
Aug. 10, 1871 | 

Botolph, Bishopsgate, under the patronage of the rector, Rev. 
W. Rogers, in which prizes were offered for the best collection of 
flowers grown in the City. 
AN exhibition of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society will 
be held at Falmouth from the r1th to the rgth inst. 
THE Revue Scientifique for August 5 contains a report of a very 
interesting lecture delivered before the Collége de France by M. 
Claude Bernard on the Influence of Heat on Animals, accom- 
panied by a series of very careful experiments. 
WE have received letters from a number of correspondents on 
the various subjects opened out by Mr. Howorth’s ‘‘ New View 
of Darwinism,” and the replies to it; but the great pressure on 
our space compels us to close the discussion. 
THE most recently received parts of the Bulletin de l’ Aca- 
démie Impériale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg, viz., vol. xv. 
part 3-5, and vol. xvi. part. 1, contain among others the follow- 
ing important papers :—Note on the Approximate Rectification 
of Certain Curves, by J. Somoff; On Tremblings of the Earth, 
by F. Argelander ; Observations on the Planets at St. Peters- 
burg, by A. Sawitsch ; On the Physical Properties and Calorific 
Power of certain Petroleums of the Russian Empire, by M. 
Sainte-Claire Deville ; On the Nervous System of Star-Fish, 
by Ph. Owsiannikof ; Studies of Ozone, Oxygenated Water, and 
Ammonium Nitrite, by H. Struve; the Nervous System of 
Lepas anatifera, by Dr. E. Brandt ; On Polydactylism, by Dr. 
Gruber ; Short Diagnosis of New Plants from Japan and Mant- 
churia, by C. J. Maximowicz; On the Young of /éothea ento- 
mon, by E. Brandt ; On the Gulf Stream to the East of the 
North Cape, by A. Middendorff; On the Osteology of the 
Hand and the Foot, and other Anatomical Papers, by W. Gru- 
ber; Rotation of the Plane of Polarisation by the Effect of 
Electro-Magnets, by Jegorof; On the Organisation of Gregari- 
nid, by A. Stuart ; Histological Studies on the Nervous System 
of Mollusca, by Ph. Owsiannikof; On Cerium, by D. Mende- 
leyf ; On the Influence of the Displacements of the Axis of Ro- 
tation in the Interior of the Earth or the Level of the Sea, by 
Dr. H. Gylden. 
A SECOND edition is just published of Prof. Corfield’s Digest 
of Facts relating to the Treatment and Utilisation of Sewage. 
It has been revised throughout, and is issued entirely on the 
author’s own responsibility, and not under the auspices of the 
British Association Committee. Considerable and important 
additions are made to the matter contained in the first edition. 
THE second volume of the ‘‘ Flora of Tropical Africa,” con- 
taining the orders Leguminosz to Ficoidez, has just been issued. 
The work has been divided as follows among the botanists whose 
names are attached to the respective orders ; Leguminosze (Czes- 
alpinieze and Mimosez), Rosacez, Saxifrageze, and other small 
orders, Prof. Oliver ; Cucurbitaceze, Begoniaceze, and Melasto- 
macee, Dr. Hooker; Leguminose (Papilionacez), Mr. J. G, 
Baker ; Passiflorese and Samydez, Dr. M. T. Masters ; Com- 
bretacecze and Myrtacez, Prof. M. A. Lawson; Crassulaceze, 
Mr. James Britten; Lythracese, Mr. W. P. Hiern. The pro- 
portion of new species described is very large. 
THE Coal Commission appointed on June 28, 1866, ‘‘to 
inquire into the several matters relating to coal in the United 
Kingdom,” have unanimously agreed to their report. The 
whole work of the Commission will be published as soon as 
possible in three volumes, with maps, sections, &c., which are 
all far advanced towards completion. 
M. PANCERI, in a memoir recently presented to the Associa- 
tion of Naturalists and Physicians at Turin, claims to have 
established that the phosphorescent substance in fishes, in what- 
eyer part of the body it may be situated, is always fat, and that 
NATURE 

287 
the phenomenon is due to its slow oxidation in contact with air. 
The skin of fishes is permeable to gases, and the oxidation of 
the sub-cutaneous fat proceeds without difficulty. Phosphorescence 
shows itself, asa rule, some time after death, and continues un- 
til putrefaction commences ; as soon as a true decomposition sets 
in, accompanied by the disengagement of ammonia, phospho- 
rescence ceases. Phosphorescence is prevented by the presence of 
fresh water, alcohol, or carbonic acid; oxygen, on the other 
hand, strengthens the phenomenon, 
THE charge against Mr. Hampden of libelling Mr. Wallace 
was tried on Thursday week in the Secondary’s Court. Our 
readers will remember that a wager of 500/, having been made 
between Mr. Hampden, who affirmed that the world was flat 
and not round, and Mr. Wallace, it was decided against the 
former, who thereupon abused Mr. Wallace as a liar and a 
swindler. The action now tried was for damages for these and 
other similar libels, and Mr. Hampden was condemned to pay 
6007. damages. 
Mr. HELIODORO Ruiz, of Opin, in Colombia, New Granada, 
informs the Government of that country that he has been suc- 
cessful in treating snake bites by cauterisation. The province 
abounds with snakes of a deadly character, and he has treated 
seventy cases of bites. He simply drops melted sealing-wax on 
all the fang marks, and he considers the result is due less to 
cautery than to the complete exclusion of the air by the adhesion 
of the wax. At first he administered internally a few drops, but 
he has discontinued it, not finding it necessary. 
SENOR Primo Lozano, of Quibdo, in Colombia, reports to 
the Tiempo of Bogota that he has discovered a new way between 
the Atrabo and the Pacific superior to that by Napipi and 
Truando. The Napipi route has been repeated again by the 
U.S. explorers. 
ON the 25th May a waterspout passed over the hill stations of 
Ootacamund in Southern India, 
ON the 23rd May an earthquake was felt at Nynee Tal in the 
Himalayas. At that English hill station there is a beautiful lake, 
and it is now to be noted that since the earthquake it has emitted 
a strong sulphurous smell. 
AN earthquake was felt on two days in May at Gilghit, above 
Cashmere, on the 22nd and 23rd. 
ON the night of the 7th of June Calcutta was visited by one 
of the severest thunderstorms known for many years. Several 
houses were struck by lightning in the southern division of the 
city, but there was no loss of life, 
On the 19th June a strong earthquake was felt at Brooklyn 
and in the neighbourhood of New York. The shock was ver- 
tical. 
THE largest tamarind tree in India, in the Khosru Gardens at 
Allahabad, fell down on the Queen’s birthday. The stem was 
quite hollow. It was an ancient and well-known sight. 
TRON telegraph poles have been introduced with great success 
in Switzerland, and their use is now being extended daily. It is 
considered that in a short time these iron posts will altogether 
replace wooden poles throughout Germany. We understand, 
also, that they are being largely adopted in connection with the 
Indian telegraph service. 
A spEciEs of fish-crow (Corvus caurinus) is very abundant in 
the Oregon and Washington territories, where it is very trouble- 
some to the Indians, stealing their dried fish and other provisions. 
It is never killed by them, from superstitious feelings, but is 
driven away by children set to watch for that purpose. In winter 
it subsists principally upon the refuse food and offal thrown out 
by the natives from their lodges, and is an attentive hanger- 
on at the residences of the white settlers, It is cunning, but very 
