548 



NA TURE 



[February 9, 1899 



i 



recently issued, give interesting details, and show what can be 

 done by systematic and careful management. It is said that any- 

 thing over J dwts. to the ton would be regarded as comparatively 

 rich. One company crushed for the half-year 6900 tons for 

 911 ozs. I (fwt. of gold, an average of 2 dwts. 15 grs. per 

 ton. This gave a profit on actual working expenses of 

 1030/. ITS. id. The cost of treating the stone had been only 

 f>s. <)d. per ton, against Ts. o\d. the previous half-year. 



From the Cleological Survey of <^)ueensland we have received 

 a copy of BiilUliii No. 10, comprising " Six Reports on the 

 ("leological Features of part of the district to be traversed by the 

 proposed Transcontinental Railway," by Mr. Robert L. Jack, 

 Government Geologist. These Reports were issued in a Parlia- 

 mentary paper in 1SS5, and with an appendix consisting of a 

 list of fossils named by Dr. H. Woodward and Mr. R. Etheridge, 

 jun. ; but, h? 'ng for some time been out of print, the Reports 

 have now been reprinted with notes and additions. They deal 

 chiefly with the gold-mining and copper-mining of the Western 

 Downs, and the Cloncurry and Leichhardt districts. We have 

 received also Hiitlctiti No. 8, a " Report on the (Jold Mines at 

 the Fanning and Mount Success. i8g8," by Mr. W. H. Rands, 

 Assistant Government Geologist. The Far Fanning has been 

 worked for many years past in a desultory.fashion, but last year 

 some increased activity took place. Mr. Rands, however, re- 

 ports that there is a great lack of really bgiia fide work ; the 

 deposits are worked irregularly, and the smallness of the 

 crushings, compared with the large faces of so-called crushing 

 material, shows that a system i>f working which consists in 

 picking out the best stone has been largely carried on. 



Some interesting observations on the hibernation of ants are 

 described by Miss Theodora Smith in the Halifax Naturalist — 

 the organ of the Halifax Scientific Society. Miss Smith had a 

 nest of Myrmica Siabriiiodis, and she placed it in a cold room 

 (in an empty house), where the temperature was about equal to 

 that of the outside air. Under the nest she placed two artificial 

 nests, one of soil and moss, and the other of pure yellow clay — 

 the latter being at the bottom. The combination of nests thus 

 resembled the natural order of things. Observations of the 

 behaviour of the ants under different conditions of temperature 

 showed that the ants went into the clay soil nest for warmth — 

 that is, when the weather was cold — but usually preferred to re- 

 main in the mossy black soil when warm enough for them to do 

 so. Miss Smith points out that though in the summer and spring 

 months the young are separated according to size ; i.e. the eggs 

 are placed in one chamber, the small larv.T; in another, those a 

 little larger in another, while the nymph larvK are separated 

 entirely from the rest, in the winter this division of the relative 

 sizes is not found, all the larvx, of whatever size, being placed 

 together in an inner chamber. It is suggested that this may be 

 for warmth, and it may be that the young do not require the 

 special attention given to them during more active times of 

 growth. 



Under the auspices of the British Fire Prevention Com- 

 mittee a detailed report has been brought out by Messrs. Gustave 

 Kaufman, Fmil Swcnsson, and F. L. Garlinghouse, on the 

 Home Building Fire, of Pittsburgh, U.S.A., which, in approxi- 

 mately two hours from the time of discovery, destroyed three 

 large buildings on opposite sides of I'cnn Avenue, while damag- 

 ing half a dozen smaller adjacent structures. An examination 

 of the damage done has led the Board to draw the following 

 conclusions: (l) In buildings of about this height (roughly 

 115 feet), the distortion of the steel framewnrk, due to the heat 

 of the fire, canmit be sufficient to work any serious damage, nor is 

 it probable that at any time woulii connection rivets be sheared 

 off. This conclusion is arrived at for the reason that there is 

 no probability that any future fire will be fiercer than the 

 NO. 1528, VOL. 59] 



one at issue. (2) The method of fastening fire-proofing to the 

 underside of beams with sheet-iron strips should be discarded. 

 (3) It cannot be too often reiterated that open front buildings 

 like this should be protected from external tire* by metal shut- 

 ters, and also that all shafts should be provided with metal 

 doors which can be readily closed at all floors. (4) The most 

 important lesson taught by this fire was the lack of strength 

 developed by the fire-clay proofing. The building was per- 

 mitted to move in any direction without any material restrictions 

 by the fire-proofing. The floor arches showed by the scaling 

 off of the lower webs that they were unable to offer any suffi- 

 cient force to counteract the tendency to lateral motion. (5) 

 The column protection, although composed of the very best 

 obtainable kind of fire-clay tile, was not of sufficient strength. 

 The authors strongly advocate the use of first-class concrete as a 

 fire-resisting material for encasing the columns, girders, and 

 other steel constructions. 



REr.ARDlNG "soul" as the highest intellectual faculties. Dr. 

 D. G. Brinton refers in Scietite to Dr. C. Clapham's arguments 

 as to its position in the body. Savages believe that the " soul" 

 isin the liver or the heart ; cynics suggest that it is in the stomach ; 

 phrenologists regard the front part of the brain as the seat of in- 

 tellect ; but the most advanced physiologists are now inclined to 

 teach that the posterior cerebral lobes have the highest intel- 

 lectual value. In connection with this view, Dr. Clapham has 

 pointed out that man has the most highly developed posterior 

 lobes, and this is conspicuous in men of marked ability and in 

 the highest races. In idiots the lobes are imperfectly developed, 

 and in chronic dementia these portions of the brain reveal 

 frequent lesions. 



Messrs. R. Frieul.vnder and Son, Berlin, have just issued 

 a classified catalogue of physical books, papers, and periodicals 

 which they have for sale. 



Messrs. H. T. Softitt and C. Crossland give, in the 

 Yorkshire Naturalist for January, a list of seven new British 

 Fungi found in West Yorkshire, including one new to science, 

 Saccolabus graiiulospermiis. 



Ax address on " Medicine in the Nineteenth Century," de- 

 livered by Prof. Clifi'ord .-Mlbutt before the Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity, Baltimore, in October last, is printed in the Bulletin of 

 the Johns Hopkins Hospital. 



The twenty-ninth annual report of the Wellington College 

 Natural Science Society has been received. It comprises 

 abstracts of addresses delivered before the Society, metcoro 

 logical records, and brief references to the work of the members 

 of the various sections. 



An illustrated article on the Natural History Museum at 

 South Kensington is contributed to .\<i/H>(H-an illustrated 

 monthly magazine of popular natural history--by the editor, 

 Dr. J. Brunchorst. The article is one of a series on museums. 

 Naturen is published at Bergen, by John G-rieg. 



A v.vHAm.E paper uixin the origin and history of white and 

 so-called wild cattle is contributed to the I'raiisactions of the 

 Natural History Society of Glasgow (vol. v. new series, 1897-98), 

 by Mr. R. Hedger Wallace. Among other papers is one by 

 Mr. G. F. Scotc- Elliot, on limits to the range of plant species. 



Mr. H. I.iN(. Roth contributes some interesting notes on 

 Benin customs to the Internationales .Arehiv liir Ethnographie 

 (vol. xi. 1898). The notesare based upon information given by 

 ofticials of the lately-deposed King of Benin, and a comparison 

 is made between the statements of the court otficials and the 

 records of early chroniclers. .Vnother paper by Mr. Ling Roth, 

 on primitive art from Benin, appeared in The Studio in 

 December 189S. 



