Feb. 4, iJi86j 



NATURE 



described by Signer Ogata (Archiv fiir Hygiene). The obser- 

 vations were made by means of a stomachal fistula (quite 

 healed) ; the dog was fed on horse-flesh and fibrin from ox 

 blood. The following conclusions (which may not be strictly 

 applicable to man, accustomed to the drinks named) were 

 reached: — (i) Water, water containing carbonic acid, tea and 

 coffee in moderate amount, do not disturb digestion. (2) Beer, 

 wine, and brandy retard digestion considerably at first, till 

 absorbed ; and in the case of beer, the extractive matters act 

 thus as well as the alcohol. Thus beer retards digestion more 

 than wine containing the same quantity of alcohol. (3) Sugar 

 (cane and grape) retards digestion considerably. (4) Common 

 salt accelerates it distinctly. 



We have received the report of the administration of the 

 Museum of Science and Art at Dresden for the years 1S82 and 

 1883, which has only just been issued. It contains nothing 

 calling for especial note. The various scientific collections in 

 the anthropological, zoological, prehistoric, and geological de- 

 partments were largely increased during the two years by 

 purchase, and specially by donations from private individuals, 

 mainly travellers, or Germans residing abroad. 



On the afternoon of the 29th ult. a strong shock of earthquake 

 was felt at Velez Malaga, which suffered so severely in the 

 earthquakes of December 1884. The town is reported to have 

 suffered little damage, although no precise details have yet been 

 received. 



On January 29 earthquakes were again noticed at M'sila, 

 Bordj ben Arendj, and Setif, Algeria, the site of previous com- 

 motions, but no accidents are reported, although the shocks 

 are said to have been strong. 



Dr. F. J. Hicks writes from Madeira, on January 28, that in 

 the previous week a sharp little shock of earthquake occurred on 

 the island. 



A TELEGRAM from Mexico states that the Colima volcano 

 continues in active eruption. 



The last, or December, number of the Journal of the Royal 

 Microscopical Society has a new feature, in the form of portraits 

 of a number of past presidents of the Society ; Sir Richard 

 Owen, the first president of the Microscopic (1840-41), and Mr. 

 James Glaisher, the first president of the Royal Microscopical 

 Society (1865-66, 1867-68), have full-page illustrations ; the two 

 other plates contain eight vignettes each ; on one (1842-57) we 

 have, among others. Dr. Fane, Mr. Busk, and the lately 

 deceased Dr. Carpenter, and on the other Mr. J. B. Reade, Mr. 

 Quekett, and Mr. Sorby. Many, if not indeed all, of the 

 lihotographs are excellent likenesses. We understand that it is 

 the intention of the Society to publish other similar photographs 

 from time to time. 



The so-called wines sent to the Parisian market of late years 

 have been to a large extent, it is well known, vile concoctions, 

 not deserving the name of wine, and a movement is now on foot 

 for replacing such false wine by true cider. The year 1885 h.as 

 been exceptionally favourable for such an experiment ; the crop 

 of apples was so abundant in Normandy and Brittany that 

 growers were obliged to dispose of their products at low prices. 

 Enormous quantities have been sent to Paris to be transformed 

 into cider. It is to be hoped that this new development may 

 check the great falsification of wine. 



On January 21 the exhibition of ethnological and natural 

 history objects collected by Dr. Otto Finch, in his travels under- 

 taken at the request of the New Guinea Society, was opened at 

 the Berlin Ethnographical Museum. Dr. Finch himself gave 

 the necessary explanations to the assembly. The objects were 



all collected in parts never before visited by -Europeans. The 

 collection contains numerous face-casts of the various New 

 Guinea tribes and those of the adjacent island, as well as a large 

 number of water-colour drawings of scenes in the new German 

 colonies. 



"H. I. M." writes to the Times under date Bratton Fleming, 

 Barnstaple, January 28 : — " As I was driving near Barnstaple 

 yesterday evening with a friend, we noticed a most remarkable 

 meteor. While we were ascending a hillside, we suddenly 

 became aware of a brilliant light to our side and rather behind 

 us, from over the hill-top. I thought for the moment that it 

 was a flash of lightning, but on looking up we caught a glimpse 

 of the most beautiful meteor I had ever seen. It seemed to be 

 quite close, and described a path like that taken by a stone in 

 falling when flung horizontally from a tower. It appeared (at 

 its distance) to have a diameter of about 6 inches, and was 

 accompanied by a tail of a smoky consistency, rather of the 

 shape of an elongated open fan with the ends rounded, which 

 followed it, altering its position from a horizontal to a vertical 

 one as the body fell. This tail was, I should say,. one and a h.alf 

 times as long as the meteor's diameter, and was of a much paler 

 hue and less dense consistency than the meteor, which was of a 

 most glorious yet rather pale emerald green, with a yellow 

 flame, as it seemed, playing all over it ; the tail was of the same 

 tint, only in a less intense degree. It may be of interest to any 

 who may have seen it, that the time we saw it was 27 minutes 

 past 7 o'clock." 



Elaborate preparations are being made at the fishery of the 

 National Fish-Culture Association at Delaford Park for receiving 

 the fry which are now rapidly becoming incubated at the hatch- 

 ery in South Kensington, special habitats being constructed for 

 them. The whitefish ova that arrived from America last week 

 commenced to hatch out immediately they were placed in the 

 apparatus ; indeed, many came to life during the voyage. Un- 

 like other fry, they never rest, but move rapidly hither and 

 thither, their powers of locomotion being marvellous considering 

 their present .alevin stage. Further consignments of eggs are on 

 their way from the American Government, who are doing their 

 utmost to aid fish-culture in this country. The fish reared at 

 the Delaford Fishery last year will shortly be ready for distribu- 

 tion. The stock is extensive and valuable, including 5'. scbago, 

 S. fontinaHs, S. ferox, S. fario, S. trutta, and S. iridens. 



A CLOSER investigation of the fish-fauna of Lake Balkhash 

 permits M. Nikolsky to arrive at the following interesting con- 

 clusions {Memoirs of St. Petersburg Soc. of Natur. , xvi. i). The 

 fauna numbers fourteen species, partly described by the late Prof. 

 Kessler {Perca schrenckii, Phoxiniis Levis, var. balchaschana, 

 P. poljako'iOi, Barl'us platyrostris, Schizothorax argcntatit-'i and 

 orientaliSy Diptychits dyboioskii, Diplophysa strauchii, labiata, 

 and iungessana), and three more Schizothorax, of which one new 

 one has been described by M. Nikolsky as S. kolpakinusiii. Of 

 these fourteen species, only one is not new, and none of them 

 has been found either in the Aral-Caspian basin or in the 

 system of the Obi ; on the contrary, the fish-fauna of Lake 

 Balkhasli is closely akin to that of the lakes of high Central 

 Asia. In both, the Cyprinidje and Cobitidse are predominating : 

 four genera of tlie former are found exclusively in Lake Balk- 

 hash and the Central Asi.an lakes, as also the species of 

 Diplophysa. More than that, the Schizothorax tarimi, the 

 .?. aisicnsis, and the Diplophysa strauchii, which were found by 

 M. Nikolsky in the Hi River, are common to both the Balkhasli 

 and the Lob-nor. Only three species distinguish the Balkhash 

 fauna from that of the Central Asian lakes, and make it 

 approach that of the Obi : the Perca schrenckii, which, however, 

 differs more from the_European and Siberian species than this 

 last differs from the American P. slavescens (which, in fact. 



