45« 



NA TURE 



{Sept. 4, 1884 



are too numerous and too varied to be noticed now in any but 

 the most general way. The New York Academy of Sciences 

 appears to lead them all in the number and importance of the 

 papers read before it, in every conceivable department of science. 

 The Philosophical Society of Washington sends us vol. vi. of its 

 Bulletin, containing the President's address (on "The Three 

 Methods of Evolution "), as well as the abstracts of a large 

 number of papers. This Society appears to work in conjunc- 

 tion with the Smithsonian Institution. The last number of the 

 Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences is almost 

 wholly occupied with an elaborate paper on the plants of Buffalo 

 and its vicinity, by Mr. Day, the present instalment being occu- 

 pied by the Cryptogams. The toilers in the vineyard of science 

 in the United States are evidently numerous and enthusiastic, 

 and they have provided themselves with ample means of giving 

 their results to the world. 



The last numbers of the " Encyklopoedie der Naturwis- 

 senschaften " (Breslau, Eduard Trewendt) are Part 1, No. 37, 

 and Part 2, Nos. 21 and 22. The first forms the continuation 

 of the " Handworterbuch der Zoologie, Anthropologic, und 

 Ethnologie," and numbers among its writers Shellwald, Reich- 

 enow, Pfeffer, Martens, Jager, Rockl, and others. Among the 

 articles in the present instalment are the pacing of horses, by 

 Prof. Rockl ; the brain, by Mojisisowics ; and on the geo- 

 graphical distribution of animals, by Dr. Reichenow. No. 21 

 of Part 2 continues the section on mineralogy, geology, and 

 palaeontology, and contains articles on islands, by Von Lasaulx ; 

 the Jura system, the formation of coal in the different geologi- 

 cal epochs, and cryptogams, by Dr. Rolle. No. 22 belongs to 

 the chemical section. 



During the last fifty years several attempts have been made 

 to form oyster banks in the Baltic. The first attempt was 

 made about forty years ago, when a quantity of Euro- 

 pean oysters were laid down, but it proved a failure, and 

 the oysters soon died. In recent years, however, experi- 

 ments have been made with the American oyster (Ostrea vir- 

 gin/ana), which, according to the researches of Prof. Mobius 

 is a different variety of the European. The idea of laying 

 down American oysters in the Little Belt was due to Mr. Meyer, 

 an engineer of Hadersleben, who formed a company for the 

 purpose of carrying it out, to which the Prussian Govern- 

 ment granted a concession for forty years to form oyster banks 

 up to lat. 55 N. In the autumn of 1879 Mr. Meyer went to 

 the United States, whence he brought back to Hadersleben 

 a million and a half small and half a million large oysters, which 

 were laid down in ten different places from the Danish frontier 

 to the southern part of the Als Sound. Recent examinations 

 of these spots have shown varying results. In some there are 

 only a few oysters left, and in others considerable quantities. 

 Where seaweed is very plentiful the oysters have died. The 

 best result was found on the south-east coast of Als. During 

 the present summer fresh attempts at oyster-hatching are to be 

 made in these parts, and the German Fishery Association has 

 granted Prof. Mobius a sum of about fifty pounds towards 

 expenses. On the west coast of Norway, too, strenuous efforts 

 have been made in recent years to improve the oyster fisheries 

 there, which were formerly very important. Several companies 

 have been formed for acquiring old banks and restocking them. 

 In some places the results have been very satisfactory. 



The Tung Wen, or Foreign Language College at Pekin, is 

 about to issue a large work on Anatomy by Dr. Dudgeon of that 

 place. It is said to contain prefaces, in the usual Oriental 

 manner, from several of the highest officials at the capital. The 

 work has over 500 cuts made at the Government expense. A 

 large work on Physiology is also ready for the press ; while Dr. 

 Dudgeon has ready for the English press a little work on the 

 diet, dress, and dwellings of the Chinese in relation to health. 



It is known that the Boyle-Marriott law is true only within 

 certain limits, and that a gas submitted to great pressures, as 

 well as to very low ones, ceases to obey it ; the product received 

 by multiplying its volume by its elasticity ceases to be a constant, 

 and decreases under very low pressures : the elasticity decreases 

 at a higher rate than the density of the gas, and to express the 

 relations between the two, a more complicated formula must be 

 resorted to. Another source of complication is due again to the 

 condensation of the gases on the solid surfaces of the recipients, 

 and if this cause be taken into account, the measured elasticities 

 must be lower than the true ones, and in the rarefied gases the 

 ratio between elasticity and density must increase with the in- 

 crease of elasticity at a higher rate than would result from Prof. 

 Mendeleeff's observations. Such was the idea that guided M. 

 Kraevitch in a series of experiments he undertook a few years 

 ago, with M. Petersen, in order to eliminate the influence of 

 the condensation. These experiments being not sufficiently 

 accurate, M. Kraevitch has now undertaken a new series of 

 researches based on the rate of sound in different gases. They 

 were carried on in tubes of very different lengths and diameters, 

 and it appears from a preliminary communication, now published 

 in the Journal of the Russian Chemical Society (vol. xvi. 

 fasc. 6), that the air, when rarefied, does not obey at all the 

 Boyle-Marriott law. I he researches carried on on this principle 

 promise to be, on the whole, very interesting, and may lead 

 to conclusions of some value. 



A SHOCK of earthquake occurred at Reunion on August 7 at 

 midnight. The oscillation was from east to west, and was pre- 

 ceded by a loud report, like an explosion. No damage was 

 done. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens .luring the 

 past week include a Vervet Monkey (Cercopithecus lalandii 9 ) 

 from Smith Africa, presented by Major Newson D. Garrick ; a 

 Moustache Monkey (Cercopithecus cephus 6) from West Africa, 

 presented by Mr. G. A. Broderick ; a Rhesus Monkey (Macacus 

 rhesus i ) from India, presented by Mr. H. Johnson ; a Macaque 

 Monkey (Macaeus eynomolgus) from India, presented by the 

 Rev. Walter Hudson ; a Squirrel Monkey (Chrysothrix seiurea) 

 from Brazil, presented by Mrs. J. M. A. King ; a Himalayan | 

 Bear [Ursus tibelanus) from North India, presented by Mr. 

 Percy H. Cooper ; a Red and Yellow Macaw (Ara chloroptera) 

 from South America, presented by Mr. P. J. Prior ; a Common 

 Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), British, presented by Mrs. William 

 Smith ; a Sharp-nosed Crocodile (Crocodilus aculus) from Central 

 America, a Hawk's-billed Turtle (Chelone imbricata) from the 

 West Indies, presented by the Rev. W. T. Lax ; two Spotted 

 Slow-worms (Acontias meleagris) from South Africa, presented 

 by the Rev. G. H. R. Fisk, C.M.Z.S. ; a Common Slow-worm 

 (Angttis fragilis), British, presented by Mr. H. Scherren ; a 

 Ludio Monkey {Cercopithecus ludio) from West Africa, a Kit 

 Fox (Cam's 7 el\r) from North America, a Banded Aracari 

 (Pteroglossus torquatus) from Central America, an ^-Ethiopian 

 Wart Hog (Phacoch,erus athiopicus) from South-East Africa, a 

 Tiger Bittern (Tigrisoma brasiliensis) from Brazil, a Common 

 Boa (Boa constrictor) from South America, an Indian Eryx 

 {Eryx johni) from India, purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



Comet 1884 b. — M. Trepied further writes with respect to 

 his observations of the comet discovered by Mr. Barnard : — "I 

 hope you will favourably receive some remarks on the subject of 

 your last article on the Barnard Comet. You say that it would not 

 be prudent to pronounce upon the nature of the orbit on account , 

 of the uncertainty which seems to attach to the observations at 

 Algiers. There was in fact an error committed on the first 

 day, in the identification of the star of comparison, but that 

 •error was rectified almost immediately, and I am able to state 



