April 26, 1883] 
NATURE 
607 
above this line, and seemed to be unaccountably out of place. 
As, however, the moon was little past the first quarter, and the 
terminator nearly a straight line, and only slightly inclined from 
the vertical, a line drawn perpendicular to it would have passed 
through the left-hand patch, and I imagine that its position was 
due to this inequality in shape of the two sides of the visible 
moon. The atmosphere was hazy, the moon though clearly 
visible appearing as in a slight fog, No colours were distin- 
guishable at any part of the halo. F. T. Motr 
Birstal Hill, Leicester, April 17 
Benevolence in Animals 
Two or three years ago Dr. Allen Thomson gave me an 
instance of benevolence in a cat which is so closely similar to 
one communicated to you by Mr. Oswald Fitch that for the sake 
of corroboration I may state it. 
The cat belonged to Dr. Thomson, and one day came into the 
kitchen, pulled the cook by the dress, and otherwise made signs 
showing a persistent desire to attract attention. Eventually the 
eat led the cook out of doors and showed her a famishing 
stranger cat. The vook thereupon gave the stranger some food, 
and while this was being discussed, Dr. Thomson’s cat paraded 
round and round her companion, purring londly with a satisfied 
sense of well-doing, GEORGE J. ROMANES 
‘“Medioscribed Circle” 
In this week’s NATURE (p. 595) the use of the medtoscribed 
circle is suggested in place of the well-known ‘‘ nine-point ” 
circle. If a change is desirable, would not ‘‘ mid-point ” circle 
be equally expressive ? 
April 20 
AGRICULTURE IN MADRAS? 
HE Government establishment at Saiddpet has now 
been in existence about twelve years. It consists in 
part of an experimental farm, and in part of an educational | 
establishment, in which, at the date of the last report, 
forty-one native students were receiving instruction in the 
science and practice of agriculture. The whole is under 
the superintendence of Mr. W. R. Robertson. The 
object in view is to improve the condition of agriculture 
in the Presidency. This is indeed urgently needed. With 
a large and increasing population, the soil is in general 
wretchedly cultivated, and reduced to a low state of fer- 
tility. The farm at Saiddpet is the centre of many useful | 
agencies. Here new crops, new breeds of cattle, and im- 
proved implements are carefully tried. Here the teaching 
of European science is reduced to practice, and methods 
of cultivation suitable to the conditions of Indian agricul- 
ture are perfected. While by means of the educational 
department. by tours in the country, distributions of seed, 
ploughing competitions with different implements, and 
various other agencies, the endeavour is made to bring 
these improved methods into use by the native farmers. 
The meteorological records kept at the farin exhibit in 
a striking manner the difficulties under which Indian 
agriculture must be pursued. Thus in the season 1880-81 
the rainfall in September was 10’9, in October 10°7, and 
in November 19°6 inches, while during the whole six 
months from January to June only 2°35 inches were re- 
corded. Long-continued heat and drought are thus fol- 
lowed, on the arrival of the monsoon, by a deluge of rain. | 
It is pleasing to notice that the director of the farm is 
quite abreast of the latest scientific teaching respecting 
the be-t mode of meeting the difficulty in question. It is 
plain that in the rainy season the land will be washed clear 
of all soluble plant-food ; all nitrates formed in the soil 
during the hot season will thus be lost, unless they have 
been already assimilated by acrop. Mr. Robertson re- 
commends that, whenever possible, advantage should be 
taken of the first commencement of rain in June or July 
to sow the land with a green leguminous crop (horse- 
* Annual Reports on Government Agricultural Operations in the Madras 
Presidency, 1880-81 and 1881-82. 
gram). In most years there will be enough rain to main- 
tain such a crop in growth during the summer months. 
This crop will collect and assimilate a great part of the 
nitrates in the soil. At the commencement of the wet 
season the green crop is to be ploughed into the soil, and 
forms an excellent manure for the principal crop of the 
year, which is then sown. Mr. Robertson refers apparently 
to the experiments at Rothamsted when speaking of the 
quantity of nitrates annually formed ina soil; the amount 
he mentions (40 lbs. of nitrates! per acre) is, however, far 
below the truth. The quantity of nitrates found in five 
successive years in the drainage water from uncropped 
and unmanured land at Rothamsted amounts, indeed, on 
an average, to nearly 3 cwts. of Indian saltpetre per acre 
per annum. 
In India agriculture depends much for its success and 
permanence on irrigation, and vast sums have been, and 
will be, expended on irrigation works. Here again, how- 
ever, the question of the presence or absence of nitrates 
is an important factor, which has been almost entirely 
overlooked, engineering rather than chemical skill having 
been employed in the direction of the work. It should 
always be borne in mind that a water containing nitrates 
supplies not only water but #anzwre. The native farmers 
are generally quite aware of the difference in value of 
different water-supplies, and reckon the water from the 
village well as worth far more than that procured from 
the Government canal. To the engineer it appears a 
ridiculous waste of power to lift water from a well when 
a water-supply is available at the level of the land. But 
the native is right; his well-water is rich in nitrates, and 
for the farmer’s purpose far more valuable than the purer 
water of surface drainage found in rivers and canals. It 
should always be borne in mind in plans for irrigation, 
that the drainage from arable land, and from inhabited 
districts will always yield the best irrigation water, By 
restoring to land in time of drought the plant-food lost 
in time of flood we are pursuing a truly scientific economy. 
R. W. 
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES IN THE 
SOLOMON ISLANDS 
yt HOUL going into the general question as to the 
position which these islanders hold to the other 
Pacific races, I will briefly state the results of numerous 
measurements and observations which I made during my 
visit to these islands in 1882. As the surveying work of 
this ship was confined for the most part to the large 
island of St. Christoval and the adjacent small islands, 
my remarks will refer more particularly to the natives of 
this part of the group. : 
The average height of a man of St. Christoval is about 
5 feet 3 inches or 5 feet 4 inches, whilst the span of the 
arms generally exceeds the length of the body by from 
4 to 5 inches. Both men and women are usually of a 
good physique, robust and well-proportioned ; but one 
may find in the same village community weak, puny, 
thin-limbed individuals associated with others of a strong 
muscular frame, with well-rounded limbs and a good 
carriage. 
The colour of the skin varies considerably in shade 
from a very dark brown, approaching black, to a dark 
copper hue. The elderly adults are as a rule more dark- 
skinned than those of younger years, the difference in 
shade being attributable partly to a longer exposure by 
reason of their age to the influence of sun and weather, 
and partly to those structural changes in the skin which 
accompany advancing years. Not unfrequently, amongst 
a group of dark-skinned natives a man may be observed 
whose skin is of a pale sickly hue, and who at the first 
glance may be thought to afford an example of recent 
Possibly in Mr. Robertson’s Report “‘nitrates’’ is here a misprint for 
“ nitrogen.”” 
