156 



NA TURE 



{Dec. 1 8, 18J 



and cinchona. As an example of the care and labour devoted 

 to the work, it may be mentioned that every method of cultivat- 

 ing the cinchona in Ceylon and South America was tried in the 

 gardens without much success ; and finally Mr. Pink was com- 

 pelled to devise a method of his own, which proved successful. 



We regret to announce the death of Dr. Heinrich Bodinus, 

 for many years Director of the Berlin Zoological Gardens ; he died 

 at Berlin on November 23 last. Also of Dr. Karl von Vierordt, 

 formerly Professor of Physiology at Tubingen University ; he 

 died at that place on November 22, aged sixty-seven. 



La Nature records the death of M. Henri Lortigue, to whom 

 is due the practical introduction of the telephone in most of the 

 large towns in France, and who was in many other respects a 

 man of scientific note. In 1S55 he was employed by Leverrier, 

 the Director of the Paris Observatory, who was then organising 

 a series of meteorological observations, to superintend the instru- 

 ments by which, by means of photography and electricity, the 

 slightest variations of the barometer, thermometer, and compass 

 were recorded. In 1859 M. Lortigue took charge of the tele- 

 graph service on the Chemin de Fer du Nord, and received a 

 gold medal for his various inventions of semaphores, automatic 

 whistles, &c. In 18S0 he was Director of the Societe des Tele- 

 phones. He was also a botanist and entomologist of note, and 

 has left behind him some excellent collections in natural history. 



The part of Turkestan bordering on China and comprising 

 the countries retroceded by Russia, is now entirely incorporated 

 with the Chinese Empire, and will form henceforward the 19th 

 Province. 



We have received from Messrs. Collins of Glasgow the new 

 edition (twentieth thousand) of Prof. Guthrie's well-known 

 " Text-Book of Magnetism and Electricity." Not only has the 

 present edition been carefully revised, but it contains a supple- 

 mentary chapter by Mr. C. V. Boys, referring chiefly to the 

 practical applications which have been made of electricity during 

 the last few years, such as the telephone and microphone, 

 dynamo machines, electric light, secondary batteries, &c. 

 Electric and magnetic units are also referred to at some 

 length. 



Our readers will be glad to know that the Fine Art Society 

 announces the publication of an etching of Prof. T. H. Huxley, 

 after the picture painted by Mr. John Collier, which was 

 exhibited at the Royal Academy in 18S3. The etching is the 

 work of the distinguished etcher, M. Leopold Flameng, and 

 corresponds in size with the portrait of the late Mr. Charles 

 Darwin, painted and etched by the same artists, and published 

 by the same Society last year. 



An examination of a series of water-marks set in 1750 all 

 round the Swedish coasts, from the mouth of the Tornea to the 

 Naze, in order to settle a dispute between the Swedish astro- 

 nomer Celsius and some Germans, as to whether the level of 

 the Baltic has been rising or sinking, shows that both parties 

 were right. The gauges were renewed in 185 1, and again this 

 year, and have been inspected regularly at short intervals, the 

 observations being carefully recorded. It appears that the 

 Swedish coast has been steadily rising, while that on the southern 

 fringe of the Baltic has been as steadily falling. The dividing 

 line, along which no change is perceptible, passes from Sweden 

 to the Schleswig-Holstein coast, over Bornholm and Laland. 

 The results have lately been published by the Swedish Academy 

 of Sciences ; and it appears from them that while during this 

 period of 134 years the northern part of Sweden has risen about 

 7 feet, the rate of elevation gradually declines as we go south- 

 wards, being only about 1 foot at the Naze, and nothing at 

 Bornholm, which remains at the same level as in the middle of 

 the last century. The general average result would be that the 

 Swedish coast has risen about 56 inches during the last 134 years. 



The Central Geodynamic Observatory at Rome recently re- 

 ceived notice from Corleone, in the province of Palermo, of 

 another violent shock of earthquake, making the fourth in Italy 

 in less than a fortnight. The first occurred on November 23, 

 at 7.30 p.m., on the eastern slope of the Western Alps, and 

 coincided with the reawakening of Vesuvius. The second, at 

 midnight on the 27th, extended from the same region to Switzer- 

 land and Lyms on the north, and to the Liguarian coast of 

 Italy. The third, at midnight on the 29th, shook Cosenza and 

 Paola in Calabria. The fourth touched Sicily at Ccrleone at 

 four o'clock in the afternoon of the 5th inst. During this period 

 an unusual agitation had been noted in the seismographic instru- 

 ments at Rome and elsewhere in Italy. Prof. Di Rossi, Direc- 

 tor of the Geodynamic Observatory, announces the early publi- 

 cation of very interesting observations taken at Rocca di Papa, 

 comprising the alterations in level, and in the temperature of 

 subterranean waters. 



A notice has just been received from M. Hepites, who has 

 long been carrying on meteorological observations in Roumania, 

 to the effect that the Roumanian Government has decided on 

 the establishment of a meteorological organisation, and has 

 voted the necessary funds. The Central Institute is being built 

 at Bucharest. The organisation was started July 1. M. Hepites 

 is the director. 



In a paper recently read before the Shanghai branch of the 

 Royal Asiatic Society, Dr. Macgowan affirms the claims of the 

 Chinese to be the originators of gunpowder and firearms. This 

 claim was examined in an elaborate paper some years ago by the 

 late Mr. Mayers, and decided by him in the negative. Dr. 

 Macgowan admits that gunpowder as now used is a European 

 discovery. Anterior to its granulation by Schwartz it was a 

 crude compound, of little use in propelling missiles ; this, says 

 the writer, is the article first used in China. The incendiary 

 materials stated by a Greek historian to have been employed by 

 the Hindus against Alexander's army, are stated to have been 

 merely the naphthous or petroleum mixtures of the ancient 

 Coreans, and in early times used by the Chinese. The "stink- 

 pots," so much used by Chinese pirates, is, it appears, a Cam- 

 bodian invention. Dr. Macgowan states also that as early as 

 the twelfth or thirteenth century the Chinese attempted sub- 

 marine warfare, contriving rude torpedoes for that purpose. In 

 the year 1000 an inventor exhibited to the then Emperor of 

 China "afire-gun and a fire-bomb." He says that while the 

 Chinese discovered the explosive nature of nitre, sulphur, and 

 charcoal in combination, they were laggards in its application, 

 from inability to perfect its manufacture, so, in the use of fire- 

 arms failing to prosecute experiment, they are found behind in 

 the matter of scientific gunnery. 



In The Hull Quarterly and East Riding Portfolio, edited by 

 W. G. B. Page, Sub-Librarian of Subscription Library, Hull, 

 will appear, during the year 1SS5, interesting articles by T. M. 

 Evans, President of the Literary and Philosophical Society, 

 Hull, on the ancient Britons and the lake-dwelling at Ulrome 

 in Holderness ; A. C. Hurtzig, C.E., on some tidal and engin- 

 eering features of the River Humber ; and William Lawton, on 

 the meteorology of Hull. 



The Leicester "Literary and Philosophical," now entering 

 upon its jubilee year, appears to be a flourishing society in a 

 flourishing town. Over 300 members distribute themselves into 

 five sections, containing many ladies as Associates, and both 

 making outdoor excursions for practical observation, and holding 

 evening meetings at which lectures are given, professional as 

 well as amateur, followed at the latter by discussions. These 

 lead to the collection and distribution of valuable knowledge of 

 archaeology, literature, and economics ; of astronomy, physics, 



