496 



NA TURE 



\_March 25, 1886 



their respective colonies. This is to be regretted, especially in 

 regard to AustraUa, from whence some interesting fish could be 

 sent. 



The Japanese Government has decided to erect a meteoro- 

 logical obsei'vatory on the Loochoo Islands. The necessary 

 apparatus for this purpose was sent there at the beginning of the 

 year. From the geographical position of the archipelago this 

 observatoi-y should be able to render important services to 

 meteorological science. 



We have received a pamphlet on "The Present Position of 

 the Museum and Art Galleries of Glasgow," published by order 

 of the Town Council, and containing an indictment of that body 

 for its neglect to provide adequately for these two institutions. 

 After sketching their vicissitudes and their present somewhat 

 doleful condition, the writer states what they actually are and 

 what they should be. With regard to this latter it needs only 

 to be said that his observations are, in our judgment, perfectly 

 accurate. He complains that the Kelvingrove Museum has 

 been placed haphazard in an inconvenient and unsuitable posi- 

 tion, that no permanent character has been given to the collec- 

 tion, the arrangement being only temporary and provisional, and 

 that its main characteristic at present is its miscellaneous nature. 

 " There is much to e.xcite the attention and to stimulate the 

 curiosity of the ordinary visitor, but the museum displays little 

 which serves to draw the attention of the .investigator or the 

 man of special knowledge." He insists on the function of the 

 museum as an educational element in the town rather than a 

 mere show or place of public resort, and on the special duly — 

 not to say necessity — of a city like Glasgow, with vast com- 

 mercial and industrial interests, to be adequately equipped in 

 this respect. There can be no question as to the justice of the 

 writer's concluding observation: "It is open for the munici- 

 pality to elect whether a museum shall be established or not ; 

 but, having made the choice, it has no right to found such an 

 institution on an insufficient basis, nor to maintain it on a scale 

 which deprives it of its most important and useful function." It 

 may be hoped that the publication by the Council of this sharp 

 attack on itself is a sign of compunction for its shortcomings in 

 the past and a promise of better things in future. 



We have already referred to the anxiety which exists in Japan 

 with regard to the fate of the Imperial Engineering College at 

 Tokio, now that the department under which it was founded 

 and organised has been abolished in recent administrative 

 changes. The institution was a peculiarly English one ; it was 

 established and worked by an English principal and a staff' of 

 English professors, and the names of many of the latter, past 

 and present, are well known in the scientific world. In a recent 

 article in the Japan Mail on the subject of University educa- 

 tion in Japan, the editor (himself, we believe, a former professor 

 in the College) writes thus : — " The threatened absorption of 

 the College of Engineering, with its admirable organisation and 

 its complete buildings, into the University (of Tokio), is an 

 event to which enlightened men, and all the friends of Japan, 

 can look only with grave dread. That these buildings, the result 

 of so much thought and care and high ambition, should be 

 divorced from their original purpose, and that the only institu- 

 tion in Japan which might well be called firat-class should 

 be ruthlessly uprooted, would be a blow to the higher 

 education in Japan which would make her detractors laugh 

 and her friends hold down their heads in shame." No 

 doubt grave warnings such as these from a writer of experience, 

 whose general sympathy with Japan is recognised, will cause 

 the Japanese authorities to reflect carefully on any step they 

 may take with regard to the College. 



Petroleum-wells are reported to have been discovered at the 

 peninsula of Jemsah, on the west coast of the Red Sea, 170 miles 



south of Suez, at the foot of the mountain known as Jebel Zeit, or 

 Oil Mountain. M. Deboz, the Belgian engineer, who was sent 

 to search for petroleum in January last, commenced boring at a 

 distance of thirty miles from the sea. After penetrating suc- 

 cessively through gypsum, containing veins and nests of sulphur, 

 shale, green and blue clay, limestone, and sandstone, the drill on 

 February 28 fell suddenly 40 centimetres, and petroleum rose to 

 a point 2 metres above the sea-level. 



The Italian Government have lately deposited 500,000 fry 

 in Lake Como, with the view of replenishing the stock of fish. 

 It is the intention of the Government to adopt similar measures 

 in regard to other important lakes. They also have resolved to 

 undertake the propagation of lobsters artificially, thus reviving a 

 branch of fish-culture which previously existed in Italy. 



At the stated meeting of the Royal Irish Academy, held on 

 the 1 6th inst.. Prof. Fr.ankland and Lord Rayleigh were elected 

 as Honorary Members in the Department of Science. The 

 President, Sir S. Ferguson, nominated as Vice-Presidents for 

 the ensuing year. Dr. Ingram, Rev. Dr. Haughton, Sir R. Ball, 

 and Prof J. P. O'Reilly. 



A SOURCE of mineral water was discovered a few days ago in 

 the very centre of St. Petersburg. In the yard of one of the 

 houses situated on the Maika Embankment, close by the Winter 

 Palace, a boring 560 feet deep was made in order to reach the 

 source. In composition this water is said to be like that of 

 Staraya Russa, or Kreuznach, while in taste it is quite similar to 

 genuine seltzer water. 



According to the communication of the mining engineer, 

 L. P. Dolinski, to the Society of Natural Science of Odessa, a 

 very important discovery of cinnabar mines has been recently 

 made in the mining region of the Don in Russia. The ore con- 

 tains from 69 to 80 per cent, of pure mercury. 



According to a medical report just published, the cattle 

 plague continues to ravage various parts of Russia. Within 

 a period of five years, from 1876 to 1880, the loss is estimated 

 at no less than 1,208,500 head of horned cattle; but even 

 these figures, based upon official information, are considered far 

 below the real value. 



We notice in the last issue of the Izvestia an interesting paper, 

 by M. Stephanoff", on the religious beliefs of the Chersonese 

 people. Although all Christians, they still adhere to their 

 beliefs in good and evil spirits, and worship them — the good 

 spirits in forests and groves, where coniferous trees are mixed 

 with foliaceous ones ; and the evil spirits in purely coniferous 

 forests. Every god is represented by a special tree, and served 

 by a separate priest, who is not hereditary, .as with the Siberian 

 Shamanists, but elected by lot. The sacred groves are pre- 

 served with great care, and some trees are two and three hundred 

 years old. From time to time, according to orders given by 

 some prophets to whom the gods appear in dreams, thousands 

 of Chersonese, coming from different districts and provinces, 

 meet together in sacred groves to sacrifice hundreds of horses, 

 cows, sheep, and fowls, and to share in a general feast. These 

 considerable expenses are covered by voluntary taxation of all 

 villages taking part in the feast. The paper of M. Stephanoff 

 is accompanied by an interesting illustration of worship. 



In regard to the electro-magnetic rotation of light, Herr Kundt 

 {Wied. Ann. 2) notes the fact that all simple substances 

 hitherto examined, be they strongly magnetic or strongly dia- 

 magnetic, show positive electro-magnetic rotation. Negative 

 rotation is shown only by chemical compounds, and such as 

 contain atoms of strongly magnetic elements (as iron salts). 

 Positive rotation has been proved in the case of eleven elements^ 

 viz. Fe, Co, Ni, Br, Se, S, P, C (diamond), O, N, H. 



