DECEMBER 31, 1903] NATURE 205 
described by Dr. Hovey. He also quotes an interesting Ar the meeting of the Asiatic | Society! of Bengal ati // 
passage from Darwin’s “‘ Journal,’’ in which the author | (Calcutta on December 2, Mr. T. H. Holland ‘exhibited al? 
remarked of the Fernando Peak that ‘‘ at first one is in- 
clined to believe that it has been suddenly pushed up in a 
semi-fluid state.”’ 
Tue veteran traveller, Baron F. von Richthofen, selected 
a geographical subject for his inaugural address as rector 
of the University of Berlin (Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fiir 
Erdkunde zu Berlin, 1903, p. 655). In dealing with the 
motives and course of geographical inquiry in the nineteenth 
century, he includes a considerable review of the work of 
early explorers. Twenty pages, indeed, have passed before 
we come to the final fourteen in which his true subject is 
discussed. The personal aims and influence of the rector 
are thus somewhat modestly and rigidly suppressed, and the 
address assumes a strictly academic character. It is well 
pointed out that tales of fabulous gold have prompted 
a large part of exploration. Yet geographical discovery, 
from whatever motive, has ended in that widening of the 
field of view which forms the essential feature of human 
pregress. The promoters of colonial enterprise, it.is urged, 
commonly overlook this incalculable result of their en- 
deavours. The author traces the rise of scientific geography 
from the stage of mere universal description, and points out 
how the culture of Germany has allotted its proper place in 
the university curriculum to a subject so intimately con- 
nected with the search after truth and the welfare of man- 
kind. 
In the Physical Review for October Mr. Edgar Bucking- | 
ham gives a concise deduction of Stefan’s law, according 
to which the total temperature radiation of a black body 
is proportional to the fourth power of the absolute tempera- 
ture. This deduction, which is a modification of Boltz- 
mann’s, is based on the free energy principle, but the corre- 
sponding reciprocal thermodynamical relation can be used 
instead if preferred. 
Dr. MaracGe publishes a series of observations on the 
artificial development and measurement of the sense of hear- 
ing in deaf mute subjects. A considerable number of cases 
were experimented on, a vowel-syren producing the sounds 
ou, 0, a, é, i being adopted for the purpose, and curves were 
drawn showing the intensity of sound audible to the patients 
at different stages of the treatment, as measured by the air 
pressure necessary to render the sounds of the syren audible. 
The author maintains that there are but few subjects who 
are deaf and dumb beyond all cure, and that the use of the 
syren will often restore the power of hearing, even in cases 
of complete deafness, usually within about six weeks. The 
sounds, so far from being fatiguing or painful to the sub- 
jects, appear to give them genuine pleasure. 
Pror. Giacomo Cramician has published his inaugural 
address delivered in the University of Bologna on November 
7, dealing with the problems of chemistry of the new 
century. After giving a general survey of recent advances 
in chemistry and physics, the author turns his attention to 
the problem of developing chemical industries in Italy. 
Already enormous strides have been made in the manufac- 
ture of iron and steel, of sulphuric acid (the production of 
which has increased fivefold in ten years), of sugar (in 
which the increase in five years has been from 50 to 800 
thousand quintals), and of calcium carbide. Among the 
obstacles to further progress mentioned by the author are | 
the action of the Government in checking the. growth of 
new industries by excessive taxation, the timidity of 
capitalists, and the want of educational institutions for train- 
ing an efficient army of expert chemists. 
NO. 1783. VOL. 69] 
Calcutta. 
‘meteorite which fell with the meteor seen in éastern’ Bengal’! 
oa October 22. The stone ‘weighs 622 grammes, and "is"! 
covered with a thin black’ crust’ formed by the fusion of! 
the rock during its rapid flight through ‘the air. ~Severat'! 
stones were known to’ have fallen with ‘this meteor,’ and!) 
ithe complete investment with fused crust of the one! ex-'' 
hibited shows that fusion of the surface occurred’ after the!! 
break-up of the meteorite. Besides the complete proof that” 
the meteor resulted in an actual fall of stones, special’! 
*interest attaches to this occurrence on account of the observ- 
ations made from so many points of view permitting the 
actual path and speed of the object to be calculated: At’ 
the same meeting Mr. D. Prain read papers on an un-'! 
described Indian Musa and on an undescribed araliaceous”) 
genus from Upper Burma. ‘ ; 
the Journal of the Royal Horti- 
cultural Society contains a brief description, with some) 
illustrations, of a number of trees and. shrubs recently in-. 
troduced from China by Mr. Veitch, which seem to be suited!) 
to our climate, and may prove to be important acquisitions: 
to our garden plants. As Mr. Veitch states, they have been 
chosen from the collections made by his agent, Mr. E. Hi: 
Wilson, and bear testimony to the Jatter’s energy andy 
assiduity. In the same volume the .practice of -water-" 
ing cucumbers and tomatoes with copper sulphate in order to) 
ward off fungal diseases is recommended by Mr. G. Massee. 
Tue October number of 
Tue primary function of the park and garden committees, 
in our cities and towns is to provide ornamental and open, 
spaces. The members of the Bradford Parks Committee | 
have recognised that it is within their province to afford, | 
educational facilities, and have set apart a plot of land in 
Lister Park to be converted into a botanical garden iy 
which to present a systematic grouping of plants, and also’ 
and local or economic plants which will serve 
for the purpose of identification, It is within the scope of ; 
this scheme to provide material for teachers’ use and ,to,, 
establish informal public lectures. at which more interesting ; 
specimens can be shown and discussed. Al} 
to grow trees, 
In No. 6 of the Publications of the Conseil Permanent 
International pour 1’Exploration de ta Mer, issued at Copen- 
hagen, Mr. H. M. Kyle describes a trawl-net designed to’ 
work in mid-water as well as on the sea-bed. This net, 
which is constructed on the umbrella principle, has been’ 
tried on one occasion at Grimsby, and, although the results’ 
may quite possibly prove 
were not successful, 
efficient. 
entirely 
WE have to acknowledge the receipt of the second part 
of Mr. J. Macoun’s ‘‘ Catalogue of Canadian Birds,”’ pub-, 
lished by the Geological Survey, of Canada. | This part in- 
cludes the diurnal birds of prey, together with the wood- 
peckers, flycatchers, crows, jays, and American blackbirds 
(Ageleus). Three years have elapsed since the publication 
of part i. (which was noticed at the time in our columns), 
during which period much additional information has been 
acquired with regard to the distribution of Canadian birds ; 
consequently this portion of the subject is somewhat more 
amplified in the present part than was the case in its pre- 
the mode of treatment follows the 
decessor. Otherwise, 
original lines. 
We have received copies of the first six numbers of a 
series of circulars on agricultural economic entomology, in 
course of issue» by the Trustees. of the Indian Museum, , 
Each number is devoted to a single species of, 
