35- 



NA TURE 



\_Aiigust 23, 1877 



wheat, barley, and oats, the growth of 1877, required to show 

 the variations in quality existing in these descriptions of corn 

 according to the circumstances and conditions influencing their 

 growth. Such a collection is important both from a practical 

 and a scientific point of view. 



U- We have received a very interesting catalogue of a collection 

 of great interest to archaeologists and collectors generally to be 

 sold by Mr. Stevens, of King Street, Covent Garden, at the 

 Alexandra Palace, on Tuesday and Wednesday next. This is 

 the collection known as the Whitfield collection, containing 

 many fine specimens of implements, weapons, ornaments, 

 clothing, &c., from the South Sea Islands and other regions, as 

 well as a number of natural history objects. Those of our 

 readers wishing to form or to complete collections would do 

 well to get a catalogue and attend the sale. 



Prof. Piazzi Smyth, of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, 

 writing to the Scotsman under date August 19, 4 p.m., states 

 that in the twenty-seven hours elapsed since the iSth, at one 

 o'clock P.M., the amount of rainfall was I '349 inch — a greater 

 amount than has been registered at Edinburgh before, M-ithinthe 

 same length of lime, during the present year. "Twice only, on 

 January I and July 16, did the day's record just rise above one 

 inch ; but each of those days was a Monday's record, summing 

 up a forty-eight hour, in place of the usual twenty-four hour, 

 interval. On each of these occasions, however, of undoubtedly 

 heavy rainfall, as well as the present extra one, the direction of 

 the wind was east. That is not an ordmary direction from which 

 to expect rain, but when it does come from that quarter it has 

 the characteristic, only recently ascertained, of producing a par- 

 ticular bavid in the prismatic spectrum of sky-light, by which its 

 approach may often be usefully predicted, and by any and every 

 private observer for themselves, even in cases where the baro- 

 meter may fail." 



Among the subjects on which papers are to be read during 

 the present session at the Bradford Scientific Association, are — 

 On Colour, by Henry Pocklington ; The Structure of Stems, 

 by Mr. J. Abbott ; On Grasses, by Mr. W. West ; Indigo, by 

 Mr. Whittaker ; PyroxiUne, by Mr. J. A. Douglas ; Field 

 Geology, by Mr. A. Crebbin. 



The Yorkshire Naturalists' Union paid a visit to Goole Moors 

 recently, where they had a field-day and a general meeting, 

 which appear to have been in all respects successful. 



The leading article in the August number of the American 

 A Vj/ara/u/ is an exceedingly pungent address on " Catastophism 

 and Evolution," by Claience King, who treats the subject with 

 animation and force. Both evolutionists and their opponents will 

 read the article with interest. 



We have received from a Ceylon correspondent an interesting 

 account of the Cok)mbo Museum, which we regret being unable 

 to piblish in full. He also stnds us a photograph ot the museum, 

 which, we believe, is the finest buildmg in the island, not except- 

 ing Government House, indeed will compare favourably with 

 similar buildings even at home. This is a work with which the 

 name of Sir W. H. Gregory, who has just completed his term of 

 government in the island of Ceylon, will always be associated. 

 The colony has been increasing in wealth at an unprecedented 

 rate during the last five years, and the governor has done his best 

 to make the intellectual and moral elevation of the people equal 

 their material prosperity. There are few countries where the 

 aids of science are so necessary. There are few countries where 

 those aids have been so greatly neglected. Sir Wm. Gregory 

 saw this, and tried to give to the people themselves those tastes 

 which alone could lead to the proper remedy. With this Tiew 

 the museum was built at Colombo, to be a sort of nucleus for 

 the spread of general scientific education. The Colombo Museum 



occupies a commanding position in the Cinnamon Gardens, a 

 favourite evening resort. The collection within is a very scanty 

 one, as mifjht be expected from an institution only five months old 

 and in a place where a general taste for science has yet to be 

 cultivated. Most important collections as yet relate to the history, 

 antiquities, and superstitions of the island. A large room is filled 

 with specimens of native manufacture. In the abundant vegetable 

 wealth with which Ceylon has been favoured, the treasures that 

 may lie hidden beneath in its rocks have been treated with com- 

 parative neglect. Very little has been done for its geology, as 

 will be evident from a glance at the one glass-case devoted to 

 specimens of Ceylon rocks. We trust, however, that in time a 

 collection will be formed worthy of the building and the island. 

 We ought not to omit mentioning that the museum contains a 

 magnificent collection of snakes (Ceylon) by Mr. W. Ferguson, 

 of Colombo. A catalogue would be of great service and might 

 be made eminently instructive. We hope that the public of 

 Ceylon will soon fill the empty shelves in token of their apprecia- 

 tion of the generosity shown by the Government in giving them 

 a free museum. 



We are pleased to notice that the new building for the Peabody 

 Museum of American Archreology and Ethnology is so far finished 

 as to enable Mr. F. W. Putnam, the Director, to begin work there, 

 and he has now removed the collections forming the Museum 

 from Boylston Hall, where they have been in temporary quarters, 

 to the upper rooms of the new building, which is located near 

 the Zoological Museum, and will eventually form a part of one 

 grand structure. The new Museum is fire-proof, and the 

 building is only to be used for the purposes of the trust, viz., a 

 museum and library (and lecture-rooms eventually) of Archaeo- 

 logy and Ethnology. The present portion will cost, when cased, 

 not far from 60,000 dols , and a building fund of 50,000 or 

 60,000 dols. will still be left for its completion. The original 

 fund for the building was 65,000 dols., and it is proposed always 

 to retain at least 50,000 dols. as a building fund for the future. 

 The present building will supply the wants of the Museum 

 probably for the next ten years. We are also interested to know 

 that the collection of Peruvian articles, obtained about thirty 

 years ago by Mr. John H. Blake, of Boston, and which has 

 been consulted by so many writers on Peru, has just been pre- 

 sented to the Peabody Museum, and will form a valuable 

 addition to the already large Peruvian collection given by the 

 late Prof. Agassiz and his son Alexander. 



Dr. Hornstein, of Prague, has communicated a paper to 

 the Vienna Academy on tl'e probable connection of the wind 

 with the period of sun-spots. He shows that in Prague, as in 

 Oxford, the average yearly direction of the wind, in the time ot 

 minimum to maximum sun-spots, progresses in the direction 

 from south to west, and on the other hand, in the time from 

 maximum to minimum sun-spots, it shows an opposite variation. 

 Dr. Hornstein finds further, that the average wind-strength in 

 Prague likewise exhibits a connection with the eleven-years' 

 period of sun-spots, inasmuch as both phenomena reach their 

 maxima and minima simultaneously. This research is based on 

 240,000 observations. 



The obvious importance of photography to explorers lends 

 considerable interest to a new process devised by M. DeyroUe, 

 in virtue of which the baggage of an explorer who might wish to 

 carry 300 negative plates measuring 24 ctm. by iS, would only 

 be increased by a weight of six kilogrammes, all included, 

 instruments, plates, developers, and accessories. Glass plates 

 are dispensed with, being replaced by paper coated with a layer 

 of prepared wax, capable ot bearing 75" without fusion. The 

 paper is covered with sensitive collodion, prepared so as to retain 

 Its properties for two years or more. The development after 

 impression is very simple ; into a litre of water is put 20 grammes 



