Jan. i, 1885] 



NA TURE 



203 



only n uniform brilliant brightness, the centre of which was the 

 spot at which the sun had gone down ; other evenings the sun 

 shot rays like long fingers, of a darker colour, athwart the glow, 

 and in one evening the change of the light and darker colours of 

 the evening red were like the incessant wavings of the folds of a 

 perpendicular curtain. The effect of the phenomenon on the 

 ignorant and superstitious inhabitants of Seoul, was of more 

 immediate importance to the writer and his companions than its 

 scientific aspects. They regarded it as a sign of trouble, war, 

 and misfortune. Heavy rain which fell soon after averted any 

 disaster from this cause. 



A COMMISSION has been nominated by the President of the 

 French Republic to investigate the archaeology of Tunis, and 

 report on the best method of preserving the ancient monuments 

 of that country. A considerable number of specially-qualified 

 French scholars have been appointed, and M. Ernest Renan has 

 been named President of the Commission. 



A sarcophagus with four face-urns has been recently found 

 at Garzigar, near Kbslin (Pomerania), and has been sent to the 

 Antiquarian Provincial Museum of the Pomeranian Antiquarian 

 Society at Stettin. A similar discovery was made last year at 

 Klein Barkow (another Pomeranian village). Round one of the 

 urns there was placed a bronze necklace, consisting of a -tout 

 bronze wire supporting eight so-called spectacle-spirals as orna- 

 ments. Prof. Berndt has proved in his work on Pomeranian 

 face-ums, that they are really of Greek origin, dating from about 

 the years 100 or 200 B.C., when Greek agents or factors went to 

 live on the shores of the Baltic in order to trade with their home 

 country in amber, furs, &c. Prof. Lindenschmidt iMayence) 

 and Dr. Schliemann indorse this opinion. 



The Imperial Japanese Meteorological Observatory has 

 (according to the Japan Mail) issued a volume containing a 

 series of monthly weather summaries for the months March to 

 December 18S3. each summary being accompanied by a map. 

 The first weather map in Japan was issued on March I, 1883, 

 and the compilation therefore begins with that month. The 

 greater part of the issue is occupied by twenty maps, indicating 

 the tracks of centres of areas respectively of high and low baro- 

 meters for the ten months dealt with, copious notes prepared 

 from the daily telegrams being also furnished. For each month 

 there is given the number of areas of high and of low barometer, 

 with a short synopsis of the course of each, the place and date 

 of highest and lowest temperature and barometric pressure, the 

 number of gales, heavy gales, and hurricanes reported, with their 

 localities, the occasions on which rain or snow fell, and the 

 number of warnings issued. Lists are also given of the light- 

 houses from which gales were reported. These summaries are 

 followed by monthly meteorological tables and illustrative maps, 

 commencing two months earlier, anil extending therefore over 

 the whole of the year 1883. In these we find the mean tempe- 

 rature, mean pressure, altitude and rainfall for each month at 

 twenty-two stations, and at the end there is a similarly prepared 

 table for the whole year. The series closes with maps indicating 

 by different degrees of shading the rainfall over the various parts 

 of the empire during the twelve months, the aggregate rainfall 

 for the year being shown by similar means in a final map. 



At the meeting of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, 

 held on December 17, the following office-bearers were elected : — 

 Presidents: Benjamin X. Peach, F.R.S.E., John A. Harvie- 

 Brown, F.R.S.E., Rev. Prof. John Duns, F.R.S.E. ; Seen 

 tary : Robert Gray, V.P.R.S.E. ; Assistant Secretary : John 

 Gibson; Treasurer: Charles Prentice, F.R.S.E. ; Hon. Libra- 

 rian : R. Sydney Marsden, F.R.S.E. ; Council : Patrick Geddes, 

 F.R.S.E., Frank E. Beddard, F.R.S.E., Johnson Symington, 

 F.R.C.S.E., Andrew Moffat, John Hunter, F.C.S., Robert 

 Kidston, F.G.S., A. B. Herbert, William Evans Hoyle, 



M.R.C.S., F.R.S.E., Prof. James Geikie, F.R.S., Prof. J. 

 Cossar Ewart, F.R.S.E., G. Sims Woodhead, F.R.C.P.E., 

 Hugh Miller, F.G.S. 



We have received the October number of the Proceedings of 

 the Boston Society of Natural History. It contains a continua- 

 tion of Mr. Ciosby's paper, meeting the objections advanced by 

 Dr. Wadsworth against the author's views of the stratigraphy of 

 the Boston Basin. It also contains a description, by Q. E. 

 Dickerman and Dr. M. E. Wadsworth, of an olivine-bearing 

 diabase, from St. George, Maine ; as also the beginning of a 

 paper by Thos. T. Bouve, on the genesis of the Boston Basin 

 and its rock-formation. 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co. will very shortly publish a 

 translation of the work of Dr. Hertel of Copenhagen on Over- 

 Pressure in Middle-Class Schools in Denmark, with an intro- 

 duction by Dr. Crichton Browne. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include an Indian Civet (Viverriatla malaccmsis) from 

 India, presented by Mr. W. Getty ; a Bengalese Cat (Felis ben- 

 galensis) from India, presented by Mr. G. T. Egan ; a Grey 

 Parrot {Psiltacus trithacus) from West Africa, presented by Mrs. 

 Whitelow ; a Kestrel (Tinnunculus alandarins), a Sparrow 

 Hawk {Accipiter nisus), British, presented by Mr. T. E. Gunn ; 

 a Broad-fronted Crocodile [Crocodilus frontatus), a Nilotic 

 Crocodile {Crocodilus vulgaris) from West Africa, presented by 

 Mr. J. M. Harris ; an Undulated Grass Parrakeet {Mclopsittacus 

 undidatus) from Australia, deposited ; two Golden-winged 

 Woodpeckers (Colaptcs auratus), a Blue Jay {Cyanocitta cristata) 

 from North America, a Black-tailed Hawfinch (CoccotArausles 

 mtlanurus) from Japan, two Red-headed Finches (Amadina 

 erythrocephald) from South Africa, two Banded Parrakeets 

 (Palaornis fasciaius), from India, received in exchange. 



PHYSICAL NOTES 

 Several new primary batteries are in the field, and there are 

 more to come. An iron cell invented by Dr. Pabst of Stettin 

 is finding great favour in Germany. Its electrodes are carbon 

 and wrought iron dipping into a solution of ferric chloride. It 

 is practically unpolarisable and self-regeneratii g. Itjworks at the 

 expense of iron and of the oxygen of the air, which is absorbed 

 into the liquid, whilst ferric oxide is deposited at the bottom of 

 the cell. Its electromotive force is about 78 of a volt. The 

 Pabst cell ought to prove of value for domestic electric lighting, 

 as its internal resistance is low and its constancy remarkable. 



ANOTHER primary cell has the peculiarity that the element 

 consumed in the liquid is carbon. In this cell — the invention of 

 Profs. Bartoli and Papasogli — the electrodes are platinum, and 

 a compacted mixture of retort coke and Ceylonese graphite. 

 The exciting liquid is hypochlorite of soda. The electromotive 

 force is, however, only 2 of a volt at the most. 



M. JABLOCHKOFF announces another battery of great scientific 

 interest. A small rod of sodium weighing about 8 grammes is 

 squeezed into contact with an amalgamated copper wire and 

 flattened. It is wrapped in tissue paper and then damped with 

 three wooden pegs against a plate of very porous carbon. This 

 completes the clement. The moisture of the air settles on the 

 oxidised surface of the sodium. It works without any other 

 liquid. The E.M.F. is 2'5 volts, but the resistance is as great 

 as 25 ohms. 



M. I \. \i ! Weiller has shown that the phosphide of tin, 

 drawn into wires, possesses a higher electric conductivity than 

 platinum or iron. 



M. EMII.E REYNIER has made some very interesting experi- 

 ments on the maxima and minima electromotive forces obtained 

 from cell ol one electrolyte. For this purpose he constructed two 

 cells, one for determining the maxima and one for determining 

 the minima electromotive forces. His maximum cell consists in 

 giving the positive electrode as large a surface as possible — about 

 30 square decimetres — while the negative electrode consisted of a 

 wire of j mm. diameter. The positive electrode was bent round 



