362 
NATURE 
[Sep4 1, 1870 
bricks, only the straw huts escaped. The buildings in the coffee | 
farms are destroyed, as also the fences and ditches. We suppose 
the fences are built of adobes or tapia. More damage has been 
inflicted in other parts of the country. The hills of Izquatan, 
Esclayos, and all about Cuajiniquilapa, exhibit extraordinary 
effects of the earthquakes, The earth has opened in deep rents, 
the most prominent of which run from S.E. to N.E. This, it 
will be seen, was the direction of the great earthquake of the 
12th June. This shock lasted from ten to fifteen seconds. 
Some of the shocks have been tremulous, and others oscillating 
(s% in the Spanish). On the 18th June there were four shocks, 
between 6 A.M. and 4P.M. The cause of the commotion is 
imagined to be in the volcanoes of Trocuamburro and Moyato, 
as it is known that great rocky precipices covered with trees have 
been thrown down, rivers dried, and roads blocked. 
ON the night of the 12th July, in Salvador, Central America, 
the sky was dusky and overcast, but cleared off after some 
electric discharges. Next morning, at 4.50, there was an earth- 
quake, This earthquake seems to have been felt in Guatemala 
on the same day, causing considerable damage in the departments 
of Santa Rosa and Jutiapa, particularly to farms, but attended 
with no loss of life. 
IN a recent number of Zes Mondes Dr. A. Boué calls attention 
to the fact that a great many scientific publications of the 
northern and easterly parts of Europe remain almost unknown, 
except in the countries where the languages (Swedish, Danish, 
Finnish, Lithuanian, Russian, Czech, Slavonic, Magyar, Polish, 
Neo-Greek, and Roumanian, and even Dutch) in which they 
are published are spoken. The author suggests that it would be 
an advantage if, for each of these publications, either a full trans- 
lation or an abstract of the papers were simultaneously published 
in French, English, or German. 
WE wish to call attention to a circular respecting the proposed 
Natural History Museum in connection with Clifton College. It is 
intended that the museum shall be essentially a British one, and 
contributions to illustrate the natural history and antiquities of 
our land are invited. We hope to revert to this admirable effort 
on an early occasion. 
WE have received Sydney papers of May 28, containing a 
report of an interesting lecture delivered before the Royal Society 
of New South Wales, by the Rey. W. B. Clarke, on the progress 
of science during the past year in the Australian colonies. 
THE Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg has 
issued the first three parts of Vol. xrv. of their Bulletin ; the 
contents are as follows :—Sur le dégagement d’ammoniaque par 
les champignons, El. Borscow ; Quelques observations faites 4 
Observatoire de Pekin—Lettre 4 M. Wild—M. Fritsche ; Sur 
le genre Dinotherium, réuni a la famille des Elephants, et sur la 
craniologie comparée des genres de cette famille (Extrait), J. F. 
Brandt ; Sur l’acide urinylique, nouveau produit de V’action de 
Yacide nitreux sur l’acide urique, N. Sokolof; Manuscrits 
orientaux de la Bibliotheque Impériale Publique, provenant de la 
succession de M. le Comte Simonitch, B. Dorn; La houille de 
Malewka; G. v. Helmersen; Appareil servant a fermer les 
stigmates chez la Blatte (Periplaneta orientalis), O. v. Grimm ; 
Influence de la température sur la conductibilité de la chaleur de 
quelques métaux (Extrait), R. Lenz ; Observations faites 4 ’Ob- 
servatoire astronomique de ]’Académie en 1868, A. Savitch ; 
Recherches embryologiques sur le Gyrodactylus, E. Metchnikof ; 
Recherches anatomiques sur les antennes des insectes, O. vy. 
Grimm ; Les canaux sémicirculaires du chat (avec une planche), 
O. vy. Grimm ; Une rectification de la table des forces élastiques 
de la vapeur aqueuse de M. Regnault—Lettre 4 M. Wild—H. 
Moritz; Etudes faites 4 l’aide d’un astro-photométre de M. Zéllner, 
P.G. Rosén; Manuscrits orientaux achetés par le Musée asiatique 
del’ Académie auxhéretiers de M. Graf, B. Dorn ; Surunenouvelle 
construction de mon Polaristrobométre (Saccharimétre Diabeto- 
métre) (avec une planche), H. Wild; Sur les aurores boréales 
du 15-16 Avril et du 13-14 Mai, 1869, H. Wild; Sur lorage 
magnétique du 15-16 Avril, 1869, H. Wild; Quelques mots sur 
les Sturionides européens et asiatiques, J. F. Brandt ; Nouvelles 
recherches embryologiques sur le Bothriocephalus Jatus, Dr. 
Knoch ; Sur deux envois de monnaies, recus au Musée asiatique, 
B. Dorm ; Sur une méthode d’exprimer les perturbations d’une 
comete au moyen de séries rapidement convergentes, Dr. H. 
Gyldén ; Propositions concernant la réorganisation du systeme 
des observations météorologiques en Russie—Rapport d’une com- 
mission, nommée par |’Académie ; Réapparition de la cométe 
de Winnecke et découverte de nouvelles nébuleuses, O. Struve ; 
Notice sur l’absorption de I’hydrogéne par le fer galvanique, M. 
H. v. Jacobi ; Propriéetés générales des polyédres, qui, sous une 
étendue superficielle donnée, renferment le vlus grand volume, 
L. Lindelof ; Sur les dérivés chlorés du toluol, F. Beilstein et A. 
Kuhlberg ; La coupole de Mélik-el-Aschraf Abou-]-Nassr-Birsbay, 
M. Mehren ; De quelques versions orientales du conte du trésor 
de Rhampsinite, A. Schiefner; Histoire de la génération des 
esturgeons—Communication préalable—A. Kowalewsky, Ph. 
Owsiannikow, et N. Wagner ; Histoire dela génération du Petromy- 
som fluviatilis—Communication préalable—Ph, Owsiannikow ; 
Nouvelles acquisitions de monnaies au Musée Asiatique. 
B. Dorn. From the same energetic and enterprising society 
we have the first part of Ruprecht’s ‘‘ Flora Caucasi,” carrying 
down as far as Ampelideze. 
From Cosmos we obtain the information that M. Bottger has 
produced a new test-paper which is highly sensitive towards the 
alkalies andalkalineearths. The reagent is a magnificent colouring 
matter, obtained from the leaves of an exotic plant (Coleus 
verschaffelti), upon digestion for twenty-four hours with abso- 
lute alcohol, to which a few drops of sulphuric acid have been 
added. The paper is prepared for use by the usual process. 
The colour is a splendid red, which passes more or less rapidly 
into a fine shade of green, by the action of the alkalies or the 
alkaline earths. It is far more sensitive than turmeric ; it is un- 
affected by carbonic acid, and will indicate the presence of the 
least traces of the carbonates of the alkaline earths in water. A 
moistened strip of the paper, when held at the opening of a gas 
jet, immediately assumes a green colour, if ammonia be present. 
Ir is proposed to erect a statue of Harvey, the discoverer of 
the circulation of the blood, in the Central Park, New York, and 
large subscriptions have been received for that purpose. It is 
to be of bronze, of colossal proportions, “‘ representing Harvey 
at the moment he felt convinced he had made the great dis- 
covery that has immortalised his name.” Verily the American 
sculptors have a pleasant task before them. How does a philo- 
sopher usually look under such circumstances ? 
AT a recent auction sale in New York, the finest known copy 
of ‘*Elliott’s Indian Bible” (Cambridge, 1663), printed in the 
Indian language, was sold for 1,050 dollars, about 210/. There 
is one copy of this celebrated Bible in the British Museum, one 
in the Island of Nantucket, anda third on Gardiner’s Island, 
or Long Island Sound. a 
THE second part of Drs. A. and Th. Husemann’s ‘‘ Pflanzen- 
stoffe,” the first part of which we reviewed some time since, is 
still entirely occupied with the vegetable alkalies or bases, the 
most important treated of being Coniin, Chinin, Cinchonin, 
Coffein, Strychnin, Atropin, Nicotin, Hyoscyanin, and Veratrin. 
The third part, completing the work, is promised in September. 
M. Auc. DuMERIL publishes, under the title of ‘‘ Suites 4. 
Buffon,” a second volume of his ‘‘ Natural History of Fishes or 
General Ichthyology,” comprising the Ganoide, Dipnoi, and 
Lophobranchii, with an accompanying atlas of plates... 
