414 



NA 1 URE 



{March 25, 1875 



interests both of science and of tlie commercial and political 

 welfare of India, a special permanent building for the purposes 

 so ably advocated by Dr. Watson is urgently required. We 

 hope the recent memorials of the Chambers of Commerce of the 

 United Kingdom, added to the long-continued exertions of the 

 Asiatic and other learned societies, will have some success with 

 her Majesty's Govemraent. The site proposed by Dr. Watson 

 for an Indian Institute is close by the India Office. Allen and 

 Co. are the publishers of Dr. Watson's paper. 



A BILL to reform the Gregorian year has been recently intro- 

 duced into the American House of Representatives. Its essential 

 provisions are that the beginning of the year shall correspond to the 

 winter solstice, and its principal divisions to the summer solstice 

 and the equinoxes, the latter provision being intended to take 

 the place of the intercalary rule of the Gregorian calendar, thus 

 regulating the divisions by the astronomical conditions of the 

 earth's orbit. 



The report of Capt. Elton on the Zanzibar copal trees ( Tra- 

 chylobium Horncmnnniamim) has become so well known, owing 

 to its republication in many English journals, that it will be 

 interesting to the '.botanical readers of Nature to know that 

 seeds taken from fruits collected by Capt. Elton and sent to the 

 museum at Kew, through the Foreign Office, have not only ger- 

 minated, tut are growing into strong healthy plants ; some of 

 them are six or more inches high, and have six or seven pairs of 

 leaflets. They are interesting, not only on account of the valu- 

 able fossil resin yielded by the old trees, but also on account of 

 their being the first plants grown in Europe. Though there is 

 always a steady demand for good copal in England, there can 

 be no doubt that large quantities are still to be found beneath 

 the African soil. In Loanda, on the opposite side of the African 

 continent, large deposits of copal are known to exist, but owing 

 to a superstition among the natives the resin is not allowed to 

 be touched. 



The discovery of new medicinal products appears to be on 

 the increase just now. Within the space of a few months we 

 have heard of tlie extraordinary tonic effects of Boldo [Boldoa 

 fraayans), which, however, seems destined to pass into oblivion. 

 This was succeeded by Jaborandi, which is still occupying the 

 attention of the medical profession, and which, unlike Boldo, is 

 being reported upon very favourably. Two bales of another 

 new product, under the name of Carnauba Root, are reported 

 to have recently arrived at Liverpool. It is the root of the 

 Brazilian Wax Palm (Copcrnicia ccrifcra), and is desciibed as an 

 excellent medicine for purifying the blood ; equal, indeed, to sar- 

 saparilla. It is a question, however, whether the latter has any 

 real medicinal properties. The Carnauba Root as imported is 

 said to be in pieces several feet in length, of an average thickness 

 of three-eighths of an inch, of a mixed greyish and reddish brown 

 colour, giving off here and there small rootlets. The cost is said 

 to be not more than half that of sarsaparilla. 



One of the chief products of Auckland, New Zealand, is Kauri 

 gum, the semi-fossil resin of Daimnara auslralis. It is specially a 

 product of this province of New Zealand, being found in no other 

 part of the world. The resin is found at a depth of from two to 

 three feet from the surface over a large area of land once covered 

 by Kauri forests, but now barren and almost unfit for culti- 

 vation. In these waste lands there is no restriction enforced by 

 Government as to the right of digging for the resin, and it is 

 calculated that in various parts of Auckland as many as 2,000 

 men have found employment at one time digging up the Kauri 

 resm. This number, however, is now considerably reduced, 

 owmg to the demand for labour in other directions ; neverthe- 

 less large quantities of the resin are required by vamish-makeis 

 in this country, and consequently many persons still find em- 

 ployment m digging it. The Maoris bring a considerable quan- 

 tity to market. The. best quality fetches in the market at 



Auckland from 30/. to 33/. per ton. At tliis jjrice the gum- 

 diggers are able to earn from l/. I0.f. to 4/. per week ; the ave- 

 rage earnings, however, are about 2/. per week. In the three 

 years from 1870 to 1872, there were exported from Auckland 

 14,276 tons of Kauri resin, valued at 497,199/. 



Under the title of " Note sur les Tremblements de Terre en 

 1S71, avec Supplements pour les Annees anterieure de 1S43 a 

 1S70," M. Alexis Perrey, of the Belgian Academy, publishes a 

 continuous list of earthquakes and of volcanic eruptions which 

 have occurred from 1S43 to 1S71, one-half of the volume being 

 occupied with those of the latSer year. M. Perrey's object is 

 simply to present as complete a list as possible of these pheno- 

 mena, and he is therefore anxious to receive information of 

 any omissions, so that future editions may be made still more 

 complete. The list will no doubt be found of great use to those 

 who are investigating seismic phenomena. It is published by 

 Ilayez, of Brussels. 



A NEW phase in the archa:ology of the United States is shown 

 by the researches of Mr. Putnam in the caves of Kentucky, as he 

 has found that many of the caverns there were used for burial, 

 as in Europe, and that others were used for habitations. Many 

 relics and skeletons have been brought to light by his investiga- 

 tions ; and further research, which will be canied on this year in 

 connection with the Geological Survey of the .Slate, will un- 

 ddub'.edly add much of importance to the archeology of that 

 country. Enough evidence has already been obtained to prove 

 that the caves were very extensively used by an early race of 

 men, but the race to which the remains should be referred is not 

 yet determined. In his investigations in the vicinity of a group 

 of mounds in Monroe County, Kentucky, Mr. Putnam was also 

 quite fortunate in finding a peculiar mode of burial that has not 

 before been noticed, inasmuch as the bodies, in one grave ten in 

 number, were buried in a circular grave, made by placing erect 

 slabs of limestone around a floor laid with thin stones. The 

 bodies had all been placed in the grave at the same time, and 

 evidently in a sitting pos'ure, with their bicks'against the slabs. 

 Tlie skulls show a race remarkable for the shortness of their 

 heads, and in one case at least exhibited a posterior flattening. 

 The bones of the skeletons were quite thick and massive, and 

 the shin-bones were remarkably flat. 



We have to record the recent publication of another portion of 

 the important work upon the economical and natural history of 

 the insects of tlie United .States, undertaken by Prof. T. Glover, of 

 the Agricultural Department at Washington, and upon which he 

 has been engaged for many years. Many years ago Prof. Glover 

 commenced illustrating the entomology of the country by engra- 

 ving figures of the various species of insects directly upon copper 

 plates, and he has now several hundred such plates completed, 

 containing illustrations of thousands of species, among them 

 nearly all of the various orders that are in any way interesting or 

 important, either from their general prominence or from their 

 relations to man, as being destructive or beneficial. For the 

 purpose of putting his labours before the public he has com- 

 menced issuing monographs of particular orders and families, 

 and has already published one volume on the Orthoptera. He 

 has recently sent forth a second volume, entitled " Manusci'ipt 

 Notes from my Journal of Illustrations of Insects, Native and 

 Foreign ; Diptera, or Two-winged Flies." The one thing to be 

 regretted is the smallness of the edition of this valuable work by 

 Prof. Glover, only forty-five copies having been issued. 



Some recent numbers of the Moulreal Gmcile contain a detailed 

 account of the progress of scientific research in Canada during 

 1874. From this we learn that Mr. James Richardson (of the 

 Geological Survey) spent the months of May, June, and July in 

 a topographical and geological examination of the inlets on the 

 coast of British Columbia, between the 52nd and 55th degrees of 

 north latitude, Mr. George M. Dawson, geologist and botanist 



