Jan. 8. 1885] 



NA TURE 



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stations of the Signal Service, but also at as many railway- 

 stations and post-offices as possible, in order to spread the 

 widest notice of the coming change of weather. The service 

 cannot at present undertake to provide the flags or to pay for 

 special telegrams 10 numerous local display-stations ; but the 

 cost of the flags (white, six feet square, with a two-foot black 

 square in centre) is moderate, and can easily be borne by those 

 interested in securing early indications of falling temperature ; 

 and in several parts of the country the telegrams are sent to all 

 the stations on certain railroads that co-operate with the Signal 

 Service, and thus promptly distribute weather forecasts to the 

 towns along their routes. It is probable that the coming year 

 will see a considerable extension of this kind of weather service. 



M. JAM1N, the Perpetual Secretary of the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences, has published, in the January issue of finite des Deux 

 .1/ ndes, the essay on balloons, which we announced a few weeks 

 ago. The academician takes a very moderate view of the 

 success of the Meudon and Point du Jour experiments. 



The terrestrial disturbance in Southern Spain, which began 

 with violent earthquake shocks on Christmas night, still con- 

 tinues, and other earthquakes are reported from Austria and 

 Italy. From Vienna information comes of repeated shocks on 

 the 4th inst. in the hot-spring district of Southern Styria, during 

 which some slight damage was done, while on the afternoon of 

 the same day a shock, perhaps of the same earthquake, was felt 

 at Susa, near Mont Cenis, and one of greater force on the 

 morning of the following day (January 5) at Velletri, near Rome. 

 The seismic instruments at the observatory in Rome and at 

 Rocca di Papa showed unusual activity on the 5th and previous 

 days, especially at midday, and at night the mineral springs in 

 the Island of lochia have risen in temperature. It would thus 

 appear that the present is a period of unusual seismic disturbance 

 throughout Southern Europe. In Spain no day lias passed 

 since the 25th nit. without one or more severe shocks in the dis- 

 turbed area. On the 31st ult. the tenth violent shock in a week 

 occurred in Granada — the people left their houses for the night 

 — and up to that date 10,000 people had left the town altogether. 

 On the same day and on the 1st inst. shocks continued at Jaen, 

 Torrox, Malaga, Benamargoza, and Velez Malaga. At Torrox 

 buildings were thrown down, and the town has been wholly 

 abandoned. At Nerja the church was damaged, and at Arenas 

 del Key 500 persons were either killed or injured. On the 1st 

 inst. and the morning of the 2nd fresh shocks were felt at Nerja, 

 Algarrobo, Granada, and Malaga. A number of towns and 

 villages are reported completely destroyed and deserted. On the 

 2nd shocks were felt along the Mediterranean coast of Granada 

 and Malaga. Up to noon on the 3rd inst., according to official 

 statistics, 673 bodies were recovered from the ruins of towns in 

 the province of Granada alone. On that day the shocks were 

 renewed in Loja, Alhama, Jaen, and Velez Malaga, fissures 

 being made in the ground. The town of Alhama, which has 

 suffered most severely of all, is composed of two parts, the 

 upper and lower. During the earthquake on Christmas night 

 the upper town, situated on the side of a valley, fell into the 

 lower portion. Over 1500 houses were destroyed, and more 

 than 300 dead were recovered up to the 4th inst. It is calculated 

 that 10,000 head of cattle were killed. Besides this, five 

 churches, five convents and hospitals, the town-hall, the prisons, 

 clubs, and theatre were destroyed, and 7000 people rendered 

 homeless. On the 5th a sharp shock occurred at Granada a 

 few minutes after 6 in the evening, and some slight shocks 

 were felt at Malaga. 



AT the Royal Institution, Prof. II. N. Moseley will, on 

 Tuesday next (January 13), begin a course of five lectures on 

 " Colonial Animals, their Structure and Life Histories " ; Prof. 

 Dewar will, on Thursday (January 15), begin a course of eleven 

 lectures on "The New Chemistry"; and Dr. Waldstein will, 



on Saturday (January 17), begin a course of three lectures on 

 "Greek Sculpture from Pheidias to the Roman Era." The 

 Friday evening meetings will begin on January 16, when Prof. 

 Tyndall will give a discourse on " Living Contagia." 



According to the North China Herald there died a few 

 months ago at Pekin, the greatest Chinese mathematician of the 

 present century. His name was Li Shan-Ian, and he was 

 Professor of Mathematics at the Foreign College in the Chinese 

 Capital. He differed from the mathematicians of Europe in 

 this respect, that he denied the non-existence of a point. "A 

 point," said Prof. Li, "is an infinitesimally small cube," and in 

 saying this he only reproduced the theories of Chinese sophists 

 2000 years ago. A great writer of that age put into the mouth 

 of a sophistical being, whom he called the god of the northern 

 sea, the following theory, which has its bearing on Prof. Li's 

 heterodox views about a mathematical point : Subtlety is the 

 occult part of the minute. Be a thing subtle or gross, it seems 

 to me that it must have a form. A formless or unsubstantial 

 thing cannot be distinguished as gross or subtle, discriminate as 

 minutely as you will. What can be spoken of is the gross or 

 palpable part of an entity ; what can be imagined only is its 

 subtle part or essence ; but I take it that what is neither gross 

 nor subtle can neither be talked of nor imagined. 



M. Lauth, the superintendent of the porcelain factory at 

 Sevres, is said to have discovered a new porcelain, which is far 

 superior to the famous old Sevres. After ten years' experiment 

 ami investigation he thinks he has produced a porcelain identical 

 with that of China. Not only does it lend itself to artistic 

 decoration, but it takes all kinds of glazes, and surpasses in 

 beauty the colours obtained in China. 



A proposition to connect Sicily with the mainland, by a 

 submarine railway from Messina to Reggio, has been made by 

 the Society of Engineering of Venice. It has been laid before 

 the Minister of Public Works, who has referred it to a technical 

 commission. A project by the French engineer who constructed 

 the first railways in Rome to build a suspension bridge across 

 the Straits of Messina, was laid at the time before Francis II. ; 

 but Garibaldi's campaign in Sicily, and the subsequent political 

 events, caused it to be put aside. 



We learn from an Adelaide paper of November 3, 1884, that 

 Mr. Clement L. Wragge has now extended his plan of opera- 

 tions on Mount Lofty, and has established, as a further experi- 

 ment, a substantially equipped meteorological observatory there. 

 At the Torrens Observatory readings are taken in direct connec- 

 tion with the observations on the Mount, 2350 feet. 



Prof. Sylvester asks us to state that in his article " On the 

 Genesis of an Idea," the footnote on p. 36, left-hand column, 

 should read: — "It is one of Descartes' 'self-evident primary 

 truths ' that nothing which has happened could not have hap- 

 pened or have happened otherwise." The words "have hap- 

 pened " unfortunately dropped out. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Vervet Monkey (Cenopilkeeus lalandii i) 

 from South Africa, presented by Mr. J. W. Moon ; a Bonnet 

 Monkey {Macacus sinicus 9 ) from India, presented by Mrs. M. 

 E. Mackern ; a Brown Hyaena (Hyaua brunnea) from South 

 Africa, presented by Mr. R. W. Murray ; a Nubian Ibex (Capra 



nubiana S ), a Ibex (Capra 6 ), a Domestic Goat 



(Capra hire us 9 ) from the Soudan, presented by Mrs. Laing ; 

 seven Angulated Tortoises (Chersina angulata), two Hoary 

 Snakes (Coromlla carta), a Many-spotted Snake (Coronella 

 mullimaculata), a Robben Island Snake {Coronella phocarum) 

 from South Africa, presented by the Rev. G. H. R. Fisk, 

 C.M.Z.S. ; a Golden Eag'e {Aquila ckrysaetos), European, 

 deposited ; a Gibbon (Hylobata ) from Siam, pur- 

 chased. 



