446 



NATURE 



\Sept. 20, 1877 



Mr. R. S. Newalt., F.R.S., telegraphing to the Timi^s, from 

 the Observatory, Gateshead, last Thursday night, 'states that on 

 August 23, during the total eclipse of the moon, he observed 

 that Mars is surrounded by a whitish envelope, the diameter 

 being about twenty times that of the planet. He saw it again 

 on September 7, and again last night distinctly. It has a well- 

 defined edge, and is densest nearest to Mars. Small stars were 

 seen though it. It is easily visible, Mr. Newall states, in the 

 61 2-inch finder. 



The regular proceedings of the Iron and Steel Institute com- 

 menced at Newcastle on Tuesday. According to the report of 

 the secretary the effective strength of the Institute is now close 

 on 1,000 members. After a discussion on two papers read at 

 the last London meeting Mr. Lowthian Bell, M.P., read a paper 

 on the separation of carbon, silicon, sulphur, or phosphorus in 

 the refining and puddling furnace and in the Bessemer con- 

 version. The afternoon was devoted to [visits and excursions, as 

 we announced last week. 



Herr Bruijn's last expedition to New Guinea, which started 

 from Temate in January last, returned to that island on June 

 15, having accomplished good results. Examples of both sexes 

 of the wonderful new monotreme, TacJtyqlossiis hruijiiii, were 

 obtained in the mountains on the north coast of New Guinea at an 

 elevation of about 3,500 feet. Tlie expedition was commanded 

 by M. Leon Laglaize, a young French naturalist, who, with the 

 rich collections he has made, is expected to return to Paris by 

 the next French mail. 



Mr. a. Boucard, the well-known naturalist and collector, 

 has just returned from a successful expedition to Costa Rica, 

 where he passed some four months at the commencement of the 

 year. Mr. Boucard has formed a good series of Costa Rican 

 birds, comprising examples of about 200 species. Amongst 

 these are several new to science. Mr. Boucard has also 

 obtained the female of the rare and little known Cotingine bird 

 described a short time ago by Mr. Salvin as Carpodecks nitidus. 



Letters have been received from Mr. Everard F. im Thurm, 

 announcing his safe arrival at Georgetown, British Guiana, where 

 he has accepted an appointment as Curator of the British 

 Guiana Museum. Mr. im Thurm will shortly proceed upon an 

 expedition into the interior of the Colony to obtain specimens 

 for the collection under his charge. 



We have received the Daily Programme of the meet- 

 ing of the American Association at Nashville. Judging 

 from the number of members registered and elected the 

 attendance must have been large, considering the almost 

 tropical heat that prevailed. Eighty-seven papers were entered 

 for reading, all of them on points of scientific importance. 

 Prof. Newcomb gave an evening lecture on the two im. 

 portant astronomical discoveries recently made in America, 

 viz., that of oxygen in the sun by Prof. Draper, and that 

 of the satellites of Mars by Prof. Hall. Prof. Pickering, 

 vice-president and president of Section A, was unable to be 

 present, but an address by him was read, in favour of the endow- 

 ment of research. He described what he thought would be a 

 suitable building and arrangements for a physical laboratory. 

 Prof. Pickering gave elaborate details of his project, and pointed 

 out the numerous advantages that might be expected to result 

 when those facilities were afforded to investigators. The plan 

 includes the appointment of a presiding officer and a staff of 

 assistants. From the reports in the local paper, the Daily 

 American, the meeting as a whole seems to have been well 

 managed and successful. Without doubt the prominent feature 

 of the meeting was Prof. Marsh's address on the Succession of 

 Vertebrate Life in America, which we are happy to be able to 

 print elsewhere, 



The days of meeting of the third annual conference of the 

 Cryptogamic Society of Scotland, at Dunkeld, have been 

 changed to October 17, 18, and 19. 



In the Scientific and Literary Revie^o for September, 1S77, 

 there is a notice of the Spined Soldier-bug as a newly-discm'ered 

 enemy to the Colorado beetle. In the "Fourth Annual Report 

 of the Noxious, Beneficial, and other Insects of the State of 

 Missouri (1872)," Mr. Riley speaks of this insect as "now so 

 well known for its efficiency in thinning out the ranks of our 

 potato pest." Mr. Riley also figures two other Hemiptera of 

 the family SatlcHcridiv as enemies to this beetle — the Ring-banded 

 Soldier-bug and the Dotted-legged Plant-bug [Eiiscliistus punc- 

 tipa). 



News from Naples has been received announcing an increased 

 activity of Mount \'esuvius. The glow of fire in the crater is 

 so intense that it can be distinctly seen from Naples at night. 



In our number for August 9 we briefly noticed the ascent 

 made by Mons. Wiener of the mountain lUimani, one of the 

 highest — if not the highest^of the Bolivian Andes, which forms 

 a noble object from the city of I. a Paz, and was formerly 

 reputed (on the authority of Mr. Pentland) to have an altitude 

 of no lesss than 24,200 feet. M. Wiener, liowever, makes its 

 height only 20, 1 12 feet, while Mr. Minchin, as we have already 

 observed, places its altitude at 21,224 f^^t- If tlie latter esti- 

 mate be correct, Mons. Wiener has, we believe, not only made 

 the highest ascent which has been made in the Andes, but has 

 attained a greater altitude than has hilheito been reached on the 

 earth out of Asia, and in Asia has only been beaten by Mr. 

 Johnson, who some years ago got to a height of 22,300 feet in 

 Cashmere. As' the recorded ascents to the height of 21,000 

 feet are extremely few, we shall be glad to hear further par- 

 ticulars respecting Mons. Wiener's exploit, and more especially 

 whether he experienced much exh.-iusdon through the rarefaction 

 of the air. Practised mountaineers who have climbed to a 

 height of 17,000 to 18,000 feet have been of opinion that even 

 at such altitudes there is a very important and perceptible dimi- 

 nution of the bodily powers, and think it probable that the 

 height of 25,000 or 26,000 feet will be found to be about the 

 limit which will ever be reached on foot. As a set-off to this 

 opinion we'may mention the facts that hunters in the Himalayas 

 frequently pursue their game at heights exceeding 20,000 feet 

 without experiencing any notable inconvenience from the low 

 barometric pressure, and that natives living on the base of 

 Demavend, near Teheran, often ascend to its summit to gather 

 sulphur from its crater without any great difficulty. The height 

 of this mountain, there is reason to believe, also exceeds 20,000 

 feet, although it has never been accurately determined. If, 

 therefore, severe work can be done with impunity at such ele- 

 vations, it seems not unreasonable to suppose that much greater 

 heights might be attained by men who had previously accus 

 tomed themselves to life at high altitudes. Aeronauts, anyhow, 

 have proved that life can exist at 30,000 feet above the level of 

 the sea, and that at 25,000 feet, and upwards, one may positively 

 be comfortable if sufficiently warmly clad. That such is the case 

 is sufficiently remarkable, for "travellers in the air" have to 

 sustain incomparably more rapid variations of pressure and tem- 

 perature than'mountain-climbers. Mr. Glaisher, on his memo- 

 rable ascent on September 5, 1S62, left the earth at I p.m., and 

 in less than an hour shot up to a height of 30,000 feet. At 

 starting the temperature of the air was 59°, and at its greatest 

 altitude it was sixty-one degrees lower ! Mountaineers expe- 

 rience no such extreme variations as these. They rarely ascend 

 more rapidly th.an 1,000 feet per hour, never so much as 15,000 

 feet in a day, and become to some' extent acclimatised as they 

 progress upwards. On the whole we are inclined to think that 



