May 20, 1886] 
NATURE 
af 
searching for these hairs. In the course of my travels I 
have ever found it unwise to laugh at what I conceived to 
be the prejudices of a people simply because I could not 
understand them. In this instance, however, I must con- 
fess the results were not worth the trouble I took. The 
hairs, such as I picked up, and such as were shown me 
by the Chinese, had certainly been produced above the 
earth and not below it. In some instances they might 
readily be traced to horses, dogs, and cats, while in others 
they were evidently of vegetable origin. The north- 
eastern part of China produces a very valuable tree known 
by the name of the hemp-palm [Chamerops Fortunet, 
see Kew Report, 1880, p. 31], from the quantity of fibrous 
bracts it produces just under its blossoms. Many of these 
fibres were shown to me by the Chinese as a portion of 
the hairs in question; and when I pointed out the 
source from which such had come, and which it was 
impossible to dispute, my friends laughed, and, with 
true Chinese politeness, acknowledged I was right, 
and yet I have no doubt they still held their former 
opinions concerning the origin of such hairs. The whole 
matter simply resolves itself into this: if the hairs pointed 
out to me were the zvwe ones, then such things may be 
gathered not only after earthquakes, but at any other 
time. But if, after all, these were not the real things, and 
if some vegetable (I shall not say animal) production was 
formed, owing to the peculiar condition of the atmo- 
sphere and from other causes, I can only say that such 
production did not come under my observation.” * 
W. T. THISELTON DYER 
THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 
eee American papers contain an announcement 
which will be received with some astonishment in 
Europe. A member of Congress, Mr. Herbert, of Ala- 
bama, has introduced a Bill into the House prohibiting 
the Geological Survey of the United States from expend- 
ing any money for paleontological work, except for the 
collection, classification, and proper care of fossils and 
other material ; and from composing, compiling, or pre- 
paring for publication monographs, bulletins, or other 
books except an annual report containing merely the 
transactions of the bureau and other routine official 
matter. It is further proposed to sell off the laboratories 
and other property of the Survey which after the passing 
of the Act would be no longer needed. Of course there 
may be official or departmental reasons for reorganisa- 
tion or retrenchment of which the outside world is 
ignorant. But these reasons must be very serious indeed 
to justify such action as is proposed. If there is one 
scientific undertaking of which the United States have 
pre-eminently just reason to boast as a model to all 
civilised countries, it is their Geological Survey. For 
completeness of equipment it has no rival in the world, 
and already though it has only been seven years in exist- 
ence its work both for excellence and amount has placed 
it in the very front of the scientific organisations of the 
time. Whether we look to its purely scientific achieve- 
ments or to the importance of its practical work in 
mining and other economical departments, the crippling 
of the resources of the Geological Survey of the United 
States would be a calamity against which not only all 
lovers of science but all who are interested in the con- 
tinued development of the natural productions of the great 
republic would energetically protest. We can hardly 
suppose that Mr. Herbert will have many supporters, and 
it is difficult to conceive from what possible motive he is 
acting. He calculates that if his Bill passes he will effect 
a saving of 250,000 dollars. He should try to find some 
branch of the public service where economy and retrench- 
* “uring a recent visit to the North-West Provinces of India, where 
earthquakes are not unfrequent, I could find no traditions such as that I 
have alluded to,” 
ment could be practised without seriously injuring the 
scientific credit and industrial progress of his country. 
And no doubt he could succeed in this search. 
THE ROVAL SOCIETY SOIREE 
ape President and Council of the Royal Society are 
to be entirely congratulated on the success of the 
reunion at Burlington House on the 12th inst. It was 
generally felt that the display of objects of interest was 
finer than any brought together for some years, and the 
general satisfaction expressed must have amply rewarded 
those upon whom the burden of the arrangements had 
fallen. 
It is a little hazardous to say which was the most 
interesting object; but as an actwalité the unpaired 
parietal eye of Sphenodon exhibited by Mr. Baldwin 
Spencer, fully described in last week’s NATURE, perhaps 
bore the palm. 
Next in biological interest came an exhibit by Mr. W. 
H. Caldwell including a complete series of the Ceratodus 
from the unsegmented egg to hatching. The complete 
exhibit illustrated early stages in development of the 
Monotremata—Ornithorhynchus and Echidna, the Dip- 
noid Ceratodus and some marsupial genera. The series 
were as follows :— 
(1) Series of early stages of Ornithorhynchus, from a 
few hours after fertilisation to the newly-laid egg, of about 
the stage of a 36-hour chick ; (2) series of early stages of 
Echidna, from just before laying to the newly-hatched 
foetus ; (3) various stages of young Echidna, from hatching 
up to 5 inches long; (4) complete series of Ceratodus, 
from the unsegmented egg to hatching; (5) stages of 
young Ceratodus after hatching ; (6) series of about thirty 
stages, from segmenting egg up to birth of Phascolarctos 
cinereus ; (7) ditto of Halmaturus rufus; (8) Specimens 
showing the arrangement of the embryonic membranes in 
Macropus major. 
There were two exhibits of micro-organisms—one of 
micro-photographs of Bacteria, and another of certain 
micro-organisms themselves—by Mr. Cheshire. The 
former included enlargements, from negatives obtained 
with an oil immersion 3 inch, of the following :— 
Anthrax-bacillus, in tissue-sections and cultivations ; hay- 
bacillus ; bacillus of malignant cedema; micrococcus of pneu- 
monia; tubercle-bacillus; bacillus of foul brood; Saecz//us 
megatherium ; Clostridium polymyxa; microbe of chicken 
cholera; comma-bacilli of Koch, Lewis, and Tinkler; Bacteria 
of putrefaction. 
Mr. Cheshire exhibited (1) Baczl/us alvez in sporula- 
tion ; (2) Bacillus alvei spores in chain ; and (3) sperma- 
tozoa ot Apis forming in flocculent masses for packing in 
spermatophore, 
Preparations illustrating the histological structure of 
the secretory tissues of certain plants, in which the sub- 
stances secreted are of economic importance, were exhi- 
bited by Mr. W. Gardiner. Among these were hairs of 
leaf of Flemingia Grahamiana—wurras dye ; laticiferous 
vessels of the stem of Manthot Glazioviz—ceara rubber ; 
glands of the leaf of Cinnamomum Camphora—camphor. 
In connection with biological inquiry may be spe- 
cially mentioned Mr. Frank Crisp’s demonstration of 
a new microscopic object-glass, by Prof. Abbe of 
Jena, an exhibit rich in hope not only for the future 
of microscopy, but also for astronomy. Eight of 
the ten lenses of this objective are made of a 
new kind of optical glass, composed of phosphates and 
borates without silex. The glass hitherto used contains 
as essential components only six chemical elements, 
while the new objective contains not less than fourteen. 
The secondary spectrum is by this means entirely re- 
moved, and only a small tertiary spectrum remains. 
The improvement in definition is especially marked 
