62 



NATURE 



\Nov. 19, li 



such an excellent libiaiy as this. It embraces every class of 

 literature, and appears especially rich in periodicals, and in 

 works relating to Australasia. 



The last " Circular " of the Johns Hopkins University Library 

 contains a list of the periodicals, including the scientific and 

 literary publications of various societies, regularly received. 

 Although newspapers and official reports are omitted, the list 

 extends over eleven closely-printed columns, and probably con- 

 tains the name of every periodical in tlie world in any way 

 connected with science. 



An inleresling bi-monthly periodic.il has just made its appear- 

 ance in Colombo. It is entitled the Titprobaniaii ; a Dravidiaii 

 jfournal of Oriental Studies in and around Ceylon in Natural 

 History, Archctology, Philology, History, <Sr=c.," and is edited by 

 Mr. Nevill, F.Z.S., of the Ceylon Civil Service. The first 

 number contains various notes and queries, relating mainly to 

 scientific subjects, and articles on Tamil inscriptions in Ceylon, 

 comments on Ptolemy's geography, on Ceylonese inscriptions in 

 the Asokha dialect, archaeological reports on Ceylon (No. l), 

 and on the Vaedda dialect. The whole of the contents of 

 the thirty-two pages of the first issue is from the pen of the 

 editor, who hopes to make his periodical a storehouse of details, 

 available hereafter for the elaboration of any special subject 

 connected with the Tamil and other Dravidian races. He 

 promises to do his utmost to procure for investigators in Europe, 

 America, or elsewhere, any local information of scientific 

 interest that they may ?eek. We hope the venture will have 

 the success which the editor's learning and enterprise so well 

 deserve. 



We are glad to notice the re-appearance of the Orientalist, 

 another Ceylon periodical, containing articles of much scientific 

 interest, and which has been noticed in Nature. It ceased 

 publication for some months, but the editor is now publishing 

 double numbers to make up for lost time, which, it is only fair 

 'o add, was due to negligence of subscribers, not to that of its 

 learned editor. 



The present number (x. No. 23) of Excursions et Recon- 

 naissances of French Cochin China contains the fourth part of 

 M. Landes's article on Annamite tales and legends ; but it is 

 mainly occupied with the continuation of M. Tirant's long 

 account of the fishes of Lower Cochin China and Cambodia. 



The inliabitants of Srinagar, Cashmere, have again been 

 thrown into a state of alarm and consternation at the recurrence 

 of earthquake shocks there. The first shock — a severe one — 

 was feU on the night of the 15th inst., and this has been followed 

 by a constant series of slighter ones. 



The last number of La Nuova Scienza contains instructive 

 papers on " Modern Italian Thought," on " Cosmic Evolution," 

 and on the " German Pessimist Philosophy." The first of these 

 papers deals with Prof. G. Sergi's " Origin of P.sychic Pheno- 

 mena" (IMilan, 1885), which forms the fortieth volume of the 

 Italian "International Scientific Library," and which contains a 

 useful summary of the arguments of physiologists and psycho- 

 logists on the genesis and nature of psychic force. Sergi con- 

 tends that psychis is merely a function, or rather an implement 

 of the body, analagous to the teeth, claws, and other offensive 

 and defensive members. Against this materialistic conception 

 Prof. Caporali, author of the paper in question, and editor of 

 La Nuova Scienza, contends that pscyhis is inherent in all forms 

 of matter, from the atom to the highest organisms, and that it is 

 the cause, not the effect, of motion, that is, of all progress and 

 evolution. It is an error to suppose that the organ originates 

 the psychic function, for the function precedes the organ. The 

 lowest organisms, such as the amcebae, have no differentiated 



organs, yet they exercise psychic functions, as shown by O. 

 Zacharia in his new work on " Organismen ohne Organe'' 

 {iS'85). Hence, to regard psychis as a mere function of the body, 

 and introduce it later into the fully-developed nervous system 

 as the product of the system, is neither philosophic nor scientific. 

 The article on the German Pessimist school contains biographical 

 notices and short summaries of the teachings of Schopenhauer, 

 Von Hartmann, Geiger, Noire, and other exponents of that 

 philosophy. The Nuova Scienza, which continues to be con- 

 ilucted with remarkable learning and ability, deserves more 

 general recognition than it appears to have yet received in this 

 country. 



Telegraphs are extending with extraordinary rapidity over 

 Southern China. At the present moment Pekin in the far north 

 is connected by a direct line through Canton with Lungchow on 

 the frontier of Tonquin, the extension from Canton to the latter 

 place being made during the recent war, purely for military pur- 

 poses. Thus we have one great line stretching through the 

 Chinese Empire from north to south, and at the present moment 

 an important line is being constrticted along the southern borders 

 of China through the provinces of Kwangtung, Kwaugsi, and 

 Yunnan. Starting from Nanking in Kwangsi, where it joins 

 the Canton- Lungchow line, it will extend for nearly 600 miles 

 to Mung-lih in South Yunnan, running for half the distance 

 along the Yukiang, the name of the Canton river in its upper 

 course. The work is bein'^ carried out by the Chinese them- 

 selves with the assistance of one European, and it is stated that 

 during the recent war the Canton authorities equipped a com- 

 plete field telegraph staff, the members of which were so tho- 

 roughly trained that they have been able to put up 35 miles of 

 line in a single day for war purposes. Telegraphs have now 

 secured a firm footing in China, and their extension over the 

 whole country is a matter of time only, aided perhaps by politi- 

 cal events. In the great movement towards a centralised 

 Government now progressing in China the telegraph line will 

 play a vital part, for it will utterly destroy the semi-independence 

 of the provincial viceroys, hitherto secure in their remoteness 

 from the seat of government. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Green Monkey {Cercopit/tecus callitriclt2ts9 ) 

 from West Africa, presented by Miss Hodgson ; a Macaque 

 Monkey [Macacus cynomolgus i ) from India, presented by Mrs. 

 Berens ; an Arabian Gazelle {Gazella arabica 9) from Arabia, 

 presented by Mr. John Patton ; two Short-headed Phalangers 

 {Belidens brcviceps 9 9 ) from Australia, presented by Mr. P. S. 

 Abrahams, F.Z.S. ; a Ring-necked Parrakeet (Palceornis tor- 

 quattts) from India, presented by Mrs. Morgan ; two Indian 

 Cobras {Naia tripudians) from India, presented by Mr. W. G. 

 Burrows ; two European Tree Frogs (Hyla arborea), European, 

 presented by Mrs. A. Bratton ; two Catfish [Amiurus catus) 

 from North America, presented by the National Fish Culture 

 Association ; two Mule Deer {Cariacus maciotis 9 9 ) from 

 North America, a Triton Cockatoo (Cacatua triton) from New 

 Guinea, deposited ; two Barbary Wild Sheep {Ovis trage- 

 laphus i 9 ) from North Africa, four Spotted-billed Ducks 

 {Anas poicilorhyncha S 6 9 9 ) from India, purchased ; a Sam- 

 bur Deer {Cervi/s aristotelis 9 ), born in the Gardens. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 



WEEK, iSSs, NOVEMBER 22-2S 

 (For the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here 

 employed. ) 



At Greenwich on November 22 



Sun rises, 7h. 33m. ; souths, iih. 46m. 22*9s. ; sets, i6h. om. ; 

 decl. on meridian, 20° 15' S. : Sidereal Time at Sunset, 

 2oh. 7m. 



