



Stonyhurst Observatory S. J. Perry 



Your correspondent, A. Hall, in your issue of June 7, records 

 the appearance of a large meteor seen by him at Shoreharn, 

 Kent, on Sunday evening, June 3, at 10.40. I recorded the 

 same meteor in the Newcastle Daily Journal as follows : — 



"An Enormous Meteor. — Mr. Barkas informs us that on 

 Sunday evening, June 3, at 10.40, an enormous meteor of great 

 brilliancy moved slowly across the heavens from south to north, 



at an elevation of 30 degrees, and nearly horizontally. The 

 colour was bright white, the apparent length 5 degrees ; it had 

 the form of an artist's brush ; and the handle broke into many 

 fragments. The head suddenly disappeared. This meteor was 

 seen at Newcastle, Wreckington, and Cullercoat-, and it would 

 be interesting to know in what position it was observed at points- 

 far south of Northumberland." 



Your correspondent does not say whether he saw it towards- 

 the south or north, nor does he state its elevation above the 

 horizon. It would be interesting to know its apparent elevation 

 at places north of Kent and south of Northumberland. 



Newcastle-on-Tyne, June 8 T. P. Barkas 



Intelligence in Animals 



In Nature (vol. xxviii. p. S2) .is a letter headed "Intelli- 

 gence in a Dog," which certainly shows that a power of reflec- 

 tion is sometimes possessed by the canine species far beyond what 

 one ordinarily observes in them. Perhaps the following anec- 

 dote will interest some of your readers, in which it will be seen 

 that the common crow of India exhibits (occasionally at least) 

 an equal amount of a quality superior to what is usually styled 

 instinct in animals. 



In the summer of 1878, when I and a friend were travelling, 

 in the Himalayas, we marched from Dharmsala to Simla, pass- 

 ing through the native states of Mundi, Suket, Bilaspur, and 

 Erki. One day, when we were about half way between Suket 

 and Bilaspur, we rested two or three hours under the shadow of 

 a rock whence there issued a spring of w ater most welcome to 

 us thirsty and somewhat weary travellers. We drank our fill 

 and threw ourselves down upon the ground. After we had been 

 there a short time an old crow and its half-grown young one 

 came also to slake their 1 hirst. I happened to have a small 

 piece of a stale chuppati (or unleavened bread which the natives 

 eat) in my pocket, and I threw it to them ; the old bird ex- 

 amined it, turned it over, and then called her young one to come 

 and partake of it. The latter did his best to obey his parent, 

 but the morsel was so hard and dry he could not manage to eat 

 ir, and said so in his own bird language. The old bird then as 

 plainly replied "try again," which he did most obediently, but 

 with no better success. The old bird then took up the rejected 

 piece and deliberately placed it in one of the little streams 

 formed by the water of the spring (perhaps about six feet 

 beneath where I was lying) ; she then hopped off, followed by 

 her young one, and here comes the most curious part of the 

 story : in about a quarter of an hour or so both birds returned 

 to this spot, the old one w ith her beak pointed to the piece of 

 chuppati, which by that time had been rendered soft by the 

 action of the water, and by signs and sounds seemed plainly to 

 tell her young one, " There now, the food is soft ; eat it, and no 

 more nonsense." This the young bird immediately did. 



Copenhagen, June 8 Cosmopolitan 



My big black Newfoundland retriever, " Faust," has a 

 chivalrous habit of taking smaller and « eaker dogs under his 

 protection, and about two years ago he constituted himself cham- 

 pion of a wretched little thoroughbred mongrel whom we called 

 the " Pauper," because it lived on chanty in the garden opposite 

 our house. " Faust" goes out marketing with the housekeeper, 

 and as he has a passion for bread the baker's children always 

 give him a stale roll. One day, for fun, they gave him two, 

 which he picked up with some difficulty and then left the shop, 

 followed by some of the children, one a lad of sixteen. " Faust " 

 walked along the side of the garden railing till he met his pauper 

 friend, to whom he gave one roll, and then ate the other himself, 

 w aving his tail vigorously in evident satisfaction. A neighbour 

 of ours has a kitchen cat who was taken in out of charity him- 

 self, and who has several times brought in famishing friends for 

 a meal. Nellie Maclagan 



Edinburgh, Juue 11 



EASTERN ASIA AT THE FISHERIES 

 EXHIBITION 



HPHE sections of the Fisheries Exhibition devoted to 

 -*- China, Japan, and the British settlements and pro- 

 tected native states in the Malay Peninsula, are in some 

 respects disappointing. The interest and beauty of the 

 Chinese section are indeed unsurpassed ; but the other 



