578 
NATURE 
[ Oct. 14, 1886 
IN a very interesting paper in the new number of the Asiatic 
Quarterly Review, Miss E. M. Clerke, writing on ‘‘ Arabic 
Analogies in Western Speech,” says that whole classes of astro- 
nomical, astrological, and generally scientific terms are a stand- 
ing memorial to the debt of culture Europe owes to the East. 
Logarithm is a corruption of e/-jowarzeem, and algebra of e/-jabr 
w.'lmukdbala, literally, the integration and comparison. Alembic 
is e/-anbik, a retort, whence the Italian /amdiccare, to distil ; 
and nearly all the terms used in alchemy denote its Oriental 
origin. Star-names come from the same source: Algol is 
el-ghol, the ghoul; and Vega, a fragment of wasser-el-waga, the 
falling eagle. Most precious stones and minerals, as sapphire, 
emerald, bezoar, jasper, amber, antimony, are transparent dis- 
guises of Arabic originals ; jewel itself is from jouhour. Simi- 
larly the names of poisons and remedies, as well as maladies, 
come from Arabia: thus arsenic is ez-zernikh ; massage, the 
fashionable cure by friction, is from mass, to handle, and leprosy 
is an obvious corruption of e/-abras. Again, such words as 
spinach, endive, chicory, saffron, arrowroot, cotton, hemp, 
carcaway, cummin, and aloe are obvious derivatives from Arabic. 
The names of many flowers come from Arabia, by adoption from 
Persian, also fruits, as lemon and orange. Carat is an Arabic 
weight. Monsoon comes from souse, a fixed time, and sirocco 
and simoom. ‘These and a hundred others given by Miss Clerke 
“go to prove that the world is one vast commonwealth of ideas, 
most widely shared by the classes least conscious of their 
indebtedness to foreign influence.” 
FarHer DEcItEvRENS, of the Siccawei Observatory near 
Shanghai, writing on a violent typhoon which visited that dis- 
trict on August 14, doing considerable damage, says that it was 
remarkable by the long persistency of the low pressures that 
continued from 3 a.m. on the 14th to 5 a.m. on the 18th, that 
is, ninety-three hours, during the whole of which time the wind 
blew hard, and during the two last days the rainfall rose from 
6 inches to 12. He says this is a singular and very rare pheno- 
menon, and to explain it he follows the typhoon all along its 
course. Like the typhoon of the same date in 1881, it came 
from the open sea. On the 11th the barometer at Manilla caused 
suspicion of a storm to the north-east of Luzon and east of For- 
mosa. The Loochoo Islands must have been passed on the 
afternoon of the 13th, and at noon on the 14th it reached the 
coast of Chinaabout Wenchow. Having got to the mainland, the 
storm proceeded for some time to the west through the province 
of Kiangsi, and then was divided. One part recurved to the 
south-west towards Kwangsi and Tonquin, and is easily fol- 
low.d by observations made at Amoy and Hong Kong; the 
other part of the depression turned round to the north and got 
nearer to the Yang-tse River. On the morning of the 18th an 
entire change took place in the atmospheric conditions. The 
second depression was in its turn divided, and while the portion 
higher in latitude formed itself into a distinct storm and got 
THE luminosity of insects has been lately studied in a very 
careful manner by Dr. Dubois, one of M. Bert’s students. The 
animal selected was the American cucujo, or Pyrophorus noctilu- 
It has three luminous organs—two prothoracic and one 
ventral. Dr. Dubois opposes the view that the light results 
from direct oxidation of the substance of the luminous organs, 
by oxygen of the air coming through the trachee. In pure 
oxygen the luminosity is the same as in air, and it is the same 
in pressures under one atmosphere. Nor does compressed oxy- 
gen affect it, and this gas cannot restore the light when extinct 
in organs which yet respond to mechanical agents or electricity, 
even when the pressure is raised to four atmospheres. The protho- 
racic plates give a good illumination in front, laterally, and aboye,. 
and serve when the insect walks in the dark; when it flies or 
swims, its fine abdominal lantern is unmasked (and the abdomen 
raised) throwing downwards an intense light with much greater 
range. The insect seems to be guided by its own light. If the 
prothoracic apparatus is quenched on one side with a little black 
Cus, 
the light. If both sides are quenched, the in-ect walks hesitatingly 
and irregularly, feeling the ground with its antenn, and soon 
stops. The light of the cucujo gives a pretty long spectrum 
from the red to the first blue rays; when the light diminishes, 
this shortens somewhat on the side of the blue, but more on the 
other side. Tne maximum is about wave-length 528 u 56 (as in 
the solar spectrum). The light is more green than that of 
Lampyris noctiluca. It is capable of photogeaphy, but does not 
develop chlorophyll. The prothoracic organs of six insects did 
not set a radio.neter in motion, but they affected a Melloni pile 
slightly. No distinct electric action could be traced in the 
organs. Separated from the body, the organs are still brilliant. 
If the insect is deprived of water, it ceases to produce light ; and 
it recovers the power when plungedin water. The egzs may be 
dried to the extreme limit, at ordinary temperature, without 
losing their light-yielding power ; pat in water after eight days 
even, they become luminous again. Further, if the luminous 
organs aré dried 7 vzcuwo, and pulverised in a moriar, a little 
water (even if freed from gas by boiling) makes the mass 
luminous throughout. Dr. Dubois finds the photogenic substance 
to be an albuminoid, soluble in water and coagulable by heat ; it 
enters into conflict with another substance, of the diastase 
group, and part of the energy thus liberated appears as light. 
SoME experiments lately brought before the Paris Academy 
by M. Luvini, combine with those of other observers (he con- 
siders) in warranting the conclusion that ‘‘ gases and vapours, 
under any pressure, and at all temperatures, are perfect insu- 
lators, and cannot be electrified through friction, either with one 
another, or with solid or liquid substances.” 
THE Giornale d’Agricoltura e Commercio for August reports 
the discovery in West Africa of a new variety of coffee-plant, 
away to the north, the other part approached Shanghai and put | 
back to sea through the mouth of the Yang-tse. When Shang- 
hai was placed between the two depressions, the air, not know- 
ing, as it were, towards which of them to flow, got rapidly calm, 
While the two centres were thus getting away in opposite direc- 
tions, the Siccawei baroreter rose without any strong wind 
blowing. This, concludes Father Dechevrens, is a new phase 
of this singular typhoon, the centre of which passed very close 
to Shanghai without giving birth to any gale, except the one 
that had preceded the division and the departure. It is to be 
hoped that the learned writer may be able to give this typhoon, 
with the peculiarities here noted, the same detailed and thorough 
study that he gave that of 1881. In the latter instance he gave 
what may be called the life-history of a storm from its birth in 
the China Seas, almost to its dissipation far in the interior of 
he continent of Asia. 
| appearance and flavour. 
whose berry appears greatly to resemble that of Arabia in 
It grows, however, not on a shrub but 
on a tree nearly 7 feet high, which develops rapidly and yields 
an abundant crop. Arrangements are already being made for 
introducing its cultivation in favourable localities. 
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the 
past week include a Brown Capuchin (Cebus fatuellus 2?) from 
Guiana, presented by Messrs. Kiihner, Hendschel, and Co. ; a 
Macaque Monkey (M@acacus cynomolgus °) from India, pre- 
sented by the Countess de Geloes; a Yellow-footed Rock 
Kanzaroo (Petrogale xanthopus 2) from South Australia, pre- 
sented by Mr. G. Langborne, Chief Officers.s. Rome ; a Common 
Squirrel (S:izus vulgaris), British, presented by Miss Gertrude 
Hud:on; two Lanner Falcons (Falco /anarius) from Eastern 
Europe, presented by the Baron D’Epremesnil; a Blue and 
| Yellow Macaw (Ava ararauna) from South America, presented 
wax, the cucujo walks in a curve, turning towards the side of 
——w 
