456 



NA TURE 



[April 2,, 1875 



closely observed night and day by scientific men, the deception 

 would soon come to light. It is of no use to talk of miracles, even 

 when eleven doors are shut against deceit, as long as the twelfth 

 is left open. " 



The International Congress on Silk-culture is to hold its fi(th 

 meeting at Milan during 1876. The Committee has sent a pro- 

 gramme of experiments to be made during 1875 to all silk- 

 / culturists of Europe. This programme treats of the most im- 

 portant questions connected with the keeping of silkworms, the 

 prevention of their diseases, particularly of their " iaactivity ; " 

 the latter is a disease which has done great damage of late years. 

 M. Pasteur has proposed as a remedy to isolate the deposits of 

 ova into separate cells ; but this has proved totally iueffective. 

 However, with investigators like Cornalia, Duclaux, Bolle, and 

 others, on this field, it may saWy be expected that means and 

 ways will soon be found to prevent any serious diseases from 

 raging among silkworms and their ova. 



Swedish newspapers report the discovery of a large deposit 

 of haematite iron ore in the district of Nordland, Norway, some 

 fifteen or twenty miles from Bodo, and only about ten or twelve 

 miles from a Norwegian port which is completely free from ice. 

 The analysis of the ore shows that it contains between fifty-four 

 and sixty-seven per cent, of iron, and only a very small per- 

 centage of phosphates. 



Prof. Haeckel, of Jena, has been lecturing at the Karlsruhe 

 Museum on the coral reefs of the Red Sea. Prof. Michelis has 

 asked him in the Karhruher Zeitung whether he will give 

 him the opportunity of a public discussion. It is said that 

 Dr. Michelis will soon publish a purely scientific refutation of 

 "the German Darwin's" Anthropogcniy. 



Din^Ier's Polytech. youriml contains an account of researches 

 made by Dr. Otto Ivrause, of Annaberg, on tobacco smoke, 

 which he finds contains constantly a considerable quantity of 

 / carbonic oxide. The after effects of smoking are said to be 

 ^ principally caused by this poisonous gas, as the smoker never 

 can prevent a part of the smoke from descending to the lungs, 

 and thus the poisoning is unavoidable. The author ii of opinion 

 that the after effects are all the more energetic, the more in- 

 experienced the smoker is, and he thus explains the unpleasant 

 results of the first attempts at smoking, which are generally 

 ascribed to nicotine alone. 



A MALADY which threatens great loss to owners of lemon 

 plantations has attacked the lemon plant, the origin of which is 

 believed to be the forced cultivation of the fruit, which has taken 

 place durmg the last few years. The lemon plant is very hardy, 

 and infinitely easier to cultivate than the orange, and this fact 

 has probably induced a certain amount of carelessness in its 

 treatment, from which growers are now suffeting. The tree was 

 originally a native of the dry and hot soil of Persia, whence it 

 has been transferred to various other countries, where, under 

 different circumstances of soil and clima'e, it has been made 

 largely to increase its yield of fruit. The disease which has now 

 made its appearance is called la s&hereise, or dry rot, and seizes 

 the extremities of the plant, sometimes the roofs, sometimes the 

 branches, whence it gradually spreads through the whole tree, 

 drying up its sap in its course. Hitherto attempts have been 

 made to check the ravages of the new disease, but without suc- 

 cess. It is said that similar appearances have been noticed in 

 orange plantations. It is suggested that by grafting cuttings of 

 the healthy lemon plant on the wild orange tree, a new stock of 

 plants may be obtained, and the fruit cultivated on trees which 

 have not been subjected to forced growth. If this plan succeeds, 

 it is to be hoped that the cultivation of the new race may be 

 carried on with greater care in the future. 



Vice-Consul Allen, in his report of the trade of Tamsuy 

 and Kelung, describes the distillation of the camphor ot com- 

 merce from Cinnainomum camphora, Fr., Neeset Eb., as a most 

 hazardous trade, the distillers having to be constantly on the 

 alert for fear of attack by the aborigines, who are naturally 

 opposed to the continual encroachments into their territory for 

 the purpose of cutting down the trees for extracting the camphor. 

 No young trees are planted to replace those cut down, nor do 

 the officials take any cognisance of the diminution which is being 

 surely effected in the supply of a valuable commercial article. 

 The stills are described as being of a very simple construction, 

 and are built up in a shed in such a manner that they can be 

 moved as the Chinese advance into the interior. A long wooden 

 trough, coated with clay and half filled with water, is placed over 

 eight or ten furnaces ; on the trough boards pierced with holes 

 are fitted, and on these boards are placed jars containing the 

 camphor-wood chips, the whole being surmounted by inverted 

 earthenware pots, and the joints made air-tight by filling them 

 up with hemp. When the furnaces are lit the steam passes 

 through the pierced boards, and saturating the chips, causes the 

 sublimated camphor to settle in crystals on the inside of the 

 pots, from which it is scraped off and afterwards refined. 

 During the summer months the camphor often loses as much as 

 20 per cent, on its way from the producing districts to^the port 

 of shipment. 



Mr. Barnum is said to have made an agreement with Mr. 

 Donaldson, the aeronaut of the U.S. Daily Graphic, to build six 

 balloons of 70,000 cubic feet each, and to make ascents next 

 spring and summer, in order to ascertain whether there is a 

 current from America to Europe. The sum paid to Donaldson 

 as fees is said by the New York World to be 4,000/, 



The Clothworkers' Company have founded in King's College, 

 London, one annual exhibition of 25/. for two years for pro- 

 ficiency in science, open not only to actual students of the 

 College, but to all under nineteen years of age who are 

 intending to devote themselves to the study of mathematics, 

 mechanics, physics, chemistry, botany, and zoology. Each 

 candidate may select any four of these subjects. 



Dr. Edouard Hitzig, of Berlin, who is well known for his 

 researches on the functions of the brain, has been elected to the 

 chair of Psychology in the University of Zurich. 



Prof. Armstrong, of the London Institution, and Mr. E. J. 

 Mills, D.Sc. , As^istant Examiner in Chemistry in the University 

 of London, are candidates for the vacant Jacksonian Professor- 

 ship of Natural and Experimental Philosophy in Cambridge 

 University. The other candidates are Mr. W. N. Hartley, 

 Mr. James Stuart, and the Rev. J. C. W. Ellis. 



Mr. A. H. Garrod, of King's College, Cambridge, has been 

 appointed FuUerian Professor of Physiology to the Royal Insti- 

 tution for the next three years. 



A TELEGRAM has been received by the Berlin African Society 

 from Lisbon announcing that Plerr Plomeyer, the African tra- 

 veller, had safely reached Loanda, whence he proposed starting 

 for the interior on the nth of February, llerr Homeyer had 

 been everywhere very well received. 



The Scottish Meteorological Society, through its president, 

 the Marquis of Tweeddale, has addressed to Sir Staftbrd North- 

 cote a letter urging the claims of that Society on Government for 

 support. As our readers are aware, this is not the first time this 

 Society has urged its claims for assistance on Government ; it is 

 advantageously situated, and has done very much both for the 

 advancement of the science of meteorology and for the practical 

 appUcation of its results in directions beneficial to the country at 

 large. It assuredly deserves the countenance of the Government, 



