I.^>2 



NATURE 



\yune 14, 1877 



the experiments recently made at St. Petersburg for determining 

 the lighting power of the electrical light at great distances. The 

 power of the light is notably increased by covering the carbon of 

 the lamp with a thin sheet of copper (one-sixteenth of the 

 diameter of the carbon at its upper part, and from one-forty-eighth 

 to one-sixty- fourth in its lower part). It depends also upon the 

 direction given to the carbon, the best being to turn the cup 

 towards the object to be lighted. The great machine of Alteneck, 

 with a carbon of 12 millim. of diameter, gave a jnaximuni of 

 light equal to 10,210 csndles, and a mean of 5,739 candles; 

 whilst with a carbon of 10 millim., but galvanised, it gave a 

 maximum of 16,255 candles (20,275 when the cup is turned as 

 above) and a mean of 14,039 candles. The light was sufficient 

 to make objects visible (fur military purposes) at a distance of 

 3,oSo yards. Of many machines used, the most economical 

 proved to be the great one of Alteneck. 



The Society for Improvement of Public Health in Utrech*, 

 offers a prize of 100 gulden for the best work on the liquid ma- 

 nure of stables, giving (i) an accurate account of the literature 

 of the subject ; (2) a description of original experiments on the 

 means nf obtaining from h'^rse urine diluted with water, products 

 which, either as m.mure or as a chemical preparation, may be 

 hrou^iht into cummi-rce in comparatively large quantities ; (3) 

 full numerical tables on quantitative chemical analyses made ; 

 (4) a thnrough treatment of the financial side of the question. 

 The memoirs may be written in Dutch, German, French, or 

 English, and are to be sent, with sealed envelope and motto, to 

 Prof. Dr. Th. Mac Gillvory, Director of the Veterinary School 

 jn Utrecht, before September, 1S78. 



The very interesting discoveries in prehistoric archaeology 

 made by M. Kibalchich at Kief, were the subject of his last 

 communication at the Russian Archaeological Society. The 

 numerous caves in the limestone on the banks of the 

 Dnieper seem to have been a favourite haunt of men, even 

 during the first ten centuries of our era. Very important 

 objects have been found in these caves dating from the time of 

 the introductiun of Christiarity in Russia, showing a remark- 

 able mixture of articles used in Pagan and in Christian worship, 

 establishing a link between Christian and Indian religious sym- 

 bols. We notice especially those caves at Kief which date from 

 the earliest stone period. They are very long, sinuous, but 

 narrow, and contain great quantities of the plainest stone 

 weapons and stone pearh. together with burned bones of various 

 animals. Some facts lead us to in''er the exi-tence of lake-dwell- 

 ings in the vicinity. Close to these oldest dwelling-places there 

 exists a profusion of conic mounds of boulders and koorgaiies 

 (high mounds of earth), or burial-places, coming from times 

 anterior to the introduction of Christianity in Russia. They con- 

 tain skeletons, o'ten without skulls, which are buried sepa- 

 rately, and a variety of weapons and utensils. The number of 

 such burial-places at Kief and in its neighbourhood is very large. 

 One cemetery of that epoch occupies twenty-three acres in the 

 Fundukley Street, without reckoning the numerous "kitchen- 

 moands." The objects excavated by M. Kibalchich will form, 

 it is hoped, the nucleus of an archaeological museum to be 

 opened at Kief. The excavations are to be continued. 



The Panama Star and Herald o{ the 21st ult., states that the 

 destructive tidal wave experienced at Callao and the ports to 

 the north of that place extended as far south as the northern 

 boundary of Chili, but how much further south was not known, 

 as the telegraph communication had been interrupted. The 

 almost complete destruction was reported of Antofagasta, Iquique, 

 Arica, Tambo do Moro, Pabellon de Pica, and IIo. Severe 

 ihocks of earthquake wet e felt, but they caused little damage. 

 The destruction of life and property was caused by the frightful 

 upheaval and ingress of the sea. At Arica the sea washed over 



the town to the hill at the back of the church and destroyed 

 much valuable property. The wreck of the United States 

 steamer Wakrce, carried inland a couple of miles by the tidal 

 wave of 1S6S, was again floated, and carried a mile or two 

 further up the coast. The" sea in some places rose over sixty 

 feet, and the destruction of life and property is believed to have 

 been enormous. 



The final report of the Sub-Wealden Exploration has just 

 been issued by Mr. H. Willett. He reports that the depth 

 attained on December 21 last year was 1,823 feet, and on April 

 12, 1,905 feet. On the last-mentioned date a letter was sent by 

 the Diamond Boring Company, staling they used the best 

 endeavours to reach a depth of 2,000 feet and had fai'ed, owing 

 to the want of lining permitting the hole to fall in on the rods 

 and jambing them. Mr. Willett writes :— " The Sub-Wealden 

 exploration is, therefore, brought to a close, and has proved 

 conclusively that in the lowest part of the Wealden area no 

 pala'ozoic rocks exist within 1,900 feet of the surface. That the 

 search was justified, and that the scientific deductions of Prof. 

 Prestwich, F. R.S. , were entitled to the highest consideration 

 may be found in the fact that palaeozoic rocks of the Devonian 

 period have been discovered (containing spiriferae) in the boring 

 made at the brewery of Sir Henry Meux and Co., at the corner 

 of Tottenham-Court Road London." Mr. Willett adds : "The 

 search should undoubtedly be further promoted in the valley 

 of the Thames and _at other points in the south-east of Eng- 

 land." 



M. FerdinandoTuMMASI has recently constructed a " ther- 

 modynamic motor," in which vrork is done by the mere dilata- 

 tion of a liquid (oil) without change of state. 



Mr. Samuel Highley writes us: -"In connection with 

 Mr. Atkinson's letter as to the phenomena connected with 

 Japanese mirrors, and the question as to their method of manu- 

 facture, a few years ago Prof. Pepper exhibited the reflected 

 figure formed by these specula when illuminated by a beam of 

 oxyhydrogen light upon the screen at the Polytechnic Institution. 

 In his ' Cyclopn:dic Science' the question of the method of the 

 production of such mirrors is fully discussed. During the time 

 the Japanese mirrors were being exhibited at the Polytechnic, 

 an English brass-worker tried to solve the problem and appa- 

 rently discovered the secret of the Japanese makers. He found 

 that taking ordinary brass and stamping upon its surface with 

 any suitable die, not once, but three times in successon, upon 

 exactly the same spot, grinding down and polishing between 

 each act of stamping, a molecular difference was established 

 between the stamped and unstamped part«, so that images of the 

 pattern could be reflected from the finally-polished surface, just 

 as with the Japanese specula, though no difference of surface 

 could be detected by the eye. One operation did not produce 

 this result. Mr. James Princeps published an account of his 

 investigations on this subject in the yournal of the Asiatic 

 Society, vol. i., p. 242. He gives as the result of his anylysis of 

 the Japanese alloy, copper, 80 parts; tin, 20 — 100; with no 

 traces of silver or arsenic, but a slight indication of zinc. He 

 supposed that the phenomena resulted from dilTerence of density 

 produced by means of stamping, and that the thinnest parts, from 

 being the hardest, should give the stronger reflection." 



In the last number of the Transactions of the Institution of 

 Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland is a paper read April 24, 

 by Sir Wm. Thomson, on Compass Adjustment on the Clyde, 

 the aim of the paper being to show that the Clyde is pre- 

 eminently suitable for the adjustment of the compasses of ships 

 under way. 



The ninth annual report on the noxious, beneficial, and other 

 insects of the State of Missouri, by Chas. V. Riley, the State 

 Entomologist, contains descriptions (with woodcuts) of the fol- 



