322 
If not worthy of presentation to any herbarium, would any 
competent botanist classify it for the sake of the duplicates? 
FE, G'S. P: 
General Travelling Notes 
Durinc the years 1857-66 I was in India, and in that period 
travelled much, both in the Plains and the interior of the 
Himalaya. 
Since my return to England I have constantly regretted 
that I took few notes, and those few notes, from lack of 
knowledge, of little or no value, on flora, fauna, geology, and 
altitudes. In a few months I shall return to the same part 
of India (North West Provinces and Punjab), and purpose re- 
maining in that country for some years. There are many men 
in the army who, like myself, have a general taste for scientific 
observations, but our efforts end in gratifying our own minds 
only, our observations lacking sufficient accuracy and classifica- 
tion, whilst much is overlooked from sheer ignorance as to the 
how and where to look. 
To the end that I (and others of like mind) may, perchance, 
furnish some useful jot ings during my next term of foreign 
service, can any contributor to NATURE inform me where the 
following are to be met with :— 
1. A plain code of what to look for and observe, after the 
manner of, but shorter than, ‘*‘ The Scientific Orders of the 
Challenger,” published in NATURE for Jan. 9 and 30. 
2. What is the best text-book on each head (e,¢. on barometrical 
and thermometrical observations, Indian yeology, botany, &c.). 
It is very essential each such text-book should be comprised in 
one handy volume ; if possible as clear and concise as Tyndall’s 
‘¢ Lectures on Electricity.” 
3. Whar instruments should be taken, I suggest—An ordi- 
nary thermometer, tested at Kew; a max. anda min thermo- 
meter ; an aneroid (of what size?); a prismatic compass ; an 
Abney’s clinometer-level for ascertaining the slope and conse- 
quent he'ght of mountains and depths of valieys roughly ; also 
a small foréable rain-gauge, if such is made ; a simple micro- 
scope, and a magnifying ylass. Are these sufficient? and if so, 
where should they be procured, and at what price? the cost 
being a vital point. 4 
4. Can these, or similar instruments, be obtained in a single 
case sufficiently small to be carried, like a smali theodolite hox, 
in one hand ? a Cy SSS 
Mirage 
TuE following references to the literature of this subject are 
in answer to the note by Prof. J.D, Everett in Nature for 
January 2 last :— 
Bravais, Aug.— Notice surle mirage,” Annuaire Soc. Meteor. 
Fr., p. 227 (1852), p. 55 (1855). 
Dufour, Chailes.—‘‘ Mirages et réfractions aunormales sur le 
lac Leman,” Bull. Soc. Vaud. Lausanne, vol. iv. p. 366 (1854-5); 
386 ; vol. v. p. 26 (1856) ; 217. 
Escayrac de Lauture.—‘‘ Sur le ragle ou hallucination du 
désert,” Bull. Soc. Geogr, vol. ix. p. 121 (1855). 
Gergonne, J. D.—‘‘ Recherches sur les refractions terrestres et 
particulierement sur le mirag ,” Notice Trao. Acad. Gard., p. 
129 (1808). 
Gergonne, J. D.—‘‘ Essai analytique sur l1 phenoméne du 
mirage,” Ann. Math. Gergonne, xx. p. I (1829). 
Giovene, G. M.—‘‘ Wunderbare Phanomene nach Art der 
Fata Morgana,” Gilbert, Annal. xii. p. 1 (1803). 
Jackson, C. T.—‘‘ Observations on the Mirage seen on Lake 
Superior in July and August 1847,” Proc. Amer. Assoc., p. 143 
1849). 
: Kelly, W.—‘‘ On some extraordinary forms of Mirage,” Trans. 
Lit. Soc. Quebec, vol. iii. p. 292 (1837). 
Orioli, F.—‘‘ Della Fata Morgana,” Tortolini Annali, ii. p. 47 
1851). 
‘ Bake "Note sur le Mirage,’’ Comptes Rendus, yol. xii. p. 
87 (1855). 
Parés.—‘‘ Note sur le Mirage des Cotes du departement cde 
YHerault,”” Mem. Acad. Sci. Montpellier, iii. p. 1; 493 (1855). 
A. Ramsay 
Brilliant Meteor of Feb. 3 
To supplement Prof. Osborne Reynolds’ interesting paper on 
the meteor of February 3, which he saw in Manchester, and 
which he thinks must have passed over Chester and Liverpool 
(NATURE, February 20, p. 315), I enclose you a cutting from a 
NATURE 
local Cheshire paper showing that this meteor was seen about 
the same time in Northwich, which is some twenty-five or thirty — 
miles S.W. from Manchester, and almost in a direct line drawn ~ 
from Manchester to Chester. 
By consulting the various local papers published in Northwich, 
Chester, Birkenhead, Liverpool, &c., iffcould easily be discovered 
at what place it was last seen, and where the loudest explosion was 
heard, and so the approximate path of this splendid meteor and 
its height might be traced out. These papers will mostly all be 
found in the Exchange and the Athenaum Reading Rooms, 
Manchester, where I believe they are regularly filed. d 
Merton College, Oxford J. P. EARWAKER 
‘*\ METEOR SHOWER AT NoRTHWICH.—At Northwich on 
Monday night, February 3, about ten o’clock, a very brilliant 
meteor was observed in the sky passing from east to west. The 
meteor displayed an intense white light in its course, and 
emitted sparks which appeared of various hues. 
about six or eight seconds, and from one to two minutes afier 
the passage of the meteor a loud rumbling report like distant 
thunder was heard. The night was very clear, and starlight at 
the time.” _ 
A VERY bright meteor was imperfectly seen here by me at 
gh 58™ on Monday evening, February 3. At the time of its 
appearance the sky was much clouded though not entirely over- 
cast, and become suddenly i/luminated by what I at first con- 
sidered to be flashes of lighining. The clouds in the north sky 
particularly were illuminate, and as L thought it possible that 
the phenomenon might be due to the appearance of a Jarge fire- 
ball behind the clouds, I noted the exact situation in which the 
greatest quantity of light (which was about equal to the moon 
when five days past conjunction) existed. This was, as accurately” 
as could posi»ly be determined, at a place about 10° eastward 
of the north point, or north by east, and in the vicinity of the 
horizon. When traversing this part of its path it is possible that 
the meteor was at its brightes’, and on the point of disappearance. 
It was imposible to note any further details as to the exact course 
of the luminous appearance seen, inasmuch as but few stars were 
perce) tible, and the north sky was much obscured by cumulus 
clouds. This meteor was also seen at Manchester at 9h 57™ ; 
it appeared near the zenith of that station. 
Bristol Wi.L14mM F, DENNING 
Inherited Feeling : 
As every instance of inherited antipathy in the offspring of 
Turk adds to the weight of proof, I beg to state that a mastiff in 
my possession, a grandson of Turk, anda brother of Mr. Brooke's 
dog, showed the same unaccountable antipathy to butchers, ma- 
nifesting violent rage when any one of that honourable fraternity 
showed himself in the yard where he was kept. He was other- 
wise of a remarkably mild and gentle disposition. 
Bowdon, near Manchester, * ARTHUR RANSOM | 
Feb, ‘21 : 
WOULD it not test the correctness of Mr. Wallace’s ingenious 
theory as to animals finding their way back over an unseen 
country by their sense of smell, to shut upa cat in a basket along 
with a piece of stale fish, the scent of which would certainly 
overpower any external scent by which it might be able to trace 
the way back? It seem§ to me that many instances are on record 
of this curious power of certain animals, especia:ly of cats, which 
are quite inexplicable on Mr, Wallace’s hypothesis. 
ALFRED W. BENNETT 
External Perception in Dogs 
THE view to which Mr. Wallace gives expression in your last 
number had occurred also to me, and I should like, with your 
leave, to offer a remark or two in support of it. 
That a dog shut up ina basket may through smell acquire a 
series of impressions so definitely marked as to be able therewith — 
to find its way back to the place it was taken from, becomes less 
improbable if we think what is the part that must be played by | 
smell in its ordinary objective experience. Our external world 
(whether as actually perceived or imaginatively represented) may 
be called a world of sights and touches, blended with and modi- 
fying each cther in the most intimate way. These mutually 
involved sights and touches, in our consciousness, are run out 
into the form of a continuum in space (how or why it is not to. 
(Feb. 27, 1873 
It was visible 
