Dec: 22; 1881] 
whistle. As the gronnd was sloping, the walk was to be 
a curve; and Buhler, with little hesitation, pointed out the 
places where pegs should be laid by a man who opened a narrow 
path with a hatchet. Buhler did not retrace his steps, and left my 
grounds after saying that he had pegged the right side of a walk 
three metres broad. He then complained of the difficulty he 
had experienced because ¢hat stupid darkie had whistled in place 
of shouting. When the ground was cleared a few days after- 
wards, I found the curve even and seemingly faultless. When 
listening to each whistle Buhler turned his face, not towards it, 
but in the direction of the curve which must ultimately meet it. 
Have not English landscape gardeners the same faculty of 
judging rightly direction by sound. ANTOINE D’ABBADIE 
Abbadia, Hendaye, December 11 
Dante and the Southern Cross 
THE question “where Dante could have learned about this 
constellation” (ave, p. 152) has been discussed by most modern 
commentators on the passage referred to. The general conclu- 
sion arrived at seems to be that it was through the delineation of 
the ‘‘quattro stelle” on Arabian celestial globes. The best 
scientific discussion of the question will be found in Humboldt’s 
Kosmos ii. 205, 6 (ed. 1870). Might not, however, the line 
‘Non viste mai fuor ch’ alla prima gente” suggest that Dante’s 
knowledge was derived from some record or tradition, of the 
visibility of these and other southern stars to the inhabitants of 
the Mediterranean shores before the precession of the equinoxes 
- carried them below their horizon? ‘‘ Prima gente ””—generally 
rendered ‘‘our first parens”—recalls irresistibly Horace’s 
“* prisca gens mortalium,” J. J. WALKER 
University Hall, December 18 
Your correspondent who inquires whence Dante obtained his 
knowledge of the existence of the Southern Cross may be re- 
ferred to Humboldt’s travels for one explanation of this remark- 
able fact. I apprehend your correspondent alludes to the lines— 
© To the right hand T turn’d and fix’d my mind 
On the other pole attentive, where I saw 
Four stars ne’er seen before save by the ken 
Of our first parents. Heaven of their rays 
Seem’d joyous. Oh thou northern site ! bereft 
Indeed, and widow’d, since of these deprived.”” 
Dr. Barlow, the commentator of Dante, accepts Humboldt’s 
explanation, and says: ‘‘ The principal stars of this constella- 
tion were known when Dante wrote, and in the description here 
given there is a reality attested by all who have seen them, 
They were once visible in our northern hemisphere.” Alexander 
von Humboldt, from whose philosophic soul the poetry of nature 
was never absent, says of them :—‘‘ In consequence of the pre- 
cession of the equinoxes, the starry heavens are continually 
changing their aspect from every portion of the earth’s surface. 
The early races of mankind beheld in the far north the gloricus 
constellations of the southern hemisphere rise before them, 
which, after remaining long invisible, will again appear in these 
latitudes after a lapse of thousands of years. The Southern 
Cross began to be invisible in 53° 30’ north latitude, 2900 years 
before our era, since, according to Galle, this constellation 
might previously have reached an altitude of more than 10°. 
When it disappeared from the horizon of the countries of the 
Baltic the great pyramid of Cheops had already been erected 
more than 500 years.” Barlow therefore infers with Humboldt 
that Dante knew of the Southern Cross by tradition, and adds 
that the words our ‘‘first parents” do not refer to Adam and 
Eye, but to the early races which inhabited Europe and Asia. 
Grosvenor Street SAMUEL WILKS 
Helophyton Williamsonis 
I AM sorry to see that I have overlooked two mistakes in my 
brief note which you published in your last number (p. 124). 
Tn the fifth line Hymenophylloides should have been A/yriophyl- 
Joides ; and lower down Urrger should 9f course be Unver. 
Wm. C. WILLIAMSON 
Victoria University, Manchester, December 9 
A Smokeless London 
_ I? is not very improbable that we shall in a few years be 
indebted to the electric light for our source of nightly illumina- 
NATURE 
ERS 
tion. Before such an eventuality it would be interesting to 
know if there are any serious objections to employing hydrogew 
gas as our heating agent. Smokeless and innocuous in combus- 
tion, it would relieve us from many ills under which we labour 
now. When it was tried—after impregnation with a hydro- 
carbon—as a lighting agent (at Chichester, I believe) some years 
ago, it was found wanting, but there was no difficulty, I think, 
experienced in producing it cheaply from the decomposition ot 
water and in sending it through the mains. No notice, I believe, 
has been directed to this at the Smoke Abatement Exhibition. 
Will you kindly raise the issue, and let us know the advantage 
or disadvantage of the project ? EDMUND MCCLURE 
1, Onslaw Place, S.W., December 16 
Meteors 
ON the evening of Wedue day, November 16, whilst sweeping 
the western heavens in search of comets, I was startled by a 
brilliant illumination to my right. Looking up hastily, a bright 
meteor was seen moving rapidly in the north-eastern heavens ; it 
started about 3° north of Capella, and traversed a path of some 
Ic? in a north-easterly direction, passing about 2° above (or west 
of) § Aurige. Its flight did not exceed three seconds, when 
it bur-t with a dazzling brilliancy to be compared only to tte 
whiteness of the electric light. At the moment of bursting, it 
must have been at least five or six times as bright as Venus at 
her maximum. It left in its wake, covering the full length of 
its path, a thin, reddish train, which drifted slowly toward the 
north-east among the stars, gradually collecting into a lightish 
cloud at its north-east end. Noting the remarkable permanency 
of the train, I turned the telescope (a 5 inch refractor) upon if, 
and was surprised to see a brightly-glowing mass of pinkish 
smoke. The same matter was stretched out toward the souih- 
east into a long, straggling strip. This trail was about 3° in 
breadth, and could be plainly seen with the telescope for a dis- 
tance of at least 10°, The whole of this drifted north-easterly 
over the stars, curling slowly like a mighty serpent; it was 
knotted in places with cumulus forms, probably due to minor 
explosions in the meteor. The outlines of this wonderful train 
of celestial smoke were well defined ; it did not diffuse itself into 
the atmosphere, but gradually faded, becoming more contorted 
each moment. During the whole time of its visibility it retained 
its pinkish colour. The first appearance of the meteor was at 
6h. 48m. local time ; the train remained visible to the naked eye 
for about six minutes. In the telescope it was distinct up 'o 
seven o'clock, and at 7h. 03m. it could still be seen in the 
instrument. While visible, it drifted about 4° to the north-east. 
No explosion was heard, though listened for. Latitude of place 
of observation, 36° 10’ north; longitude west of Greenwich, 
86° 40’. E. E. BARNARD 
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A., November 27 
On Wednesday, December 14, at 10.30 p.m., I saw a very 
brilliant meteor. It appeared to start from the barren region of 
the Lynx, bordering on the Twins, a little to the east, and above 
Pollux, and travelled in the direction of Canis Minor. It was. 
much brighter than ary object then shining, though Jupiter and 
Sirius were both visible, and left a train of light behind which 
appeared to be granular, of a dull red colour, and fusiform in 
shape. I did not see the meteor through its entire path, on 
account of a house intervening, but the train of light behind it 
was not visible at the commencement of its path, and appeared 
to terminate before the disappearance of the meteor, This was 
by far the brightest meteor I ever saw. The same evening and 
the week previously I saw many meteors in the region of Aries, 
but none very brilliant. E, HOWARTH 
Sheffield Museum and Observatory, December 18 
Herbaceous Stem on a Paleolithic Implement 
INSTANCES are so extremely rare where vegetable material (as 
old as the drift gravels) is found adherent to drift implements, 
that the following instance is probably worthy of note :— 
Amongst my collection of Palzolithic implements from the neigh- 
bourhood of Bedford, I have one erfectly unabraded example 
—bright ochreous yellow in colour from its long deposition in the 
drift. Near the middle of the implement there are the remains 
of some herbaceous stein firmly fixed to the flint ; the colour of 
the vegetable material is bright ochreous, and under the micro- 
scope the vegetable structure (especially the vessels) is most clearly 
