360 



NATURE 



\Aus;tist 14, 1884 



not convinced that this was anything but a subjective pheno 

 menon. It is true I saw it myself when there was little if any 

 redness perceptible in the sky ; but the probability is that one's 

 eyes had become so dazzled by, and used to, the intense redness 

 previously existing, that one was rendered incapable of seeing a 

 moderate degree of red, and the complementary colour was pro- 

 duced in uncoloured objects. Besides, gas-lights sometimes 

 partook of this colour. As regards the sun, I agree with 

 " F. A. R. R." in the impression that when it was moderately 

 near the horizon it was whiter than usual all last winter and 

 spring, and perhaps to the present time. 



Sunderland, August 6 T. W. Backhouse 



Upon the Occurrence of Bacteria and Minute Algae on 

 the Surface of Paper Money 



The recent researches of Paul Reinsch of Erlangen have 

 shown the occurrence of different schizomycetes and of two new 

 minute alga? (Chroococcus moneiarum, Pleurococcus motietarum, 

 Paul Reinsch) on the surfaces of the coins of many nations, 

 living in the thin incrustations of organic detritus (composed 

 especially of starch grains, fibres, &c. ) deposited upon their sur- 

 faces in the course of long circulation. This extremely thin in- 

 crustation renders the coins very suitable for this micro-vegeta- 

 tion, but the same phenomenon is also exhibited in the case of 

 paper money, and indeed by notes of clean and, to the unassisted 

 vision of a quite unaltered appearance. 



Having scraped oft" some of these minute incrustations with 

 a scalpel and needle and divided them into fragments in recently 

 boiled distilled water, with lenses of high powers (i/iothinch of 

 Messrs. Beck) there were distinctly seen various schizomycetes, 

 &c. 



I have investigated the Hungarian recent and older (from the 

 year 1848-49) bank and State notes, also Russian 1 -rouble 

 notes, and have found upon all of them — even upon the cleanest 

 — schizomycetes, &c. 



On the surface of all the paper money is always to be found 

 the bacterium of putrefaction (Bacterium termo, Dujardin). 



In the thin incrustations of paper-money the occurrence of 

 starch grains, especially that of wheat-starch, linen, and cotton 

 fibres, animal hairs, &c., are easily to be demonstrated, and upon 

 the i-forint ' State-notes in such deposits the common saccharo- 

 myces are also to be found. Various micrococci, leptotriches 

 (many with club-shaped swelled-up ends), and bacilli are also 

 very frequent plants in these deposits on paper-money. 



The two new species of alga? described by Paul Reinsch are 

 very rare on the paper-money. The green pleurococcus cells I 

 have observed in some cases on I- and 5-forint State-notes and 

 the bluish-green minute chroococcus on the edges of the 5-forint 

 State notes. 



The vegetation of the paper-money is, as a result of my re- 

 searches, composed of the following minute plants : — 



1. Micrococcus (various forms). 



2. B icterium termo. 



3. Bacillus (various forms). 



4. Leptothrix (various forms). 



5. Saccharomyces cerevisite. 



6. Chroococcus monetarum. 



7. Pleurococcus monetantm. 



From a hygienic point of view, also, the investigations of the 

 commonest necessary household objects may not be superfluous, 

 and I would especially call attention to these forms as occurring 

 on the means of instruction, viz. the handbooks, &c, used by 

 our young scholars. 



Jules Schaarsciimidt, 



Prnal decent of Cryptogamic Botany and Anatomy of 



Plants, Assistant at the Botanic Institute and Gardens, Royal 



Hungarian University, Kolosvar 



Fireballs 

 The following account I have received from a lady at Briihl 

 near Cologne, July 26 :— "S.22. A large fireball of SCarlel fire 

 almost as large as a harvest moon just sailed along and upwards, 

 at a varying but mostly very rapid rate, until, at a great height, 

 it remained for some minutes almost or quite stationary ; then after 

 some uncertain movements rose again, and rising, became smaller, 

 until it finally disappeared. . . . Every one who saw it seemed 

 ■ i-forint (to German Gulden) = 2.j. 



petrified with amazement." This is of interest from the long time 

 that the ball was visible, and its being seen by several people. 

 I described some time ago some fireballs which I saw slowly 

 moving at a distance during a storm in Egypt, which were then 

 put down as illusory results of a flash (Nature, vol. xxiv. p. 284), 

 but now many similar cases have been lately reported. A large 

 fireball, described as about a foot in diameter, was seen a few 

 years ago near here ; it struck a pavement, went over a low 

 wall, moved across a wide lawn, and finally vanished in a wet 

 ditch. 



Wlnie living lately at San (Tanis), thirty-two miles south-west 

 of Port Said, there occurred a most remarkable thunderstorm on 

 May 12, lasting from 1. 15 till 4 p.m. The rainfall in two hours 

 was over l\ inches ; the hailstones (which covered half the area 

 of the ground) were mostly 3/loths to 4/ioths inch in diameter, 

 and some 7/ioths, of concentric structure with jagged edges. 

 Whenever I could hear anything above the battering of the hail 

 on my iron roof there was always thunder going on ; and as soon 

 as the rain ceased I went out of doors, where for half an hour 

 longer I can positively assert that there was not an instant of 

 silence. This thunder was not in loud, reverberating peals, but 

 was a continuous rushing, gusty, swishing sound ; the noise 

 rising and falling just like a gusty, tearing, high wind, without 

 any crashes or explosive bursts, and with very little bumping or 

 knocking sounds. It only lightened once or twice during that 

 half hour, and there was but a faint breeze of wind. To the 

 best of my belief the thunder was similar during the whole time 

 of the storm, though with more explosive sounds and more 

 lightning in the early part. It is impossible to refer such a 

 storm to the ordinary instantaneous, sharp discharges with 

 echoes, as the sound had no character of a reverberation ; it 

 appears to be due to a continuous discharge like that from a 

 point. The storm was quite local, only extending a few miles. 

 Since returning to England I have also heard thunder which 

 was apparently not from an instantaneous discharge, as it began 

 lightly and waxed louder for two or three seconds, until a loud 

 crash of the main discharge took place. 



The whole question of slow or peculiar discharges and of fire- 

 balls needs clearing up by careful observation ; it is useless to 

 ignore it or refer it to illusion, merely because we have not 

 imitated it artificially or made a theory on the subject. 



Bromley, Kent W. M. Flinders Petrie 



Museums 



In an excellent article on " Practical Taxidermy " in Nature 

 of August 7, reference is made to the Museum at Leicester as 

 approaching to the ideal of what museums should be. While 

 fully agreeing with the opinions attributed in that article to Mr. 

 Bowdler Sharpe, and admitting that the Leicester Museum has 

 at last taken one step towards the ideal which was worked out 

 fur it some years ago, I feel bound to point out to such other 

 museums as are waking up to the necessity of a radical revolu- 

 tion, that perfection is a long way off yet ; that there is ample 

 room for each to do better than its predecessor ; that Leicester 

 has not even carried out the general principles laid down by 

 Mr. Bowdler Sharpe ; and that these general principles may be 

 developed in various directions. 



The)' should consider what a provincial museum can do to the 

 best advantage, for the world, for local students, and for the 

 unlearned public ; and by what methods of arrangement, of 

 public exhibition and of private access, its highest functions can 

 be most completely brought out. 



Of the three educational objects for which rates can be levied 

 by Town Councils, viz. museums, free libraries, and art galleries, 

 the popular taste is rather tending just now towards the free 

 libraries and the art galleries. There is a disposition to regard 

 museums as mere hobbies for the few, and to devote the lion's 

 share of the rate to literature and art. This is perhaps only a 

 swing of the pendulum, but it is justified to a large extent by 

 the condition of nearly every provincial museum at the present 

 time. 



Science is taught in most museums as reading, writing, and 

 arithmetic were taught in the old-dame schools — in a clumsy, 

 thoughtless, perfunctory manner, which wasted half the time and 

 interested nobody. Mr. Mundella, with the Education Act in 

 his hands, has made a revolution in the schools ; if Mr. Bowdler 

 Sharpe will get his ideas developed in museums with equal suc- 

 cess, be will supplement the schools in a most valuable and 

 important direction. 



