IJO 



NA TURE 



[ fune 1 9, i \ 



India, and I trust Dr. Hunter and Mr. Phil Robinson will 

 excuse my saying they are both wrong re this name. 



These hill-men have histories, if we could only get at them. 

 This I find by having traced forty-six villages (now nine or ten 

 different clans) as being offshoots of "Sang-nu," east-south-east 

 of Sibsagar. Twenty-five generations ago they began to 

 spread. S. E. Peal 



Sibsagar, Assam, May 5 



Atmospheric Dust 



On Thursday, April 24, showers of discoloured rain fell at 

 Inglewood, Sandhurst, Castlemaine, Kyneton, Daylesford, and 

 the districts adjacent, that is to say, over an area of more than 

 2,500 square miles in extent. The heaviest showers — called by 

 all who were out in them ' ' showers of mud " — occurred at 7 o'clock 

 p.m. and near midnight. The leaves of trees and shrubs, roofs 

 of buildings, fences, and everything on which it could rest were 

 more or less covered with red mud . The weather at Sandhurst 

 for some ten days prior to this occurrence had been dry, and for 

 a long period there had been a drought in New South Wales 

 and in many parts northward. At several places in Victoria and 

 New South Wales violent dust-storms occurred on the morning 

 of the 24th immediately preceding the commencement of the 

 rain. Some of the mud, of a bronze colour, collected by Mr. 

 Edward Hurst of Sandhurst, was found by microscopical and 

 chemical examination to be composed of quartz, oxide of iron, 

 and mica ; some taken from the rain-gauge stand at the School of 

 Mines was, when dried, an almost impalpable powder of a pale 

 reddish chocolate colour. It was seen to consist of ferruginous 

 quartz and minute particles of black oxide of iron ; and a smaller 

 quantity collected at my private meteorological observatory — 

 about three-quarters of a mile distant — was paler in colour, and 

 consisted of quartz (much of it iron-free), alumina, sesquioxide 

 of iron, and white and reddish-yellow mica. A small proportion 

 of it was attractable by the magnet. The water collected in the 

 rain-gauges when agitated was reddish-brown in colour, and the 

 proportion of sediment was very large, leaving no room for 

 doubt that the dust was brought down by the rain. Its compo- 

 sition and the times at which it fell lead me to believe that it 

 came from the north and had travelled far. 



R. Brough Smyth 



School of Mines, Sandhurst, Victoria, Australia, 

 May I 



The "Red Glow'' after Sunset 



Being out on Sandymount Strand last night, whence the west- 

 ern sky may be well observed, I noticed, about 8.45 p.m., the 

 " red glow " over the yellowish sky where the sun had set. It 

 was quite as distinct as during certain evenings at the end of 

 last year. J. p. O'REILLY 



Royal College of Science for Ireland, Stephen's Green, 

 Dublin, June 12 



The Earthquake 



As communications on this subject are still being received by 

 Nature, and as the records for London and its immediate 

 vicinity have been few, it occurs to me to note the following 

 facts : — At the time of the earthquake I was sitting in my study 

 here. There are several heavy insect-cabinets in the room, and 

 a loud "groan" proceeded from one or more of them, indicating 

 " settling " from some cause or other. Furthermore, the door 

 of the room would not lock on the evening of that day, although 

 the lock had moved freely down to then. And a clock in a 

 bed-room was found to have stopped without any apparent cause 

 at the hour indicated for the earthquake ; but as the discovery 

 was not made until late in the evening, it was not possible to 

 decide whether the stoppage had occurred in the morning or 

 evening. As no sensation was fdt, these matters would have 

 held no significance had it not been for the news in the evening 

 papers of that day. R. McLachlan 



Clarendon Road, Lewisham, S.E., June 13 



Intelligence in Animals 

 There is at Walham Green a daily illustration of intelligence 

 in a donkey which may interest those of your readers who collect 

 such facts. Old Bob the waterman has been known for so many 



years that it is impossible to say how many. He is one of the few 

 surviving carriers who take round for sale water in a tub on 

 wheels, which is drawn by a donkey. Bob, the tub, and the 

 donkey are one of the institutions of Walham Green. Years 

 ago Bob used to guide his donkey to the pump near the church 

 and then drive him round to his customers. How long the 

 donkey was learning his rounds I do not know. Three years 

 ago Bob used one shaft as a sort of movable crutch, and seemed 

 to trust much to his donkey to go the right way. Now he 

 appears quite blind, for a few days ago he was noticed going 

 into the yard where the pump stands, when the donkey stopped. 

 He asked a boy what his donkey had stopped for, and was told 

 that a cart was in the way. It is interesting to note that the 

 donkey conducts by his own intelligence all the business of water 

 distributor, while Bob has sunk to the condition of mere pumper 

 and of money collector attached to and led by the shafts, which 

 latter duty might be done by an intelligent dog. M. 



ADOLPHE WURTZ AND HIS CHEA/ICAL 

 WORK 



DY the death of Adolphe Wurtz on May 12 last, the 

 *-* world, and especially the scientific world, has lost 

 one of its brightest and most energetic leaders, — a suc- 

 cessful leader indeed, through perhaps the most difficult 

 period of chemical history — the earliest years of the deve- 

 lopment of our "modern chemistry." His loss is felt all 

 the more acutely, coming as it does so suddenly and so 

 close upon that of his master and friend, Dumas, whose 

 mantle had fallen upon him. 



Charles Adolphe Wurtz was the son of a Protestant 

 clergyman, and was born on November 26, 1 817, at 

 Wolfsheim, near Strasburg. He studied in the University 

 of Strasburg in the Medical Faculty, in which he took the 

 Doctor's degree with honours in 1843. He came to Paris 

 in 1 S44, where he soon attracted the attention of Dumas, 

 and after occupying several positions successively at the 

 F.cole Centrale and the Faculty of Medicine he became 

 Professor at the Institute Agronomique of Versailles, and 

 in 1S53 succeeded to the duties of Dumas and Orfila as 

 Professor at the Faculte de Me'decine. 



Wurtz united in himself all the better qualities of the 

 Gallic and Teutonic character, in his activity of mind and 

 untiring perseverance in the search for truth. He was 

 elected a member of the Academy of Medicine in 1856, 

 and in 1S65 was awarded the prize of 20,000 francs for his 

 chemical researches. He became Dean of the Faculty in 

 1866, and Professor at the Sorbonne in 1S78, in which 

 year also he gave the Faraday Lecture at the Royal Insti- 

 tution ; the subject of which was the condensation of gases, 

 and his hearers on that occasion will not readily lose the 

 impression of his earnestness and vivacity, especially on 

 the appearance of the liquefied gas (ammonia), and his 

 exclamation, " Voila ! voila le liquide," eec. 



His earnestness of purpose, conjoined with a most 

 genial manner and expression, gave him very great in- 

 fluence over those students who worked with him ; and a 

 long list of names might be given of students who have 

 done good service to the science under his guidance and 

 encouragement. 



But he not only encouraged the students who came to 

 learn under him, but strove to spread a knowledge of 

 science amongst the mass of the public, in which task he 

 was eminently successful. 



In addition to his onerous duties as professor, Wurtz 

 was in 1SS1 elected permanent Senator, and rendered 

 most valuable services to his country as recorded in his 

 Reports of Commissions on the trichmoSrs' outbreak and 

 on scientific education. 



While there are chemists the work and example of 

 Adolphe Wurtz will serve as a beacon and guiding light 

 to still wider and more important facts in our science. 



The Royal Society's Catalogue of Scientific Papers 

 contains a list of no fewer than one hundred and four 

 papers to which the name " Adolphe Wurtz " is alone 



