D 



ec. 



1884] 



NA TURE 



181 



extension of weather signals has been for some time in operation 

 in Ohio and in a portion of Pennsylvania. 



THE last Consular Report from China, published as a Parlia 

 mentary Bine-Book (China 6a Trade Reports), contains the 

 appendixes to the annual report of the English Consul at 

 Ichang. They deal with the animal, fossil, mineral, and 

 vegetable products of the Ichang district. A considerable part 

 of the flora appears to be employed only for medicinal purposes. 

 The extracts from Mr. Gardner's diary of his travels through the 

 province are sometimes extremely interesting ; his account of a 

 visit to the fossil quarries is especially so. Three kinds of 

 fossils found in the district are staples of trade, the pag.»!.i stones 



>), kosmos stones (Ammonites), and the "stone 

 swalli iws. " The first is found in the slate, and is cut, and either 

 framed as a picture, or made into ornamental furniture. The 

 Ammonites receive the name of "kosmos stones" from their 

 resemblance when polished to the Chinese symbol for kosmos. 

 The *o-called stone swallows are ground down, and, like much 

 else in that region, used as medicine. These are fossil bivalves, 

 and the name is given to them because the natives believe that 

 they fly about underground in the same way that the swallow 

 flies in the air. The fossil cutters appear to be a separate guild, 



ly converts to Christianity. The tools are merely a 

 saw and a chisel. They prod about the slate until they find an 

 Orthoceras, which they think will be perfect ; they then cut out a 

 slab, vsliiih tin y saw into two or three thin planks, so that the 

 fossil looks like a white picture of a pagoda on a black ground. 

 These various fossils are close together in a region at least thirty 

 miles long, and Mr. Gardner thinks that there is hardly a cubic 

 foot of the limey slate which does not contain a fossil or the 

 fragment of one. 



The most recent link in the long chain of telegraph lines 

 which is spreading with such rapidity over China is the land 

 lint- from Shanghai to Canton. A line from Pekin to Tientsin 

 was opened a few months ago, and the capital of China was 

 connected directly with London. Now the capital of Southern 

 China is joined with the metropolis in the north ; and as Canton 

 was put in communication by telegraph with the frontier of 

 Tonquin at the outbreak of the present political troubles in the 

 latter district, the telegraph now stretches in an unbroken line 

 from Pekin in the north to the most southern boundary of the 

 Chinese Empire, and a message either from London or Pekin 

 might reach the head-quarters of the Chinese forces on the 

 Tonquin frontier in a few hours. Four years ago the only tele- 

 graph line in China was one about six miles in length, stretching 

 from Shanghai to the sea, and erected to inform the mercantile 

 community of the arrival of vessels off the mouth of the river. 

 The next important line constructed by the Chine e Government 

 will probably be one uniting Pekin with the great northern lines 

 across Siberia at Kiachta. This will have to cross the whole of 

 Mongolia, and will give the capital of China a third alternative 

 telegraph route to Europe, a matter to which some political im- 

 portance is believed to be attached in China. As already pointed 

 out in NATURE, this extraordinary development is due solely to 

 political considerations. 



A Commission appointed by the French Government to 

 consider the best method of developing the mineral wealth of 

 Annum and Tonquin has just issued its report. It lays down a 

 programme for a mining mission, which it has been decided to 

 -end out there, and suggests the appointment of two separate 

 missions. The duty of the first of these would lie to ascertain 

 whether the metallifeious deposits stated by Annamite docu- 

 ments to exist in two north-western provinces of Tonquin do 

 actually exist there, and how far it would be possible to work 

 them profitably. The second hould investigate the copper 

 deposits ol the d Ita, and subsequently extend its labours into 

 Annam. A draft mining law for these regions has also been 



proposed. Its special provisions are those relating to the mutual 

 rights of the owners of the soil and those who have been granted 

 concessions to work the mines ; to administrative intervention 

 (which it is recommended should be as rare as possible) with 

 private mine owners. The broad policy laid down by the Com- 

 mission is very liberal, not only to the natives, whose rights or 

 alleged rights are to be scrupulously respected, but also to other 

 nations, whose subjects are, for mining purposes, to be placed 

 on the same footing as Frenchmen. Work, it is said, can take 

 place at once on the coal-measures known to exist on the coast 

 of Tonquin, as well as in the adjacent islands. 



The several correspondents of La Lumiire Elxlrique, who 

 have been sent to report on the progress of electricity in 

 America, have returned to Paris, and are preparing their reports, 

 which will be published next year. 



The site for the Centennial French Exhibition has been 

 selected. It is to be held on the Champ de Mars, which belongs 

 to the War Office, but will be given up to the city of Paris. 

 A part of the Champ de Mars will be sold for building purposes. 

 The Central Palace of the Exhibition will be made permanent 

 and used for yearly exhibitions like those held in London at 

 South Kensington. 



Prof. T. C. Mendenhall, Science states, has been appointed 

 Chief Electrician of the U.S. Signal Bureau. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Silvery Gibbon (Ilylobatcs kuciscus 9 ) from 

 Java, presented by Mr. C. LI. A. Hervey ; a Bonnet Monkey 

 \M:, tens siniens) from India, presented by Mrs. J. N. L. 

 Boljahn ; a Common Roe (Capreolus caprcea), British, presented 

 by Mr. C. Hambro ; a Common Rhea ( Kkei americana 6 ) from 

 South America, presented by Lady Brassey, F.Z.S. ; a Tawny 

 Owl (Syrnium aluco), European, pie enfed by Mr. W. P. 

 Clark; a Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galeritd) 

 from Australia, presented by Mr. R. O. S. Ogilby ; a Greater 

 Black-backed Gull (Lams marinm), British, presented by Mr. 

 T. E. Gunn ; a Herring Gull (Larns argentaius), a Common 

 Gull (Laras canus), three Greater Black-backed Gulls (L'irus 

 marinus), three Black-headed Gulls (Lams ridibutidus), British, 

 presented by Mr. W. H. Fielden, C.M.Z.S. ; a Vervet Monkey 

 •pith ecus lalandii) from South Africa, a Brush-tailed Kan- 

 I garoo (letrogale penicillaia 9 ) from New South Wales, a Hairy- 

 1 "fruited Muntjac (Ceruulus crinifrons 6), two Michie's Tufted 

 1 icer (Elaphodus michianus i 9 ) from China, a Tawny Owl 

 (Syrnium aluco), European, a Hobby (Folco sulbutco), British, 

 deposited; two Common Guillemots (Lomvia tioilc), a Razor- 

 Mi (Alca ton/a), British, purchased. 



0c/A' ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



Occultations OF ALDEBARAN. — The next series of occulta- 



tions of Aldebaran visible at Greenwich commences on February 



22, 18S5, and terminates on October 6, 1S87. The dates and 



mean times of immersion and emersion aie as follow : — 



iSSs February 22 ... 5 '7 — 5 5° 



March 21 ... II 43 ... below the horizon 



November 22 ... 9 48 ... 10 57 



1886 January 16 .. 7 4S ... 8 49 



April 8 ... 58 ... 5 54 



November 12 ... 18 27 ... 19 16 



1SS7 January 6 ... 12 17 ... 1.5 15 



March 2 ... 5 47 ... 6 4 



1 U i., her 6 ... 15 20 ... 16 2 



There t>re therefore eight occultations in this series in which 

 both immersion and emersion are visible, and one in which only 

 the immersion occurs while the star is a 1 ove the horizon at 

 Greenwich. In the last series, wh'ch commenced September 

 28, 1866, and ended on August 2, 1869. ten occultations were 

 wh 11} visible. 



