492 



NA TURE 



{March 26, 1885 



year 1887. The Government has proposed, and the Chambers 

 have adopted a law having for its object the preservation of fish 

 and their restoration to the rivers. The main obstacle to this 

 •nd is the pollution of the waters of small unnavigable streams by 

 solid and liquid matter poured into them by various industries, 

 which render them unfit for the breeding and existence of fish. 

 The Academy, therefore, calls on science to aid the public 

 authorities. One of its members has placed at its disposal the 

 sum of three thousand francs, which it has decided to spend in 

 giving a prize for a thorough study of the following questions, 

 at once biological and chemical: — (1) What are the special 

 substances in our principal industries which, when mingled with 

 the water of small streams, render them incompatible with the 

 existence of fish and unfit for the consumption of man and beast ? 

 (2) Investigation and indication of practical measures for puri- 

 fying water as it leaves manufactories, so as to render it innocuous 

 to fish without interfering with the industry, combining the 

 expedients offered by decanting basins, filtering and chemical 

 agents. (3) Separate experiments on the substances which in 

 each special industry kill fish, and on the degree of resistance 

 which each species of edible fish offers to this destruction. (4) 

 A list of the rivers in Belgium which are actually depopulated by 

 this state of things, with an indication of the special industries 

 in these rivers, and a list of the edible fish which inhabited them 

 before the establishment of the factories. If a memoir is judged 

 satisfactory for the solution of the two first points, a prize of two 

 thousand francs will be given, even though the two latter ques- 

 tions are untouched. Papers should be legibly written, and 

 should be addressed to M. Liagre, Perpetual Secretary, an 

 Palais des Academies, Brussells, before October 1, 1887. 

 Quotations are to be made with great exactness, and authors 

 should therefore mention the edition and page of works cited. 

 A motto must be selected, and the names inclosed in a separate 

 sealed envelope, with the motto superscribed. The papers sent 

 in will remain in the archives of the Academy. 



A recent issue of the Peking Gazette contains a report from 

 the outgoing Viceroy of Fukhien stating that he had handed 

 over the insignia of office to his successor, including inter alia 

 the seal, the imperial death warrant, banners and tablets, and 

 the conch-shell best used by the Throne. The latter has a curious 

 use. A conch-shell with a whorl turning to the right is supposed 

 when blown to have the effect of stilling the waves (from the 

 excruciating nature of the sound ?), and is hence often bestowed 

 by the Emperor upon high officers whose duties compel them 

 to take voyages by sea. The Viceroy of Fukhien probably 

 possesses one of these shells in virtue of his jurisdiction over 

 Formosa, to which periodical visits of inspection are supposed 

 to be paid. 



Under the title "A Prophetic Almanac a Hundred Years 

 ago," Science et Nature describes, with illustrations, portion of 

 one of a series of almanacs issued between 1789 and 1799, which 

 has recently been presented to the Paris Bureau of Meteorology. 

 The collection was made at the time by Gueneau Montbeillard, 

 the colleague of Buffon, and the author of the section on birds 

 in the latter's natural history. Montbeillard was also a meteor- 

 ologist, and his observations, made at his chateau at Semur in 

 Cote-d'Or, can be employed to check the prophecies made in 

 the Almanack fidele published annually at Troyes, " par les soins 

 du sieur Maribas, grand astrologue et mathematicien. " Selecting 

 the page of the almanac for the month of March, 1785 (precisely 

 a century ago), we find in the last column, in ordinary language, 

 general predictions for the four quarters of the month. For 

 example : "New moon on the loth, at ioh. jSm. in the evening, 

 in the sign Pisces. The weather will be fine, and the winds 

 very troublesome." Next to this come four columns, filled with 

 cabalistic signs and occupying the middle of the page. The last 



of these gives for each day the position of the moon in one of 

 the zodiacal signs. The first of the four indicates by a cross or 

 a triangle whether the day is a festival or a working day. In 

 the second column the nature of the weather which may be ex- 

 pected is marked by a succession of signs, the key to which is 

 given in the first page, while the third, by a similar series ul 

 signs, indicates the nature of the operations for which the day in 

 question is particularly favourable. Thus Sieur Maribas advises 

 his clients that March loth, nth, and 28th, 1785, are favour- 

 able for hair-cutting; the 12th, 13th, and 27th for paring the 

 nails; the 2nd, 14th, and 21st for blood-letting ; but there was 

 only one day, March 4, on which pills should be taken, while it 

 would be unwise to wean infants on any day but the 18th. For 

 wood-cutting, the 9th, 15th, or 16th should have been selected, 

 and so on. The philosopher's weather predictions for the month 

 appear to have been falsified in almost every instance. He 

 foretold rain for seven days and snow for two ; in fact it rained 

 very slightly on three days, none of which were mentioned by 

 him, and did not snow on his days at all. In temperature his luck 

 was as bad, for the day which he foretold would be warm, was 

 the coldest of the whole year. Besides, "the various changes 

 of the air for each day produced by the stars on our horizon," 

 Sieur Maribas promises in his title page, "several pretty sayings 

 suitable for exhilarating and diverting curious and melancholic 

 minds." Among these meteorological gentillesses are the follow- 

 ing : — Women are cured of laziness by vanity or by love ; To 

 know a woman well, it is necessary to contradict her ; Nothing 

 grows old so soon as a benefit. The "grand astrologer and 

 mathematician " evidently intended his " pretty sayings " chiefly 

 for those of a melancholic turn of mind. 



We have received the Proceedings of the Holmesdale Natural 

 History Club for the years 1S81, 1S82, and 1883. This club 

 has its home at Reigate, and its papers, though mainly concerned 

 with south and central Surrey, range over a great variety of 

 natural history subjects. Among the principal papers in this 

 number (which, it should be remarked, would be much improved 

 by an index, or classified list of the papers) are : — The potato 

 disease, by Mr. Gill ; the hairs of plants as concerned in the 

 supply of water and nourishment, by Dr. Bossey ; ornithology 

 in Wray Park, by Mr. Crosfield ; the Sprolegna ferox (the fresh- 

 water fish parasite), by Mr. Boyle ; the habits of the stalk-eyed 

 Crustacea of the British Islands, by Mr. Lovett ; and the marine 

 life of the Reigate district, by Mr. Gilbert. All the excellent 

 work of the Club appears to be done with an expenditure of 

 from 30/. to 40/. per annum. 



We are asked to state that in the report of Sir William 

 Thomson's Baltimore lectures, p. 296, in line 13 from the top of 

 the page, and in the left hand members of equations (19) and 

 (21), for "a?" and "oij" read "m" and " Wj " respectively. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Malbrouck Monkey {Cercopithecus cynosurus) 

 from South Africa, presented by Mr. W. E. Clift ; a Grivet 

 Monkey {Cercopithecus griseo-viridis) from South Africa, pre- 

 sented by Mr. W. Ockey ; a Pine Marten (Mustela martes) from 

 Ireland, presented by Mr. Frank Sharp ; a Bar-breasted Finch 

 (Munia nisoria) from Java, two St. Helena Seed-Eaters (Cri- 

 thagra liutyracea), a Grey-necked Serin Finch {Serinus canicollis), 



a Brown Canary Finch (Serinus tottus), two Finches 



(Serin us ) from South A frier, presented by Mr. J. Abrahams ; 



two Pheasants (PAasianus colchicus), British, deposited ; a 

 Stein-bok (Nanotragus tragulus 9 ), four Wattled Starlings 

 {Dilophus camnculatus 6 i ? ? ), two White-throated Seed- 

 Eaters (Crithagra altogularis i 9 ), two Striated Colys (Colitis 

 striatui) from South Africa, two Brazilian Tanagers (Kampho- 

 ca-lus brasi/itts), two Green-headed Tanagers (Calliste tricolor) 

 from Brazil, purchased 



