March 19, 1885] 



NA TURE 



459 



remarkable one was witnessed in 1SS3 by Dr. Manuel A. Diez, 

 at that time physician of the military camp at Maracay. A 

 lightning stra mall country house built of wood and 



mud, and thatched with straw or large leaves), where a man 

 slept in a hammock, another lay under the hammock on the 

 ground, and three women were busy about the floor ; there were 

 also several hens and a pig. The man in the hammock did not 

 receive any injury whatever, whilst the other four persons and 

 the animals were killed. As the wooden framework of the 

 house was probably very dry, the man in the hammock was 

 almost isolated ; but the other persons and the animals were 

 in direct contact with the floor — in this case the bare 

 ground. 



Near Caracas accidents are comparatively rare. Pining all 

 the years of my residence here no more than six have come to 

 my knowledge : in three of them some damage was done to 

 buildings, in two cases large trees were split, and in one 

 (October, 1882) a ploughman was killed while at work in the 

 field, together with his two oxen, his driving-stick (about four 

 yards long, and shod with an iron point) having acted as 

 lightning-conductor. A. ERNST 



Caracas, February S 



Mira Ceti 



With reference to your note on Mira Ceti in NATURE of 

 February 5, I beg to say that I have observed Mira since 

 December 15, 1SS4, and my observations show that the star 

 reached a maximum on February 4, when I estimated it equal 

 to a Ceti, or about 27 magnitude. It remained of the same 

 brightness up to February 13, and has faded very slowdy since 

 that date. It was, last night, not much below a Ceti. 



J. E. Gore 



Ballysodare, Co. Sligo, Ireland, March 8 



Physical Geography of the Malayan Peninsula 



I hope you will give me space in your journal to correct a 

 few errors that have slipped into the letter under this heading 

 in the issue of December 18 (p. 152) by the Rev. J. E. Tenison- 

 W Is. 



In the first place, there is no fluor-spar in the drift which 

 carries the tin. The stone referred to is rose-quartz, some of 

 which is very beautifully coloured. I have a specimen of it 

 nearly as large as a man's head. It has a specific gravity of 

 2'63, and hardne-s equal to ordinary white quartz, which it will 

 scratch without difficulty. 



In the next paragraph Mr. Tenison- Woods says he cannot 

 recall any mines on the eastern slopes of the mountains. 1 his 

 seems extraordinary, as si me of the best mines in Kinta are on 

 the eastern slopes of the volley, anil I accompanied Mr. Tenison- 

 Woods to the l.ehat, Pasin, and Papan mining districts, and, 

 with the exception of the Kwala, Diepang, and Gopeng mines, 

 these were the only ones visited by him in Kinta, whii h 

 not on the eastern slopes of the valley. Following out thesame 

 idea, he says speaking of the Kinta valley, "The river flows, 

 like the Perak, on the eastern side of the valley." This is also 

 a mistake, for it is decidedly on the western side, and this ac- 

 counts for the fact mentioned in the next line : "The eastern 

 tributaries are many and important." If the rivers were as 

 stated by the rev. gentleman, this would be nearly impossible. 

 I have taken the of asking the opinion of the officer 



in charge of the Kinta district, and he coincides with my view 

 of the position of the river. 



The next point on which I cannot agree is that "there is not 

 the slightest sign of any recent upheaval of the coast-line, while 

 the evidence of subsidence is equally absent. A short time ago 

 a boring was made to a depth of 75 feet at Matang (which is 

 of Larut), and I made a section from it, which 

 shows that, within quite recent times, an important alter- 

 ation of level has taken place. The ground at that place is 

 6 feet above the present high-water mark. Down to a depth of 

 17 feet from the surface the formation is marine, but below that, 

 beds of sands, clays, and gravels, with leaf-bands and pieces of 

 wood, are met with, of the same nature as the drift near the 

 hills, and containing a s, n all quantity of fine tin ; these beds 

 extend down to a depth of 75 feet, and most probably much 

 further. It therefore appears that there has been a subsidence 

 of at least 75 feet since the formation of the tin-bearing drift of 



Larut. An alteration of level of this extent must have made 

 most important geographical changes in the Straits of Malacca. 

 and may help to solve many of the problems connected with 

 the distribution of the flora and fauna of this interesting 

 locality. 



The limestone-hill on the eastern side of the Gapis Pass, called 

 Gunong Pondok, is 1S00 feet in height, instead of 400 feet, as 

 stated ; and is connected by a ridge with the main range of 

 mountains. A little further on Mr. Tenison Woods says that 

 there are two mountains called Gunong Hijau. This is a very 

 excusable mistake for a stranger to make, for one is Hijau, 

 which means " green," and the one further to the north is Ijoh, 

 which is the name of a palm [Arenga saccharifera). The Kurau 

 river has its source on the former mountain, at the back of the 

 town of Tliaipeng. About four years ago I followed the stream 

 from near the summit of Hijau down to the plains. 



L. Wray, Tun. 



Perak Museum, Larut, Perak, January 30 



The Continuity of Protoplasm in Plant Tissue 



There is some danger that those who are unable to make 1 

 personal examination of the Floridere may be a little misled by 

 Mr. Gardiner's remarks thereon in his article on " The Con- 

 tinuity of the Protoplasm in Plant Tissue" (Nature, vol. xxxi. 

 p. 390). In arguing in support of his own view that this con- 

 tinuity is not direct, but indirect he states that "Schmitz has 

 found that a pit-closing membrane," " perforated in a sieve-like 

 manner," exists in the Floridese, and that lie himself has "been 

 able to confirm Schmitz's results as to the existence of the 

 closing membrane in question." 



Now, if Mr. Gardiner means by this that what he terms a pit- 

 closing membrane, perforated in a sieve-like manner, is present 

 in ,./ the Florideae, or even in all parts of the thallus of a - 

 species, I venture to submit that the statement is not in strict 

 ace rdance with fact. In my investigations into the histology of 

 these plants, special attention was paid to this point, and by : 

 methods that I could devise, or learn from other workers, was 

 such a membrane to be demonstrated in the simpler forms, a-, 

 for example, in Petroeciis cruenta. Indeed, I cannot conceive- 

 how a sieve-plate arrangement could possibly exist, where the 

 continuity is maintained by a single thread of protoplasm, and 

 that of such extreme tenuity as in the species referred to. So 

 far as I am aware, no one maintains the existence of a sieve- 

 plate in the threads of Volvox, and I fail to see why it should 1" 

 assumed to exist in the equally fine threads now under considera- 

 tion. 



Further, in Polysiphonia, Ptilola, and other genera, where a 

 membrane is normally present, it is not met with in every far: 

 of the thallus, being absent from the younger portions. In these 

 portions the connecting threads are sing/- and e\'remely delica'e, 

 so that while observation affords no indication of a sieve-plate, 

 the arrangements themselves preclude the possibility of one. As 

 the threads grow older and thicker, a membrane which ma 

 perforated is developed, but it is no part of the primary wall of 

 the protoplast. Thus, while the connecting protoplasmic 

 threads exist from the first, the so-called pit-closing membrane 

 arises as a liter development, and is therefore subsidiary to tht 

 continuity, and not essentia I to it. 



So far, then, as the Florideae are concerned, I think we must 

 recognise two conditions or stages of continuity ; first, a direct 

 continuity, permanent in the simpler forms, but transitory in the 

 more complex ones ; and second, an indirect continuity, absent 

 from the younger, but present in the older tissues. 



Barn te, March 7 Thomas Hick 



Time in the United States 

 In your issue of January 23 the statement (p. 277) that "local 

 time thr lughout the United States, as opposed to railway time, 

 has been abolished." is not quite accurate. At the introduction 

 of the " standard " time an attempt was made in many places 

 to do this, but it has proved impracticable, except near the 

 meridians of time. At other places the local time still governs 

 all the daily business, except what involves travelling. For this 

 the difference, a constant quantity, is remembered, and the 

 proper allowance made. For example, here we allow ihirty- 

 thri e minutes, being west of the meridian of eastern time to 

 that amount. E. W. Claypole 



Akron, Ohio 



