334 



NA TURE 



[Fed. 25, 1875 



satisfactory progress. He has now accomplished the Talamanca 

 survey, and will probably extend his researches into other parts 

 of the country, particularly that bordering upon the Pacific coast, 

 his previous explorations having been confined to the Atlantic 

 Elope. With only four assistants besides Indian labourers, Prof. 

 Gabb has surveyed. the entire tract, of about 3,000 square miles, 

 from the borders of civilisation on the nortli to the borders of 

 Panama, and from the Atlantic to the crest of the Cordilleras ; 

 and this he has mapped out more accurately than any other equal 

 area of Costa Rica has been surveyed, not excepting the section 

 where the towns are situated. He also gives reliable informa- 

 tion and statistics about an agricultural country sufficiently large, 

 fertile, and healthful to support the entire population of Costa 

 Rica, but which as yet contains only 1,226 Indians and twelve 

 foreigners, of whom only one is white. It is watered by one 

 river, which is navigable throughout the year, and which reaches 

 within thirty miles of the most remote portion of a country valu- 

 able for agricultural purposes. In addition to the survey proper, 

 as referred to, information has been gathered in regard to the 

 mineral resources of the region and its animal and vegetable life, 

 immense collections of both, as previously stated, having been 

 sent to the Smithsonian Institution for identification. Among 

 the number are one hundred specimens of monkeys alone, while 

 the other mammals, birds, &c., are in due proportion. The 

 exhaustive inquiries prosecuted into the ethnology of the country 

 have resulted in v?ry"rich collections, which have likewise been 

 forwarded to Washington. Numerous vocabularies, with several 

 dialects, have also been obtained, which offer much of promise 

 to the philologist. It is greatly to be hoped that Prof Gabb's 

 inquiries may be continued, with Costa Rica as a base, until 

 they include the 'whole of the unknown portions of Central 

 America. 



The Kblnische Zdlung of Feb. 10 gives an account of Prof. 

 Eohm's (Dorpat) researches on revival after cases of poisoning. 

 He succeeded in reviving cats which had been poisoned by 

 injection of potash salts into their veins, after forty minutes' 

 duration of a state which was in no way different from actual 

 death, the action of the heart and respiration having completely 

 ceased. He obtained these results by artificial respiration and 

 simultaneous compression of the breast in the vicinity of the 

 heart. The professor points out the importance of the latter 

 point, which he deems as essential as the action of the lungs. 

 In any case his researches are of high interest for the relation 

 tliey bear upon the revival of poisoned persons. 



The Bohemia reports extremely heavy snowstorms which took 

 place in a part of Moravia and Bohemia on Feb. 5, and caused 

 great damage to railways, several trains being thrown off the 

 lines, luckily without much injury to passengers. At Znaim 

 (Moravia) the storm was so violent at noon that it was impos- 

 sible to see more than three yards ahead. 



The ObcrscMesischc Volkszeiliiiig of Feb. I reports the dis- 

 covery of some colossal remains of the Mammoth {Elephas 

 primigeiiiiis) near Ober Glogau (Silesia). 



The Nate Fra'e Presse announces that Herr R. Falb, of 

 Vienna, discovered a new variable star, near 1 Orionis, on the 

 night of Jan. 31. The discovery was confirmed on the same 

 night by Prof. Oppolzer at his private observatory, and on sub- 

 sequent nights by the astronomers at the Imperial Observatory 

 of Vienna. The star is visible with the naked eye. 



Prof. As.^ Gray, in a paper in the February number of Silli- 

 man's Journal, on the question, ' ' Do Varieties wear out, or tend to 

 wear out?" comes to the conclusion that from the scientific point of 

 view, sexually propagated varieties, or races, although liable to 

 disappear through change, need not be expected to wear out, 

 and there is no proof that they do ; but non-sexually propagated 



varieties, though not liable to change, may theoretically be 

 expected to wear out, but to be a very long time about it. 



We are glad to see that the Watford Natural History Society 

 is now completely organised and fairly set a-going. At a 

 recent meeting officers were elected, and a conversazione was 

 afterwards held. The president chosen is Mr. John Evans, 

 F.R.S., and Mr. J. Gw7n Jeffreys, F.R.S., is one of the vice- 

 presidents. The first regular meeting is to be held on March 11, 

 when Mr. J. L. Lobley, F.G. S., one of the members of the 

 Council, will read a paper on "The Cretaceous Rocks of 

 England." 



On the lOth inst., at six o'clock in 'the evening, a large 

 aerolite was observed at Paris, in the department of the Marne, 

 at Orleans, and at Belleisle en Mer. No noise was heard, but 

 the display of light was magnificent. The track was visible for 

 a time varying from a quarter to half an hour. 



Several large landslips are reported as having taken 

 place on the Danish island of Moen, on a chalky rock named 

 " Moensklint ; " from another one, called "Jetterbrinken," a 

 piece of several million cubic yards has fallen down. These 

 occurrences are ascribed to enormous changes in the temperature 

 which have lately taken place in that locality. 



The Royal Geological Society of Ireland have just published 

 Part I. vol. iv., new series, of their journal. It contains : On a 

 new genus of fossil fish of the order Dipnoi, by Dr. Traquair ; 

 On the microscopic structure of Irish granites and of the Lambay 

 porphyrite, by Prof. Hull ; On a bed of fossiliferous "kunkur," 

 by J. E. Gore ; On the Leinster coal-field, by J. McC. Meadows ; 

 On a raised estuarine beach at Tramore Bay, by E. Hardman ; 

 On the elevated shell-bearing gravels near Dublin, by the Rev. 

 Maxwell Close ; and Remarks on the genera Pah-echinus and 

 Archaoocidaris, by W. H. Baily. 



The Forty-third Annual , Report of the Royal Zoological 

 Society of Ireland has just been published. The number of 

 visitors to the gardens of the Society during 1S74 was 109,923, 

 and the receipts from the same, 1,442/. \\s. /^d. The number 

 of visitors would appear to have been the smallest during the 

 last ten years, but owing to an increase of the admission fees the 

 income is scarcely below that of the best of the ten years. The 

 Council propose to construct " an Elephant Compound on the 

 plan of those so well known in the London Gardens," the total 

 cost of which will amount to 1 50/. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 last week include two Feline Douracoulis {Nydipitheciis felinus) 

 and two Squirrel Monkeys (Saimaris sciitrea) from Brazil ; a 

 Saffron Cock of the Rock {Riipicola crocea) from Demerara ; a 

 Grey Mullet (A/iigi/ capito), twelve Cottus (Col/ns Inihilis), and 

 eighteen Basse (Lal>rax lupus), all British, deposited and pur- 

 chased. 



PRELIMINARY INQUIRY INTO THE EXIST- 

 ENCE OF ELEMENTS IN THE SUN NOT 

 PREVIOUSLY TRACED* 



In a paper communicated to the Royal Society on December 

 12, 1872 (Phil. Trans. 1S73, p. 253), I have shown that the test 

 formerly relied on to decide the presence or absence of a metal 

 in the sun, namely, the presence or absence of the brightest and 

 strongest lines of the metal in question in the average solar spec- 

 trum, was not a final one, and that the true test was the presence 

 or absence of the longest lines of the metal : this longest line 

 being that which remains longest in the spectrum when the 

 pressure of the vapour is reduced. 



Of tlie test in question I have said in the paper already men- 

 tioned, " It is one, doubtless, which will sliortly enable us to 



* Extract from a memoir presciUel totlie Royal Socity in Ntvembcr I 73, 

 "hich has just been printed in the " Philosopliical Transactions," 



