Dec. 31, 1 885 J 



NA TURE 



209 



latter are found under such circumstances as to lead to the con- 

 clusion that they belong to a later period. With the exception 

 of stone chisels, all the objects usually found in graves belonging 

 to the Stone Age are found, such as axes, arrow-heads, and the 

 like. Amber ornaments also frequently occur. The stone 

 coffins, which are sometimes very large, are also numerous, and 

 in the mounds with them are frequently found the bones of 

 cremated bodies. On this question, Herr Wedel comes to the 

 conclusion that cremation in B :)rnholm must have been intro- 

 duced towards the close of the Stone Age. Most of the objects 

 were apparently made in the island itself; but it is not im- 

 probable that the larger flint articles, or possibly the blocks 

 from which they are made, come from places where flint is more 

 plentiful than in Bornhohn. Traces of houses belonging to this 

 age have also been found. On the whole, the island during this 

 period does not appear to have been thickly populated ; the 

 people moved hither and thither, and appe.ir to have had 

 domestic animals. The remains of the Bronze Age are also 

 very numerous and interesting ; of these a full account is given, 

 and it is interesting to notice that, during this period, cremation 

 appears to have been the usual method of disposing of bodies 

 of the dead. Similarly, the finds belonging to the Iron Age 

 are described, and, in conclusion, the writer says that in Born- 

 holm we can trace, without important breaks, human develop- 

 ment fiom the Stone Age down to historic times. Nothing 

 appears, he says, in this long history to show that there was any 

 sudden alteration in the growth of civilisation such as might be 

 ' caused by the influx of a new tribe. Such an influx, had it 

 taken place, would certainly have left recognisable marks behind 

 it ; and, indeed, the thick population of the island in the 

 Bronze and earlier Iron Ages left no opportunity for the settle- 

 ment of any external people in Bornholm. 



The method of placing electric lamps in front of bcomotives 

 I to illuminate the line, has been tried on many lines, but ap- 

 1 parently has not found much favour. Recent experience in 

 ' Russia appears to show that financial considerations are not 

 alone unfavourable to the system. On the railway between 

 St. Petersburg and Moscow several locomotives were fitted with 

 electric lamps. For a time they gave great satisfaction, lighting 

 the way more than a kilometre in front. But the employes 

 began to complain of the contrast between the lighted and the 

 unhghted surfaces painfully affecting the eyes ; and doctors ere 

 long reported that there had been several cases of grave injury 

 to the eyes in this way. Hence the lamps were abandoned. 

 The directors have not, however, given up the idea of better 

 illumination of the line, and they now contemplate placing 

 electric lamps so as to illuminate about i kilometre on either 

 side of the station. 



The best plant at present known for consolidating, by the 

 interlacing of its roots the loose soil of a newly-made embank- 

 ment is, according to M. Cambier (of the French Railway 

 Service), the double poppy. While the usual grasses and clovers 

 need several months for the development of their comparatively 

 feeble roots, the double poppy germinates in a few days, and in 

 two weeks grows 'enough to give some protection to the slope, 

 while at the end of three or four months, the roots, which are 

 10 or 12 inches long, are found to have interlaced so as to retain 

 the earth far more firmly than those of any grass or grain 

 Though the plant is an annual, it sows itself after the first year, 

 and with a little care the bank is always in good condition. 



According to an official statement issued by the Japanese 

 Government, there occurred 553 earthquakes during the nine 

 years and six months preceding December 1884, averaging one 

 earthquake for every six days and six hours. This must, how- 

 ever, refer to the capital and the surrounding district only, and 



earthquakes of great violence can alone be counted, for Prof. 

 Milne was able to trace an average of an earthquake per day in 

 Nagasaki, in the extreme south of the Japanese archipelago. 

 The official statistics, on the other hand, may possibly be com- 

 piled from the returns of local oflicials all over the country, in 

 which case only those shocks which caused loss of life or damage 

 to property would be included. If this hypothesis is correct, 

 we should have an average of more than an earthquake per 

 week which was so violent that it caused injuries to life or 

 property sufficiently serious to attract the attention of the local 

 authorities, and, in their judgment, to require a report to the 

 central Government. 



M. Herzen contributes to a recent number of the Revue 

 Scientifiqite an account of certain experiments which he made 

 recently on the thermic sense in animals. His observations on 

 man had already led him to the conclusion, that impressions of 

 heat are conveyed to the brain by the gray substance of the 

 spinal marrow. Animals, he found, on the other hand, do not 

 react under the impressions of moderate heat, and when the 

 latter is excessive the reaction is one of pain, not of the specific 

 sensation of heat. On the contrary, however, cold operates on 

 them actively, and M. Herzen succeeded in demonstrating by 

 his experiments that impressions of cold in animals are really 

 conveyed by the medullary rays which transmit the impressions 

 of touch. The various experiments which are briefly described 

 in the article sati-fied him that the cortical lesions which destroy 

 sensibility to touch also destroy that of cold, and, when the 

 first is preserved, the latter likewise remains ; and that, in brief, 

 impressions of contact and of cold are transmitted in the same 

 way to the same regions of the cortical layer of the hemispheres. 



In a recent article on the v/ork of the Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal, originally founded by Sir William Jones, during the 

 first century of its existence, we referred to the division of its 

 pubhcations into literary and scientific, the numbers of the 

 Journal of the Society in each case being quite distinct. We 

 have now before us the scientific numbers of the yournal for 

 the past year, and they show remarkable activity. It should be 

 remembered that there are independent societies in Madras and 

 Bombay, so that the Bengal Society's publications represent the 

 work of one Presidency only. Amongst the scientific papers 

 published during the year are the following : — The theory of the 

 winter rains in Northern India, by Mr. Blanford, the President 

 of the Society, and the Meteorological Reporter to the Govern- 

 ment of India ; descriptions of some new Asiatic diurnal Lepi- 

 diipteia, chiefly from specimens contained in the Indian Museum 

 in Calcutta, by Mr. Frederic Moore ; a new species of Simulium 

 from Assam, by Dr. Becher, of Vienna ; variations of rainfall 

 in Northern India during the sun-spot period, by Mr. Pearson, 

 the Meteorological Reporter for Western India ; a- description of 

 a new Lepidopterous insect belonging to the Heterocerous 

 genus Trabala, by Mr. Moore; F/iyllotheljs, a remarkable 

 genus of Mantodca, from the Oriental region, by Prof Wood- 

 Mason ; notes on the Indian Rhynchota, by Mr. Atkinson ; a list 

 of Lepidopterous insects collected in Cachar, by Mr. Moore (the 

 first part, dealing with Heterocera, has alone been published so 

 far) ; revised synopsis of the species of Cluvradodis, a remark- 

 able genus of Mantodea, common to India and tropical America, 

 by Prof. Wood-Mason ; and finally, an account of the two 

 remarkable south-west monsoon storms in the Bay of Bengal in 

 1S83, by Mr. Eliot, the Meteorologist to the Bengal Govern- 

 ment. It should be added that these papers are, where neces- 

 sary or desirable, copiously illustrated. 



It is interesting to note that the various species of Salmonid^ 

 at the Aquarium, South Kensington, have been recently spawned 

 by artificial means, the sea trout being crossed with the Gilleroo 



